This place doesn't cut it as a 5 star hotel.
The room we had was a pretty standard small hotel room, nothing special.
But there are a couple of things that make the Bakoua worth considering.
The bar which overlooks the infinity pool which overlooks Fort de France and Mont Pelee is fantastic. Sit with a ti punch and watch the clouds build over the mountain.
The landscaped beach thing is pretty gravelly and weird, but while we were there it came with a beautiful young French lady who modelled/sold bikinis. Worth the price of admission!
Walking distance to the bars/restaurants of the marina - not very French but maybe that's what you are after.
Perhaps it is best just to drop in for a drink and stay somewhere else - but don't miss the chance to sit and enjoy the view.

This is not a Sofitel, it is a a managed hotel. Basically a 3 star playing a 5 star game.

The reception area is horrible, check in is confusing, there is little or no attention paid to the guest , it took us 45 mins to check in ( at 8pm and we were the only ones).

The rooms are typical Caribbean, garish oranges and reds, tiled floors. not bad, but not Sofitel.

There is one pool , quite small, and right outside the restaurant, oh and its 3 metres deep, which should be fun for the kids as there are no markings.

The view from nearly all rooms is of the sea and FDF , and is absolutely stunning there is a resort town outside the hotel , with a Europcar, so you can hire from there.

Also there is no gym , and no spa facilities

I think the biggest problem with this hotel is they create perceptions of Sofitel elegance and charge 320Euros per night for the experience ( RO).
They fail miserably at meeting these perceptions, however it is a great 3 * hotel.

PS hire a car

We stayed in the Sofitel Bakoua the last week of December, one of the busiest week in Martinique with many French tourists trying to escape France's winter.

The Bakoua is located in Pointe du Bout near Trois Ilets which is the worst part of Martinique in terms of authentcity. The good news is that the close by Marina is a good location for those interested in sailing or scuba diving.

The hotel itself is ok but not up to the Sofitel standards that you may find elsewhere. Food is average and very expensive. I would recommend to go to the ponton restaurant next to the hotel that offers much better food at an affordable price.

We were upgraded to a "beach room" just in front of the beach. It's supposed to be a premium room, however it was a nightmare: The beach itself is very small and not private to hotel guests. Therefore it was crowded from dusk till dawn with noise and not a chance to have some privacy on our small terrasse. Moreover the beach is not very well maintained, we did not see one staff on the beach during our stay.

Room itself is ok (with the Sofitel bed) but small and the bathroom need a little refit.

Overall the Bakoua may be one of the best hotel in Martinique but it's far from the luxury standards you would expect from this price range. If you plan to stay in Martinique I would recommend to stay in a more authentic and less expensive place.

We struggled to find many reviews of Martinique before we travelled and when we did find them we were often disappointed. The Sofitel seemed to offer a reliable holiday experience and we were not disappointed during our 2 night stay.
We arrived by catamaran from St. Lucia. Not an experience I would recommend but the Liat flights we wanted were fully booked and having experienced significant delays returning from Dominica a couple of weeks previous (which meant overnighting in Barbados), we didn't want to chance the evening flights which were available.
The Sofitel is set in a beautiful location. The photos do not lie.
The location means that all main parts of the hotel - bar, pool, beach, restaurant, offer stunning views of Fort de France. The public areas are immaculate and stylish. The room was fine. We booked a garden view via Expedia - it offered very good value. It could have done with a little TLC in the bathroom but this is a small niggle.
The hotel offers excellent dining. It is not particularly cheap (46 euros for a buffet dinner) but the quality means that it is excellent value. We should have guessed that dining would be as good as mainland France and it was. However this was not the case in the quieter, northern parts of the island.
We felt that we were probably the only non-French guests and we did speak French a lot on our trip. We needed to, use of English is fairly limited.
If you don't wish to dine at the hotel there is a range of good restaurants within a 3 minute walk of the front door as the resort of Pointe du Bout wraps round one side of the hotel. Excellent dining at Les Trois Rivieres.
Visit the Depaz plantation at St. Pierre. A plantation house reminiscent of those which are now hotels on St. Kitts and Nevis.
Martinique is a very different Caribbean than the sleepier islands. Reminders of mainland France are everywhere - dual carriageways, hypermarkets, signs. You can get away from the hussle and bussle and we were sad to leave - there is much more to see.