this resort has somewhat of a split personality. the grounds are luscious and well kept, expansive and often breath-taking. but some of the original hotel rooms and casitas need updating. we had a two bedroom casita fronting the beach. we were charmed by the open air style of the living areas, and the bedrooms and baths were attractive and very clean. but our mini-fridge was rusted, busted, and fried. there was no attempt to even address the problem, necessitating many trips to other buildings for ice. we loved feeling the sea breezes inside the casita.

all employees were polite, friendly, eager to help. aside from a few key personnel, none had a good enough grasp of english to make communication easy.

be sure to rent a golf cart! the area to be covered is huge. there are many things to do during the day, but virtually no nightlife. beaches are beautiful and clean, pools great, a wonderful ecological path through a forested are with several swimmable, crystal clear, fresh water lagoons.

the food was good, but very expensive. beer and liquor were also way too high. a trip to a nearby shopping center is a chore, with frustrating confusion between who-when-where to use pesos or dollars.

but we had a great time, enjoying the beachfront location, great weather, delicious breakfast buffet, and friendly people. and the guys loved whizzing around on the golf cart!

A friend of ours was getting married at this resort. Since the price was reasonable, we booked a week’s stay. We have been to Punta Cana, DR, several years ago and stay at the Rui Palace, which was a pretty good experience. We knew this resort was not all inclusive and was up for trying out all their restaurants. Our experience was frustrating, from their lack of communication skills to their inability to understand to how service their guests…Would not recommend this hotel unless you can speak Spanish. Here a summary.

Getting From the Airport to Hotel: pre-purchased airport transfer with the hotel. Our friends had informed us that this service would whisk us away from all the lines & get us right to our transportation & had highly recommended this. Not only were we waiting on line, when we found our transportation, they couldn’t locate our reservation. When the driver dropped us off, he asked us if we had pre-paid. We assumed that the transportation coordination person from the hotel would have told the drive this…

Check-in: The front desk person spoke very little English, which made a very simple process more complicated. Since we had only 2 small luggage on wheels, we thought we can wheel our luggage to our own rooms. WRONG. The hotel map was horrible, plus the instructions provided by the front desk was no help. And when we finally found out building, there was no elevator and we were on the third floor

General Service – I asked for a wash cloth. The hotel sent 20 towels, but none was a wash cloth. We found out that our phone in the room didn’t work. Went to front desk to inform them. By the 3rd day, and 3 long walks to the front desk each day, the front desk had the nerve to tell me to call them with the problem (hello, the phone isn’t working). I sent my boyfriend to deal with them after that. Eventually, the hotel said the problem was the phone line within the wall and wouldn’t be able to fix it during our stay and asked if we were willing to move rooms. We declined as we had a couple of days left.

Restaurants – we found that the more expensive the restaurant is on the property, the better service and food. Also, the staff’s ability to speak English also improves. It is recommended that you make reservations with the restaurants before you show up. We followed this recommendation, but the concierge told us we didn’t need to. When we showed up at the restaurant, the wait was over an hour (even there were empty seats). We decided to head back to the pizzeria by the main pool, not exactly our original plan of a more relax and romantic evening

Drinks – house wine was our choice b/c we found the bottles were pricier & didn’t taste good

Property – because we were there off season, we had the whole place to ourselves. And we really enjoyed it. The property is quite large, so we can go to different spots on different days

Getting around – the front desk can call a cart for you to get from one destination to another but you have to wait & we didn’t know the tipping etiquette. The best way to get around is probably to rent your own golf cart. It could get pricy if you keep it for a few days

Rooms – we had a suite. It was okay but the furniture didn’t make you fee like you are at a very nice place

Check-out: Tried to explained to the front desk that we already pre-paid for the airport transfer foe 15 minutes, but it didn’t make matter, she kept on wanting to charge us. After trying to explain it numerous times, I decided it was not worth and we’ll just eat the cost

At the Airport when Leaving: This was the most pleasant experience b/c the airport transfer description of skipping the lines, etc., really happened and we were at our gate in 10 minutes

I have never felt compelled to write a review..until now. I will start with the positives:

The people working there from the maid, to the server, to the bar tender were phenomenally friendly and kind. Everything take a bit longer but that is to be expected in the DR. The beach is beautiful as is the water. Kayaking, windsurfing (if you can get the board) and sailing on small hobie cats is free.

