Playa Real Beach Resort

We found every thing we wanted. The hotel had some water supply problems that were repaired quickly. Food was excellent and we never bothered to try the a la carte. The evening entertainment was sensational including the childrens reviews. Communication with the staff was no problem. Most spoke enough english to get by. To my knowledge There were four languages spoken during the week we were there.

we booked a tour across the road at bulton tours. Ask for Smith. Tell him you are part of the family and want the family discount.

We took the jeep safari the day before we left. If you want to get a real feeling for this island this is the way to go. It is a eye opener.

If you want a lounge chair get up put your towel on it and then go back to bed, No big deal. If you don't want to get up use a chair

There is a construction job next door and our room over looked this building. Again this is Life. The Playa Real has no control of the property next door. We found it entertaining to sit on the balcony in the late after noon and watch the construction..

My only complaint is a pack of stray dogs on this site that bark late at

night. Again don't blame the Hotel?

We had a great time and would return in a heart beat.

Dave and Jeannie Hamilton Ontario

My husband and I booked a trip to Juan Dolio at the Playa Real Resort in the Dominican fro Jan 14/05 - Jan 21/05. We went on a sell off through Sunquest. They advertised that it is in La Romania, but since we did our research we knew it was 1 hr west of La Romania in a cute little town call Juan Dolio.

We arrived in La Romania and right away there were people greeting us and taking pictures. After a quick line through customs we went out side and there were tour bus people with signs coming up to us to make sure we got on the right bus and taking our luggage right away. We then went on a 1 hr bus ride and along the way the tour guide explained about the Dominican and a little about the few town we went through. The buses were safe and comfortable.

We arrived at our hotel and checked in. We were a little worried about this hotel because of the other reviews on this page. But I have to say I have no idea what these other people were talking about! It was a beautiful resort!

-The hotel was in excellent condition and kept very clean. Our maid came more than once a day to make sure all was well and we had supplies as much as we needed.

-The food was buffet style but they had many, many varieties to choose from and was very flavorful! Everynight they change it up and there was so many options that you didn't really need to go to the A La Cart restaurants.

-There was excellent service everywhere, from the maids, to the bars etc

-The lounge chairs were hard to get a hold of since most people got up at 6am to nab them, but that happens at every resort. There was more than enough beach and pool space to lay out and catch some rays.

-The beach was clean and raked everyday by the staff and pools cleaned out all day long. There was never garbage laying around, not even empty cups!

-There is a hotel being built a little ways beside the resort but there was never any noise, they build it by hand it's kind of neat to see and u can only see it if u walk to the very edge of the resort near the water. It's not an eye sore as you can't see it from inside the resort itself.

-There were vendors selling things but they weren't pushy and were very kind (just earning a living). And there were only one or 2 vendors at a time and they're only allowed to walk along the pier.

-I got my hair braided for really cheap, you just have to know how to barter!

-I would suggest going right across the street where there are many little shops if your looking for paintings or little trinkets... there were many reasonable deals and it was very safe to walk around freely (unlike other parts of the DR). Also to exchange money or travellers checks it is cheaper to go across the street to do so.

-We took a tour to Catalina Island which was excellent. We booked with a tour company across the street rather that at the hotel since it was 1/2 price) The trip was fun... it was all inclusive as well. The food and drinks were excellent. The boat was a little slow but it was a fun time snorkeling. They had so many types of coral and fish (hope our picts turn out)! The sand was white and water clear.

-The disco was small and in the main hotel, but not many people were in it at all times. But it was fun and a good place to meet other travellers and play pool or dance.

-There was also some slot machines in a little room off the main lobby.

-The nightly entertainment was excellent good crowd partitpation. I would recommend the comedy show, it was very funny!

-The sporting equipment was in excellent condition, and the beach towels were always clean and large.

-We met lots of guests that were return visitors who have traveled other parts of the DR and other places and said for this resort they have ever been to.

Overall for a 3+ hotel it was excellent especially for the small price we paid!! I would return again and recommend it.

I stayed here last week of June/First week of july 2004 and loved every minute of it!!!

I just returned from Playa Real in Juan Dolio and it was the BEST vacation I have ever been on. I read reviews here before I went and most of them were bad reviews but the people that wrote them must have been way too picky because I did not have one problem in the whole week I was there. The food was amazing, the room was spotless and cleaned everyday, the beach was a little rocky but with water shoes it was perfect! The bartenders were the best form of entertainment. They would dance and sing and we gave him $10 at the beginning of the week and got VIP service for the next 7 days. I am definitely going back next year. Balentin and Jose Garcia were the best bartenders. Look for them if you are going!!!!!

We found every thing we wanted. The hotel had some water supply problems that were repaired quickly. Food was excellent and we never bothered to try the a la carte. The evening entertainment was sensational including the childrens reviews. Communication with the staff was no problem. Most spoke enough english to get by. To my knowledge There were four languages spoken during the week we were there.

we booked a tour across the road at bulton tours. Ask for Smith. Tell him you are part of the family and want the family discount.

We took the jeep safari the day before we left. If you want to get a real feeling for this island this is the way to go. It is a eye opener.

If you want a lounge chair get up put your towel on it and then go back to bed, No big deal. If you don't want to get up use a chair

There is a construction job next door and our room over looked this building. Again this is Life. The Playa Real has no control of the property next door. We found it entertaining to sit on the balcony in the late after noon and watch the construction..

My only complaint is a pack of stray dogs on this site that bark late at

night. Again don't blame the Hotel?

We had a great time and would return in a heart beat.

Dave and Jeannie Hamilton Ontario

We (myself, husband and two kids) stayed at this resort from Jan 26, 2005 to Feb 3, 2005. This resort is NOT equivalent to what I would rate a 3 star resort in the US; I would only rate it a 2 star (and barely so) – but if you make the most of it you can have great time. We did. And for the record, I am not part of the hotel staff or a local. I live in the US in the Midwest. If you have any questions, I would be happy to share info on what I learned and I have several photos too. My email is abigdog@charter.net.

I think that half the battle of enjoying or disliking things is in your mind and how you choose to deal with it. If you are reading this, then you are doing research on the resort and your vacation – good for you. Don’t stop here – check out information on this country. You will find that it is a very poor country and their standards are not what you may be used to. You will also find that they are a Spanish speaking country. Don’t expect the people here to be fluent in other languages, even if it is an international resort. Ask as many questions before you get there. If you keep these things in mind, it will make things much easier for you to deal with. Also, do not be alarmed by the armed guards at each end of the resort. We stayed at 3 different resorts during this trip and each resort had them.

The rooms were clean with the basic necessities. Sheets were not changed during our stay, but most large chain hotels do not change daily either unless you request it. Beds were made, floors swept, sinks, tubs and mirrors cleaned. They were a humid and warm because the air is not on in the room while you are not in it. Our unit cooled off very quickly and each day the maid left fragrant flowers that left a nice odor. The only bug that we encountered was when we left the patio doors open for the breeze. We had 3 beds in our room, two were comfortable, and one was not. Let’s face it – nothing is like your bed at home. I have been in 5 star paces where the bed is not as comfortable as mine! Towels were a problem – do not let them take your room towels unless you have replacements.

The food was average/good. In the buffet, many dishes (pasta, salad, potatoes and bread) were basic, to please all of the different cultures that visit. The fruit is awesome. All but one of the restaurants are open air – so there are flies to be expected, but at no time did I see flies from filth. The buffet was clean each time we went. Your best selection for the buffet is right when they open. Also, at this time the tables are clean. If you wait till the end of the meal time, table linen is dirty and you might have to remove the top layer like we did a couple of times. As the meal goes on, they start to replace certain food items with less popular ones. Many of the food items did not taste like what I was used to, for example the salt, syrup and butter. But they were not bad. Also many condiments that you might be used to are not available there. Sour cream for example. The “a la carte” was nice if you could get in. They form a line in the lobby as early as 9:30 am to make reservations for one of the three “a la carte” restaurants. Seating is limited. We were able to get in to the Italian and the Mexican. Both had good food, although nothing like what I am used to at home. There was always plenty of fresh, purified ice water in the buffet area. Bottled water you had to buy in the gift shop.

$$ - Everything in the resort was pricy. Like any hotel, you will pay more for the conveniences that you forgot to bring and/or souvenirs – so plan well and do not forget your much needed items like suntan lotion, bug spray and medicine.

Across the street, Tino books tours that are much cheaper than those in the resort and has a great selection of souvenirs at decent prices. He has shirts, beach wraps, necklaces, paintings, rum, cigars, knick knacks etc… His prices are also much better than those of the vendors that walk the beach. He does not take credit cards, so make sure you have enough cash. There is an ATM in the resort, although remember that it gives you pesos.

The vendors do walk up and down the beaches every 20 minutes. 98% of them will leave you alone if you are nice and just say “no gracias”. If you fake an interest and tell them maybe later – they will come back later – again and again. It is just easier if you say no.

The majority of the staff speaks Spanish as a first language and a few that are fluent in several languages. For the most part their English is very limited. I think the biggest thing is to treat them kindly and do not yell or get angry if they do not understand what you are trying to communicate to them. After all, YOU came to THEIR country and their language is Spanish. If you do not speak their language it is not their fault!

Snorkeling – they do have a trip where they take you by boat to a different site about 10 minutes away. This is nice, but don’t waste your money on this. You can snorkel right there and the fish are bigger and even prettier. Facing the water, on the left side, past the swimming area we found tons of beautiful fish (some quite large) and coral. You can snorkel there for an hour a day (per person) as part of your package – no extra $$.

Kids – I would have to say that this is not a resort for teens. Both of my kids are teenagers and we pretty much stuck together as a family. There were not very many kids there at all. Probably 5 or 6 other teens and maybe 10 kids under 10 years old – but the majority of the people at this resort were 40+ years old.

The beach/chairs – there are not enough chairs. All though if they had more chairs, I am not sure where they would put them. Most people abide by the practice that if there is a towel on them, they are “saved”. This worked for us every day except for one day when a woman took 2 of our 4 chairs because someone else had taken hers. You have to get out early to pick your spot. My son and I went out at 5am each morning and picked where we wanted to sit and then went back to bed. No problems at all.

Suggestions

#1 – bring an insulated mug from home and perhaps a plastic cup too. Straws if you like to use them. We are huge water drinkers and each morning we filled the mug with purified ice water and had and extra cup for our drinks. We gave our cup to the bartender and he made the drink in that cup. We did not have to worry about becoming dehydrated, or dealing with any dirty cups.

Bring extra old towels for saving chairs. For that matter – if you have your own beach towels bring those, as the ones that the resort has are not in the best condition and they will charge you $15 each if you don’t return them.

Remember to bring sun tan lotion, antacid, bug spray, reading material – otherwise you will pay quite a bit for any of these items.

Go across the street for souvenirs and tours. Better price and selection.

Be nice – you will get better service. No one likes a crab!

We brought along US dollars to tip certain staff (Yes, we know it’s all inclusive). Since the exchange is so great there, the natives can get so much for the US dollar. A few dollars to your maid, bartender or waiter can make a huge difference in your service! We saw this idea before we left and REALLY noticed the difference it made!

And last but maybe most important – let go of the little things. The sunrise/sunsets are absolutely breathtaking and you can sit in your lounge chair and watch this and feel all of your cares melt away. Don’t dwell on the things that are wrong or could be better – enjoy the views and relax!

My girlfriend and I went to the Playa Real Resort in Juan Dolio with our neighbors last week (Jan 14-21, 2005). After reading many of the comments on this message board, as well as others, we were absolutely dreading the trip, even before we left home. In order to help some people who may have already booked a trip for this hotel (or who are planning on doing so), I will list my thoughts on the resort.

