The Secret Tourist - Fun Royale Hotel

It doesn't surprise me, the resort is falling apart.

Just what the North Coast needs, more bad publicity!

DMV123 said:

There was a documentary last night on the BBC, The Secret Tourist did a report on the Fun Royale/Fun Tropicale in Playa Dorada.

Here is part of what was reported:

This hotel featured on BBC Documentary "TheSecret Tourist", where lab tests showed the water pipes were contaminated with Legionella bacteria, which kills 1 in 10 that it infects. There were 100 times more bacteria in the tap than in the toilet! A large portion of the food appeared to be recycled and lab tests showed that their food was full of dangerous bacteria. What's worse is that the management were very obstructive when confronted with these issues and refused to acknowledge any problems.

Orange TV Blog: The Secret Tourist, Thursday 9pm, BBC One

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Wouldn't the water from the tap come from the same source as the toilet? Saying the bacterial count was 100 times higher makes me doubt the credibility of the whole thing.

they did a similar style one on a hotel in Blackpool uk which didnt fare much better, but they got more business from it from people going to see how bad the worse hotel in the uk actually was

I didn't hear of anybody being killed by Legionella recently in Playa Dorada.

And yes, they are correct, you should not drink the water - did anybody not know that?

Interesting factoid - recently they tested the windscreen washer water on British cars and found that 60% had Legionalla bacteria present.

While food prep and general hygiene should be a priority in resorts, these guys have go to be kidding.

mathew allright has a history of being in terribly researched programs....not the best presenter in the world

A story like that tarnishes the entire island's hotels.
I don't know that people differentiate exact location based on a program like that.

DMV123 said:

THAT reminds me - whatever happened to the governments program to establish a real STAR ranking of hotels? I thought that was done - why is it not implemented? Anyone know?

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We haven't heard anything. I'm guessing it's on the "manana" list like so many other projects.

You have to remember, they love to throw parties here and spend money on announcing projects, basically grandstanding. But when you have no accountability or transparency, the money often gets used in other ways.

Back to the topic at hand. It doesn't matter if he's a bad presenter, or if window washer fluid is better to drink, it's bad press and it will be another nail in the coffin.

I have no doubt the response will be to try and discredit the report or take the "no es mi culpa" line that is so often used here.

It would make a nice change to hear someone actually say, we have a problem and this is what we are doing to fix it.

Robert said:

It would make a nice change to hear someone actually say, we have a problem and this is what we are doing to fix it.

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That would be nice.
Good luck with that!

CFA123 said:

A story like that tarnishes the entire island's hotels.
I don't know that people differentiate exact location based on a program like that.

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You are right but there are an awful lot of very similar hotels like it. Unless the DR government and businesses does something about this cheap mass tourism will end and go else where.

Am a regular visitor to the country to see family but never undestood why people pay a small fortune to come and stay in such grotty hotels.

Common Knowledge?

Having travelled to DR for 25 years we have always been told not to drink the tapwater, that you can get sick. I just assumed that meant there was bacteria in the water. Not news to us. Even in Canada there are periodic "boil water advisories", usually in smaller towns, when some part of the infrastructure fails.

So why this should affect tourism to the north coast is beyond me. Won't stop our travels.

London_Calling said:

but never undestood why people pay a small fortune to come and stay in such grotty hotels.

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You hit the nail on the head!

While I dont make excuses for sub-par hotels, you will get what you pay for. To my eye, that place always appeared to be a dump, even back in the day.

It never fails to amaze me how people who dont pay top $$$ for their accomodations, expect to stay in the Ritz Carlton...and have the nerve to complain.

I saw it. The whole show was to pick up on the absolute tripe of everywhere it visited. It had no other aim than to scare people about situations that we deal with all the time and think nothing of it. If what they found was the worst Playa Dorada has to offer then there isn't THAT much to worry about. Leaking pipes, so what call the maintenance. Horrid food, it was a german processed meat breakfast, I don't feed my dog that sh1t, don't drink the water, well you deserve to get ill if you are drinking the tap water from one of the hotels. Personally I've always brushed my teeth with dominican tap water and never had an issue.
Seems like it is going to be one of those series where they go poking about looking for faults and filth, the guy pulled the entire ceiling down to get to a joint that needed a bit of PTFE tape and redone. By Dominican standards it was average to good.
The same guy who does rogue traders is doing it and even in that show he manages to find th dumbest people in the village throwing money around to anyone asking for it or claims to be a roofer.

It is just a scaremongering show for the holiday season.

the rogue traders program was also terrible - there should be a rogue tv program makers film lol - due to all the scandels with rigged voting and actors pretending to be the general public general public etc

Last Night's TV: The Secret Tourist/BBC1

Reviewed by Alice-Azania Jarvis

Friday, 30 July 2010

Matt Allwright isn't a real tourist. How do I know? Look at him! He's wearing a money belt. No one wears those, do they? In truth, the clue was in the title. Allwright is the BBC's Secret Tourist: he's going to have all the holidays from hell, so you don't have to. At least that's what he claimed last night, though perhaps his pledge should be elongated to take into account the decidedly un-sunny state of the economy. "We're going to have the holidays from hell," he could have said. "So you don't have to feel bad about staying at home." The Caribbean? Who can afford to go there? Well, apart from the Woodses, who got their trip to a hotel in the Dominican Republic courtesy of the BBC. Not that it is much of a treat. The hotel, as it turned out, left quite a lot to be desired: if not quite a holiday from hell, it rapidly became a holiday from somewhere you'd like to get out of as quickly as possible.

There were birds stealing food from the communal dining room (out of the very same dishes from which the punters were being served). Resort "entertainment" was so raucous that none of the Woodses could fall asleep. And the plumbing was infested with bacteria, so the hotel's guests were at risk from potentially fatal legionnaire's disease. Wish you were there? Perhaps not. Incidentally, I see from the hotel's website that location weddings are available.

Last Night's TV: The Secret Tourist/BBC1<br />Police, Camera, Action!/ITV1<br />Undercover Boss/Channel 4 - Reviews, TV & Radio - The Independent

You will find faults at any hotel if you look hard enough, even top end hotels are riddled with make do cover ups and alsorts of discusting stuff going on downstairs in the kitchens. Hotels are big structures with masses of people using them constantly without a care in the world, this involves constant repair and upgrading daily, weekly, yearly.

This guy on this program was complaining because they were spraying the grounds for pests, :ermm: sort of seems a little impossible to please, do you want insects or a bit of spray. The program and most magazines advertising hotels are worthless.

I never expect what I have read in a magazine promoting a place, I never expect the pool to be as peaceful, clean or in such surroundings as the pictures would suggest. I like to take my chances and just book what I can afford and hope for the best. Or if it is very important that I have good quality then I'll use word of mouth, either recomended by a friend or try to use one of the sites where people can write about the experience they had, which can be a bit hit and miss as well, some people go on vacation to have a sh1t time, I'm sure of it.

I too watched the program, & while I agree that the water should not be drunk & the maintenance "issues" highlighted were spurious at best, I think everybody so far has missed the most worrying problem found - food hygene.

Towards the end of the program all the test results from the food were announced. Basically the buffet was potentially lethal. Now this was obviously down to a combination of factors, not least food being out in the open for who knows how long in our delightful climate.

When we holidayed at such hotels we had a simple rule - the moment the buffet opens, eat. That way the food is the freshest it will be. We broke that rule once & I spent the following day reading in the smallest room ...

We all know the Fun Royale will never worry the Waldorf Astoria or Ritz Carlton, but they do need to control food hygene, as does anybody who serves food to paying customers.