As mentioned, the Hotel Palacio has an excellent location
for exploring the Zona Colonial. We were accomodated with an
early check-in and were given a well appointed and spacious room with windows on 2 sides. However, we were very disappointed by a noisy hotel construction project right across from our room. No siestas for us!!! Due to the heat, we looked forward to a respite mid-day before heading out again for the evening. We were surprised that neither the hotel, TA or the booking service mentioned construction. We politely asked the woman at the front desk if they could do something for us...and she quickly responded by offering us breakfast for our 3 mornings. We appreciated her gesture and the good attitude that she showed. Another problem we had was with the safe in our room. We must have missed a number or something and then it wouldn't open. So finally 3 people had to come and get it open for us! We were also disappointed not to have hot water for the shower. And on our last night we had a strong sewer smell in our
room!!! To top it off, the morning of our departure the desk provided our wake-up call at 5:00 am instead of the 6:30!!! We then heard the phone next door and imagine that our call was meant for them!! Despite these glitches we did enjoy Hotel
Palacio and would consider staying there again (sans construction!) Although there is limited English used by the
staff... knowing some Spanish is helpful too!

we stayed at the palacio for 3 nites in order to connect with
a cruise.When we arrived we were pleasantly greeted by the
2 girls at the desk and proceeded to checkin without any
further ado.after checkin we were ushered by the concierge
to our room on the first floor and politely ensconced into our
room, with a brief explanation of the room's facilities.
the hotel is pleasantly situated in semi-tropical foliage and
overall lends to the atmosphere of a former Governor's
residence.whilst we were there there was further work going
on, adding more rooms to the complex and whilst the work
was between 1000 and 1800, it did not disturb too much.
Our room was fairly large, the furnishings dark ( to replicate the
colonial spanish theme) and our windows were kept drawn and shut due to potential security problems ( which we never encountered).
After our first nite we found that the aircon..was just too cold..
and as it was situated directly facing the bed..WE FROZE......
I tried to adjust the aircon but quickly deduced that the manual
control was not reacting to the subsequent temperature controls
I selected. Also the finish of the room whilst adequate although
in the bathroom shower it was a little dangerous as there was a sharp object possibly a misplaced grate that covered the drain hole which had the potential if you mistepped to rip open a foot .
I reported this to the desk the next morning and also a request
for face washers.Although the people at the desk did speak
English (and we are not unfortunately spanish speakers)
we found that although they acknowledged our reports and requests,their response was a little stilted.We did also speak
to a lady who I was told a manager of some type and also
as this person spoke some english,again the response was a little stilted.To sum up .we never had the aircon corrected...
..the face washer never turned up..and although I didnt expect the
shower stall problem to be fixed whilst we were there.. I hope
it was attended to.As we were paying over US$105 per nite
WITHOUT BREAKFAST we expected a little better.. also we found
as mentioned the staff we encounted ..though formally pleasant...a stiffness that suggested nonchalence and indifference.
This hotel is well located and certainly has the potential to be
a GOOD BOUTIQUE HOTEL in SANTO DOMINGO

If you are looking for a nice hotel in Santo Domingo center, do not look any further. This hotel is close to Conde and the cathedral. It's a very cute boutique hotel with very friendly staff. We first went to San Nicolas de Ovando, the Sofitel hotel which we did not really like. Then we switched to a room at the Palacio, for half the price of the Sofitel, it's really a no brainer.

Having decided to escape our very nice but non-Dominican all inclusive resort in Bayahibe, we came to the capital for 2 nights. The Hotel Palacio was the second of our 2 nights and we wish we'd found it earlier. The staff showed us a range of rooms, standard, superior and the suite. The standard was lovely but having had a not too pleasant a night before, we decided to spend the extra $40 on the suite and get the extra space, terrace and spacious bathroom. All were beautifully decorated, the staff were friendly and helpful and the public areas were excellent, with the loveliest patio. The addition of more rooms and a swimming pool will only improve the hotel.
The location is fantastic - just off Conde with lots of restaurants nearby and all the sights in the Zona Colonial.
The only negatives were very loud aircon or generator noises during the night from outside the room and that breakfast is $9 extra. On the latter, there were plenty of cheap places nearby to get breakfast, Cafe Flor on Conde being where we chose and enjoyed.
Overall, an excellent experience and I'd thoroughly recommend it to any visitors to Santo Domingo.