I have just arrived back from a week in at the Occidental Playa Dorada and I was extremely dissapointed in the hotel accomodation, the food, the service and the majority of the staff.
On arrival, I was told that we were given rooms in the newest and nicest part of the hotel!!! When we got to the room, it smelt stale and musky.. the decor was old and run down.. lights were not all working, the bath had black stains/burns, the shower curtain was discoloured. My mother's room has numerous puddles from all the leaking vents... she was able to change rooms straight away. I was told my bath would 'repaired' straight away - not sure how that could have been done without plumbing a new one in!!!.
Overall the hotel and its facilities are very run down and in need of modernisation - we had to go to the front desk and fill out a form in order to get the remote control for the tv! They charge $20USD for a safe key which can fit any room so not sure how secure that is!!
The staff are either overly friendly to the point of annoyance or they are extremely unattentive and at times simply unhelpful. The staff have a tendancy to talk to eachother about you in spanish which can come across quite disrepectful. If you have a problem or need information - they tend to be quite dismissive and have a careless attitude.
The food was only good at breakfast, lunch was hit and miss, dinners were awful. We were saved many nights by ordering pizzas which you cant go too wrong with. The restaurants that required booking are a waste of time apart of the the Grill - we were served cold food in the Italian and so didnt bother going to the Mexican.
The entertainment at night lacked any culture or taste - one night we thought it extremely inapproriate to simulate intercourse when there was kids in the audience.
Be weary of the Casino as I was almost ripped off when I won on the roulette table and the staff were sticking together to cover it up - not until I demanded to see the CCTV footage was I given my winnings.
Overall my stay at the Occidental has left a bad taste in my mouth in relation to the DomRep - there is a lovely hotel next door called Blue Bay which made me realise that not all the hotels there are the same.