Here are some of the things that were not so pleasant. We arrived at 5:00pm and our beach casita was not ready. At 6:00pm we were brought to a beach casita that was so far off the beach you couldn't even see the water or the beach. We called and complained to no avail, they had nothing available so we stayed there our first night. The casita is supposed to come with a kitchenette, however there was only a sink that didn't work and a small fridge. There was no microwave or cook top (we later found out that this didn't matter anyway as there was no place to buy any groceries)., plus there were so many mosquitoes you couldn't sit out there anyway. The door to our bedroom wouldn't open properly you had to really hit it hard with your shoulder. In general the whole casita seemed in dire need of updating, repair and paint. We were tired and resigned to stay there the first night and continue our effort to get another casita the next day.
After four more phone calls they finally gave in and moved us to a casita that was at least close enough were you could see the beach and the water, plus the breeze made a big difference with the mosquitoes you could actually sit outside on the porch. There was no fridge in this one, so they brought the fridge from the other one. They were also kind enough to bring us a can of bug spray. Again, the people working there were great. The first night we sat outside and a pick up drove by with a huge fogger on the back and smoked the entire area, we scrambled to get in the house, but you could still smell it. The good news is that it can't be that bad for you since it doesn't seem to do anything to the mosquitoes. The food is OK but nothing special.
The beach was great, but like everything here, about half the lounges were broken and you couldn't put the backrest up.
Here is my main complain. I felt like I was in a 11,000 acre prison. You can only walk the beach of this resort, it is set up so that you are isolated from any other resort. There are no taxis, they have a shuttle service that will take you to the airport or to a little "village" that is set up specifically for tourists. They will also pick you up, they might be late, but don't leave the agreed pick up spot, don't even go 10 paces away as they will not stop, they just drive through, if you are not there, they will just leave. You can have one of the people in the restaurant call a "taxi" for you.
There is a pharmacy, a little supermarket and a couple of restaurants there. There is no town or city here, there is no local area to explore or local restaurants to eat at. There are a bunch of other resorts but they are inaccessible. There is also no nightlife here, which didn't bother us much since we had our 7 month old with us. Internet seemed to work about half the time. If you are going there with your children, be aware that there are lots of European tourist that go topless.
For the price we paid, this hotel was definitely sub par. How this hotel got a 4 star rating I will never know.

I will never go back because the service was the worst ever. The bartenders could not make drinks on their own drink menu. They tried to charge me for a dinner I never ate. I ate one meal with no napkins or ketchup, because they were out of both. We had to fix our own toilet because no one ever showed up to fix it. One dinner cost us the same as a high end steak house in New York City would, and it was probably the worst Pan Seared Tuna I ever ate. During dinners you have to pray that the waiter will come back to check on whether you need more drinks. The concierge hung up on me several times when I was trying to make a reservation at a restaurant. I finally went down to the desk and was told to wait a minute, as the concierge walked away. After waiting 10 minutes, I just gave up. Others in our group had to wait as much as an hour after sitting down at Mama Venenzia's to receive their appetizers. You have to be careful when walking down the paths at night because the workes fly by on trucks or carts.

The food was way overpriced for the quality. The key is to order their meats. They do not know how to cook fish.

Do yourself a favor and stay somewhere else. I have never wanted to leave a vacation early before, like I did this time. I was just worn down by the effort it took to get the staff to get you want you wanted.

If you decide to go however, be sure to get the waiter Jose at Franco's to make you a Caipirinha or any other drink. Very great guy who will treat you nice.