On Location: Secrets St. Lucia celebrates its first year with island flavour and flair

Last week on St. Lucia’s stunning northern coast, PAX got a front-row seat to what a resort looks like when it hits its stride. 

With steel drums playing and the kind of sun-soaked laughter only a proper Caribbean party can coax out of people, Secrets St. Lucia Resort & Spa — part of the Hyatt Inclusive Collection — welcomed more than 300 guests to celebrate its first anniversary.

“Carnival of the Senses” was a high-energy love letter to Saint Lucian culture, bringing together travel advisors, local dignitaries, resort execs and the property’s owners. 

Guests were treated to an immersive showcase of island food, traditional dance performances, a runway show featuring local designers and an eye-popping fireworks display.

For a property that debuted in June 2025 after a down-to-the-studs renovation, the celebration felt less like a humdrum corporate birthday shindig and more like a victory lap.

This was my first time at an adults-only resort, meaning I finally got to lounge by a Caribbean pool without the glamorous soundtrack of shrieking children. 

Navigating a couples-centric property solo was occasionally hilarious — hearing “Just you tonight?” every time I rolled up to a restaurant made me seriously consider inventing an epic airport breakup story — but the resort quickly won me over. 

Between the lush tropical grounds, fresh beachy rooms and one of the best massages I’ve ever had, I stopped feeling like the dorky kid at the back of the school dance pretty quickly (though I did spot a few girlfriend getaways and a mother-daughter pair holding it down, too).

A prime slice of paradise (and some imported sand)

Location is everything when you’re selling islands, and Secrets scored a major winning ticket with this plot of land on Choc Bay. 

“The true competitive advantage is really the beach,” says Alisteer Nelson, the resort’s director of sales and marketing. 

“And the views! The sunsets from this location are so panoramic.”

Nestled inside a quiet, palm-fringed cove, Secrets has over a mile of pristine white-sand beach, a rarity in St. Lucia, where much of the island’s natural sand is dark and volcanic. 

The ownership group wasn’t messing around when it came to aesthetics and feel: it imported soft, powdery white sand to line the shore. 

Complimentary kayaks, stand-up paddleboards and Hobie Cats are available, or guests can sign up for a paid tour or excursion to venture further afield. 

Because all beaches in St. Lucia are required to be open to everyone, the tour operators who set up shop on the beach aren’t associated with Secrets, and the resort isn’t liable if something goes south on an excursion.

Spread across expansive, beautifully manicured tropical grounds, the 355-room property is laid out so practically every room gets a front-row seat to the resort’s signature sunsets. 

Every ground-floor room comes with a private plunge pool or direct swim-out access. 

Whether you’re nursing a local rum cocktail on the pier pool deck as the sky turns violent shades of orange and pink or lounging by the main pool, golden hour here hits entirely different.

The resort is, however, somewhat hilly — especially if you’re traipsing up to the Preferred Club Level rooms, which come with their own pool, a dedicated indoor lounge and a roped-off section of poufy loungers on the beach. 

While golf cart pickups are theoretically available, they don’t always arrive quickly. 

Like many of the larger all-inclusives in St. Lucia, Secrets is on the northern end of the island, which means a long and very winding drive from the international airport. 

Clients who are prone to carsickness might want to pack some Gravol.

Canadians aren’t (beach) lounge lizards

While visitors from the U.S. and the U.K. make up the largest share of the resort’s clientele, Canadians come in third. 

Both Nelson and Carleen Isidore, the resort’s associate director of sales and marketing, say Canadian travellers aren’t just looking to park themselves on a lounger. 

They want a balanced vacation filled with culturally immersive experiences, whether that means sailing past the Pitons while sipping a local Piton beer, walking through the Sulphur Springs or hitting the legendary Gros Islet Friday Night Jump-Up party just 15 minutes up the road. 

Secrets offers excursions through Amstar, which has desks in the main lobby.

Growing pains to polished service

Of course, reopening a sprawling 355-room resort after a major renovation comes with a few bumps. 

“We did get a few hiccups with service at the start,” admits Isidore. 

“But compared to today, it’s like night and day.”

Nelson points to a focus on continuing education as the key to the improvement. 

With five hours of extra training per employee every month, the local team — now nearly 700 strong — has settled into Hyatt’s global service standards.

That hard work is paying off in serious gold. 

The resort has earned an AAA Four Diamond designation, racked up seven World Travel Award nominations and secured a Queer Destinations certification. 

Queer couples can’t legally get married in St. Lucia, but Secrets will still pull out all the stops to create an event — whether it’s a surprise proposal, an elopement or a full-scale, 200-person wedding — for everyone.

For travel advisors looking to match the right client with the property, the sweet spot is clear. 

Whether it’s young honeymooners drawn to St. Lucia’s 16-year reign as the world’s leading honeymoon destination or baby boomers looking to renew their vows, Secrets St. Lucia hits that medium-high luxury sweet spot without feeling stuffy.

Spa days, hydrotherapy and the pickleball craze

If clients are looking to strike that elusive vacation balance between deep zen and high-energy play, Secrets has built an impressive playbook. 

The resort’s world-class spa is anchored by a stellar hydrotherapy circuit with saunas, steam rooms, hot tubs and cold plunge pools.

For the active traveller who likes to break a sweat outside the well-equipped gym, the property has dedicated tennis and pickleball courts. 

It’s also leaning into the global paddle-sport craze. 

Nelson says the resort will launch a larger pickleball program within the year, featuring daily classes and sunset rallies.

Soul food

When it comes to fueling up after a day of beach-bumming, Secrets doesn’t mess around, with nine dining venues.

Guests can hop between gourmet à la carte spots serving everything from French and Italian to Pan-Asian cuisine and fresh seafood, or keep things easy at the international buffet, casual beach grill and 24-hour café. 

To wash it all down, the resort has seven bars and lounges, including a swim-up pool bar, a beach bar with swings for seats and the central lobby lounge.

There was always a daily cocktail in both alcoholic and non-alcoholic versions, but none of the restaurants had a dedicated cocktail menu. 

The food overall was decent but not mind-blowing. 

The best meal I had was at Portofino, the Italian restaurant, while The Market Café buffet always had Western and Caribbean dishes at every meal, as well as a dedicated cabinet for gluten-free desserts.

The personal touch

At the end of the day, both Isidore and Nelson agree that the real secret sauce of Secrets St. Lucia isn’t just the sleek room categories, the nine dining venues or even that gorgeous shoreline. 

It’s the local staff, whose genuine warmth turns a standard resort stay into something deeply authentic. 

“People really love the fact that they can have intimate conversations with the staff,” says Isidore. 

“It's not just a cattle service. There is really an attention to detail that creates those special moments that people remember.”

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