Where are the Cabarete hotels?

Castellamonte · Nov 30, 2011

It's interesting to me why Cabarete continues to grow in terms of condo space under construction but there are hardly any truly independent large scale or upper end hotels. Villa Taina, Wyndham and a few smaller hotels are exceptions, of course. The others I know of are really condotels or apart-hotels so I don't really categorize those as hotels so much as 'places to stay' (because they are often not managed well and/or have dozens of mom & pop investors who may or may not have funds to maintain them).

Condos continue to be developed but hotels do not. It makes me wonder why...

Givadogahome · Nov 30, 2011

Cabarete itself doesn't have much to offer MASS tourism as in package deals etc, it is reasonably select with the people it attracts, and so people who visit for a time tend to know where they are going. 2 weeks in Cab if it isn't your thing would be a nightmare.

windeguy · Nov 30, 2011

Was just having this very conversation with one of our guests from Europe. He is here on a fact finding mission to purchase hotels on the north coast for his company in Europe. During his investigations he found the following:

- Asking prices near the water were unreasonable.
- Most hotels went "condo" over the past years. It was easier to take the money and run.
- Most of the places currently on the market were mom and pop hotels with too few rooms to be of interest to his company.
- The area east of the center of Cabarete has the most hotels and is currently a much less desirable location. I can also vouch for that since Camino Del Sol is a mere shell of what it was when I first came to the area about 10 years ago on my first visit.

eurodominican · Nov 30, 2011

windeguy said:
Was just having this very conversation with one of our guests from Europe. He is here on a fact finding mission to purchase hotels on the north coast for his company in Europe. During his investigations he found the following:

- Asking prices near the water were unreasonable.
- Most hotels went "condo" over the past years. It was easier to take the money and run.
- Most of the places currently on the market were mom and pop hotels with too few rooms to be of interest to his company.
- The area east of the center of Cabarete has the most hotels and is currently a much less desirable location. I can also vouch for that since Camino Del Sol is a mere shell of what it was when I first came to the area about 10 years ago on my first visit.

Hi Windeguy,

If this European company would be also interested in constructing a hotel, I might have something at the very beach for them at 10 -15 minutes drive from POP. Please contact me: info@eurodominican.com

Guss

pi2 · Nov 30, 2011

Cab maily aims at the 25 to 35 dollar a night range with several large chains of rooms offering this price competing with Thailand etc.
Punta Cana, Bahayibe, Las Terrenas are are at the upper end of the market.
Cab is experiencing success at what it does.

S.

Expat-in-Cabarete · Nov 30, 2011

"Cab maily aims at the 25 to 35 dollar a night range with several large chains of rooms offering this price competing with Thailand etc. "

Really? I only know of a handful of small hotels offering a $25 rate; none are on the beach.

The incredible number of condos built in the past few years is actually killing any chance of a new nice hotel here. Condo owners can rent out at very low prices; surely, recovering $500 in monthly condo fees is much better than having an empty condo.

Hotels, on the other hand, have to provide daily housekeeping, reception 24 hours, etc., etc., the costs are so high that it makes it impossible to compete with condo owners. Shame that this also promotes more people eating in, and less people using restaurants.

DavidZ · Nov 30, 2011

pi2 said:
Cab maily aims at the 25 to 35 dollar a night range with several large chains of rooms offering this price competing with Thailand etc.
Punta Cana, Bahayibe, Las Terrenas are are at the upper end of the market.
Cab is experiencing success at what it does.

S.

What???? :ninja:

There are two or three very small hotels in Cabarete offering rooms at that price...there are no large chains, except maybe Viva Wyndham, which along with all other rooms in Cabarete are well over $25-35 a night.

And what in Las Terrenas besides Los Balcones and maybe Alisei would you consider "upper end"? There are more low-cost hotel rooms there than Cabarete...Punta Cana and Bayahibe have nothing to do with Cabarete or even the North Coast...

To the OP's question, I have worked on several feasibility studies for large hotel chains looking into Cabarete, and the common opinion is that Cabarete is too small of a market. In addition, it doesn't have the infrastructure or amenities (shopping, dining, recreation, etc.) to support major growth. There's a bit of a catch-22 in that, you need more tourists to support more hotel rooms (and growth), but you need more hotel rooms to attract more tourists.

Ive also worked with several smaller groups interesting in building a hotel, but the capital requirements are high and the ROI is too long with the projected room and occupancy rates. With the high cost of land in and around Cabarete, it's easier and more cost effective to build condos or condo-hotels.

My hope is someone will come in and renovate some of the few properties that are left, maybe add some rooms...but none of that will likely happen unless there is a concerted effort by local businesses and/or the Secretary of Tourism to promote Cabarete as something other than a real-estate tourism destination.

