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About
4.0
#1 of 1 resort in Halfmoon Bay
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Value
Rockwater Secret Cove Resort is the Sunshine Coast's Premier 4 star year round resort, featuring 38 ocean front rooms, suites, tenthouse suites and cabins. The resort features a restaurant, lounge, and seasonal outdoor swimming pool. Ideal resort for getaway, corporate retreats and weddings.
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to Giata.
HOTEL STYLE
Bay View
Languages Spoken
English
Location
5356 Ole's Cove Road, Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia V7Z 1B8 Canada
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Rockwater Secret Cove Resort offers a polarizing experience, according to guest feedback. While the staff's friendliness and the resort's picturesque location receive commendations from many travelers, there are concerns regarding the level of service that some deem unprofessional.
Views and certain amenities, such as the spa, are highlighted as positives, yet the resort's value is questioned by guests who expect more for the price, especially in terms of room quality and amenity upkeep. Reviews indicate the resort's atmosphere is generally pleasing, with well-appointed rooms, but opinions on cleanliness and maintenance vary.
Location
Picturesque
Atmosphere
Charming
Rooms
Unkempt
Value
Expensive
Cleanliness
Mixed
Service
Inconsistent
Amenities
Underwhelming
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Our tent had hair in the bathroom and dirt/dust/debris behind the soaker tub which made us feel the room was not well cleaned, especially during COVID where cleaning should be more intense and thorough. Between days when our room was cleaned, pine needles were not cleaned off the floor.
Having the room cleaned was an odd experience and not explained to us. We left one morning around 9:30 am and returned around 4pm. Upon return, our room was still dirty. We called the front desk and they told us “oh, well that is because we call you in the morning for the cleaning so we didn’t talk to you” as if it was our fault that we weren’t there to receive the phone call. I travel extensively and have never had a process where I get a call in the morning to schedule cleaning. If this is your process, it should be explained to guests when they check-in.
When spending close to $400 a night for a room/tent, you expect things to be in top condition. Sadly this was not the case. Two lights in our tent were burnt out and even leaving a note with a $5 tip asking to have them fixed resulted in no repair. The door to our bathroom also had a tear in the paper which had been fixed with scotch tape, which should not be the case.
The room was also cold at night, and even with the fireplace on and the space heater plugged in, the room was always chilly. For winter months, the rooms should have 2 space heaters.
Overall the location is beautiful with stunning views, but more attention needs to be paid to room cleanliness and repairs/upkeep to match the price.
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Review collected in partnership with this hotel
Date of stay: November 2020
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
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Sleep Quality
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Rockwater Secret Cove Resort, Guest Services / Front Office at Rockwater Secret Cove Resort
Responded Nov 29, 2020
Thank you for your feedback. Your satisfaction is important to us and we will be using the feedback you provided to continue to make improvements to ensure we offer an exceptional experience for our guests in the future. Our stay-over process has changed during Covid as we want to ensure guests are comfortable with having a housekeeper enter their room. We will ensure that our Front Desk staff communicates this at check in to our future guests and that our housekeeping and maintenance team receives your feedback. We hope to have you stay with us again! Kind regards, Rockwater Secret Cove Team
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
We were there in October and we stayed in a premium tent house. The walkway is built very well, it's a bit long but that's what you get when you have a tent on the side of a cliff overlooking the ocean. The walkways are beautiful at night as they are lit up and disappear in to the darkness. Ask for a cart if you have lots of luggage. To respond to a few other reviews: our tent did not seem worn to us and they were in good condition, exactly what I expected for 'glamping'. Also someone mentioned the food was expensive, it is pricey but it is in line with other hotels. We had several meals in our tent and they were good. Heating was not a problem, they had heated floors, a fireplace and a space heater. The first night we were a bit cool but the second night I turned on the fireplace and it was nice and toasty, it was fall and weather is cooling down and you are essentially in a tent that looks like a hotel room so.... I would highly recommend that you get dinner in your tent at sunset, experience is quite something with the view of the ocean, very memorable! You are in a tent that has a washroom attached to it, it's separated by a canvas wall so sound privacy is well, non existent so you might want to take turns looking at the view outside while using the potty. The shower is also in the room so you can't be too shy around your partner but it has curtains for privacy if needed. They had a bubbling jacuzzi in tent which was great, again with a view. The tents are not inexpensive but I feel we got our money's worth, you pay for the experience and the views, there are less expensive options if that's not in your price point. The staff were generally very nice and helpful. We had an amazing time and I would recommend the tent experience if you are looking for something fun and different!
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Date of stay: October 2020
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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This was a neat and unique experience, but maybe due to being February was not the best stay. We stayed for only one night with dinner and breakfast and spent almost a thousand dollars. The only difference between the "good" tenthouse (for 500$)and the regular one (370$) was the view and the 2 person tub which we were unable to use as the water was intermittently boiling hot(but not enough to fill the tub) and freezing cold. When we got to the resort we saw 2 people having a smoke break but there was no one inside. We waited for at least 10 to 15 mins with no one AT ALL in the reception area, lounge or restaurant. We even rang the little bell and called out to see if anyone was there. I had an allergic reaction to something in the dinner which was expensive for the gamey lamb (about 150$ just for 2 entrees & 2 desserts no drinks) and had horrific stomach pain and swelling of my face and hands for the duration of the night. Not sure what it was as i checked the ingredient list for any allergens. Don't go off season for sure as it was too cold even to just walk around and explore. Maybe it's nicer in the summer, but i would say not worth the money. The nice part was not many people were there and once they fixed the hot water in the morning the shower was very lovely.
