My husband and I arrived to the resort planning to celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary . The food at the buffet was decent, if repetative. As an RCI timeshare exchange we were classified as "VIP" and had access to the "VIP" beach section and the upgraded liquer. The rooms in the Penthouse area were clean and well kept and the weather was nice. Surprisingly they didn't try very hard to pitch us to become members.

However... the amount of information that the hotel provides, and the helpfulness of the staff is sorely lacking. We had to ask about every little detail. The safe in our room had no lock, so we had to ask the staff what happened - at which point we found out that we would have to pay $20 to rent a lock. That is ridiculous. We have traveled extensively and this is the first time we had to pay for a lock. The staff also kept unlocking the patio doors everytime they came to clean. At that point we were glad that we had the lock to secure our passports and digital camera.

There was no information in the room about the SPA services, resort policies like locks and dining options(we've never been to an all-inclusive before), TV channel guide, internet rates (we found out it was $8 per hour), upcoming events or special guest events. You have to ask multiple times to get any excursion brochures from the tour desks. Again, this contrary to every other travel exerience I've had. The Maimi newspaper was only available at the main reception (out of 3) desk.

To figure out our guest "status" we had to ask the staff several times what the differences were. Apparently were were "VIP" (as opposed to regular visitors) with our Blue shiny bands, hence the special beach access. So when we saw the advertisments for a "VIP" trip to see July 4th fireworks and U2 cover concert, we were excited. However we were denied access because we weren't "Lifestyle VIP" (aka. owners with Gold shiny bands). Oops. Apparently there are different classes of VIP, which three separate staff members failed to tell us about. Every time we asked for a flyer or details on the trip we were always assured "there will be information later". No one informed us that we were not eligable, and there was no information "later". I consider this to be on par with lying. At best it is willful disinterest because we were second class guests that had Blue bands not Gold bands.

There was construction everywhere and no "Wet Paint" signs. I ruined my favorite shorts because of it. Even when warned, the staff did nothing to rectify the problem.

At other resorts the staff would frequently circulate to check on drinks and food. We were lucky if the people at this resort came out once every two hours. The restaurant booking policy is poor and only two out of the four restaurants are open on a given night. We were promised fresh fruit in our suite every day, but only got it the first day we arrived. Another lie. They offered to "deliver" anything we wanted to the room - but we were wary of extra fees that they might add on - and declined. There was no information about what we could ask for and what we would be charged, and what counts as room service. Could we ask for a whole bottle of liquer at the bar or a bottle of champaign in the room on our anniversary? We don't know.

Be prepared to pay 4x the going rate for any extra bug spray or suntan lotion. Not surprising given the location, but be forewarned. Also, the all-inclusive rate is paid by number of beds not number of people. Since we exchanged into a 2 bedroom with only 2 people we still paid the 4 person rate. $350 per night. Is that normal for an all-inclusive place?

All in all, this resort lacks the service to make it a really great place. This goes hand-in-hand with their decline in ranking from an RCI Gold to an RCI Silver rating. If you only care about a room and lots of sunshine, then this place is fine. But if you care about service and knowing what is going on, this is not the place. Oh, and their website is also quite unhelpful.

We booked a 5 night all inclusive at this resort. This resort is so sub-standard unless you book at the VIP section. There was a tiny section for beach lounge chair, the rest of the area is for VIP. You will have to have the VIP bracelet to get better service. The drinks were horrible, the food was okay and the a la carte was a pain because you have to book it 24 hour ahead and is always booked up but when you look at the restaurant the restaurant is almost empty. We met other guests from UK and they complained about bugs all over their room.

One of their sales staff convinced us to a membership sales pitch where you pay from $15,000 to $100,000 to become a VIP member. Once a member you can rent VIP accomodation for discounted price. This membership supposedly extends to your family and friends. They lied about an 8 bedroom villas rent for $800/week if you are a member and you can get it all year round (52 weeks). So we figure out, we can rent an 8 bedroom villa to someone else (in 18 weeks - we get our money back). We signed the contract, the following day, we talked to other VIP members, we found out that there is only one 8 bedroom villa in this resort as of May 28... and that if you didn't pay premium membership, you will never get the 8 bedroom villas. The majority of the villas are 3 bedrooms, but again we didn't pay premium membership so we will be at the bottom of the list to get 3 bedroom villas, which was never explained during the sales presentation.

We wrote a cancellation letter the following day after we signed the contract and spoke to the customer service manager and she acknowledged and signed our cancellation notice. They tried to convinced us not to cancel but we found more things they lied about, like they have thousands of affiliates in other countries that we can use but we went to their interactive website, It was less than a hundred. You can however, use the RCI and pay exchange fee, which is why we never owned timeshare.

The manager said it will take a week to credit the money to our account, but until now, we don't see money credited back to our account, and worse of it all, the people does not even update you of what's going on. Our representative has once replied saying that our email was forwarded to the admin office, no details as to when they are going to credit our account. We are in the process of disputing the charges with the credit card company, (Bank of America).

The sales people were bunch of liers. We've been to many other all inclusive resorts and this was the worse experience we ever had.

I have been coming to Lifestyle Tropical Beach Resort for about 8 years. The quality of the property, services, reception and amenities continues just gets better each year! I particulary enjoy how I've made special requests (including a special BBQ and beach activities and even some lessons to play polo!) and the staff and management have always gone beyond the call of duty!

