Sarah Splain
Terrible hotel.. I don’t even know where to start. I see the same complaints dating way back in these reviews and nothing ever changes. It’s such a shame because the location and everything outside is beautiful. Clearly nothing will be done to fix these issues, so I highly recommend steering clear of this place!! In case you’re still not convinced, here are just some of the things we dealt with on our week long stay.
When we arrived the first day, checking in took forever. We got to our room and it had a bad smell and wasn’t clean. The first morning I went into the bathroom and there was a giant cockroach on the floor. The toilet only flushed sometimes. The showers were cold most of the time. The shower bar and the toilet paper holder both broke off of the walls. Housekeeping didn’t hardly clean at all. We needed towels and toilet paper but when we called to get some to our room, it never came. The AC didn’t work well and we called countless times about it and no one ever came to help and I had a young child in my room. The second night, I got food poisoning from the buffet and ended up throwing up. The food here is terrible, the only good food was the pizzeria and the Japanese restaurant but a lot of times it took forever to get food/drinks. The soda here is ALWAYS flat. Most of the time the water they serve is warm. They will give you a menu at the restaurants but then a lot of times when you choose something they say they are out of it. They will serve you plates that are missing items they’re supposed to have. If you call the front desk with literally any problem they will do absolutely nothing. Some staff were friendly, but some were very rude. So so disappointed in this trip. While on vacation I shouldn’t have to worry about what I can eat for my next meal without getting sick, or bringing home cockroaches!!!! SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE DONE TO FIX THIS PLACE. It is very clear the people running this place only care about making money, and not taking care of their guests. Do better.
Lindsay Couto
The beach is large with lots of chairs, it’s honestly spectacular. The pools are a great layout for families although they were far from clean and if you want a shady area to sit you have to go out at about 5 am to mark your spot.
The food was enjoyable and the a la cart restaurants were very good. It was difficult to get an early reservation in order to eat before the babies had to go to bed, you have to go down to guest services very early and request this and then go back later in the day to confirm.
The service was overall quite poor, that’s not to say all employees were unhelpful but it was a mixed bag depending on who you got.
I had to fill bottles of milk for my baby and many employees would give me a carton for the room but I did have one woman flat out refuse and only offered me a cup which wouldn’t fill even the whole bottle. Also there is no non-dairy milk option so if you or your child has an allergy this would be an issue.
We were travelling with family and young babes so we asked for rooms to be close together ahead of time and were refused any help both ahead and at the resort when we landed. We also asked to reserve cribs and we’re told they were first come first serve so we had to bring our own travel cribs to ensure our babes had a safe place to sleep. If we didn’t ask ahead we could have shown up with no where for our babies to sleep.
The rooms are dated which wasn’t a big deal to us but the toilets didn’t flush very well and the room wasn’t always cleaned daily, we each had a day where a room wasn’t cleaned or towels weren’t replaced.
Overall the resort is a great size and the pools and amenities are great for young families but I would say the service really needs to level up to match the same standard.
Megan whalen
If you plan on booking here I would suggest you read!!
Let’s be honest if you have travelled anywhere outside of North America you need to understand life is slightly different and you will need to navigate.
The pros - the outside of the resort is amazing, the beach, the pool great. Highly recommend spending a bit extra and having a beach front dinner it’s excellent. Pizza at lunch is a must, Japanese and French, if you eat at the buffet line up at the hot plates. Learn to tip it goes along way, everyone was kind and helpful. The rooms were fine, for the cost - sure could use some upgrades but nothing horrible that the view didn’t take away. The pool and resort activities were excellent and lots always happening.
The cons - there is really no amenities in the room, no beer or alcohol, cleaning needs improvement the girl came in the room daily and made the beds but often left towels on the floor and did not even take out garbage. There were no decor on the bed daily and even though we said we were on a honeymoon nothing was done for us. Our biggest complaint was the buffet, all other things were not a big deal. I think the owner / managers need to read the consistent feedback and implement some tweaks overall it’s worth the price of paradise for a week. If you are a complainer and have high expectations I’d suggest perhaps you move along. If you want a week away and can navigate the Caribbean time, and enjoy the pool and beach amenities you will be fine!
Robin Zitaruk
I recently took my family here and I wish I could say it was a great experience, but I can't. I have been to DR previously and loved it so wanted to share it with my family but it was a completely different trip. We started the first day with a room that had no flushing toilet and stunk like sewage. The air conditioning did not work and there was no fan. We paid to upgrade our room to a family room and on the surface seemed better but besides the size it wasn't. Again we had issues with the plumbing throughout our stay and our last night had no flushing toilet again. No one came to fix it regardless of asking repeatedly and being told 4+ times someone would be "right there". The air conditioning also never worked in this room and no fan. The lock in the kids side was broken so not very secure. Finally, the roof in the kids room leaked, not just a couple drips but poured through the ceiling, so bad we had to put down all the towels and ice bucket to stop it from flooding the room, again no one ever came. The housekeeping staff left the towels on the ground the next day and didn't give us new ones, so not amazing there either. We ran out of toilet paper twice and had to ask housekeeping after they had already cleaned our room then just went to the cart and got it ourselves. The plumbing was obviously as issue throughout as I repeatedly went into the public use bathrooms only to turn around because they were filled with human waste (poor reflection on the guests as well to continue using a facility that clearly is out of order). For the most part the staff was friendly but again, took multiple times of asking for something from multiple staff to actually get helped. This was especially prevalent during meals when you couldn't find a clean table or get a glass of water until you were finished eating. Perhaps there needs to be more staff available in order to make things run more smoothly and help the existing staff so they are not run off their feet.
The grounds were beautiful and the pools were well maintained, the beach was lovely.
The food was not exactly superb with some questionable textures but you can't expect the same food as back home, different ingredients and availability makes it a challenge. but we found something to eat every meal and never went hungry. I will say my son loved the chicken station and ate that pretty much every night.
Overall, I wish this was a better experience, this was my kids first time visiting another country and I had high hopes. Not having a flushing toilet is not acceptable for the amount of money you pay for these vacations.
Jamie Serio
Well first and foremost. The place is infested with roaches, including the snack bar. I have pictures. The outside of the resort is awesome, but the room service ensued for the most part are horrible. I highly recommend Japanese and French food. And the pizzeria other than that you're going to be disappointed in the food there. We had no air the whole week. We were there and I did not get help to the very last day. They finally allowed me to have their fan from the main lobby, but it took me all week to finally get it because they could not fix the air conditioning. We had a two year old girl in her room and I told them that and it still did not matter. They simply said we will report it about fifteen times. I don't recommend anyone to go here due to the bad service and the roaches I seen in our room and at the snack bar. Some of these roaches were as long as your thumb.