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Review collected in partnership with this hotel
Date of stay: February 2020
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
The sunshine coast is a spectacular area and the Rockwater property is too. One day this will be a 4 star resort but in the meantime shop carefully. The good, the tent "cabins' overlooking the water have incredible views and are nice themselves. They have a boat up to dock for a boat up to 26' or several smaller boats. For us this was super. The not so good. you have to walk your bags to the tent cabins, the paths to the bungalows are muddy or have cracked pavement/concrete. The med. The lodge dining room/lounge has nice views over the water. The menu is good, the service/kitchen quality is over priced. The bad. My goodness $300 a night for a 'bungalow' that is at least 60 years old and likely cost $1000 when built is out of control to expensive. These funky panabode bungalows are dated to say the least. The old stairs and porches are in dire need of paint. The exteriors need a wipe down of spider webs etc and paint. The stairs, porches and bungalows floors are not level, the shower floor leaks into the bathroom and into the living area. The local staff are great and almost embarrassed at what Rockwater charges but you can see in their faces they risk their job saying anything other than positive. Conclusion, I travel, Fairmont, Westin, Pan Pacific to name a few are 4 star hotel/resorts. Rockwater is a 2/3. Shop wisely there are many other sunshine coast properties that offer better value.
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Date of stay: September 2019
Rooms
Service
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
My overall experience in the tenthouse was excellent. The bed is very comfortable and the tub is amazing. There are a few little things that can be improved.
1)Near the beginning of the boardwalk there is a board that has been filled. This is not pleasing to the eye, it would be much better to replace the damaged board. 2) There were a couple faint stains on the sheets, this didn't bother me as I could tell it was an existing stain and not actually dirty. However, this would definitely be a negative for many guests. 3) There are no hooks for towels, you have to hang them over chairs etc in the room. Again, not a huge deal but makes it feel messy and makes it seem thought was not put into the design. 3) There should be a trash bin with the recycle bin by the coffee machine. 4) There are 2 decaf coffee pods, 2 regular coffee pods and 4 mini creamers. My husband and I both like to have 2 coffees in the morning with cream. We had to request more coffee pods and cream. While this was not a big deal, it would have been better if there was sufficient coffee and cream in the room.
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Review collected in partnership with this hotel
Date of stay: December 2019
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from 876reservations, Director of Sales at Rockwater Secret Cove Resort
Responded Jan 31, 2020
Hello AuroraJasmine, thank you for taking the time to review our resort. We are happy to know you enjoyed your overall experience with us. And yes, the bed is very comfortable =) We really appreciate your constructive feedback and we are taking your comment seriously. We hope to see you again soon! -The Rockwater Team
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My expectations upon booking a cabin, with the pictures provided online, were that we would enjoy a warm cozy cabin perfect for hunkering down with a book or a small meal. The reality was that we were provided with a cheaply updated shell of a cabin (cabin #5, a 1 bedroom) that just fell flat. Upon entering, there is immediately a shelf with the mini fridge and coffee maker. Nowhere to hang a jacket. Are we supposed to put our dirty footwear on that same shelf? To the left is an alcove with an uncomfortable, flaking pleather couch facing a blank wall. Two dining chairs but no table. Ahead of the entrance are two uncomfortable tub chairs and a TV. That’s it. The space is completely void of colour, warmth and character. The heater was on though, so at least it was warm temperature-wise. The bedroom has ample storage but the door swings into the bed so that it cannot open even 90 degrees. The bathroom is large but everything is crammed onto one wall.
My suggestions for management, for my own amusement: Free - move the fridge and coffee maker into the alcove where the couch is. Get rid of the tub chairs and put the couch there instead to face the window and TV. Turn the bed so it sits under the window and allows the door to open. Cheap - put up some coat hooks where the coffee maker shelf is currently and a mat to place footwear on. Paint the walls something warmer and cozier. Get a small table to put in the newly appointed dining area. Offer room service? I’m not sure if you do already...there was no menu that I saw. Extras: replace the couch with something comfier to lounge on. Add a rug. Add some curtains. Oh, and it would be nice if both the bedside lamps had the same warm bulb instead of one being cold blue. But now I’m just being extra picky. :D
The setting is gorgeous and I wish the cabins reflected the location.
The restaurant was good, but not excellent. The food tasted good but I feel like something was missing that could’ve taken it up a notch.
