Luxury Hotels - Secret Bay- Dominica

http://secretbay.dm/

Has anyone been here? TA reviews are outstanding and the prices are really reasonable in the shoulder seasons. It sounds like it has precisely everything I want in a beach/relaxation oriented property.

It's come to my attention that the TA reviews are mostly fake, which is off-putting. And they seem to be running a very aggressive ad campagin. For what it's worth, however, it is a new property, T&L seems to be a big fan, and it is currently on sale via JetSetter. A gamble worth taking?

i didnt want to post, but...

theyre trying to sell real estate, so might even be doing complimentary stays for prospective buyers

re TA - 64 reviews, last reviewed may 20
1 - 37 (57.8% of reviewers have posted 1 review - and it is for secret bay)
2 - 10 (15.6%)
3 - 5 (7.8%)
4 - 3 (4.7%)
5 - 1 (1.5%)
6 - 1 (1.5%)
7 - 1 (1.5%)
12 - 1 (1.5%)
15 - 1 (1.5%)
16 - 2 (3.1%)
19 - 1 (1.5%)
63 - 1 (1.5%)

"2 review" reviewers include >
- one 2nd review is of secret bay in rental section of TA
- two 2nd reviews are of something else during same trip
increasing "1 review" to 62.5%

all 5 star except one, which had no negatives, so presumably clicked by mistake

property details >
13 units - 4 hotel plus 9 fractional (presumably want to sell sell hotel units too)
restaurant and spa not built yet (so no dining outlet)
only amenity is "source shack"
vaguely interesting to me, even without upscale / amenities
even if no decent hotels on dominica, id assume there is a better villa rental
seem to recall seeing dominica come up somewhere

Hello, my name is Gregor and I am the owner of Secret Bay. I can assure you that the reviews are authentic.
seems to me this is about TA in general (as well as media/marketing)
personally, i dont use TA

Not much in the way of villa rentals on the island- at least nothing that appeals to me. I kind of like the idea of having someone cook whatever you want in your villa/bungalow rather than having to go to a restaurant. Yes, the lack of spa is problematic.

My sense is that it's either exactly what I'm looking for or has some serious drawbacks which are not yet public.

Hello, my name is Gregor and I am the owner of Secret Bay. I can assure you that the reviews are authentic. Travel+Leisure just selected Secret Bay as one of the top 50 new hotels in the world and we were recently featured on the NBC Today Show (please refer to Media/Press on the web page). But Secret Bay is not for everyone. It is a 4 villa/bungalow complex where all services are personalized.... your fridge is pre-stocked before you arrive, we cook according to your food preferences and you are served in your villa, everything from massages to yoga to a one-man jazz band is organized by the concierge for you in the privacy of your villa..... because of this, there is no restaurant or bar or common swimming pool. It is more like a vacation home than a traditional hotel. Dominica is also very special and very different from the typical sun, sand and sea Caribbean island.... the island is very green and rugged, packed with stunning rivers and waterfalls, amazing hiking, scuba diving and whale watching etc... .and there are many great hotels other than Secret Bay, such as Rosalie Bay, Zondoli, Beau Rive, Fort Young, Jungle Bay..... come to Dominica - you will not be disappointed !

I have a very difficult time taking that claim seriously. In addition to the fact that nearly 60% of the reviews are from people who have posted only 1 review, the vast majority of those reviews were voted helpful. It's simply not possible. For what it's worth, I think you're doing yourself a tremendous disservice. I would be willing to gamble on a new property with only a handful of glowing reviews from real people, but the presence of conspicuously fake reviews is a very big red flag. Indeed, I was on the verge of booking a stay at Secret Bay when it came to my attention and I have since decided to stay elsewhere.

I don't have any real desire to engage in a public dispute about the veracity of the reviews, but the facts are what they are, and they appear to show the reviews are not real. Frankly, I'm more disappointed than I am upset about it.

Re: Kage, I suppose it could be Ogilvy's doing, but I would think they'd know better.

I think obscure2k is leaving me this assignment as my first mod task! We've discussed this thread and observed some of the excellent comments above from Alpha and Kage. Both of us feel uneasy that this thread might head in spam-like directions if left open. So I'm going to keep it closed, but not delete it for now in case a member unrelated to the owner has stayed at this resort and would like to post a review.

In that case, PM or email one of us and we'll re-open it for that purpose.

RichardInSF