All of us that live in and around Cabarete know that it could be an amazing mecca of water sports and night life, with a true International-meets-Caribbean flair...but it needs a bit of a clean-up and the rest of the world has to hear about it...and have a GREAT time when they visit. Other than Surfers and Kiters, I don't think Cabarete gets the best word-of-mouth marketing...

pi2 · Nov 30, 2011

I researched a room for a young offspring of a friend. I found that there were 100 s of rooms in this price range.
One group ownership of many rooms sent us to one of their other properties since the one we enquired on was full.
I should also have included condos for a 3 week stay at 500 dollars with deposit of course. This is under 25 dollars a day.
LT look at Trip Advisor and Home and Away to get idea of range of upscale properties available 45 dollars plus up to 400 plus dollars a night.
Punta Cana has a good range of upmarket properties hotels etc.
S.

cabaretenoticias · Nov 30, 2011

Untill there is a change of mayor (Canoa) in Cabarete, nothing will change, follow me at Cabarete Noticias Hoy

hammerdown · Nov 30, 2011

cabaretenoticias said:
Untill there is a change of mayor (Canoa) in Cabarete, nothing will change, follow me at Cabarete Noticias Hoy

Where do you get you info from, Canoa just got elected, and before that Cabarete was under the municipality of Sosua......get your facts straight .....

As to hotels and hotel chains, look at what happened....Tropical Goleta - closed.... Punta Goleta - Closed..... Azurro Club - closed..... Windsurf Resort - closed (or currently under renovations for some time and some time to come) Pariso Del Sol - closed..... Camino Del sol - closed.... Breezes Superclubs - closed

So when you close about 1000 rooms, where do people stay?

Castellamonte · Nov 30, 2011

One of the reasons I asked the original question was because I'm a tad confused as to how Cabarete plans on evolving in the future. Don't get me wrong, there are many very nice condos in Cabarete offering overnight accommodations. But the economic model for this is self-defeating as I see it.

Someone mentioned the developers. I don't blame Georges Coutu or anyone else in the condo development business for this in the least. In fact, they seem to be doing exactly what we all pay condo developers to do...architect and develop nice condos. Once they sell the condos they are no longer responsible for them but no one pays them to do that and, as an ex-property manager myself, they are brilliant for not taking on that thankless burden. So that isn't the problem at all.

But I don't see how Cabarete can grow a repeatable, sustainable and increasingly profitable business model by having condos instead of hotels along the beachfront. Condos have no cohesive marketing program so they cannot be very effective at it. Condos have no enforced pricing model so they end up undercutting each other all the time. Condos have weird, professional, non-existent management (pick one) so the experience for the clients is never the same (typically worse, year on year). The list goes on for quite some time but I assume the point is made.

Condotels and Apart-hotels surely have a place to place in the pantheon of overnight accommodations but the foundation is always build and sustained upon quality, well-managed, clean, safe and reliable hotel rooms.

Example: I was invited back in the day to meet with JetBlue before they came to the DR in an attempt to get them to do so. We succeeded, which is great, but when I was thinking of what JetBlue was asking for in terms of "guaranteed nights" it really struck me. Cabarete itself could never, ever reliably respond to a requirement of available room nights from a single source.

Isn't that weird?

PeterInBrat · Nov 30, 2011

The prob is unlike Sosua, they can and already do have hotels on the beach in Cabarete. No one wants to build a hotel which is just across the highway or "5 minutes from the beach" there when someone who got property on the beach can sell a room for cheaper. Kite beach has also had as much building on it as it can take. BTW, have you seen the prices for real estate there?? Developers want undiscovered beaches, like PC was 15 years ago. How close they are to an airport also counts..

Castellamonte · Nov 30, 2011

PeterInBrat said:
Developers want undiscovered beaches, like PC was 15 years ago. How close they are to an airport also counts..

Okay, I'll buy that. Although that certainly doesn't bode well for the future of Cabarete tourism, I can understand your point.

But then, assuming you are correct, why aren't there tons of hotels being built along Playa Encuentro (on west side of Cabarete) or where Amber Dune was/is supposed to be (although I hear the beach there is dicey). Even if the Bay of Cabarete (as I call it) is forfeit to the condo developers there are still many places hotels can build.

I see none and hear of none on the horizon.

I heard Azul Hotel (I believe that was the name), which was recently demolished (it needed to be), will come back up as a bunch of condos! Even GranCabanna isn't done and another bunch are going to be developed? I'm confused as to the long term plan, I guess.