THE GOOD

- The hotel and rooms are quite clean. The maids came to our room daily to tidy up and replenish any soaps/shampoo that was missing. Some people on the message boards reported that their soaps were never replenished, ours was replenished daily. As for the grounds of the hotel, they were constantly being raked, or swept. In fact, the grounds crew appears to be taking up some of the grass near the main pool, perhaps to make for more sandy beach???

- The food in the buffet was quite good, and the "A la carte" dinners were superb. We tried each of the "A la carte"restaurants, and probably preferred the Italian best. The buffet served standard staples like bread, potatoes, salads, etc... Each night, however, they had a different theme. We saw Chinese, American, English, German and International themes while at the hotel. These nights would feature native dishes (ie: Hamburgers, fries and roasted turkey for "American" night). For "A la carte" dining, you need to reserve your spot at 9:00AM on the day you want "a la carte" dining. All in all the food was always hot, and there was plenty of it.

- The entertainment was also quite good. We went and saw Fogarate (Spanish Production), "Cats" and a comedy show while we were there. All 3 were quite fun, and got the crowd into them

- The staff is absolutely incredible. Everyone who worked at the resort would do whatever they needed to make everyone happy, and they were always smiling.

MIDDLE GROUND (Not good, but not bad, just kind of inconvenient)

- We booked our trip through Sunquest, and we were told to meet up Saturday @ 3:00 for an orientation with a Sunquest rep.. Nobody from Sunquest showed up (not throughout the entire trip). Jose from the Dominican Tour company tried to give us an overview, be he was seldom there.

- The beach was a bit rocky, as it based around a lot of coral beds. This did not bother me at all, but I can understand how it may upset some people. The beach is nice and clean (ie: there is no garbage on the beach), but it is a bit rocky.

- There was only 1 bartender per bar. For the most part, this was OK, as you would only have to wait one or two minutes for a drink, but just before dinner, the crowds would pick up, and sometimes the bartender would fall WAY behind. You'd always get your drink, just sometimes not right away. Also, glasses looked like they were a problem a couple of times. We read somewhere to bring insulated travels mugs (so that it would keep our drinks cool, and we'd know that they were washed properly). Since we had our own mugs, we didn't see this problem, but did hear a couple of people mention it.

- Water pressure was lacking at times. Some people mentioned to me that they lost water all together. I never experienced water loss, but did notice the pressure drop a couple of times, especially at night.

- One night there were 3 short power outages. Nothing major, the longest was probably 30 seconds, but the lights did go out. Some people wrote that a large smoke stack was near the stage, and how it would billow smoke. We saw this stack (only after looking for it for 4 days) and I believe it is the smoke stack for the generator. I never saw black smoke coming from the stack, though.

- Playa Real is located just off a street in Juan Dolio. The hotel is not situated in some secluded part of the city. As such, there are shops and bars right across the street. For the most part, this never bothered me, except Monday nights (there is a live band). Bring your ear plugs, or be prepared to stay awake, they are LOUD!!!!!!!

- Yes, there are vendors who try and sell you stuff while you are on the beach. These vendors are controlled by security at either end of the beach (I believe they even need a pass to sell on the beach). Anyway, a simple "no thanks" or by just avoiding eye contact, and they will be on their way.

THE BAD

- Others have said it, and it's true... There is nowhere near enough lounge chairs for the number of people at the resort. I had to get up at 6:00AM just to get a seat. People were "good" in the sense that if there was a towel on the lounge chair, they would leave it alone, the problem was that you had to get up at 6:00AM just to get a chair. For the size of resort, size of beach, and number of people, they could easily DOUBLE the number of chairs, and there still wouldn't be enough. If you want a chair everyday, set your alarm. Oh, and some people on the message boards mentioned a rooster, which woke them up... Never heard him once.

SUGGESTIONS

I just thought I'd offer up some suggestions to people traveling to this resort

- Bring a travel mug. They really do keep your drinks colder, longer, and are bigger than the cups offered by the bars.

- Check out the shops right across the street from the hotels for your souvenirs. They had the lowest prices we saw all week (from either the beach vendors, shops in Santo Domingo, or La Romana).

- Consider booking a tour to Catalina or Santo Domingo. We went to both and had a great time. Catalina offers up a white sandy beach and great snorkeling. When booking, you may consider going just outside the hotel. We saved a lot of $$$ by just going across the street to "TINO'S". For comparison (all prices $US):

Santo Domingo Hotel:$55 Tino:$30

Catalina Island Hotel:$85 Tino:$55

Bulton Tours is the operator for Tino's, and they are fully insured (made sure to check that out before froking over alot of $$$)

- If you aren't one to get up early to book a lounge chair, don't fret. There is a smaller beach, just outside the buffet area where you can get patio chairs to sit on. The chairs can be found near the bar, or just look over by the stage. There were always tonnes available. This beach is smaller, and less crowded.

I guess that is all I have to say about the Playa Real Resort. All 4 of us had a great time, and would definitely go back. If I had to go back to this hotel, I would have absolutely no problems in doing so. I also took quite a few pictures of the hotel as their web site appears a bit dated (and the pictures aren't always clear). If anyone has any questions or concerns about the hotel (or if you want to see recent pictures) feel free to email me at: steve.e.g@gmail.com.

Steve

We (a couple in the late 20's) spent 4 nights in this resort at the end of november. Our advise: try to get an ocean view room on an upper floor of one of the buildings. don't get upset if the elevator only works 4 times out of 5. Accept a big crowd eating and staying in the hotel on weekends. Besides this: enjoy the great view, great sunsets, good food and nice swimming pools. The beach is nice as well, maybe not the carribean dream, but nice. If you want to see a perfect white sanded beach with all the nice things you know from the books, take a trip to saona island (just incredibly nice!). We went there with a rented car from the car rental on the opposite of the resort. Marcelo the owner will give you all the informations you need to book a boat trip from the fisher village Bayahibe. Take it easy, enjoy your vacation and just accept small inconveniences!

My partner and I have just arrived back form the amsha marina play real beach resort in juan dolio and wanted to share are views with you.

RESORT: The hotel is based in the small tourist village of Jaun Dolio. There is not much more there than a number of hotels a few local shops selling paintings, wood carvings, rum and other gifts to remember your stay. There are a couple of bars one of wich shows most live sporting events opposite the hotel. They all welcome tourists and we did not fell unsafe in this area at all. Nearby there is also a casino.

Beach: The hotel is set on the beach there are plenty of activities during the day such as volley ball, badmington, table tennis, tennis, and others wich are all inclusive. The watersport hut offers many facilities all included Snorkling, Kayaks and windsurfing and also others payable localy such as banana boat trips, scuba, fishing ect. The beach is kept clean and is soft white sand however it is a little rocky in some places. You will see vendors walking along the beach trying to sell shells hats music and others. This can become a little anoying but a firm polite No Thankyou will get rid of them. There is some great snorkling and you only have to go out a short way to see colourful fish.

Food: There is one main buffet resturant serving a massive choice of local food all good. Also 3 A la carte resturants Mexican, Italian and The grill. During the weekends alot of locals come to the beach resort and the buffet resturant becomes a little manic so my recomendation would be to make a reservation for the a la carte resturants at the weekend as these are less busy.

Bars: 4 bars serving mainly rum, vodka, beer and cocktails 1 indoor bar turns in to disco until 2am.

Entertainment: There is a animation team at the hotel all day and night during the day they will try and get you dancing local dances, gym in the pool, playing sports on the beach and spannish lessons but you are never made to do anything it can be as livley or as relaxing as you want. In the eve there is a live show generaly dancing and games.

Rooms: Rooms are very big with balcony and tv, phone and en suite bathroom. The room was kept realy clean by the maids who came around every day. The only comment is that the bathroom was a in need of a litle repair. Eg on of our ceiling panals was hanging down. other than that clean simple rooms.

Summary: All in all we found the staff very friendly and helpfull the hotel and grounds clean and fun atmosphere and would recommend this hotel to any one looking for fun good value holiday in the dominican republic.

I stayed at the Playa Real Resort in Juan Dolio, DR in August 2005. The rooms were decent enough, nothing luxurious, but they were very clean.

The food at the outdoor buffet was very good, I must admit. They had an excellent array of international foods to satisfy every guest's tastes.

The pools were kept relatively clean, and in the mornings, we would see workers cleaning the pools before guests started making their way outside.

The Playa Real was not the most luxurious resort to stay at, but it was decent enough for the price.

My husband and I stayed at the Playa Real from 6/8-6/13. Reading some of the bad reviews we were optimistic about going, but figured why not. Glad we did. Our room #3110 was oceanfront really nice. A/C worked too good!! Room kept really clean with plenty of towels. We left $2.00 american dollars each day for maid, and it worked. Food was good. Speciality restaurants excellent. The workers and crew really nice, even people at front desk. Very helpful. We stayed in the adult pool and enjoyed it. Beach was OK. Too much seaweed, but we made do. Drinks never ended. I would recommend the resort to anyone. It's what you make of it. Just getting away for a few days works for us.

Me and nine friends stayed here for a qucik weekend and trul;y enjoey ourselves. The resort staff was great and tended to our issues. Her is a short synopsis:

The Good: Drinks kept flowing, food was decent, staff was helpful, we figured how to keep the a/c on in the room (see con for explanation), cable had a lot of american channels, no bug problem during the day, spa service was great ($75 for 5 minute suana, fruit exfoliation, 55 minute massage and manicure), adult great pool,

The Bad: The bugs at night were a bother at dinner, there is not much to do outside of the resort you have to take a cab elsewhere, you must keep your key in a electrical outlet of sorts to keep your ac and electricity on while you are in the room (you can by pass this by substituting something for the key) , a/c would go in and out, got the "runs" from either the food or drinks

We made the best of things and had an enjoyable time. I will probably go to another part of the Dominican next time, but for those on a budget, Real Playa works

I have just returned from the Dominican Republic where we stayed for two weeks.

In my opinion, some of the above reviews were overly critical and negative. The hotel provided good value for money, it was inexpensive and of 3 star standard in a developing country. I think that it is unreasonable to expect 5 star standard service found in the States.

I found no problems with the food at all. The buffet provides a huge variety of dishes each meal, based on international cuisine. Fried chicken, pizza and pasta were always available for those who prefer plain food. I would say that people who like junk food may not like this resort (or the Dominican Republic infact - i didn't see fries once!). Some people had upset stomachs but nothing that couldn't be attributed to the usual problems with getting used to foreign food.

The room was basic but comfortable. We did have a minor problem with the plumbing but the staff were very helpful.

I had no problems with towel supply although the room towels are a bit old.

The only negative point I have to make is that there is not much to do in the evening.

If I had some tips they would be:

- Take your own mug / thermos. I was never given a dirty cup but others I travelled with were.

- Tip the bar man and room cleaner when you get there to get the best service.

- Be warned that the locals come and stay in the resort at weekends. It becomes very busy and is difficult to get at the bar and food! Reserve seats in the a la carte restaurants on weekends. Go at 9am as places are limited.

- There is a culture of getting up before 7am to reserve places on the beach.

My mom and I stayed at the Playa Real during March Break(10-17). Mom wanted to go to this resort, so what the heck, we went. Air Canada (great service) we arrived at 10;30 pm and was told there is no food. I got us a drink from the disco, 1 bartender 40 people. Yes dirty glasses, my glass actually had black mould on the inside bottom. I did not go there again for the remainder of the week.

FOOD- Breakfast was good. All the usual carribean breakfast fare, plus an omlet station. There was bacon twice during the week. Lunches and dinners were average. Grilled fish (I really dont know what kind it was, and very 'bony) was served several times throughout the week, and various kinds of beef, and pork and hams from the grill. IF youre looking for shirimp or lobster, forget it. The food was tasty, but really, average. We did not do the a la cartes, it was the same food, just in the restaurants. Little or no selections for vegitarians

Drinks - The white wine tasted like a spritzer so I had that for most meals.

