Although it's been over six months, I can't say enough about this resort. We have been visiting Playa Dorado for the past ten years and just love it!!! I can't say enough about Friedrich Stieb, Guest Services - He is totally customer focused and aims to please. Whenever any type of issue surfaced - he resolved it to our satisfaction. Friedrich is an absolute asset to this resort!!

Thank you Friedrich and we'll see you in October!!!

All the bad reviews of this place are true. The food is AWFUL. Desserts from the buffet get circulated on carts in the restaurants. The Grill restaurant is just plain insulting. So much so that the soggy and lumpy pasta in the Italian restaurant actually feels like gourmet food! The place is rundown, and quite dirty. Linens and furniture have all seen better days...in the 80s! The beach is so-so.

The saving grace are the staff that handle entertainment - the poor guys try so hard and actually manage to help you forget the pitiful place this is.

This is our second time to the Dominican Republic but first time for Rachel (7). The hotel is lovely clean & welcoming. Staff are all very friendly & will do anything to make sure that your stay is brill. Rachel says this is the best holiday & hotel ever!! She still plays the MEREN HITS 2007 CD & does the Club Dance. The brilliant entertainment staff made her feel like a princess every day. They even managed to get me & hubby up a few times to have fun. Entertainment was FUN FUN FUN - very childish humour but everthing done was given 100% by the entertainment team. Brilliant and well worth a return.

I don't want to be one of those travelers that have nothing good to say but this is not what I expected. My husband & I have stayed at the Occidental in Punta Cana and loved it so booking this resort seemed like a no-brainer. But this resort is a much older and not quite as fantasy as Punta Cana.
If all you care about is going on the beach all day and drinking then this is your place but if you want a little more then I'd keep looking.
The rooms are very dated with no fridge. We found this to be hard because you can't drink the water from the taps and they dont provide bottled water. You have to buy it. You can get drinkable water from dispensers and during meals but a bottle of water does come in handy if you want to walk around. My husband and I slept on two twin beds and it was very hard to keep the moisture out of the room. Breakfast and lunch had the same food and for those of you who like salads they don't have much of a selection. Dinners were ok and the restaurants were just so
One of the biggest turn offs were all the sells people on the beach. Every day I bet I was asked 5 times if I wanted my hair braded. Now don't get me wrong, I realize that these people are trying to make a living and I don't put any blame on them I just found it to get very uncomfortable.
We went on the Puerto Plata runners day trip. This was a real eye opener. If you go on this day trip take plenty of money in small bills and school supplies and/or toys for the children. The tour guides strongly advise you not to give the children money, they advised its like killing them as your teaching them that money is made easily. This is a very long trip and I do suggest getting a good nights sleep the night before...You do get to see a lot of the mountain area and the jungle. It was a pricey trip but you do get a real life lesson on this day. If I could do it again I maybe would have done this & the zip cord trip thru the mountain. The zip cord trip seems like it would be a lot of fun.
I want to mention the time share people. They are everywhere. At the resorts & shopping centre. They will do whatever it takes for you to listen to them. These are expensive and not what you think. Yes you can buy these time shares for $18K US and you get I believe two weeks a year for life. But here is the rip off...This does NOT include your all inclusive, you have to pay for that every time you go down there its mandatory plus your flight. You also have property taxes and maintenance fees. This turnes out to be way more then your average trip.
Before going, check with your bank to see if your debit card will work down there.. We couldn't get money out on our last day and it turns out our bank does not allow us to withdrawal from DR. Another Canadian who was there was having the same problem with his card.
Lastly buy the safe. A man from Canada had his wallet stolen the first day he got there. He had the bellhop take his things to his room. He left the room to explore the resort and when he came back is wallet was gone. This does happen often so please protect youself.
Overall I'd rate this resort about a 3.5* I didn't hate it but didn't love it either. I wrote this because I want everyone who goes to this resort to be prepared