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Secret Escapes

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Secret Escapes

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Secret Escapes Reviews

Updated 11 Nov 2023

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Found 185 of over 197 reviews
3.7
75% Recommend to a Friend
96% Approve of CEO

Found 170 of over 197 reviews

3.7
75%
Recommend to a Friend
96%
Approve of CEO
Secret Escapes Co-founders Alex Saint and Tom Valentine (no image)
Alex Saint and Tom Valentine
109 Ratings

Top Review Highlights by Sentiment

Excerpts from user reviews, not authored by Glassdoor

Pros
  • "Great people throughout the company, genuinely ready to get stuck in and help(in 25 reviews)
  • "There's free food and drink in the fridge and wine and beer on a Friday.(in 11 reviews)
  • "Great culture for work practices and learning.(in 9 reviews)
  • "great colleagues(in 8 reviews)
  • "Everyone is friendly and caring and wanting to do what is best for each other and for our users.(in 6 reviews)
Cons
    1. 5.0
      5 Nov 2023
      Managing Director
      Former Employee, more than 8 years
      London, England
      Recommend
      CEO Approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      Lovely people in a great industry

      Cons

      Can be a bit busy

      Thank you for your review. We would love to hear more about your personal experience to identify where improvements can be made and encourage you to email recruitment@secretescapes.com to provide further confidential feedback.

      1. 2.0
        11 Nov 2023
        Contracts Manager
        Former Employee, more than 5 years
        London, England
        Recommend
        CEO Approval
        Business Outlook

        Pros

        good salary, flex working options, very good perks/benefits

        Cons

        poor&narrow minded management, terrible gossiping

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        1. 2.0
          11 Aug 2023
          Customer Service Specialist
          Current Employee, more than 1 year
          Holborn, England
          Recommend
          CEO Approval
          Business Outlook

          Pros

          Managers are friendly, flexible with doctor appointments/ sickness.

          Cons

          Does not have a proper training structure. Expects to learn from each other. Vast product with multiple systems to use. Severe Micro managing. Expects you to self develop yourself & do not listen when addressed. Stressful place to work. Low salary for set expectations.

          Thank you for your review. We are pleased to hear you have a good work/life balance but sorry to hear your feedback with regards to your experience with management. One of our core values is that "we are good people" and we strive to ensure our colleagues are supported and valued. We are also rolling out management training this year to our largest ever cohort . We would love to hear more about your personal experience to identify where improvements can be made and encourage you to email recruitment@secretescapes.com to provide further confidential feedback.

          1. 4.0
            31 Aug 2023
            Sales Production Coordinator
            Current Employee, more than 1 year
            London, England
            Recommend
            CEO Approval
            Business Outlook

            Pros

            nice people; great values; nice offices

            Cons

            salary; micro-management; there is not much room for development

            1

            Thank you for your review. We would love to hear more about your personal experience to identify where improvements can be made and encourage you to email recruitment@secretescapes.com to provide further confidential feedback.

            1. 3.0
              12 Apr 2023
              Sales
              Current Employee, more than 5 years
              London, England
              Recommend
              CEO Approval
              Business Outlook

              Pros

              autonomy to do your work. work/life balance. CEO

              Cons

              Very unskilled people in management roles, it is a wheel of luck, depending who you get it might be a good or an awful experience. Lack of trainings for managers, obsessive, controlling and ultra-micromanaging directors that spread down the control to new clueless managers that are easily manipulated. In order to get things done or be valued for your work you need to be ''friend with x or y'' Lack of direction and structure, lack of business knowledge for people in key roles despite a very good CEO intentions.

              2

              Thank you for your review. We are pleased to hear you have a good work/life balance but sorry to hear your feedback with regards to your experience with management. One of our core values is that "we are good people" and we strive to ensure our colleagues are supported and valued. We are also rolling out management training this year to our largest ever cohort . We would love to hear more about your personal experience to identify where improvements can be made and encourage you to email recruitment@secretescapes.com to provide further confidential feedback.

              1. 4.0
                7 Jun 2023
                Head of Strategy
                Current Employee
                Recommend
                CEO Approval
                Business Outlook

                Pros

                Secret Escapes has a great culture balancing the fast paced scale up environment with a management culture of caring about the employees.

                Cons

                Progression is not clearly defined due to the scale up nature of the business so you need to be willing to carve your own path.

                Thank you for your review! I am pleased you found our working environment balanced and rewarding :) We take open and honest feedback as a way to develop and improve because it allows us to monitor our performance and alerts us to important changes we need to take. I am sorry if you felt that was not the case. Please do contact us directly if you would like to discuss further at recruitment@secretescapes.com

                1. 5.0
                  7 Jul 2023
                  Anonymous Employee
                  Current Employee
                  London, England
                  Recommend
                  CEO Approval
                  Business Outlook

                  Pros

                  Good place to work in London

                  Cons

                  Not any negatives that I can think off

                  Thank you for your review. We are pleased to hear that you are enjoying working with us!