The drinks leave something to be desired. I find that the domestic liquor all tastes the same. There was NO real juice served at all, anywhere or anytime during the week. Not at breakfast, and not at any of the bars. The "juice" is a syurp that is poured from a jug, in a concentrate. Even the daquiris are a syrup. Very dissappointing. The poolside bar, very busy, 20-30 people waiting for an afternoon drink, only one bartender. There is no rhyme or reason for getting a drink, you just hope he picks you next. Tip or no tip, it really didnt matter when its that busy.

Rooms - The rooms were large, and clean. No bugs in our room. The ceiling had substantial water damage, even the ceiling 'stapping' for the tiles were rusty. The shower didnt drain well, and the shower head barely had any pressure so most of the water came out of the bath faucet. We mentioned this 3 times to the desk I even showed our cleaning staff the problem. I think by the 5th day the drain did work better. Only one day there was a towel shortage in our room. If you like facecloths, bring your own. There is no fridge in the room, and you have to pay for a safe key.

Resort- Getting around wasnt a problem. My mom finds it difficult to walk, so this was perfect for her, as some resorts are quite large and getting around would have been difficult for her.

They are doing construction next door, with a large incinerator burning (paper?) with ashes blowing onto the entertainment area. Im not sure if it was going on during the day, I never noticed. Entertainment, well, they try hard, and its not like you have anything else to do, so go. If you have kids, bring them too, because the start of the evening is for them. I have travelled extensively thorughout the Carribean, so I have some idea as to the ratings and the kinds of ammenities out there. This is really a three star. Dont let anyone sell you different. All in all, yes, you get what you pay for. If you get a good deal then take it, the pools are nice, the water is warm. You cannot go for long walks, but you can walk for about 15 mins.

Our Air Canada Plane had problems, before our trip home. So after 8 hours in the airport, they took us to Punta Cana and we stayed the night and the day at the Catalonia Beach Resort. Im going there next year!

Did I mention you get what you pay for?!

I just got back from the Playa Real and although it wasn't the best holiday I have had it was pretty good. It is definalty a 3 star property! The rooms could use some paint but they are kept very clean, no complaints with the housekeeping whatsoever! The hotel did seem to run out of cups quite often, usually in the late afternoons and on weekends, I would recommend that you bring your own traveller. The nightly entertainment was quite good, not broadway but really if you want to see a broadway play you are looking at the wrong destination! The food at both the buffet and A La Carte restaurants was excellent. Plenty to choose from, we had no problems at all and no one got sick! Well, not from the food anyways! I think the thing to remember is that you have booked a 3 star hotel so expect a 3 star! If you need all the luxuries of a five star them maybe you should rethink your selection! I would rate the hotel itself a 3 star and the food, staff, and grounds a 4 star. Like I said we had no major complaints and I would go again if the price was right!

ps. the bar can get a little busy at times, it really helps if you tip a few of your favorite bartenders early in the week, they will remember you and you won't have to wait too long for your drinks!

Oh yeah 1 more thing..........This hotel is quite popular with the locals on the weekend and it tends to get very busy. The Dominican people are very friendly and you should not worry about it. Besides everyone is entitled to a relaxing weekend on the beach right?

My husband and I just returned from the Playa Real Resort on February 27, and we had a wonderful time. We have traveled all around the world and have stayed in myriad hotels and resorts, so we decided to take all of the negative criticism about this hotel with a grain of salt. Any hotel or vacation experience is what you make of it--you can either dwell on the negative, or make the most of the positive. Oftentimes, the people who take the time to write these reviews are people who thrive on complaining in general—they’re probably never happy. Keep that in mind as you read reviews.

Is the Playa Real the nicest place we have ever stayed in? No. Is it one of the worst? Definitely not! Did we have a wonderful time? Absolutely. Would I recommend it? Sure!

If you want to get away for a week of relaxation, beautiful weather and serenity, the Playa Real is perfect. If you are looking for grandiose rooms, Americanized food, and American service, then stay in America! You have to understand that when you travel to foreign countries, they are different from America. That is what makes traveling so exciting. Enjoy the culture and don't get so caught up in missing the little luxuries that we take for granted.

The location of Playa Real was perfect for us--just a 20 minute cab ride from Santo Domingo Airport (about $25-$35 U.S). Our plane landed at 11:15 and we were sunbathing by noon. The resort is set on a beach with palm trees--what more could you ask for in the middle of February?! Sure, the beach can be rocky, but we have experienced that in islands all over the Caribbean. Is the water the bluest or clearest we have seen in the Caribbean? No. Is it still beautiful? Yes! We certainly enjoyed swimming in it!

The rooms are pretty much as they appear in the online photos: simple, yet clean. You won’t find many luxuries, but if you’re going to the DR to spend the majority of time in your room, then you’re going to the wrong destination. Spend your time outside instead—enjoy the warm Caribbean breezes and the healing quality of the sun. The walls of the rooms are thin, so the hotel can be noisy during the day, but we found that most people were sleeping by a reasonable hour so it wasn’t an issue in the nighttime. The beds in the room were simple, not overly comfortable, but doable for a week. As to the reports that the hotel is “on a loud, noisy street,” disregard them. Yes, the hotel is on a street…the shops across the street have good deals, in fact. But we never heard any noise from the street (although admittedly, our room did not face the street). The hotel is separated by tall hedges, not to mention a security booth. We never felt unsafe. When we did walk on the street, it seemed nice, and the people were friendly. Experience the culture! If you’re looking to stay in isolation, why travel at all?! If you’re looking for a place that is completely isolated and separated from society, head to Puerto Rico’s “El Conquistador” in Fajardo instead.

As for the food, we found the quality was not as high as that of a cruise ship or a gourmet restaurant. But everything was edible. I recommend having the rice and beans—absolutely delicious! I ate a different variety of them at every meal. We were very careful about what we ate because whenever you travel to a foreign country, you risk getting ill from change in water, etc. We did not have any problems, aside from my husband’s slight heat-exhaustion and over-indulgence in “Presidente” beers one day. Reservations in the restaurants were hard to get—speaking Spanish does help. Also, try to make reservations for later in the week at the beginning of your stay. The restaurants have very limited capacity and fill up quickly. We really enjoyed the Italian restaurant. The ambiance was perfect.

Entertainment was definitely a step down from cruising, etc, but it was cute. No one is forcing you to go to the shows. If you don’t like the show, just relax on the beach with a good book! The Dominican Dancing show was great—the staff members are very talented in that regard. Entertainment during the day was never obnoxious—we sat at the far end of the beach and found it to be very quiet all day long, sometimes almost silent.

As for the beach vendors, we have never seen more polite vendors in the Caribbean. We have been to nearly every island in the tropics, and we have found far more aggressive salespeople in other locations. At Playa Real, they quietly ask if you’re interested (with a word or two), and you simply shake your head no and they walk away. They do not pester you or bother you in any way. Perhaps the people who complained about this have not traveled to many other Caribbean destinations.

As for getting drinks at the bar, it was never a problem. We never found it crowded. Sometimes service was lacking (a few unfriendly bartenders), but we always got drinks without a problem. We did bring insulated travel mugs which were wonderful—kept our drinks cold all day long at the beach!

Other things to bring besides the travel mugs: shoes to swim with (you’ll never notice the rocks); chips and snacks to munch on at the beach: lots of books to read; alarm clock; small bills for tips at airport (anyone who handles your bag will boldly ask you for a tip!), and a flexible, laid-back attitude. (When we arrived at noon, we found out our room wouldn’t be ready until 3. Instead of stressing about it, we changed into our bathing suits in a bathroom, left our luggage up front near reception, and spent three hours enjoying the sunshine and the pool.) Don’t expect the reception desk to be overly friendly. It helps if you speak Spanish well, but they are very fluent in English.

Reserving chairs: Get up at 6:30 or 7:30, go reserve a chair with your towel and a T-shirt, and then go back to bed! This is what EVERYONE does! It’s okay and acceptable here. No one will touch your chair. When you walk out at 7 to reserve your chair, you will laugh at how all of the chairs are reserved with towels and yet there’s not a soul in sight. It’s like a ghost town! We reserved chairs around 6:30, then went back to sleep for a few hours. When you do return later, don’t be alarmed by all of the topless sunbathing—there are many Europeans (French, etc.) who vacation here, and this is completely natural and normal in their society.

In summary, for the price (we booked through Travelocity at the last second and paid $800 for six days, all-inclusive, air, hotel, taxes, etc. but no transfers), Playa Real is a great deal. The picture-perfect grounds and tropical setting are a perfect cure for the winter-time blues! If you’re looking for perfection, look elsewhere. But if you’re looking for a quick getaway to the tropics at a decent place, then Playa Real will work for you. Just go in with a flexible attitude—if you’re the type of person whose feathers are ruffled when things aren’t perfect, then this is not the place for you. (If you want five-star quality, pay five-star prices and go somewhere else.) You just need to keep in mind that the D.R. is a poor nation in many regards, and the five-star quality you’ll find on other tropical islands may not be at the same level here.

Be daring—travel outside your usual “comfort zone” and give Playa Real a chance.

We have just returned from Playa Real Resort. I went with my husband, daughter, cousin & his wife. After reading some of the reviews I was dreading what we would find when we got there. I did read a review by Steve which made me feel much better.

The rooms were cleaned daily & soaps & towels were replenished daily, the rooms look just like they do in the travel brochure. Nothing fancy & no fridge.

The food was excellent in all of the restaurants, most of the bars had 2 bartenders working at all times & we never had a problem with glasses and we never heard anyone else mention it. You should bring your own insulated mug it keeps your drinks cold, plus they hold more. The beach was cleaned & raked everyday & the bar staff walked the beach picking up drink glasses from the guests. We never used the pools but they were cleaned every morning & looked very inviting but we prefered to swim in the sea. Yes, beach chairs are a problem, we got up between 6:30-7Pm to claim chairs, but we always got them. We did have a probem with not having water on our last day, and a few times we showered in cool water.

We never saw any black smoke near the resort, but we did hear the rooster in the morning.

Make sure you keep your eyes out to sea, we saw 2 humpback whales out in front of the resort on our 2nd last day, make sure to bring binoculars.

Don't buy anything from the store on the resort, they charge $9US for a large bag of cheese sticks, & $35 for suntan lotion, everything is much cheaper across the street, you have several little shops to choose from.

As far as booking excursions, Don't book them with the resort the prices are much higher than directly across the street. We booked a fantastic trip by bus to Altos de Chavon, a fantastic place, you have to walk down 390 steps to get to the river, then you go down the Chavon River in a speed boat stopping at a natural pool getting out for a swim & drinking rum, then on to Saona Island where we stayed for about 2 1/2 hours, the sand is white & the water is a beautiful turquoise, while there you have full access to the bar & you also receive a buffet lunch that was delicious, then you are taken by speedboat again out to a catamaran where they are playing music, dancing, serving rum & just generally having a great time, again that lasted for about 2 hours, while on the catamaran we saw flying fish, that was pretty cool. We then pulled into a small fishing village called Bayahibe, where we got on our bus & headed back to the resort it was an 11 hour day. I would highly recommend this trip you will also receive a history of the area while on the bus trip to Altos de Chavon. They price was only $65.00 and well worth it, because we had 5 people we haggled & got an even better price.

As an overview, if you are expecting a 4 or 5 star resort, you will not find it here. But the people are friendly, the beach is clean, the beer is cold, the food delicious, the sun is hot, & the water warm.

