TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

My partner booked a 10-day stay at this resort as a graduation gift, and while the property itself is beautiful and well-maintained, our experience with the staff was disappointing. As a Black couple, we were aware of the cultural dynamics in the Dominican Republic, but the level of dismissiveness we encountered was unexpected. Despite making several requests, we often felt overlooked in favor of fairer-skinned guests, which was disheartening. Things only improved when we began tipping generously, which is fine to a degree, but it felt like basic courtesy and service should not have required extra incentives. The resort has so much potential, and we wanted to fully enjoy our stay, but the attitude of the staff unfortunately dampened our experience. I hope management can address this issue to create a more inclusive and welcoming environment for all guests.

It took over 2 hours to check in, the staff is either not present or not helpful, I had to ask for towels every day of my 7 day stay because housekeeping would take the old ones and never leave me clean towels, my room was dirty the first day when I arrived and the floors were dirty the third day and I had to ask for cleaning, the property and my room smelled of urine probably from the dozens of stray cats, the bed was extremely hard and the pillows are only 1 inch thick and smell not fresh, none of the furniture is cleaned throughout the entire resort (chairs and couches were stained and soiled), the restaurants didn't clean well (especially the buffet area where tables, chairs, floors, and place mats were dirty). I would not recommend that anyone come to this resort until these issues are fixed.

A fantastic 2 week family holiday! We'd read the reviews, often not the best, however although the hotel isn't perfect, the staff are all really friendly and helpful. The secret is treat people how you wish to be treated, follow this rule and you won’t go wrong, everyone was lovely. We witnessed other nationalities having arguments with staff, shoving phone cameras in their faces, filming whilst arguing. This really isn’t necessary and would rub anyone up the wrong way, no doubt it’s people like this who are leaving the negative reviews. We had a standard Junior suit the first week, it was a little tired, but adequate and clean. At the end of the first week our aircon leaked, I phoned reception to report it, within 10 minutes an engineer was at the room, and it was fixed. Unfortunately, the following day my wife noticed water coming through the ceiling of our shower, we were on our way to reception anyway, I spoke to Crystal on guest services, she was absolutely fantastic. She said this is the second issue you’ve had, perhaps we can change your room for you, I explained it wasn’t really a problem, she said no, but have a look at the new room tomorrow and you can decide if you’d like to move. I called her the next day, she explained the hotel was going to give us a complimentary room upgrade, someone would take us there to show us. Well, the new room was more recently decorated, the bedding all looked new as did the bathroom, it was a no brainer, we packed up and moved much to the delight of my wife and son. We ate at all the restaurants, can’t fault any of them, the food was always good, and there is a wide variety to suit everyone. What isn’t necessarily explained to you is how the à la carte restaurants work, not all have menu’s which can be confusing at the beginning, however there are QR codes on the tables, these lead you to the menu, so remember to take your phone with you. WiFi is great throughout the whole resort, the rooms have fibre to them, so there is no connectivity issues. The grounds are by far the best feature of the hotel they are maintained everyday by a fantastic hard-working team. One tip we were given (and I wish I’d known before going), everyday the rooms fridge is refilled with drinks, any not used take and give to the staff, whether that’s the grounds staff or the morning seaweed clearers on the beach, they will be very grateful as they are not provided such things. The average wage in the Dominican Republic is $250-$350 per month, so they also rely on customer tips which the hotel distributes to all staff (you’ll know when it’s pay day, there is an extra bounce in their step, especially the lovely room cleaners). There is quite a mixture of nationalities visiting the hotel, the first week we were there had a lot of Americans, then there was an influx of English, followed by an invasion of French. The pool bar can get really busy at times, but the pool is big enough to find a sunbed and plenty of space to swim. At first it was quite strange to see ducks wandering around the pool, they were there on a daily basis, along with train of ducklings, they often have a knap in the afternoon under the sunbeds, occasionally you found yourself sharing the pool with a swimming duck as well. The animation team work hard to entertain everyone, this can often be quite loud. The evening entertainment, some of it is good, other bits not so good, and it is repeated on a weekly basis. The beach is a real bonus of this hotel, it’s quieter than the pool and really well maintained. There is seaweed (or more like sea grass) that gets washed up everyday with the tide, however every morning a team of staff rake the beach and clear it, there is a boom off of the beach to try to control it coming in. The other side of the boom is a sand bank that is exposed at low tide and can be walked on. The reef is a long way from the shore, it would be a long swim to get there. The water remains shallow most of the way to the reef. One last tip, when you check out you are given a small card, keep hold of this, it’ll be collected from you when you get on the coach when you leave, it proves you are checked out and have paid any balances accrued during your stay.

Catalonia condones assault. Twice we have had incidents and twice we have communicated through the proper channels only to be laughed at, brushed off, and ignored. One of our party was inappropriately touched at a bar. We went to the desk asking to at least file a report. We were ignored for 20 minutes and conveniently that was enough time for customer service to clock off. We then were once again laughed at for reporting that a man had inappropriately touched one in our party and told that customer service comes back at 9am which is when we could file our complaint. The staff refused to call in anyone, no one took any notes from our complaint, and the person who deigned to even listen to our statement suddenly found something to do in the middle of dealing with us. Everyone deserves to at least have their incidents taken seriously and recorded, and it should not take 20 minutes to have someone listen when you start by saying “my friend was inappropriately touched, we would like to tell someone”. Not safe for families, not safe for children, pray you do not have an issue because no one will take it seriously.

Jordanis is the best bartender. He is so very attentive and quick!! We stayed for 6 days and had him for 5 out of the 6 days and I couldn't have asked for better service! He was absolutely amazing. Whether he was at the main bar or our Exclusive Pure Chill Out Bar (which he was there each day after 6pm!) he made sure we were taken care of and remembered our drinks each night! He deserves kudos for above and beyond with his customer service & great charisma! We will definitely be back that's for sure!!