Keep it up and Great Job!

I recently returned from a trip which I contracted through VACATION TRAVEL MART. I dare not call it a vacation as it was anything but such. Coming home to a workplace in shambles only added to my frustration as my trip to the Dominican Republic should have been the vacation I needed. Although I do not want to relive this trip, I write this letter to make others aware of the substandard accommodations at Lifestyle Tropical Beach Resort & Spa AS WELL AS the disastrous service and so called “deals” at VACATION TRAVEL MART. Almost one month later I am still EXTREMELY unsatisfied and upset with my trip and after more than three unanswered phone calls to the VACATION TRAVEL MART since my return May 13th I feel this post is very necessary.

On April 19nd 2008, I called VACATION TRAVEL MART to inquire about their 5 night package to Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. Subsequently after speaking to a representative with decent customer service I purchased the package online for a total price of $1180. This package was to include:
1. a 5 night stay at the all inclusive Lifestyle Tropical Beach Resort & Spa for two
2. round trip airfare for two from Miami to Puerto Plata
3. ground transfers for two
4. travel insurance
5. complimentary entry for the total number of guests to Ocean World (only included in 5 night stays or more)
I specifically requested a quiet room with ocean view and double bed as I had planned to propose to my boyfriend there. I called VACATION TRAVEL MART the next day and spoke with Beth. I informed Beth that I could be overlooking my flight details but thought they were missing all together. Before I could finish my sentence Beth rudely said “I’ll email it to you now.” I asked if I she needed any identifying information in order to send the info to me and quite loudly hissed, “I SAID I would send it to you now.” This should have been indicator of the level of service I was about to receive but I decided I would not let one representative who was obviously having a bad day ruin what I thought would be a great and momentous vacation.

On Wednesday May 7th my boyfriend, Chris and I caught a flight from our hometown in Los Angeles to Miami excited about our first vacation together. Our package was to begin Thursday May 8th and end Tuesday May 13th. Upon arrival I was disappointed with the Lifestyle Tropical Beach Resort & Spa. The pictures displayed on the VACATION TRAVEL MART website were far from reality. I pretty sure a few of them were from the hotels VIP section. Which in reality is not much to write home about as the VIP outdoor beach beds were covered in blue plastic and half the VIP section is under construction. This “resort” was rated as a “four palm tree” resort. If that is suppose to be equivalent to “four stars” VACATION TRAVEL MART has a lot of explaining to do. Upon arrival I felt bamboozled, and very disappointed to find:
1. Construction
2. Dinner reservations for that night and next were already booked
3. A room with no ocean view or double bed as requested
4. Accommodations that were equivalent to a basic American MOTEL.

Upon complaining to Hotel Director, Jannett Zacarias, we were moved to another room and given dinner reservations (which were supposed COMPLETELY booked just an hour before). While the second room had an ocean view it lacked:
1. A double bed as requested.
2. Air Conditioning (the weather at that time was in the high 80’s and humid- A/C was NEEDED)
3. Running water!
4. A quiet location as requested. (The room was right outside the activity center and speakers)
a. THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE FOR ANY HOTEL. RUNNING WATER & A/C ARE STANDARD!!!

We did, however, wake up with bites all over our legs, presumably bed bugs, as we had not been in the sand. We were both still sick from the food the night before. When we went to take a shower that morning the water was shut off and when management was called they said they were “working on it and it would be back on in a couple hours". A video and pictures are included. Later that night after the water problem was fixed they had to work on the air conditioning. We spent most of our night sitting out by the pool as our room was much too hot to allow us to sleep. The so-called shows at the Lifestyle we sexually offensive, poorly organized, almost completely in Spanish (we are tourists- hello!), and all on a filthy set (the curtains were torn & backstage looked like a garage!). The beach was all of ten feet from the wall of the establishment to the water, and while I wasn't expecting white sand I was expecting it decent and free of litter! The activity center was completely "cheesy' and lackluster to say the least. The alcohol gave us both headaches (no we didn't drink a lot), and definitely not top shelf!

Chris and I were relieved that day when we met Roel our representative from Club Caribe. We explained our situation to Roel and let him know that we were extremely disappointed and dissatisfied with our hotel as he was said to be our host while in Puerto Plata. Roel seemed very eager to help offering great customer service unlike VACATION TRAVEL MART employees. It was explained that Club Caribe oversaw guest relations, ground transportation and excursions, as it partners with Festa Holidays for accommodations, who partners with VACATION TRAVEL MART to sell packages. Once Roel heard about our unsatisfactory stay at Lifestyle Tropical Beach Resort & Spa he phoned Festa Holidays and got us permission to transfer to another hotel the next day.(Victoria Golf & Beach Resort, my review for them is great by the way). Thus on May 10th we checked out of Lifestyle Tropical Beach Resort & Spa as Roel indicated, and lodged a complaint with them as well. Jannett Zacarias, Director of Lifestyle Tropical Beach Resort & Spa, agreed that we would not be charged the remaining 3 nights. That was a relief! Too bad I had to pay out of pocket for the second hotel and VACATION TRAVEL MART has yet to refund me my money!!!