Although a long drag from punta cana airport, and houskeeping being slow and short of reorganisation, i thoroughly enjoyed my 14 nights stay, good staff, food fine and facilities good

I stayed here in February 2004. I was concerned about staying here as I had never been to the Dominican Republic before, and had not been able to find many reviews of this hotel. My fears were not put to rest until I arrived at the hotel. The hotel is beautiful, the staff very friendly and courteous, and our room was excellent! It was clean and we had excellent views of the ocean from our balcony. The a/c in the room worked above our expectations (even getting too cold at night!). I was disappointed with the beach as there were vendors that tried to sell you anything from CD's to braids. The water itself had a lot of seaweed, so we spent most of our time in the pool. You do have to get up early to get a lounge chair, but I believe that's the case with many of these resorts. I do wish that they would provide a map of the resort, as well as a list of useful information, as I did not find certain things (such as a phone) until the end of my trip. We flew into Santo Domingo and the ride to the hotel was only about 30 minutes or less from the airport. I have stayed at other all-inclusive resorts, and this one was not as nice as the others, but I didn't pay as much either. I would highly reccommend bringing along a spanish phrase book, as spanish is the OFFICIAL language of the island. I would definitely stay here again!! (Check out this web-site for more info on the Dominican Republic... ------------------------ )

The usual route to Playa Real is to fly into La Romana. We flew into Punta Cana. Beware, this is almost 3 hours on the bus. Our guide didn't talk or provide any relief from the long trip other than 1 short stop.

This resort is a 3 star. Anyone looking for service or ammenities beyond that will not find them. Although the beach is not very good for swimming because of the rocky bottom, seaweed and debris, it does have a couple of nice boardwalks and connects to beaches of other resorts which is nice for walking. The beach vendors were excessive and some a little too pushy. Limited chairs on the beach meant getting up early to reserve seats. There were many complaints about chairs and towels being taken. This resort did not seem ot offer the comfort and security of leaving your things unattended even for a short time. The grounds and the pools were kept clean. The rooms were clean and we had no problem with towels or other necessities. Note that housekeeping often didn't finish making up rooms until 5 pm or later. The resort did seem to be understaffed for the number of guests. The guests were a wide age range with no specific age group as some resorts have. The bar service at times was very slow and the bartenders were not familiar with many exotic drinks. The was good and we only heard of a few people getting sick. The buffet restaurant seating was limited and often required waiting for a table and track down utensils. The a la carte restaurants booked very quickly. The shows and activities wer OK. We didn't find the Jacuzzi the brochure offered. The disco was small and had the pool table in it. The dry ice was a bit too much. Most of the music was Latin and many people would have liked to hear something familiar. We went to the many shops across the road and found they did not bargain.

Some were very unfriendly. Across the were several places offering many more excursions than at the hotel. Overall the vacation was good weather, 3 star accomodations and as always we met people from all over. It's a good time if you make the most of it. BRING YOUR OWN CUP/MUG.

Brewen Crew

found hotel rooms to be average, clean and roomy,didn't like towel situation,took them away in the morningand didn'tget them back some days till 7 pm. food was very good especailly the seafood restaraunt.

tv only had two english channels but not there to watch tv anyway.

staff were very friendly and very talkative.beach was nice but had to be down early to get a lounger. took a half day shopping trip to santo domingo, well worth the $25.Only drawback on our trip was landing in punta cana airport instead of la romana,it was a three hour drive to the hotel from the airport. All in all a good value for the money.

Where to begin?

I guess at the begining. so we'll start with the trip there. Playa Real is only 1.5 hours from either La Romana airport or Santo Domingo, (With Canadian Roads and Highway traffic it would only be 45 minuits) but because it's the Dominican count on 1.5 hours. The ability to fly straight from Calgary is nice and less expencive that flying out of Toronto. But for that advantage you have to put up with a little travle time. If you fly direct from Calgary you will moast likely land in Punta Cana and that is 2.5-2.75 hours from the Playa Real. It is nice that you get to see a lot of the Dominican Republic on the drive but after 7.5 hours on the plane it could be a little much, and it is definatly something to keep in mind if you are traveling with small children.

The Playa Real it's self is very nice, It is now an Amhsa Marina resort and by the looks of it working hard to improve from it's Occidental days. While I was there the staff was constantly painting and fixing up, but it was all in the background and very low key and did not bother myself or the other guests that I could tell. The rooms are standard but quite nice and come mostly with double beds, There are King beds available but there are only ten or twelve out of three hundred and ninty some rooms so book ahead if you want one. (we requested a King when we arived and Pedro at the front desk worked hard to acomidate us but it took three nights due to the number of guests). The maid service is good and even though it is an all inclusive a little daily tip of a dollar and a chocolate will ensure great sirvice, and probably flowers on your pillow ( that's what we got). As for the other reviews complaining about lack of TV remotes, A.C. problems, and TV chanels and such just remeber it is a three star or three+in the Dominican, not a five star resorte in Florida. The TV chanals do include 5 or 6 english speaking stations including moviemax and NBC, and remotes must be requested from the front desk on an as availble basis. Any other problems with your room I suggest going to the front desk in person, the staff realy are eager to please and "Pedro" will see that things get taken care of as fast as possible. But if you just phone down you might be waiting a while because after all it is the Dominican and 30 minuits Dominican time is 2 hours Canadian time.

The weather and the beach are great. The snorkling is fantastic as the reef is only 200m from the beach (bring your own mask if you can) They do supply gear but as the snorkling is so fantastic it is popular and you might end up waiting for a while. For sunning there are lots of beach chairs available but you still might want to get up early for the best spots. The sand is nice but if your looking for white powder sand don't go to Playa Real or you'll be disapointed. The beach is great it's just not fine white sand. ( if you want that kind of beach take the day trip to Saona Island, it's a bit of a drive but the experiance is fantastic).

The food at the buffet is not fantastic, but it is good. we never went hungry but lets face it, it's still a bufett. The three Ala' carte resturants (Italian, Mexican and Seafood) are all fantastic. the food is good and the service is nice. The snack bar serves burgers, hot dogs and pizza from noon till five. the snacks are good just don't expect dominos pizza.

The day trips are all a little pricy at the hotell. They are cheaper at the little shop right across the street but I don't think the quality is quite as good. Definatly take the Day trip to Santo Domingo. For $55 US per person you get a great day of sight seeing and shoping, lunch and beverages. Of course if you want you can take the public bus for about 120 pesos or $3.00 US and pay the guides that hang around the bus trminal in Santo Domingo $10 Us per person for an all day custom at your request walking tour. You'll have to pay for lunch your self, and the bus might not have air conditioning but $13. US per person is a lot cheaper thn $55. and lunch will probably only run you $2 or $3.

To sum it all up it was a great vacation, and a fabulous destination to stay at. It is an afordable spot for a reason, so go expecting a three star, and be plesantly suprised if it has improved to a four star by the time you arrive. But if you go expecting Sandals five star you will have ruined your vacation befor you even arrive.

I stayed at the playa real with my partner after it was recommended by the travel agent. The flight was good, we travelled with first choice, i was a little disappointed by the weather when we arrived but that couldnt be helped. The journey from the airport to the hotel just seemed to take for ever!. It was a good few hours and this just irritated me being stuck in a cramped hot bus for hours. Everything was fine checking in. Our room was suitable for us and the maids were very friendly and thorough at their job.

However the food at the hotel wasnot up to much, i can honestly say that i lost 9lbs over 2 weeks as the food was rubish! Although i do have to say if you get a chance visit the italian restaurant, that was the best meal all hol! A couple of days into the hol, my partner got what the doctor called 'jungle fever' and had to spend a couple of days in bed. We both caught tummy bugs and had bad diarriah aswell.

Twenty-one friends got this really great deal from the Travel Agent. The bulk of the money was for airfare. We could tell that the minute we got to the resort. Check in was at 3:00, we arrived after 4:00 had to wait in really long lines. Most of the rooms weren't ready. My roommate and I got our room, walked in the floor was wet, the ceiling in the bathroom you could see the roof of the building. Couple hours later we called the front desk, the day we left it was in the same shape as when we first got there. Don't know if someone was watching us from the roof or not. No FACE cloths on the resort, but every time we called, "They're on the way". Finally one of the maids told us - WE DON'T HAVE FACE CLOTHS. The beach was in bad need of attention. The food was tolerable. The day before we left over half the people got bad stomach cramps and diarrhea. I was overall very disappointed with this motel (not a resort). Just goes to show you, You Get What You Pay For!

Since we were a group of 6 people, we were looking for a good-value vacation. I have to admit that I was a bit adamant at the beginning about booking at Playa Real because all the bad comments made me nervous, but I did at the end trying to please everybody's budgets and I have no regrets.

We booked the hotel, flights and tranports through Expedia and their service was outstanding. We arrived at the hotel and our rooms were ready as I had requested them (King-size bed for my husband and myself. Twins for the other 2 rooms).

The first day it was raining but the entertainment staff made the best out of it and organized games and contests at the Trocadero disco. That night our room got flooded because the rain came in through underneath the door, but the manager sent a maid and she cleaned it all up.

It is true that the resort could use more improvement and maintenance, but all in all you get what you pay for. It is a true 3 star hotel, the rooms are basic but they all have balconies (two chairs and a little table in pvc) with pretty views of the beach.

The air conditioned worked fine, inside the room there is a small table with two chairs, a dresser with the TV (which has cable including news channels, HBO and Showtime), closets with a safe inside ($10 for a week) and a full bathroom.

Our rooms were always clean and kept, nobody in our group got sick and there was food for every taste, even my vegetarian husband had plenty of options every day.

We played darts, participated in the games and won several bottles of rum, did aquaerobics and took merengue classes, and we all had a blast. Everybody in the staff did their best to keep us entertained and made us feel comfortable. Especial recognition to Edwin and Johanis for their professionalism and talent.

After reading the posts at this board we knew that many Dominicans stay at the hotel during the weekend so we arranged our tours on Friday and Saturday and avoided the crowds.

We visited Santo Domingo where we took awesome pictures of the first city in the New World. Also went to the Cave of the 3 Eyes, an underground system of caves with streams and lakes that was unbelievably beautiful. We went to Catalina Island as well and it was so much fun! We spent the day there and met people from other hotels, from several countries and they all agreed that they were having the time of their lives. The Dominicans are so friendly and cheerful and they know that Tourism is their main industry so they make an extra effort to make you feel welcome in their country.

A suggestion : Book your tours accross the street at Bulton Tours, their prices are about 30% less than at the hotel and the service was very efficient.

At the hotel, our favorite barman, Hector, was as fast as possible, considering that many times it was just himself serving thirsty guests. He was always dancing and with a big smile on his face trying to give everybody what they wanted.

It is impossible to go hungry like others posted. Breakfast and lunch hours are enough to please everybody's hunger, then there is Tea Time by the pool at 5pm, at 6.30pm dinner starts, and from midnight to 2 am there is the Snack Attack for the party animals. There is no need for doritos or cheetos or anything else!

A tip : If you want to buy souvenirs, take advantage of the people by the beach, they have much better prices than anywhere else! They'll bargain with you and give you great deals.

I don't know what happened to the people that had such bad experiences at the Playa Real, maybe it was bad luck, I have no idea. But our personal experience was very positive. We had a great time, we had fun, we ate well, we drank all kinds of cocktails, the service was attentive and we have wonderful memories of this trip.

We travel a lot to the Caribbean and even though this hasn't been the best hotel we have been, it hasn't been the worst either. It always helps to speak a little of Spanish and be polite. But at the end I guess it depends on your own attitude. Don't be afraid as I was, go and see by yourself and have fun!

I must say when we arrived I was alittle apprehensive about this place based on all the reviews that I read. But it was not all Bad. When we arrived we checked in to our room and promptly found the Air Conditioner did not work properly and the water in the bath tub of our room ran continuously I don't mean drip it just continue to run all night all day.

I promptly went down to the front desk which was quite a walk from the room. Calling the front desk was to no avail. I stayed their until they sent a mechanic to accompany me to my room it was 88 degrees everyday that we were there and no less than 73 at night and slightly muggy. When the mechanic comes to my room to check out the AC to my surprise he takes off the cover of the thermostat and unscrew a screw that limits the temperature from being lowered to a comfortable level. I suspect that they do this in all of the rooms and if you don't complain you won't know! I suggest bringing a screw driver! That solve that problem but he looked at the faucet in the tub and turned the knob as i have and no doubt many others and could not stop it. So that was it for him.

