Secret Escapes Reviews 

I would strongly advise anyone thinking of booking through Secret Escapes to think twice.

I booked and paid for a one-night stay at the Hilton London Angel through Secret Escapes. I received a booking confirmation and had every reason to believe everything was confirmed.

However, when we arrived at the hotel to check in, we were told there was no reservation under our name. The hotel was fully booked, so there was nothing they could do.

I contacted Secret Escapes immediately, but they were unable to find us alternative accommodation. They also offered no compensation for the situation or the stress and inconvenience it caused. We were left scrambling to find a last-minute hotel in London, where most nearby hotels were either fully booked or more than double the price of our original booking.

A booking confirmation should give customers confidence that they have somewhere to stay. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case here.

Based on this experience, I cannot recommend Secret Escapes. If you book through them, be aware that even with a confirmation, you could still arrive to find no reservation waiting for you and be left to deal with the consequences yourself.

The booking was easy, after bypassing AI spoke to the agent who was polite and knowledgeable and completed the booking in a few minutes, would recommend Secret Escapes to anyone.

So easy to use the app.
Went on hotel own website price was over a £1000 for my stay got it for £580 . What a great price.

easy to see what I wanted and easy to book and pay, lots of interesting places to stay all at a good price/deal

I booked a hotel with Secret Escapes hotel last year but was unable to travel because I broke my arm just before the departure. I was given a credit in lieu of a refund for the cost. I have just tried to book a hotel in New York but was told, when I contacted them, that the hotel we chose was a third party hotel and it was not possible to use the credit. I was told that third party hotels are hotels that are not contracted directly with Secret Escapes and only hotels which are contracted directly can be booked with the credit. None of this was explained when I cancelled my booking. I asked to speak with a manager to discuss this but was told that there was not one available. I was not that a manager would call me later in the day but no-one bothered to call. I always thought that Secret Escapes deals were normally a better deal than available elsewhere and included some extras such as a bottle of wine or free room upgrade. These hotel deals which they do not contract directly suggest that there might be quality issues as they have not applied the normal high standards they would with directly contracted hotels. I have used their website recently and the hotels look like similar prices and deals to booking.com or hotels.com when before we got better deals. I will try and contact them again to get an explanation and help with using the credit.

Easy booking with secret escapes. The website was clear which made it quick and easy to book.

So far I’ve only experienced the booking process which was quick and easy and enabled me to purchase what I wanted at the best price.

Booking process straight forward and confirmation came through quickly. Can’t at this point comment any further as only just booked.

I wanted to visit the place that was featured in their TV advert... But I can't, because it's an AI generated "Fake Escapes" slop.

You should be ashamed of yourselves for cheaping out on marketing using AI slop. You sell yourself as a premium service, but spend roughly £0 on the marketing.

AI slop adverts. Stay clear.

If this company can't even be bothered to put effort into their advertising, they won't put any effort into anything.

So yeah, I will never patronise this company now. That's it. Your rep is finished.

I often book with Secret Escapes and have never had a bad experience yet.
Always good value and in exquisite places

I was a regular SE user but I will not consider using them again after their AI slop advert. I mean if the advert is AI generated then they aren't demonstrating anything about their service. Waste of everyone's time. Not to be trusted. Avoid.

Using AI to create an advert is ridiculous. If they can’t be bothered to create an advert then I don’t trust their product.

AI slop advert. Will entirely avoid going forward as this can only represent the overall quality of service and care.

Get your AI slop off of our TV screens. Will never use this company again.

NEVER USE THIS COMPANY!!!

They have chosen to use AI to make their adverts. This takes away people's jobs! This company is now on my boycott list!

We have made a booking today for 2027. Will comeback with the review after the holiday.

I contacted SE on 12/06/26 about a refund of a cancelled holiday (cancelled by them due to Middle East situation). On 14/06 I got an email from them stating that both initial payment and balance payment had been refunded. Now I have a thread of 14 emails and only one of the two payments has been refunded. I cannot get to the truth of where the money is. We've used SE several times for hotels and one holiday and they've been fine but, when things go wrong their Customer Services will not own the issue. They make excuses and are very apologetic but don't resolve the issue. BACS payments should not take 17+ days and still waiting!
Update: After submitting this review I got a reply from 'Steven' including the phrase 'I'd like to let you know I've escalated your case to a senior member of our Customer Services team, who will be in touch shortly.' I was promised action and nothing has happened. In desperation I've just made a phone call where I was told that I couldn't speak to a supervisor since there's no-one in the office (same response as I got on my first call in mid June). The refund has still not been processed. To Secret escapes - Please confirm a payment date. Surely this is harming your reputation as this is such a simple issue to resolve.

Booked on the secret escapes site for a 10 day trip 29/07 - 08/08 and was told the actual travel agent would contact us within 72 hours which they did.
It then transpired that there is or possibly was any availability for the dates we asked for so our trip has now had to be cancelled.
They did offer an alternative location etc. which we declined.
Seems strange as looked today on your website and this holiday is still being advertised yet the travel company said the only availability was for Rhodes??
Not happy as wasted 5 days trying to get answers and now have to look again for a holiday .