                  1. 5.0
                    22 May 2023
                    Commercial Manager
                    Former Employee, more than 3 years
                    London, England
                    Recommend
                    CEO Approval
                    Business Outlook

                    Pros

                    dynamic environment with los of opportunity for growth

                    Cons

                    a bit too much politics, but could be worse

                    1

                    Thank you for your review! We take open and honest feedback as a way to develop and improve because it allows us to monitor our performance and alerts us to important changes we need to take. I am sorry if you felt that was not the case. Please do contact us directly if you would like to discuss further at recruitment@secretescapes.com

                    1. 2.0
                      31 Mar 2022
                      Platform Engineer
                      Former Employee, less than 1 year
                      London, England
                      Recommend
                      CEO Approval
                      Business Outlook

                      Pros

                      Intelligent people, very nice office

                      Cons

                      Swanky Office, great perks and benefits, but the job I was employed to do… OH MY GOSH… The company is obsessed with WIG’s (Wildly Important Goals) and is obsessed with having meetings about WIG’s, rather than getting stuff done. Meetings, meetings, meetings! No-one was sociable. The most exciting thing people did was “Biscuit Wednesday”, where they nominate someone to go and buy some biscuits from the shop each week. No pub lunches, no after work activities, none of that sort of stuff at all. I won’t name names… but there were people upset about being moved from the 5th floor to the 4th floor and having to sit with other people. This is a holiday company! Why such the introverted attitude?!? Git PR’s were a real pain to get approved. I was constantly criticised for every PR I made. I kept having to add minor changes (Like adding white space in unnecessary places) which stopped me from getting my work done on time. My work tickets and goals were constantly changed. In short, scope creep is a problem here. Secret Escapes also seems to be overly focused on documentation as well. Documentation is good, but there is a balance. Most of the time whilst working there, I found myself thinking: Oh my gosh… can we get some work done?! Also, all their desks are Hot desks with monitors that may or may not work, with a third party booking system that doesn’t work properly. These hot desks had no keyboards, mice or USB-C adapters available. I ended up buying my own and bringing them in to do my job.

                      2

                      Thank you for your review I am pleased you enjoyed all the benefits and perks Secret Escapes have to offer. We always listen to the feedback we are given to develop and improve. I am sorry you feel this way, please do contact us directly if you would like to discuss further at recruitment@secretescapes.com

                      1. 5.0
                        20 Sept 2022
                        Engineering Manager
                        Current Employee, more than 5 years
                        London, England
                        Recommend
                        CEO Approval
                        Business Outlook

                        Pros

                        It sounds cliched but the best thing about working at SE really is the people. Everyone is friendly and caring and wanting to do what is best for each other and for our users. In my time at SE I have worked on a huge variety of projects and have always had the flexibility and freedom to do things my way. I have been able to develop my skills in a number of different areas and have forged a path to progress my career.

                        Cons

                        SE isn't always big on 'process' for certain tings, this is often (in fact usually) quite a good thing in my mind, but it does mean that you will get out what you put in when it comes to things like career progression, if you are wiling to drive things forward yourself then you'll do fine, but it can be quit easy to 'coast' in your career progression if you aren't the one to drive it forward.

                        Thank you for your review, I am pleased that you are enjoying all the perks we offer at Secret Escapes - we love knowing that our employee's know that we care! Please do contact us directly if you would like to discuss further at recruitment@secretescapes.com

                      Viewing 1 - 10 of 170 Reviews
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                      Secret Escapes Reviews FAQs

                      Secret Escapes has an overall rating of 3.7 out of 5, based on over 197 reviews left anonymously by employees. 75% of employees would recommend working at Secret Escapes to a friend and 72% have a positive outlook for the business. This rating has decreased by -10% over the last 12 months.

                      According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, Secret Escapes employees rate their compensation and benefits as 3.1 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at Secret Escapes. This rating has decreased by -14% over the last 12 months.

                      75% of Secret Escapes employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews. Employees also rated Secret Escapes 4.2 out of 5 for work life balance, 4.1 for culture and values and 3.2 for career opportunities.

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                      Hello everyone! I interviewed for a position back in the beginning of October. There were a few flags in the interview but I still followed up a week later and was told the company was taking there time with the interview process. Fast forward to this week, I get an invite for an in person interview that they set for a random date for a 2 hour time block. After two months of ghosting, should I attend the interview?

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                      Program Manager

                      Wondering if anyone else is getting zero response From job inquiries because it’s Christmas? I just found out I don’t have a job in January! I need to work at Least 30 hours a week for a nonprofit for my PSLF! I only have like 4-6 months left!!!

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                      Glassdoor has 197 Secret Escapes reviews submitted anonymously by Secret Escapes employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Secret Escapes is right for you.