Also attached to your room key is a special key chain that you must slide into the light switch in order for your lights and airconditioner to work I suspect they do this to save money when you leave to go to the beach or to eat and you take your key they power goes off in your room this means when you return your room will be hot and you must start over with cooling down your room. We unhooked our key from the chain and went out and to our surprise when we returned the cleaning lady took our chain so that the lights would not come on until we went to the front desk and request another which they promptly gave us no doubt many people have figured this ploy out for themselves. We woke up the next morning to find our bathroom floor full of water coming up through the floor! We complained numerous times to the front desk their solution was to send a mechanic with towels to soak up the water! we went through almost daily and no one could find out where it was coming from. We tried change our rooms many times but they had nothing. We were promised a gardenview room and had a construction site view.

The Hotel itself has wonderful potential I really believe the management that runs this property don't get it. I see why so many have negative experiences. I am a convention coordinator for my organization and from what i see and know from planning conferences all over is neglect in areas.

The hotel grounds are beautiful the pools are nice the beach is rocky. We had to go looking for rooms towels many days we would have our room cleaned and find no towels. And then when you do they are bath towels and never any face towels or hand towels. I would look in the maids closet and find one or two so i would look on different floors.

Bring towels from home is my advice . I enjoyed the dominican Republic but can't see myself ever staying again at the Playa real. The food was good in the buffet and the grill restaurant and the other but it's too hard to get reservations for them. I have been to many All-Inclusive resorts this by far was the worst as far as All-Inclusives go. Don't blame the workers I hold management responsible.

With more vision this hotel could be an excellent vacation however not now.

My wife and I went March19th 2005 and returned on the 26th of March and we both had the runs and stomach cramping upon our return and we are just getting over it a week later!

They have an Internet bar across the street with very good rates leave your laptop at home.

All in all I love the people and culture but not this hotel. Lord willing we are going back to the Dominican Republic but never again to the Playa real.

First off Don't be scared! I'll begin with the worst and work my way through.

The Ugly:

The guy who helped us with our luggage had a gun in his pants. Not in a holster, he wasn't a security guard or officer of any kind, but he had a gun casually sticking out of his pants.

We first arrived at the resort excited to have our first drink, only to realize that they were out of glasses. We waited anxiously and watched while our sole bartender took 10 dirty glasses piled on top of one another and simply ran the stack under running water(no soap, no cloth, didn't even clean the inside of the glasses)only then to refill them with mixed drinks and serve them to the people standing at the bar!! Obviously we opted to wait until cleaner glasses arrived!

We woke up at 7:00 am to leave towels on our chairs to reserve our loungers and had only one morning where our chairs were taken and a towel was stolen.

It was Easter weekend (their holy week) and all excursions at the hotel were cancelled including snorkelling, kayaking and some fitness classes. We were warned earlier in the week by our travel guide, but it placed a kink in our plans. Apparently the city is unsafe to visit as a local during the holiday, so we were confined to the hotel from Friday to Sunday.

Because it was a holiday weekend, there was less staff and more people. The deal made with the staff at the resort was that if they worked their families could come and stay either for free or at a discounted rate. So their was an influx of people from Thursday to Sunday.

One friend got bit by a sea urchin and had to get medical attention costing $140 US.

We left a tip for the maid everyday and only once did our sheets get changed. We had to ask for towels every day except once.

The Bad:

There was some people not respecting a towel left on the lounger as a reservation. Few confrontations on deck with people saying you can't reserve chairs, and personal items tossed aside. Bottom line we all woke up early to get our chairs, it is first come first serve no matter what time you find the chair at! There is an adult only pool and a few times there were arguments with security about kids not being allowed in the pool. Some were saying rude comments to the staff, yes service is slow, but it is not their fault. The food for a vegetarian is not the best. Picky eaters be warned. I ate, but actually lost weight while there. I ordered soup asked if it had meat in it, the server said only vegetables. I began to eat it only to find a piece of meat in my mouth and raw beef chunks throughout! My glass of water smelt like fish one morning. We hung out as a group of 6 people and 4 out of 6 ended up with diarrhoea and cramping. Our phone didn't work in our room. There are no alarm clocks. We had some water damage in the closet and bathroom, not very appealing to the eye.

NO blenders! Thus no daiquiris.

The restaurants close and you have two hour gaps in-between any food service, so if you nap through lunch you'll be starving by dinner.

The Good:

There are seperate pools for kids and adults. The staff is great! Really hard working. Especially Sander! I was travelling with my mom. I am 26 and she is 50, we both had a great time! Met many amazing people who really spiced up the trip. Activities and entertainment were good. They have a disco that will suit your entertainment needs. The weather could not be better. So many things to do and places to see.

Why go there:

Its cheap. You pay for what you get. We paid in total $1500 for the both of us. That included flight, hotel and everything. We expected a three star rating and thus were not that disappointed. Great place for kids (they even have lifejackets for them!), youths, adults and people from any culture. The staff speaks many languages and caters to all groups. It is a good place for people travelling alone, as a couple or as a family. Couples will have a hard time not seeing the romance there. The animators make sure you are involved in the activities so you meet people and kids will enjoy the fun.

Advice:

If you have already booked your trip, don't be scared. You'll have a good time if you have an open mind. If you haven't already booked it, look at another resort. Go experience the culture of the Dominican Republic. Book your excursions across the street. They are exactly the same, for half the price. We went to Saona Island (a must by the way) for $45.00 US and returned on a sunset cruise on the catamaran, we also got to stay on the island longer than the other tours. Just bring some extra snacks, because you may be hungry after the buffet. We booked through Maribe (?) tours with Gary. Do not pay for any service (taxi or other) fully upfront, withhold your payment until the end if possible. Be careful about where you store your money when you go to the city, do not put wallets or money in your pocket because it will be gone. We only had to leave a small deposit and paid the rest the day of the trip. Bring chips, an alarm clock, water shoes, travel mugs and zip lock bags to pack up croissants from breakfast, fruit or whatever. Please be nice to the staff, there is no need to be mean.

Bottom Line:

I missed home so much by the fifth day. I have never looked forward to my own cooking ever! I had a great time, because I chose to. We went as a group of two and expanded to a group of 6. I met people who I know will become lifelong friends. The scenery around the resort is beautiful, but I will not return to that resort, not even if you paid me. The first thing I did when i got home was grabbed a Timmy's coffee and had a shower, never felt better.

We went to this resort on President's week (last week of February). I have very mixed feelings about it. We did have a nice stay, despite some problems. The weather was wonderful, the beach was nice with shade and palm trees, the food was simple, but it tasted well. At the bar, if you asked for a frozen drink, they just put more ice cubes into it (no blenders!). The rooms were big, ours was cleaned every day. The towels were clean, but old and gray. If you are particular about that stuff, bring your own beach towels, soap, shampoo. Front desk was not helpful at all. They agreed with everything you said and then did nothing you asked for. They perfected that certain glass-eyed look when they did not want to deal with you and simply hid in the back room until you went away. Do not expect a second key for the room either. If you and companions decide to part ways, find a compromise on your room keys. If you are checking out, do not expect the bell boy to help you with your luggage, they are simply not there until 9:00 a.m. The resort is smaller then others in that vicinity, but it is OK, that helped solve our 1 key problem. There is simply not to many places to go. Also, one annoying thing: the management is trying to squeeze as much money out of this resort as possible. They sell day passes to the locals and some of the local kids do not behave, I had to chase a couple of them away from us when they started hurnig sand at each other and at us. Also, if you go to the little beach next to the entertainment stage, it is better, not as crowded and there is much more shade. However, 2 times they had school kids visiting that entertainment stage and they were kind of noisy, but that lasted only half a day each time.

All in all we had a nice vacation, we did not let small organizational things bother us, we also booked it cheaply. It was definetely better then shoveling snow in NY. I would not recommend this place to my friends and would not go back. But if a quiet vacation in a warm spot is appealing to you and you can get it cheap, this is not the worst alternative. Also, neither us, nor enyone I spoke to got sick with a stomach virus. If you booked it already, go. Get water shoes, your own beach towels, matches (they do not have any anywhere), laid back attitude and be ready to get up early to get your lounge chair. Remember, the little beach is less crowded and you can always walk over to the next resort which is much more sophisticated.

My partner and I stayed at this hotel Jan 05. Our room was not to the

usual standard we have experieced but we decided to make the best of it.

Our problems started with fresh towels. As you would expect the need for

fresh towels on holiday is important. Not once during our stay did we

have towels replaced. I had to go to reception every single day to ask

for towels. On several occassions, several housekeepers came to our room

to inspect it and said they promised we would have towels every day and

we beleived them. This contiued for our whole holiday. We were told at

one point the towels were being washed and would be back shortly and so

I took that to mean that only one set of towels were available for each

room? One night we received towels at 9.30pm.

Our room was dirty. We were infested with insects and my bed had some

kind of bug in it that bit me every single night.

Our bedding was not changed for seven days. At this point I took them

from the beds and left them at our door, to which the maid, who only

spoke Spanish, said 'problemo'? We had our sheets changed twice our

whole stay!

The reception staff were the most unhelpful staff I have ever

experienced in my life and I travel frequetly. They couldn't care less.

Considering this is an international holiday resort, their language

skills are nil. The service at this hotel was appalling. The bars were

understaffed and you had to wait far too lond for drinks. The bars

constantly ran out of glasses (plastic). When old ones were collected

they were washed in the sink with a strong smelling detergent and given

straight back to the customers, smelling of flowery detergents!!

The food is of poor quailty and very little choice. In order to eat with

cutlery one had to play hide and seek with the service girl in order to

get utensils. The food counters were littered with flies crawling over

the food, which you had to eat or starve. Tens of guests were struck

down with food poisoning and when we were flown home our plane was

quarenteened at the airport as so many people from the Amhsa Marina

Playa Real were ill. We needed medical clearence before we could leave

our plane!

The shop on the complex tried to charge us $83/??????58 for two bottles

of sun cream and $8/??????5 for a bag of crisps/chips.

There were noway near enough sun loungers for all the guests. So, if you

want to secure a sun bed, I suggest you get up very early to do so.

We tried to make the best of our holiday dispite numerious problems and

I guess we still did, but if I had read a report like this before we

booked I would have reconsidered it.

To have to make an effort to relax and rest is not what I expect to do

on holiday. I would not reccomend this hotel under any circumstances.

i just got back from a week at the Playa real. first, let me just say: do not book a vacation to hotels in this area if it is advertised as PUNTA CANA cuz it's not! juan dolio is 2 hours away from punta cana which means a 2.5 hour bus ride from the airport to your hotel and vice versa. there goes 2 whole days of your vacation wasted. if u can, fly in from santo domingo, its only 45 min away.

now, we arrived around 8 pm. luckily i took my shower that night, cuz the next morning we awoke to no water. this went on for the entire day. the water came back but only cold water was available for the following 2 days. (and it would come and go for short periods of time). at some point, the toilets wouldn't work (cuz the cold water didn't work).

the buffet was gross, but the a la carte restos r alright: try and book ur reservations early (9am) everyday.

if u think the food -----, go to the italian resto just down the street. the pizza is very authentic and only costs around 100-360 pesos. the owner is italian so its really good stuff.

if u go to the decameron casino down the road, do not play the keno!!!! it is a total rip off. the dealer just throws ur ball back into the cage w/o showing u the small print numbers. b careful.

all in all, the hotel is clean, the staff is very friendly and helpful (except the reception). if u tip the bartenders and maids, they'll go the extra mile for u. the club -----, so if u want bring ur own music and ask the dj to play it for u (cuz his music is old and he plays the same thing over and over....every nite).

do go to the day trip to saona -it will make up for the nasty beach in the hotel. but don't pay thru the hotel, just go across the street. their legit and u'll save atleast 20 bucks US (bargain!).

it wasn;t a horrible trip, but i would not return unless it was a free trip!