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Date of stay: February 2020Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We were highly recommended this resort for our honeymoon by great friends who had stayed here 10 years prior and had an amazing experience. Our expectations were set high by their previous experience. We stayed in the tent house suite by the ocean and thought it was a really cool and unique accommodation. The service was well below expectations for a $655/night tent. We found the service very unprofessional, unwelcoming and staff did not seem able/ empowered to answer our questions or provide us information. The food was ok but not out of this world. COVID protocols seemed to be limited to sanitizer in the front lobby. We watched our waitress grab salt and pepper and jam off another guests table and offered it to us. No staff wore masks. The little things one would expect at this price point were definitely overlooked. We’d ordered a cheese plate to be in our tent upon our arrival- it was but without serving plates or a cheese knife. Our bathroom door was off the sliding rail resulting in us getting stuck in our bathroom twice before reporting it. Our fridge had the previous guests coffee cream garbage in the cream container. Our room service was delivered with the wrong dish. This was for our “splurge” honeymoon dinner. We were not offered an apology, or a free meal. They did send the correct dish but we ate our meals separately. Our friends bought us a gift certificate. No one notified us upon our arrival and they forgot to apply it to our final invoice. We were charged a spa treatment that we never had. The grounds were unkempt- two water bottles laid in the garden next to the entry to the tent suites for 2 days- until I got tired of looking at them and recycled them. Someone’s garbage lay directly in front of the garbage can for 2 days without any staff sweeping it up. It is definitely not the same resort our friends experienced and we will not return for the money it costs.
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Date of stay: July 2020Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We booked a tenthouse for three nights. The location has beautiful scenery and the boardwalk is very pretty. The tenthouse itself is very unique but not really well maintained. It looks tired and old with lots of patched up hole here and there.
The worst thing though is the service. We were 30 mins early and was told check in time is 4pm so we waited at the lounge and they said they will get us when our room is ready and of course nobody did. It is pandemic we totally get it there won’t be housekeeping and we are against daily housekeeping with the waste of water and resources anyway but at least leave adequate toiletries, toilet paper etc for a three nights booking. I went to the reception to ask for two more bath salt ( one tiny bag of a table spoon of bath salt was provided for three nights stay ) but took a long time to be attended to and nobody knew where to get more bath salt, eventually they came back with just one small bag as if it was precious as gold. There was also one small bottle of shampoo and conditioner etc so we went out to shoppers to buy our own. The bill is almost $2000 for a king tent house for three night stays and they can’t happily provide an extra bath salt.
One of the reason we chose to stay here was we read that it has onsite kayak rental. We wanted to rent a double kayak although it was within the opening hours we were told nobody was available for kayak rental till 430pm. We had to go out and just might as well as Pedals and Paddles was an awesome experience and service.
There are so many nice places to stay at Sunshine Coast please don’t waste your money and time here.
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Date of stay: July 2021Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We visited Rockwater after a hiking trip for 3 reasons. They fell short on 2. First, the shower provided less than 10 minutes of hot water. After calling the front desk they reset the system and warm (not hot) water returned for another few minutes. We repeated this a few times until we tired of it. Strike 1. Second, we enjoyed our appetizers at the Rockwater restaurant, but when we tried to order entrees we were informed the kitchen was closed. The server had not had the courtesy to advise about last call and the kitchen could not even make us a simple cheese plate! Strike 2. The bed was comfortable, so at least they delivered on a good night’s sleep.
Overall, the experience was lacklustre, and the room was disappointing (e.g., constructed with cheap fixtures from Home Depot) and needed repairs (e.g., partially patched drywall).
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Review collected in partnership with this hotel
Date of stay: August 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Went here on a weekend get away with my husband after hearing great things about this place, the view was amazing and it was very quiet and relaxing but the service you receive is terrible. I understand it’s covid but there was not enough staff at all and for the price you pay per night and in the restaurant you would expect decent service. The 2 bedroom suites don’t even have a balcony so if you want to sit out you can’t. The food was ok nothing special for what you pay the server works behind the front desk as well, the last night we got told there were no reservations left for dinner unless we ate now we walked by multiple times and there were only 3 tables in the whole restaurant. There is no proper bartender and when you are paying $15 for a cocktail you would expect someone to know what they are doing but they just follow a recipe and it was awful my husband had to stomach it back so make sure you bring your own alcohol. Went for massages and they were great and the staff were great that did them I wish there would have been more people like that working in the front area! I’m not one to complain usually but I just feel when you are paying almost $500 a night the service should come along with it, I have had other people stay at the same resort and they did not have this experience I feel it must be under new ownership and it will quickly sink if there customer service doesn’t go up
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Date of stay: August 2020Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
There are more places to choose from in the Halfmoon Bay area.
PRICE RANGE
C$258 - C$393 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
ALSO KNOWN AS
rockwater secret cove hotel halfmoon bay, hotel rockwater secret cove
LOCATION
CanadaBritish ColumbiaSunshine CoastHalfmoon Bay
NUMBER OF ROOMS
38
Prices are the average nightly price provided by our partners and may not include all taxes and fees. Taxes and fees that are shown are estimates only. Please see our partners for more details.
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Frequently Asked Questions about Rockwater Secret Cove Resort
Which popular attractions are close to Rockwater Secret Cove Resort?
Nearby attractions include Smuggler Cove Marine Provincial Park (3.5 km), Sargeant Bay Provincial Park (5.7 km), and Coopers Green Regional Park (6.4 km).
