So I checked into Dominican Fiesta Hotel and Casino with my 13-year old son. It is advertised as a five star hotel. The front desk staff very politely said all the right things, all the welcoming words.
I asked to first see the room, which was ample, with a lovely view of the city and the ocean in the far distance. I didn't think of checking to see if the bathroom door worked. Which it didn't. I mean, the door actually did not fit the opening! So after unpacking and calling down about the problem they politely told me that someone would be up in "cinco minutos". I sat on the edge of the bed waiting, it was about 2:30 PM.
Twenty minutes later I called again, "oh, the maintenance man is not there yet? He's on his way." So I sat, and sat, and sat... I called down again. and let them know that I had someplace to be at around 6Pm. They apologized and told me again that the man was on his way... I waited, and waited, and waited. I went downstairs and they told me to go ahead and do what I needed to do that when I returned they would fix the door. I told them that although I know very little, actually nothing, about fixing doors, this looked like a job that would take a long time.
when I returned from my appointment, they told me that sure enough, the door needed to be dismantled so instead they would move us to another room. I packed up my things, and went to a different room on a different floor. The customer service person came up to apologize up and down. I was polite back and told him that my son and I just needed to relax and go down to the pool with some friends (my son had three cousins visit who lived nearby) That's when the guy told me that we were not allowed to have friends visit us in the pool area, nor the room. I said, WHAT? but because of the inconvenience and because I had already sent my son and guests to pool area while I solved the door problem, he'd let it go. You'd never believe what happened next.
The front door of the new room did not lock properly. It could actually be accessed from the outside! So full of apologies again they sent someone from security, a maintenance man, and the head maid. Nothing! They would move me again. I repacked and they walked me down the hall to two available rooms, the first one the ceiling lights didn't work, so we settled finally on the fourth room. I had spent the entire afternoon and evening trying to get a room with working doors. Back to my son and pool area. It's not done yet.
The next day, again our young guests came to see us and the hotel refused to allow them in the pool area. Guests had to stay in the lobby. After I went over what had happened the previous day and that I was paying basically to sit in the lobby, because that is where I had spent most of my waking hours, they still refused to allow us to bring anyone in the pool area. I then told them that I would check out instead of staying the entire weekend like I planned. Can you imagine a five star hotel not allowing paying guests to receive visitors in their pool area, where they would even be spending even more money for drinks and snacks?
So if you are a nice family with children, or a business person who would like to entertain clients, Dominican Fiesta Hotel and Casino is not for you! From a business perspective it's moronic not to allow guests in pool area seeing that money would be spent on drinks and food. From a family perspective, not allowing them to entertain friends is beyond moronic since they are potential future clients for the hotel. In fact, my young guests were actually considering joining the hotel club, where parents pay an absurd amount of money to become members. That's a membership that they will not have thanks to the experience. Anyway, this is my unbelievable hotel story, word to the wise.
I asked to first see the room, which was ample, with a lovely view of the city and the ocean in the far distance. I didn't think of checking to see if the bathroom door worked. Which it didn't. I mean, the door actually did not fit the opening! So after unpacking and calling down about the problem they politely told me that someone would be up in "cinco minutos". I sat on the edge of the bed waiting, it was about 2:30 PM.
Twenty minutes later I called again, "oh, the maintenance man is not there yet? He's on his way." So I sat, and sat, and sat... I called down again. and let them know that I had someplace to be at around 6Pm. They apologized and told me again that the man was on his way... I waited, and waited, and waited. I went downstairs and they told me to go ahead and do what I needed to do that when I returned they would fix the door. I told them that although I know very little, actually nothing, about fixing doors, this looked like a job that would take a long time.
when I returned from my appointment, they told me that sure enough, the door needed to be dismantled so instead they would move us to another room. I packed up my things, and went to a different room on a different floor. The customer service person came up to apologize up and down. I was polite back and told him that my son and I just needed to relax and go down to the pool with some friends (my son had three cousins visit who lived nearby) That's when the guy told me that we were not allowed to have friends visit us in the pool area, nor the room. I said, WHAT? but because of the inconvenience and because I had already sent my son and guests to pool area while I solved the door problem, he'd let it go. You'd never believe what happened next.
The front door of the new room did not lock properly. It could actually be accessed from the outside! So full of apologies again they sent someone from security, a maintenance man, and the head maid. Nothing! They would move me again. I repacked and they walked me down the hall to two available rooms, the first one the ceiling lights didn't work, so we settled finally on the fourth room. I had spent the entire afternoon and evening trying to get a room with working doors. Back to my son and pool area. It's not done yet.
The next day, again our young guests came to see us and the hotel refused to allow them in the pool area. Guests had to stay in the lobby. After I went over what had happened the previous day and that I was paying basically to sit in the lobby, because that is where I had spent most of my waking hours, they still refused to allow us to bring anyone in the pool area. I then told them that I would check out instead of staying the entire weekend like I planned. Can you imagine a five star hotel not allowing paying guests to receive visitors in their pool area, where they would even be spending even more money for drinks and snacks?
So if you are a nice family with children, or a business person who would like to entertain clients, Dominican Fiesta Hotel and Casino is not for you! From a business perspective it's moronic not to allow guests in pool area seeing that money would be spent on drinks and food. From a family perspective, not allowing them to entertain friends is beyond moronic since they are potential future clients for the hotel. In fact, my young guests were actually considering joining the hotel club, where parents pay an absurd amount of money to become members. That's a membership that they will not have thanks to the experience. Anyway, this is my unbelievable hotel story, word to the wise.