Ideas?

oriole100 · Dec 1, 2011

Hotels, you own. You have a staff. It costs Pesos to stay open. A condo, you sell, and charge someone else to take care of it. They are at you mercy. There aren't that many good Mangt. Co's. Once they have you it's a done deal. Condo rules etc. Why would I want to build a hotel.

pi2 · Dec 1, 2011

Coast along by Miches will be next - why bother with Cab for hotels when there is so much out of date infrastructure and ugly property around. It has found its niche with small budget hotels and condos. If an extended family owns a condo and the family occupies it for about 10 weeks a year and it is let the rest it is a good proposition.
pi2

frank12 · Dec 1, 2011

If i understood it correctly (please correct me here because it's been a long time since i heard information on this), GranCabanna is going to be something like "Fractional" ownership/hotel--it will be something along the lines of "Magnifico (someone please explain this business concept to me as well). I have had people sit at the bar where i work and explain to me that Grancabanna will be a hotel--just like hotel "Magnifico"--but wait, first they need to sell the rooms/condos to people who will only be able to live there X amount of weeks per year. the rest of the time it is a hotel and your room is rented and some of the proceeds (if there are any left) will find its way into your pocket...that is if you are lucky to have your room rented sufficiently. Not only that, the X amount of weeks that you come and stay at "your, condo in "Grancabanna" or "Magnifico", you must pay the maintenance costs for the time that you are there. tell me, is this not just a form of glorified "renting" in the guise of ownership?

Again, i only heard this at the bar so, it could be, more than likely, incorrect information.

Frank

Castellamonte · Dec 2, 2011

frank12, the primary benefit of fractional ownership is that you actually own the physical asset. In other countries this is realized by a fractional title which, of course, is not available in this country. In this country if you have a fractional ownership you do not really own the property per se but probably own a portion of a business entity which in turn owns the real estate. If someone tells you that you will have a fractional title in the DR you should run, not walk, as fast as possible while holding onto your wallet!

It's sort of a spin off of time share and gets confused with it. Here is how I separate the differences (my opinion):

Time Share is most often purchased in single week increments and seldom comes with an interest in the appreciable asset value of the property. You can sell the week but never realize the benefits of the asset appreciation; that remains with the real estate owners since you only own time (access) to the real estate but not the real estate itself.

Destination Clubs vary but the least attractive aspect is that you purchase a membership in the club very similar to a golf club membership. These are changing over time to blur the difference between them and Residence Clubs, which are in fact fractional ownership clubs.

Fractional Ownership is most often purchased in multiple week increments (typically 1/13 to 1/4 of a year) allow more flexibility in dates used and participation in home exchange programs. Also, as an owner of the real estate you realize benefits from asset appreciation, which can be significant, or even operating losses useful for tax purposes. The real estate you own can be sold, mortgaged, transferred or handed down to heirs. This is something the others cannot accomplish.

frank12 · Dec 2, 2011

Thanks Castellamonte!!

Castellamonte said:
frank12, the primary benefit of fractional ownership is that you actually own the physical asset. In other countries this is realized by a fractional title which, of course, is not available in this country. In this country if you have a fractional ownership you do not really own the property per se but probably own a portion of a business entity which in turn owns the real estate. If someone tells you that you will have a fractional title in the DR you should run, not walk, as fast as possible while holding onto your wallet!

It's sort of a spin off of time share and gets confused with it. Here is how I separate the differences (my opinion):

Time Share is most often purchased in single week increments and seldom comes with an interest in the appreciable asset value of the property. You can sell the week but never realize the benefits of the asset appreciation; that remains with the real estate owners since you only own time (access) to the real estate but not the real estate itself.

Destination Clubs vary but the least attractive aspect is that you purchase a membership in the club very similar to a golf club membership. These are changing over time to blur the difference between them and Residence Clubs, which are in fact fractional ownership clubs.

Fractional Ownership is most often purchased in multiple week increments (typically 1/13 to 1/4 of a year) allow more flexibility in dates used and participation in home exchange programs. Also, as an owner of the real estate you realize benefits from asset appreciation, which can be significant, or even operating losses useful for tax purposes. The real estate you own can be sold, mortgaged, transferred or handed down to heirs. This is something the others cannot accomplish.

tomas2 · Dec 2, 2011

.....

DR Mpe · Dec 2, 2011

Castellamonte said:
But I don't see how Cabarete can grow a repeatable, sustainable and increasingly profitable business model by having condos instead of hotels along the beachfront?

Sorry, but please. Do you think that Dominican authorities and influential rich people here have any interest in creating some kind of sustainable wealth that would benefit the local community, local businesses and the poor people?!? Ho ho ho

Azurro was the name of the hotel btw

Where are the Cabarete hotels?

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