Concordia Eco-Resort

I was there doing volunteer work to help get the property ready for the season, and stayed in an eco cabin. It had a balcony facing the sea, a loft, mini fridge, coffee maker, hot plates, a proper toilet, and a solar-heated shower. The steady trade winds kept it comfortable for sleeping, and after rain I only needed a mosquito net. There’s also a pool and restaurant, and the property sits next to Rams Head with a private trail down to Salt Pond. It’s about a 25-minute drive from Cruz Bay. Upscale air-conditioned rooms with views over Salt Pond are available too. I’m looking forward to volunteering again this year.

The room was nice and the view was fantastic, with a short walk to Salt Pond Bay for some good snorkeling. The AC worked well, though the property was still not fully repaired after hurricane damage and some windows couldn’t be opened. Be ready to take your linens and towels to the laundry bin by the pool, sweep the room, take out the trash, and do the dishes. There wasn’t dish soap, but Dr. Bronner's soap came to the rescue.

Salt Pond Beach was lovely, and the half-mile hike to get there was a plus. The restaurant food was good, too, with live music Saturday night and Sunday morning. Those were the bright spots of our stay. The cabin and service fell far short of what I’d expect from a resort. Our queen cabin had broken blinds, some missing or bent pieces, and no working cords. There were flies and a dead bug inside when we arrived. The bed had only a thin sheet and two thin blankets; we got three small towels, and the bath rug was dirty. The shower dispenser had shampoo, conditioner, and body wash, but only the conditioner was half full. Many cabins looked badly damaged or unfinished, and there was a truck full of trash near the entrance plus a broken-down blue bucket lift with flat tires that looked unused for years. We went to the front desk five times in three days, but it was always locked. The gift shop was advertised but never open. We’d been emailed that the restaurant opened daily, yet at 8:45 Saturday morning it was still closed, despite a sign saying it opened at 7:30. There was no Wi-Fi, so the phone number on the door wasn’t useful when there was no service. We weren’t even sure anyone knew we were there. It felt way overpriced for what we got. It’s a long way from town, restaurants, and grocery stores. Buy your food and snacks before you arrive, and use GPS in advance because there’s no service once you get there. As a travel agent, I tried the property for clients looking for somewhere peaceful and environmentally friendly. I won’t recommend it to anyone.

The reply from the owner misstates several things and seems to put the blame on us. We reported the wind and noise as soon as they became unbearable and asked to move. Being moved at 9 p.m. didn’t seem like an unreasonable request. We paid $1,100, and that was the only unit available when we booked, not some budget option. Insulting a reviewer instead of apologizing only reinforces how unprofessional the management felt to us. The owner also said power outages are normal on Caribbean islands. If you run a resort where the electrical grid is fragile and outages happen often, and the water depends on electricity, a backup generator is a basic operating need. Concordia had none. Other properties on St. John manage this. We did research before booking and communicated with the property. We still paid $1,100 and slept in our rental car. The problem was the product we got. Concordia Eco Resort sits on a beautiful stretch of St. John's coastline, but the location is doing all the work. Management is wasting it. The cabin was filthy when we arrived, with used toilet paper and clumps of hair under the beds, and uncleaned surfaces. The pressure-treated lumber, plywood, and plastic canvas may make cleaning difficult, but that’s no excuse. The polyester sheets were cheap, and the throw blanket barely covered one person on a full bed shared by a couple. We didn’t expect luxury linens, just a blanket that fit. At checkout, we had to strip the bed and carry linens and garbage downhill for five minutes to the office. For more than $300 a night, doing housekeeping ourselves was too much. The shower pressure was so weak I couldn’t rinse shampoo from my hair. There was no bathroom sink, so washing hands or brushing teeth meant walking to the kitchen. And the bathroom had no door at all, which meant no privacy if sharing the cabin. That’s a dealbreaker for couples or groups, and the listing conveniently doesn’t mention it. The power went out for over 36 hours. There was no generator, and since the water runs on pumps, there was no water either. No power or water meant no showers and no flushing toilets for a day and a half. These cabins are tents on an exposed hilltop, with no windows, just screen and canvas walls open to the elements. Strong winds on that ridgeline are normal, and our cabin creaked and rattled so hard we couldn’t sleep. We asked to move, but were told it could only happen the next day, our checkout day. In the end, we slept in the rental car after paying $1,100. There was no Wi-Fi in the rooms, by the pool, or at the restaurant. Mobile data was the only option, and at best it was unreliable 3G. For a call, message, or anything urgent, we might simply have been unable to get through. That didn’t feel like choosing to unplug, it felt like being stranded. This felt like a badly run campsite charging premium rates for conditions that would embarrass a budget hostel. I wouldn’t return under any circumstances, and I’d urge others to spend their money elsewhere on the island.