PLEASE DO NOT STAY AT THE HACIENDA!

We booked a 2 week holiday arriving New Years Eve Dec 07 .
We hated the holiday so much we paid over £1200 to fly home early (9 days early!)
* All staff are rude and very helpfull
* Rooms are dirty, the electricity and water kept going off and the towels are tiny and were hardly ever changed!
* FOOD WAS DISGUSTING! even in the al la carte restaurants (food cold, overcooked, in the buffet restaurant, trays were never replenished so looked like a gang of vultures had been digging into them!)
* You are hassled all day by staff trying to sell you the timeshare
* pools dirty and there was building work going on by some of them
* We tried to complain to reception and they really didnt care and we were told they were too busy to hear why we werent enjoying ourselves and if we wanted to leave then leave.
I could go on and on about many other reasons why we had the worst holiday of our lives! I am more than happy to answer any questions from anyone thinking of holidaying at the Hacienda.
We are a normal 26 year old couple, we're not fussy eaters or complainers - but it really is horrible!!!

We are not frequent travelers, but wanted somewhere warm, fairly simple. Beach, bar and a book. Read the reviews, was kind of concerned, but kept open. It was wonderful - the place has so much going for it. The only thing better than the location and weather was the staff, they were wonderful, very friendly and outgoing and kind, from the cleaning people to the bartenders. We stayed in one of the hotel rooms, overlooking the buffet restaurant and the bar, so we could see everyone coming and going in that first hour in the morning and last at night, we were gone the rest of the time. Perfect room, close to the beach and pool, spotless.

Locals selling stuff all along the beach - we developed a rapport, had a good time with them, didn't buy much, but they have beautiful stuff. Reasonable prices all around the area, probably spent a little more at the beach, but they were fun. Tipped the bartenders and cleaning people, they don't make much, and were great to us. Spent most of our time in the day on the beach and in the water, nights at the bars, one open all night, made a few friends, always had a good time.

Went on one trip, the Safari - drove through the rural areas with a guide, who was very good at his job, the high point.

The only thing that makes this not perfect was the way they try to push you to buy there. I am very happy with RCI, my home resort, and my ability to exchange, I am not going to spend thousands of dollars to buy Lifestyles. When you come in they give you a wristband, VIP (owner-gold), RCI (red), or whatever. Then they spend the rest of the week telling you how much better off the person with the gold wristband has it. They promise you gifts for going to a sales pitch (that they promise is not a sales pitch), and then refuse to give you your gifts. Not just us, everyone I talked to. And I was so happy with everything I had, I couldn't understand it. The VIP members got to reserve at the restaurants 8 - 12:00 every day, we had to wait until 1:00, so we didn't bother. Maybe they have great food, it's only food, I'm not hanging around all day waiting to reserve for it.

And the wristbands themselves are horrible - It didn't bother me at first, but by the end of the week, I was ready to leave just so I could take the stupid thing off. Never pay good money to wear a cheap paper wristband.

But, if you are not going for the food, and can ignore the sales pitch, it is a great place to go. I am looking for someplace just like it without the wristbands. If I don't find it, I would like to come back here.

Just got back from Lifestyles Vacation Club and all 12 of us had the time of our lives! None of us had been to the Dominican Republic before and after doing research on this website, and a couple others, we were actually a little nervous about our decision. Good thing we didn't let the reviews influence us! We will definetly go back.
Lifestyle was a great place. Food was just so-so but the folks were friendly and the rooms were awesome and roomy. We had four in our unit and we had to take quick showers in order for all four of us to have hot water.
We were active everyday, went on the Safari Tour, Cable Car, Shopping, Snorkeling, Fishing, Swam with the Dolphins at Ocean World and went on an ATV tour. We also went gambling a couple nights at a casino. Small place but had fun. Half of group came our winners.
Six of us bought a Holiday Vacation VIP Club Membership. Next time we'll be staying in a multiple bedroom home, at Lifestyle Villas, with a private swimming pool!!! We'll be posting it on rental web site soon so others can enjoy it too!
Anna - Missouri, USA

It's tough to complain when you're sunnin' it up in the middle of January when everyone else you know is stuck in NYC in 14 degree weather. The fact that we paid $599 for everything including airfare, food and drinks, makes it even harder. But the truth is that this resort leaves much to be desired.

The place is on the north shore of the DR, which means that in order to get sun, you need to face AWAY from the beach, the beach was small, and it had grainy sand that is similar to the type we have in the north east, definitely not the beautiful white stuff in other parts of D.R. Our first day we walked along the beach, and between the stray dogs and the bags of trash we were a little let down... (although the stray dogs ended up being pretty fun to play with as the week went on). there also is a helicopter landing pad right behind the beach...that was cool for a day, but the 4 landings and lift offs an hour can kill a relaxing nap.

The food is your generic Buffet fare, Unfortunately the local cuisine was not represented unless you count fried plantains and rice and beans. We ate at 3 of the 4 'reservation' restaurants and were far from impressed...but the 'asian' one was great, I'd eat there every night if I could.

their water-sport activities consisted of ONE KAYAK AND ONE WIND SURFBOARD....thats it. Night life was WACK. We found ourselves drinking on our 'ocean view' patio... ( Hey look! If I stretch my neck out like this and hang of this pillar I think I can see the ocean!")

the alcohol was free as long as you didn't mind drinking Presidente and bottom shelf liqour.

the staff was very nice, they did try sell us on the timeshare package, but we were prepared from reading reviews and hit them head on by letting them know that quite simply we had No money! (although they pulled the "well don't you have a credit card" line!)

another thing to look out for are the vendors they allow on the site to sell you crap, hoping that you haven't figured out the pesos conversion and end up paying $80 for a bracelet that you could of gotten in the mall for $4. they are VERY, VERY agressive and should be avoided at all costs.

The best part of the trip was the horseback ride we did, that was extra. and not technically part

there was nothing that was really BAD about this trip. and I was more then happy to just chill out. but I would NOT go back there and i wouldn't recommend this to anybody...