If you’re looking for a truthful and honest opinion of this hotel, stop scrolling and take a listen (apologies if bad grammar/flow, writing this on my flight). Also, please know this is not to...
If you’re looking for a truthful and honest opinion of this hotel, stop scrolling and take a listen (apologies if bad grammar/flow, writing this on my flight). Also, please know this is not to destroy the reputation of this hotel, it’s moreso to reveal the incorrect rating this hotel was given.
This is lengthy and may come off as me complaining, however, it’s honest feedback that I hope you read through.
This will likely incur a deflection from the hotel, as I’ve noticed that they do not own up to any bad reviews, but I’ll attach any photos or communication I had with this “5-star” hotel.
Upon arriving at Secrets, we were so excited to relax in this 5 star hotel, as this was our 3rd hotel stop on our honeymoon, especially after reading reviews on this site from other guests.
We stayed in the room listed as “Premium Suite with Private Outdoor Hot Tub”. See below for the honest feedback by category:
Check-In Process:
-We arrived at the hotel and walked down a few stairs to get to the hotel reception. The view was unreal!
-The check-in process was fairly simple!
-After check-in the staff politely gave us a tour of the hotel. A perk of arriving to the hotel, you are given a welcome drink, we were asked if we wanted one and we said yes (because why not, vacation!), however it almost felt like we shouldn’t have asked because the bar tender needed to be chased down to make us a drink. However, it was a nice gesture to receive, just a bit uncomfy that it wasn’t prepared when we checked-in (as most other hotels do).
Room/Accommodation:
-Pictures attached for reference FYI
-Upon walking into our room, we truthfully were shocked at the room setup. After looking at photos from the hotels website, it absolutely did not look like the photos.
-You are given champagne and dried fruit (interesting, but appreciate the gesture)
-The room felt nothing like a “5-star” hotel room. It felt like a college dorm with the furniture that was chosen. I kid you not, the bed is a circular shape, with no back board, there’s a small flat screen tv (maybe 32 inches), there’s plastic looking furniture throughout. Again, not trying to be nit picky, however, this felt like a holiday inn vs a 5-star hotel room.
-It was noted that the outside jacuzzi is a “hot tub”, but let me assure you, it was ice cold. We actually bought a thermometer and the temperature was 72°F, we notified that it was not heated many times. The tile was also chipped and not in great shape. Lastly, the jacuzzi jets did not work upon arriving, after letting staff know, the jets would only stay on for ~15 seconds and then turn back off. (more on all of this later.)
-We were told by staff when we entered the room to not set the temperature below 25°C…as of course did not abide because we were sweating. That definitely felt cheap to us, almost as they were trying to save money.
Luggage Handling:
-As we checked into the hotel, our bags were immediately taken by the staff to drop off at the room. The staff was very helpful, however we felt a little uncomfortable as they stood around almost expecting and waiting for a tip from us after delivering to the room (which we gave and they deserve, but something to note).
-Upon checkout, staff arrived one hour prior to our departure (7:30am). We told them to come back at the time we were leaving (8:30am). The staff rolled their eyes, but what were we going to do without our bags for 1 hour that early in the morning. The staff got our bags and just left them at the top of the steps. We rolled them to our transfer car and the car attendant was VERY surprised that the hotel staff did not bring them to the car. He said he has never seen that before.
Room Service:
-The prices for food are SO overpriced, beware. If you want authentic food, explore! There are great places.
-There are a lot of options to choose from for breakfast! It’s free and included in your stay (not great quality, but hey it’s “free”!). -You schedule when you want to review your breakfast, however, it was late each day we were there (not a big deal, but again, “5-star hotel)
-Be careful if you want a mimosa etc with your breakfast, it wasn’t mentioned to us, so we assume it was free, given there were no prices on the menu, so we were surprised with a bill (not complaining, but be straightforward with your guests about incurred costs)
-Room service comes very often, however, it got to the point where we were constantly waking up to knocks or interruptions when watching tv etc. We appreciated the notion to be clean, however it felt uncomfortable telling the staff to come back later, but then they come back about 30 min - 1 hr later.
-You will not get new sheets on your bed, unless you leave a sign on the bed (again wild to me (“5-star” hotel, idc that they are trying to go green, we pay for luxury).
-You get ONE roll do toilet paper each day, unless you call and ask for more. Constantly, we were using Kleenex etc. Overall, just very very cheap feeling.
-We also were told to not leave lights on, again, I appreciate going green, but cmon, we are guests!!
Spa:
-We booked facials, it was our honeymoon, so we asked to do them together when booking and were told “Yes”
-Upon arriving, we were told we need to do different times because they aren’t staffed. Not a huge deal, but we wanted the experience together.
-The facial was not pleasant. Very gentle touch, you are not told what is going on your face etc.
-The spa is also next to the pool, you HEAR EVERYTHING!
Issues:
“Hot Tub”
-The hot tub was not heated and the jets did not work.
-I notified staff numerous times, and they came to check on it once and said “it’s working as is”. I own a hot tub, so I know what the water should feel like coming out of the jets.
-The hotel staff did not ever once come down to just feel the water, they made excuses such as: “it’s working as it should” “the windy conditions have caused all hot tubs to not operate the way they should”
-I’m not sure how the wind interferes with the heat of the jets? Also, after several complaints, they left notes at each hotel room saying that the use of hot tubs is not recommended with the weather.
-We paid to have a working hot tub, other hot tubs were much warmer, a “5-star” hotel should have acknowledged our issue we faced vs deflecting and making up excuses.
-The manager offered to come and talk with us, but we were at dinner. We honestly tried to not be in the hotel room because it felt like a prison with nothing to do.
-The jets just didn’t work period.
-We gave up on asking after our 2nd day
Spa:
-There was a mixup with booking as mentioned above, however, when we told the hotel, they said “well we tried to call you at your hotel room”…we left the room that day at 2pm and returned at 4:45pm. So, they had a 2 hour gap of calling us, we were out for lunch, so had no idea.
-The hotel COULD HAVE messaged us on WhatsApp, called our cell phone, or left a note in our room.
Hotels Response:
-Upon all of the issues we faced, the hotel left us a bottle of Rosè and chocolate cake in our room.
-Although I appreciated the gesture, that was a major slap in the face. It cheapened our experience fully. There are other ways to make things better. Some general ideas: partial refund, vouchers to hotel or spa, or even change rooms
Overall, please don’t take this as complaining, this is honest and truthful feedback. We were saddened to come here on our honeymoon, our rest of our honeymoon was unreal with our accommodations, but this one lacked so much. I do not recommend, you can find somewhere WAY better!
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