The expedia website of this hotel is extremely misleading. There were many “amenities” that were not what I expected. Expedia lists this hotel as a 3-star. The cleanliness and degree of comfort definitely indicated more of a 1.5-2 star rating. We had a room with two very uncomfortable double beds and pillows that were hard as rocks. We ended up wadding up our beach towels and using them for pillows. The beds were also on rolling legs and would slide across the floor when one sat down on them. As we had a terrible view, a noisy room, and two double beds, we attempted to switch rooms. For two days we were told there was nothing else available. However, many empty rooms (with an ocean view) were not offered as a choice. After fighting with the front desk for two days, and since we heard so many stories from other people of having large beetles in their rooms and/or no hot water, we decided to stay in our room.

Our room description was “Superior Gardenview”. We had a view of the construction site. The other side of our room was directly on the main road. The first night, a nightclub on this road was so loud that earplugs were required in order to fall asleep.

The website listed, under Room Amenities, “Premium TV channels and Cable/Satellite TV”. The first night, we realized our TV didn’t work and called the front desk. They said they would send someone to fix it. No one came. We had to call four times (over the course of three days) to have someone actually come to the room and check it out. They informed us that our room was not hooked up to cable and that we couldn’t get any TV.

Also, under Room Amenities, were “complimentary toiletries”. We received these one day (of the five we were there).

Under “Recreation”, there was supposed to be “A 10-person spa tub (lying) secluded in a garden.” This Jacuzzi was broken and there was “Caution” tape all around it. It was not possible to use the “spa tub”.

Also, the website listed “one horseback ride per guest per stay”. When we inquired about this, they told us it would be free for one person and $25 for the other person. Other people staying at the hotel were told that this was not available at all. When we went to book it, on January 1, we were informed that this was not available New Year’s Day. No one mentioned that it would be closed before this.

The second to our last day, I had a scuba instruction in the pool. The instructor recommended a snorkeling trip in the bay. I inquired about it and told the instructor I was interested. The next day, Jan. 1, my boyfriend and I went to sign up but we were again informed that these services were closed on New Year’s Day. The instructor did not mention this when I spoke to him (on New Year’s Eve). This was very disheartening news.

The swimming pool was so cold that it was not possible to use for more than five minutes.

Our “all-inclusive” package did not include bottled water and we ended up spending approximately $10/day on water. We also had to pay $10 for a safe deposit box.

Also on the property was “A contemporary health-and-beauty spa…features a private garden containing an eight-person spa tub…” We actually paid to use this Jacuzzi and it, like the pool, was very cold. The first day we went to the “spa”, they told us the Jacuzzi was closed.

So, in general, we were very unsatisfied with our vacation package. We felt like we had thrown money away instead of spending it on a quality vacation. I have never had such a problem on Expedia before.

On a whim last week (Dec. 2-9/04), I booked a trip to this resort on one day's notice. Then I went to Tripadvisor and read some of the reviews and felt I had made a mistake, but it was too late to make any changes, so I thought I would just go and make the best of it. It was rated as a three and a half star and it was in Punta Cana, so how bad could it be? Besides, there were a few positive reviews posted, so I thought it might just be due to the hurricane cleanup and not the actual hotel deficiencies that had upset the guests. How wrong I was!

Firstly, the resort is not in Punta Cana with the Caribbean beaches, its a three hour bus ride down the coast to a poverty stricken area not far from Santo Domingo. There is an airport 30 minutes from this area, but many tour operators use the Punta Cana airport so they can list the resort as a Punta Cana destination. The bus ride was in a cramped bus, jammed full of cranky, overtired tourists, all of whom thought they were staying in Punta Cana.

When we finally reached my resort (from Vancouver, that's 9 hours on the plane and 3 hours on the bus, folks), I went to my room and the problems are almost too numerous to mention (but I will!):

-the room stunk of musty, stale, humid air.

-the bathroom light was a 4 foot fluorescent tube with the cover missing and the fixture was hanging loose from the ceiling at one end.

-The toilet was running continuously. I fixed it temporarily, while waiting for another room.

-The TV was broken and there was no remote control.

-The toilet paper roll holder was missing. The paper roll had to sit on the toilet tank.

-I had a panoramic view of the back of the building and the road that separated the resort from the poverty-ridden town.

About two hours later, the front desk found me another room and it was better in that I was now at the front of the building with a beautiful ocean view. So that was a relief! But still many problems:

-The fluorescent tube in the bathroom was hanging precariously from the wall. It had a cover though, so I felt like a king.

-The desk lamp was broken. The light fixture in the lamp was cracked and the on/off knob was broken off.

-Very hard, cheap mattress on the double beds.

I was too tired to complain that night, so I just went to bed. I decided I would just try and make the best of it for my stay- have a few beers and lay in the sun.

Over the course of the week as I relaxed, I felt better, but there were still a myriad of problems every day:

-there is a business next door to the hotel that has a 40 foot chimney that sits atop a generator that motors all day long and spews dark gray smoke all day. The smoke gets blown right down into the pool area of the resort and it stinks of deisel fuel all day long. This drove all of us down to the far end of the resort where the smoke didn't reach.

-the locals (about ten or fifteen of them) are licensed to hawk their wares on the beach and they are absolutely relentless! All of us tried to be nice because they are so poor, but they took advantage of that and pestered people all day long.

-when I tried to buy a medium-sized bag of potato chips in the resort gift shop, the girl said $9 US. All prices were like that, so I stuck to the all-inclusive aspect of the place and didn't buy anything else.

-the bars were very spartan and that's a compliment. They were forever running out of liquor and glasses or both. Then we all had to wait while one guy went to the kitchen and waited around in there until a big pail of plastic glasses were loaded up for him. This happened regularly. Don't expect any fancy drinks. The pina coladas were poured from a jug and didn't taste like there was any real fruit or anything. I tried a banana colada and was grossed out.

-the red wine is drinkable, but tasteless. I rarely finished my glass at dinner and usually, I really enjoy a few red wines with dinner.

-the food was bland and everything tasted the same somehow.

-the beach always had straws and things in it. You had to watch where you walked in the sand because there were many places where a slab of concrete would be slightly buried under the sand.

-the midnight snack that was supposed to run until 2:00am didn't the night I went down for a late snack. It was all shut down at 1:30

-I have been in other resorts in the DR and they all have glorious lobbies and they are wonderful to sit in and relax and people watch. This one was pretty dismal and dark.

-the public washroom that we all used near the buffet dining room was dirty and the dryers didn't work and the paper towel dispensers were out of paper. Some of the toilets were missing seats! And no toilet paper when I went in there one time.

-my room was on the top floor of the building I was in and the water pressure was very low. Every day in the afternoon, I had no water pressure and literally got a dribble out of the shower head! So, I had to take a cold shower those times. Even the cold water had little pressure. At all times, I had to stand directly under the shower head and arch my body around to maximize the shower action.

-for a day and a half, none of the house maids had any hand soap. I ran out of the one bar they put in my bathroom and nobody had a replacement for a day and a half and I asked every maid in my building that day. I was tipping them too, but to no avail.

Last year, I was in Puerto Plata and stayed at a Riu resort and had a great stay there and may go back to DR again, but I will be extremely careful with the tour group (never Sunquest again!) and certainly no 3 hour bus rides to the resort.

PS: when you read the reviews on this resort, you will see some good ones. Read them carefully and I suspect you will deduce they have been written by the hotel staff or the tour operator. You have to read between the lines.

This was my first, real vacation, and I was rather disappointed. I will also think twice before going to the DR for vacation again.

To start, in all fairness they were great about holding our luggage, allowing us to check in early (and getting our room mostly ready early, but towels took until after 7 pm and 3 calls) and hit the pool. And we DID have a great ocean view from our room and balcony.

The beach was trashed, but that was Mother Nature's fault (we got there just after Jeanne), and they WERE working hard to clear the beach. My friend and I were immediately hit on by some locals, who were really rude. And watch out for the vendors -- they are relentless and never-ending.

The food was not great at the buffet, the "restaurants" were a bit better, but you aren't told you have to make reservations between 9a-12 noon (I put up a fuss and we got reservations anyway). AND we ended up with "Montezuma's Revenge" even though we were careful about drinking the water. It took antibiotics to finally stop it for me (and I have a fairly iron constitution).

We had an ant invasion in the bathroom which was never addressed (after several calls and trips to the front desk). The pools were clean, you need to be early to get the best deck chairs, but someone brought us some when there were no more available, and we managed to get a good spot.

Phone calls are hard to get in or out, service is spotty. When there was a family emergency at home, I had to use my cell phone (don't even want to THINK about what that will cost me), and although they HAVE a fax machine, they DON'T have ink in it.

I booked through Expedia, and we got a great price. But we were supposed to get a horseback ride each, and there was no mention of that when we got there (and this is one of the items that made us book there instead of elsewhere). The pictures must have been taken when the place was new, because it is not so pristine and beautiful...

People were friendly, and tried to be helpful for the most part. They really need to have a small map showing where things are at the resort.

I think I'll look elsewhere, however.....

The People Here Are Very Friendly1. No Towels For 2 Days2. No Remote For The TV 4 Days3. No O.J But They Have (tang) Drink4. Hole In The Bedspread5. No Bacon For Breakfast6. Good Homecooked Food7. No American Music In The Disco only Spanish (r&b, Rap)8. Not A Lot Of English Speaking Staff9. Mattress Needed To Be ReplacedI would come back to juan dolio, but i would stay at the costa caribe hilton a 4 star hotel...laneice & big al

Stayed at this hotel about four years ago and both myself and daughter also spent almost the whole fortnight by our rooms due to the diorrhea, lots of other people had this so bad that the doctor was a constant visitor. What people said about the locals invading was true, and they were given preferential treatment, and its was like a mad rush to get food at the buffett, never seen people eat so much !!!!! Why are decent tour operators still using this run down dirty hotel , which hasnt got any better !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We booked this hotel as a last minute holiday via a holiday booking agent over the phone, we were sold a beautiful 4* hotel which is definitely NOT what we got. Turning up to the hotel in the evening it was dark and I could tell straight away this was not a beautiful 4* resort. We were given a room on the ground floor of a block that had no lighting in the corridor so only just found our room!! The room had the most horrendous smell of damp, I have been to the Domincan before and not had a problem with the smell of damp so it is obviously managable but not for this hotel. In the morning we went to our welcome meeting and the first thing our rep said to us even before a hello was are your rooms o.k? (not a good sign). We asked to move rooms and reported to reception at the time given, we were told to come back later, we went back later and was given another room. This room looked ok (standard of rooms was low so we decided to stay as we could get a worse one). When we got back to the room later that night we realised we were right above the disco!!! Arrrgghh, after talking to a man at the reception desk earlier who was still trying to get a clean room after 4 days we decided to stay put.

The food and hygiene at this hotel was something else, I experienced diahorea, nausia and stomache cramps for the entire 2 weeks of our holiday and for 4 MONTHS after!!! God only nows what was in my system!! The buffet restaurant was terrible, if you didn't get there for the first sitting you would be sitting in other peoples mess as the tables were rarely cleaned, the staff were very unhelpful and the food was awful.

The beach was all I can describe as man made, barely any sand and rocks in the sea, buy sea shoes if you want to go in the sea. Oh and if you want a sun longer on the man made beach get up very early as there are only a few.

Our room was supposedly cleaned everyday but that was up for debate, the maid would frequently leave the patio doors unlocked, mop the floor with dirty water, not change the bed sheets and even took one of my own towels away that was green, not sure how this can get mixed up with all white towels.

At the weekends the hotel gets mobbed by locals, I don't know if they are paying guests or are just people aloud in but they get priority over the shocking service and bad food.

There were minimal facilities at the hotel, 2 pools neither that big, 1 bar open in the evening with no seating anywere to be seen, the entertainment in the eveing was aimed at children and very poor.

During our stay we had a couple of days of rain, I'm not sure what happened but we came down to the reception area and the ceiling had fallen in in two areas, the areas were taped off and left for about a week!!

Overall this was a terrible hotel and I was ill for a long time because of it so I would recommend to anyone that has booked to go here to change their holiday or just don't go. Some of the other guests that arrived at the same time as us were moved to another hotel, don't suffer in silence like us!

We stayed at the Playa Real nearly two years ago and from recent comments things have not got any better!! We complained to our travel company and direct to the hotel, these are a list of some of our complaints;

•First room given was ground floor with veranda doors which could not lock. Also close to building site next to hotel and had bad smell of drains.

•We were told no other rooms available; we then complained again to another member of staff and were we given a room straight away. Later told the hotel was only third full!

•Toilet in our room flushed with red hot water, this took ten days to repair.

•TV in our room did not work, took nine days to replace.

•Entrance light did not work, reported but was never repaired during our stay.

•Bathroom ceiling in very bad condition.

•Bathroom light at one point fell off ceiling, was repaired with wires showing. Bed linen never changed throughout stay!

•No hot water for three occasions including a full evening (4-10). Hence, because of above, no toilet!

•No water at all for almost a full day, the whole hotel hadn’t any water!

•Maid often never left three towels as needed.

•Maid on six occasions never left any toilet roll. This because of our sickness and diarrhoea was un-bearable!

•Maid often never filled our bathroom water jug.

•Lift in block broke on several occasions, once for over four days.

•Very little lighting in block due to unserviceable lights.

•Very little lighting around grounds due to unserviceable lights.

•Lighting around main bar non existent, mainly due to staff refusing to switch lights on! On one occasion we had lights turned off on us playing cards near the bar around 10pm, staff member ‘had’ to turn lights out!

•The main swimming pool (only one available to children) was dirty.

•Filthy toilet near beach area, one female toilet was blocked throughout whole stay with raw sewerage flowing into the sea.

•Sun loungers near beach were never cleaned.

•Very few tables and chairs around main bar. On one occasion we were asked to give up our chairs and table (the only ones available at the bar) so that a restaurant could be set up! The hotel was very short of tables and chairs!

•Plastic drinking glasses in all area’s including the bar which they constantly ran out of throughout the day on ALL days.

•Constantly running out of drinks (alcoholic and soft) throughout the day again on all days.

•Only certain restaurants open each evening, most evenings only the main buffet was open.

•The main buffet was moved around on a number of occasions mostly to the lunch time snack bar / Italian restaurant area however on two occasions it was held in an inside conference room with all the ambiance of a school dinner hall! On each occasion no one was told.

•Smoking seemed to be allowed any where.

•Entertainment aimed at small children, very little else to do at night.

•Shortage of water sports equipment, three windsurfing boards and four kayaks.

•Facilities were available during the weekends, when hundreds of locals arrived, that were not available during the week.

•At a weekend more staff would be on duty however you felt as if you were treated as second class citizens to the locals staying.

•A building site existed next door to the hotel, with all the normal noise, smells etc, we were not told about this. The same site used a JCB to dig up the sea in front of the building site, this spread dirt into the sea in front of our hotel and this happened on all days!

•All members of our party suffered from severe diarrhoea and vomiting during our stay. This lasted on average 5-6 days with all of us spending at least one, different, day in bed!

This we believe was caused by a total lack of basic hygiene including;

•Bar staff observed washing glasses with fingers under running tap water. Which we were told not to drink or even use to brush our teeth with!

•When the glasses went away for cleaning they returned stacked with water between them, which suggested they were cleaned stacked together also this is prime conditions for bacteria to breed.

•Food left uncovered during meal times with flies all over it.

•Maids observed ringing mobs out with hands after cleaning room floors. Then continuing to do other duties including filling fresh water jugs! A maid was also observed doing the same after moping out the main toilets in reception!

•Chicken and other meats left to cool and then reheated during lunch.

•After our illness we asked for plastic disposable glass’s these were in short supply and staff very reluctant to give them out.

We had a great holiday on the four days we left the hotel so the DR cannot be that bad!! Just the Playa Real!!

Never ever stay here if you are a female alone. Local men are relentless in their attempt to befriend you. I tried my hardest to keep them away. The are allowed to be in the resort and use the pool. After leaving the pool area to go to my room for a nap I woke up to find a local sexually assaulting me. Fortunately I bit his tongue until he bled and ran off. I am in treatment but I do not want anyone else ever to have this same experience. Please heed my advice. Stay away and only stay in hotels with locked and gated communities on this island.

TERRIBLE!!!! my first time in dom rep and I love the people and all fo the places I visited. but the resort was terrible! do not go there! you will waste your money. I got there around 6:pm on checking day, the room was not ready, the air was leaking and it did not work. I wanted to rest but I could not because the people were in the room until late trying to fix the air, all the lamps and getting the room ready for me. also I call for a room with one bed and view and for the first to days I had the wrong room until finally they change me to another room. the food is terrible! these people do not know what customer service is. on the picture, the resort looks nice but when you get there it looks more like a motel. the shows they offer are also terrible so what i did was rent a car and went to the interior to have some fun i just went to the hotel to crash. i was just lucky that my fiance is fron there and know some people there and they took me around. JUST, DO NOT STAY IN THIS RESORT!!!!

I went to this place and was the wors place I ever can go this hotel is terrible don't expend your money in that. The tratment from the employee is very bad, the rooms are terrible the are no water in the bathroom. The restaurant is bad my family all get sick about the food that we ate in the first night because after we see that hotel we move to another one. Please i recommend to every body not to go there because you going to have the most bad experince that you ever can have.

If you’re reading this planning to go to this ‘hotel’…..THEN DON’T.

If you’re reading this having already booked……Then read on, better to be forewarned as they say.

Both my wife and I are serving British military, so we’ve been to some bad places as well as some very nice ones and we consider ourselves seasoned travellers. We’ve eaten bad food and slept in the bare minimum of accommodation when required, but having paid good money for this holiday we were appalled at what we got.

Too late, but before we embarked on this trip I read through these reviews and thought that it couldn’t be that bad. We’d been to the Dominican Republic before, to the Playa Dorada complex on the North coast and had been extremely impressed as we’d only booked 7 days in advance and had to trust the agent implicitly.

Arriving late, it was dark when we got to the room. From the moment the door was opened by our eager bell boy, we were hit the powerful smell of damp, mould and mildew. The bedding, curtains in fact everything in the room simply stank. I was trying to decide whether stank was too strong a term, but after careful thought it isn’t. I realise that this time of the year the air was very humid and that the ‘hotel’ was very close to the sea, but this smell was well ingrained and had not just developed. The bathroom was also damp but this was probably due to the taps on the bath that ran constantly as did the toilet cistern. You know when you’re in trouble when the first thing you have to do on entering a new hotel room is fix the toilet! We reported both these faults but nothing was done. The bath fitting were also dirty and they felt like they were about to fall off (see photo).

If you’ve read other reviews you’ll know that towels are a problem, well I can confirm that yes they still are a problem with all previous details having been encountered. It was crazy really, they would be taken around 9 each morning presumably to be laundered, but if you got any back that day was the gamble. Some times after coming off the ‘Beach’ (I’ll get to that later) I had to track down a house maid and demand towels; on arrival they said to just phone guest services and they would sort it out, take my word for it don’t bother, they don’t and wont! The towels when you do get them are old, stained (see Photo) or holey. God knows what they do with them.

The ‘hotel’ itself was old and seemed to me to be falling apart at the seams (see Photo’s). Two of the pools paving slabs were falling off, and the pool had a large circle of plaster missing from the floor. The pool lights were loose in their mounts and screws protruded that you could easily catch clothing or skin on. On the ‘beach’ electrical cables and conduits lay on the surface, it one case the water from one of the beach showers actually ran over a cracked conduit that carried electrical cables! The whole place in my opinion is an accident waiting to happen. Fire fighting equipment was in a poor state of repair with emergency lighting hanging off the wall. Paint work was drab and in the case of our room it appeared they had merely painted over some rather dodgy stains. Our room was dirty and we even had dried blood on one wall! The whole place was across between Faulty Towers and Prisoner Cell Block H.

The ‘beach’ is man-made; lacking sand to the point that you can see the concrete beneath. The coast had originally been sharp rock and in places this is still evident protruding through the sand. The sand unlike a natural beach also feels dirty, that’s the best way I can describe it. At various points the ‘beach’ is supported by a low retaining wall (see Photo’s) that is now falling apart and looks unsightly. Again I know previous reviewers have said don’t go because of the hygiene, I’ll add to that and say don’t go because of the health and safety issues!

Hygiene though does also need a mention. On arrival we were told to not drink the water, understandable given the circumstances, but imagine our concern when we saw the bar staff simply rinsing used plastic ‘glasses’ under the tap before re-using them. No detergent, no drying, just a rinse and re-use. I believe this was indicative of the whole ‘hotel’ and why now back at home I’m still spending a considerable time on the toilet.

I realise that this is going on some what, so I’ll just list some of the other points:

●We waited 8 days before the beds were changed

●The floor in our room was mopped once in the two weeks we were there.

●Food was terrible; in the most part edible but still terrible. Lacking in imagination and poorly presented. I’ll never criticise our military chefs again.

●The bars were ill stocked; I like a gin and tonic but each bar seemed to only have one bottle of tonic at any given time, and when it was gone…..it was gone. Drinks were mixed as the bar keeper wanted - ever had a pink Pina Colada before!?

●Staff were unhelpful and were always looking for tips.

●The ‘Al La Carte’ restaurants are nothing of the sort. Food is poor, service theatrical and along with every where else at this ‘hotel’ the over all experience is disappointing.

●Beware the on site time share sellers. They try to catch you leaving breakfast each morning.

One last thing that I’ve got to mention is the weekends. Come Friday night and through Saturday and Sunday, the ‘hotel’ is besieged with local wealthy Dominicans who come down for a weekend away. Nothing wrong with that, every one is entitled to ‘enjoy’ the ‘hotel’. Where it really got annoying was when the chefs and staff would show favour to the locals over the international guests. This even manifested itself one lunch time when it was spotted that complete chicken breasts were being cooked. With the sight of some edible food on the grill, a long queue quickly formed only to be turned away as the breasts were taken away to be shared between the Dominicans, leaving us poor lower class guests with the usual Chicken lips and feet to chew on. I kid you not that is how bad this place got.

I’m sorry if you have read this as you are about to depart, take plenty of books and a good sense of humour with you. Other essentials should include towels, Imodium, air freshener, moist toilet tissue (especially if you forget the Imodium), some holiday washing detergent, a thermal mug or cup (as stated on a previous review, a bloody good idea that one) and US dollars. By the way you have to pay $10 US each to get into the Dominican Republic as well as $20 US each to get out!!!

Oh I forgot one last detail….There’s a bloody great building site next door. You can witness the art of building the Dominican way! Enjoy.

Re : our holiday to the Dominican Republic 28th March – 11th April

We have recently returned from a two week family vacation in the Dominican Republic. We are very experienced travellers by most standards. Over more than 20 years we have visited a range of locations around the world including several other caribbean islands, USA, Canada, Canary Islands, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Thailand, Maldives, India, Malaysia etc. It goes without saying that we very much enjoy travelling, and experiencing what different cultures have to offer.

The Ahmsa Marina Playa Real Hotel at the resort of Juan Dolio is advertised as an international three star establishment.

I am a consultant clinical scientist by profession. I thought the standards of cleanliness and hygiene at the hotel were disgraceful and spending time there exposed us to serious health risks.

We were a party of young fairly fit adults. Do not contemplate going to this establishment if you have young children, elderly relatives or anyone who has otherwise compromised health.

We did fill out a hotel complaint questionaire. This proved, predictably, to be a futile exercise. Our tour rep, opted to stay at the hotel next door for some unexplained reason. He had a totally "manyana" attitude, possibly brought on by sunstroke and/or the general excesses of Dominican culture.

Our party of three adults all had diahorrea and intermittant vomitting for 12/14 days of our stay at this hotel. We lost on average 14lbs in body weight. The gastrointestinal problems have finally resolved after six weeks. I must stress that we are very cautious travellers, and the effects of sun, alcohol, coconut oil based foods, and the side effects of antimalarial drugs in our case can all be discounted.

We have never been in a dirtier hotel anywhere on the planet (bear in mind the 3* rating). The staff were friendly and courteous by and large but appeared to be completely ignorant regarding basic hygiene. Below are number of points which illustrate the overall situation – the list is by no means exhaustive:-

1. On one occasion we were aghast to witness an adult female guest urinate whilst sitting on a restaurant seat. The pool of urine eventually soaked into the wooden floor. No action was taken by the staff. We left immediately in disgust. Later other guests related experiences of guests (children) urinating and defecating in the swimming pools although we did not see this ourselves. Apparently locals and friends of staff members are

routinely allowed to come in to this hotel completely free of charge at weekends. The result was three days of absolute chaos and mayhem. They were given preferential treatment over paying guests. It was like competing with locusts for food in the restaurants at these times.

2. Our room was serviced on a daily basis. However, linen and towels were only changed every three days, and not at all over the weekend periods and extended Easter break. When changed, they were invariably replaced with dirty, stained, damp and threadbare items that had clearly not been laundered with detergent. Bed roles and pillows were old and torn with disgusting stains on them. At the end of our stay The staff at the reception desk even tried to charge us an extra $140.00 for our seaview room for which we had already paid!!!

3. The floor of our room was mopped every day, but with dirty cold water. This made it impossible to walk barefoot in the room without the soles of one’s feet becoming covered in dirt.

4. Throughout the hotel and in our own room, the plumbing frequently failed resulting in toilet blockages, overflows of raw effluent, and extremely potent odors wafting throughout the rooms. It was frequently not possible to use hotel restrooms because of this.

5. In the bars, glasses were often simply rinsed under the bar tap before being reused. Drinks were served in cracked and degraded plastic containers. Used screwtop drinks bottles were often offered to guests by staff to take beverages away in.

6. Food preparation (and quality) was disgraceful. On one occasion in the pool snackbar my wife, within 30 minutes of eating fried chicken, vomitted violently and had 12 hours of explosive diahorrea. On another occasion in the Mexican a la carte restaurant we had to return our fish starters which appeared to have been contaminated with detergent. We left on this occasion after subsequently being served an undercooked maincourse of chicken.

7. Much of the pre prepared food was left out for long periods of time and was often reheated and maintained at lukewarm temperatures.

8. Chefs preparing food in the restaurants to order, always wore very badly soiled clothing and handled food with dirty bare hands – I have no idea what the condition of kitchens was behind the scenes!

9. Food that was prepared to order eg grilled meats and fish including pork, chicken, beefburgers, was more often than not undercooked and partially raw.

10 When serving was finished, hotplates and grills were wiped of excess grease with soiled rags or dirty spatulas and no more.

I could go on, but feel that I have probably listed the most serious issues.

We continue to view our experience very seriously. The response from the major UK tour company with whom we arranged this trip has to date been so apathetic that we are likely to take legal action against them on the grounds of negligence and lack of duty of care to clients.

My final note is to look through all the reviews about this hotel very carefully. It is easy to pick up on many common points which can only lead to one conclusion. DO NOT GO THERE

1- Rooms are fair to a two star hotel not *** or ****

2- Drinks are awfull very sheap,to many peple for one bartender

3- Not supervision or good managing a this hotel,I tried to give a complaint to a supervisor not he never apeared.

4- Don't ask for iron,there's only 10 for 391 rooms.

5- Food is a normal one star hotel.I still have diharrea.

6-The beach need much care like the hotel facilities.

7- There's not enough manteniance personal for the demand.

This must be the worst hotel we have had the mispleasure of staying in. From the moment we arrived at the resort and were warned from our tour rep (airtours) not to venture outside of the hotel after dark we knew we had chosen wrongly. The food was absolutely disgusting, very little to choose from and if you weren't from the Dominican very hard to distinguish what it actually was. The pools were dirty, the beach and sea murky with raw sewerage flowing into it from the beachside toilets. The 11 people in our party all cotracted some form of stomach bug whch confined us to the rooms for a few days. The bars were poorly staffed and after queing for a while often ran out of drinks or plastic cups or sometimes both. We have been to other resorts in the Carribean and have had some great times but this is one place we would certainly not return to.

This hotel is the worst i have ever been to. The place was scruffy and badly maintained, the staff rude, unhelpful and i like others could not get:

clean plates

cutlery

towels

drinks

food

The two pools were dirty and the rule at the adult only pool seemed to be : If you were a dominican or spanish speaking person from central america you and your kid were allowed to swim but the security gaurd instead of gaurding the perimeter from locals who had no business being there hid in the bushes and told well behaved non-dominican full price paying 12 yr olds to leave .

The sea and beach are dirty also with a very strong "sewage smell" most of the time. Be warned "dont waste your money stay well away" I went hoping to give my 12 yrs daughter a caribbean dream holiday we ended up having the "holiday from hell"

We were sold this destination as a 3 and 1/2 to 4 star resort. Preface: I am a 26 year old professional male. I do not cinsider myself to be a picky or spoiled traveller as I am used to hostels throughout Europe and accustomed to roughing it while interior camping. However, when going to an all inclusive resort, one expects basic ammenities such as water and electrivity and maybe even some decent edible food. The intermittent water and hydro combined with the brutal service, slop buffet, rock sea-grass filled beach make this resort a 1 - 2 star at most. Our payed for oceanview had a view of the street, including endless mopeds waking us up and a construction site.

I HAVE NEVER SEEN SO MANY CRYING WOMAN IN ONE PLACE THAN IN THE PLAYA REAL LOBBY!

People were so upset with this resort they were literally in tears. I did not find one tourist couple who would return. Itravel 2000 and Sunwing as well as Red Seal vacations misrepresented this resort and in my opinion should never sell this trip to anyone. It was a local destination and it seemed that the one bartender was prejedice against non-locals. Getting a drink was a serious chore.

We new on the first night that we had to switch resorts. After arriving on Saturday night, and discovering the horror, we focuded on getting out of there ASAP. Our local Sunwing rep essentially gave us the run around and forced me to be very stern and pushy. We were finally able to move to another resort (Sunscape Casa Del Mar - Beautiful - go there instead) on the Monday evening once we paid an additional 200 for the switch and 50 for the cab ride. Of course 2 1/2 days were wasted at Playa Real. You better beleive that itravel2000 has it coming from me.

Bottom line: ignore all of the neutral to positive reviews for this place and go elsewhere. Spend the extra 200 bucks now and not after 2 wasted days like we did. You have been warned.

Best of luck. Again, Casa Del Mar was beautiful!!!

The Playa Real is advertised as a four star resort.It is an outright lie. It advertises a magnificent beach for water sports etc. The only catch is--you have to be able to get in the ocean first. It's dirty with loads of black slimy seaweed, lots of rocks and a strong under tow. In order to go into the ocean at all you must walk a ways to adjoining resort and use their beach. The only reason I wanted to go to the Dominican was its fabulous beaches. Needless to say all I wanted to do was go back home. I can go in a swimming pool at home I don't need to travel 3 1/2 hrs on a plane. We were there 1 week as it took that long to get transferred to a different resort and never once got a face cloth. We requested ground floor room and was told that was reserved for us only to be put on the 4th floor which would have been okay but on the second day it quit working.On the bus ride from the airport the tour guy told two girls since they were the only ones he could bother talking to that the resort was only a 2 1/2-3 star resort.When asked how come it was rated higher in the brochures and on the net,he said so they could get clients.The only thing that saved our vacation (after another $500U.S. and a $70 U.S. taxi ride) was the transfer to Casa Del Mar in Bayahibe. It was fantastic.I don't think I would be interested in booking with Sunquest again and definitely not in La Romana.I feel they owe me a weeks vacation,I waited all year for this and they did little to make it enjoyable.

My husband and I just returned from this Resort. We ended up having to change resorts during our vacation. This resort was very dirty. The staff was not helpful at all, nor friendly. They would only rinse the bar glasses with cold water and reuse them for other customers. They didnt wash them between people. We watched them do this. The grounds were not kept clean. Nor the public bathrooms. The food we found always cold. In the morning you needed to go find a spoon for your coffee. They only gave you a fork and knife. We have been to several other resorts and are not picky people at all. But when you walk to your room and you can see where you walked, and debris on the stairs for two days, you know they didnt clean. Our room had no balcony, no air conditioner or hot water. They did finally change our room for us, but at this point we were to upset and decided to change resorts to make our vacation nicer. I would not recommend this resort at all and will never go back.

I love good food, I love good drink, I love a hot beautiful clean sandy beach, I love ocean swimming and snorkelling. This place offered NONE of those things, I could write chapters but I'll be brief. The food was the worst - soggy over ripe fruit, Tang for orange juice, goats milk in pitchers of ice, soggy ice cream, fish, pork and chicken sub par and over saturated in grease, pizza reheated, soggy and flimzy, wine was garbage, beer was draft only and lacked substance. The beach was small, dirty , yellow, hard sand. The water was coral bedded, un swimmable, mirky so you couldn't snorkel very well, it dropped off steeply after several feet so wading was difficult. Most of the staff were only spanish speaking except front desk, bartenders and vendors (haha yay lets have more of those). I had stomach cramps intermittently thru out the 2 week stay, immodium helped. The trip to Saona island was amazing, gorgeous white thick sandy beaches, volleyball was fun there and snorkelling on near by island (started with an "M" i forgot the name) was great...Wow fish, vibrant colours!! THAT is what we should get at the resorts for a $1700 2 week excursion. I dont know what these other reviewers really enjoyed about this place , but I'm definatley going 5 star + AND reading reviews of picky well travelled people before i go to the dominican again! Hope this review helps those indecisive people looking for a bargain.

My boyfriend and I visited in August 2003, checked in at 11pm only to find out our room had been double booked and the ocean view we were promised did not happen. We were okay with that, however we got to our room only to find out we had to sleep on a small pullout bed for 3 days. It was horrible...during the day all we heard was kids screaming by the pool and at night the disco was exceptionally loud until 4am.

Eventually we were finally put into a beatiful room with a great ocean view on the north end of the hotel, but that was about the only plus of our stay. To get this room I had to go through hell and back literally.

For 3 days I was told ur room will be ready in a couple hours....yea 3 days later and a lot of visits to the reception desk. On our last day, there was a huge leak in the bathroom ceiling which flooded the floor and it took maintenance 4 hours to respond. The food is pretty bad and it is impossible to go into the water without some kind of footwear because of the numerous sharp rocks in the water. To get a lounge chair on a weekend you have to wake up at 8am and put a magazine on the chairs, otherwise you will not find one. As far as the country is concerned there is a departure tax that you must pay in order to leave the country...and this must be paid in pesos. Definetly save some currency for this tax because we were unaware of this rediculous tax. I would not stay here again and would not recommend this hotel to anyone!

Un sejour de 15 jours qui se termine par une dysentrie amibienne, c'est dire comme l'hotel est propre....

Pas d'eau chaude pendant 3 jours consecutifs, serviettes de toilettes et linge de lit pas très clean...electricité dangereuse

enfin hotel pas recommandable du tout!