The All-Inclusive

Laughing my arse off

Sad but true, the AI is its own little kingdom. Funny dialogue though and thanks for sharing Robert. AI's kill the little man, the struggling business owners trying to make an honest living. Remember that next time in the DR.
dale7(Howard)

Absolutely

It blows my mind that people repeatedly go to the DR, and stay at the AI's in Playa Dorada and the like. I guess, though, many have been scared off by tour reps telling them about the "dangers" of going into POP and Sosua...what a bunch of crap!

Every time we come back to the DR, we are so content staying at Condos Dominicano...you couldn't find nicer hosts than Eddy and Elena...I would never set foot in an AI again...besides, for the cost of what you'd pay to go AI, we find we save so much money staying at a hotel and eating and drinking out...

too funny

The grasshopper walking into the bar injection had me laughing. I feel sorry for people that stay at these places. They get good value for their money but deprive themselves of the true experience.
Larry

Robert

What the AI doesn't have... What the AI will NEVER have...
Is the spirit of the Dominican people.
I don't care how many Dominicans they have working at the AI.
At the AI you will never see the smile of the Dominican child when you give him a shirt. Or the kids who just got baseball gloves from a stranger.
At the AI you will never feel the welcome of the Dominican family when you are invited into their home, and accept their invitation.
At the AI you will never taste the flavor of Dominican home-cooking.
Real life in the DR is not the sunshine, or the weather.
Real life in the DR is not in the AI.
It is in the community. Where all the workers go to AFTER work at the AI.
It is in the eardrum breaking, broken speaker, playing loud music. It is in the colmado where you can buy 1 cigarette, or a tablespoon of tomato sauce when you need it.
It is in the friendships nurtured in the streets during evening apagones.
It is in the zest for life, in spite of the poverty and lack of enough education.
It is in helping eachother when a hurricane has destroyed your house.
None of these require a lot of money.
At the AI one cares only about the ROI (return on investment.)
They say that "life is a dream." I'd venture to say, so is the AI.
IMHO, to anybody who dares, wake up, get outside the AI and live.
Life is not a dress rehersal.
You only get one chance.
Go for it!
mk missing DR... a lot!

PS. Want proof? The majority of the expats who live in the DR, if not all, live, not at the AI, but in neighborhoods. It's where it's happenin'...

mkohn

Very very very very very very very well said!

the goal of the average tourist is diferent

This is such nonsense.
You might not like A.I. that?s fine and your right.
But what makes you believe to know what the average
tourist WANTS.?
There are hundreds of thousands tourist arriving each year.
only a very small part of them want to experience the real life as you described.
The success of Punta Cana is proof , there is nothing else.
PC was by far the most popular tourist destination in the DR this year.

The average tourist wants Sun, Sun and Sun and a great beach.
Great drinks and a good party. and if the food is good , that?s a plus.
And all that for a reasonable price.
They really don?t even care on what island or in what country they are .
Vacations to the DR and Cuba are now popular because of the price. Thats important to the average tourist.
Average tourist with a little bit more money might want to go to
some of the Jamaican Super clubs T.T. or some of the smaller islands.
The average tourist could not care less about your real life.

This tourism might not be good for the small business man
but it is great for the country.

Regarding AI's

Most AI resorts have foreign interest invested in them. The DR needs tourism to help their economy but AI resorts provide jobs for a few but the profit keeps the rich richer, and the poor poorer. An AI affects the local bars, little restaurants, small hotels, little stores, and their employees. It also alienates people from seeing what the country is really like. How can anyone defend AI's with such passion. I concede though that most tourists want sun.

I am from Michigan and for example, if I decided to travel for sun, I could save 300 plus a person just on airfare alone going to Florida. There's sun there. I can sit and watch the crazy college kids and speak English and not have a care in the world. Who cares about anyone else? In the DR I can stay at my AI resort with the gate/wall going around it to keep out the "riffraff" and meet other boring European/North American couples who look down on everyone else and enjoy the cheesy entertainment(sometimes AI's do have good entertainment) and watch the Sankis at work. That is my idea of enjoying the sun, yeah right. If I wanted that crap, I would go to Myrtle Beach, Virginia Beach, or somewhere in California or Florida and spend 1/2-3/4 the money. Isn't the point of going to a foreign country to enjoy the sun, meet new people and cultures and learn. For me it is. I don't know about you but you can stay in the gated AI's who don't allow normal DR citizens in and have the hotel warn about how dangerous it is outside of the hotel. What a load of garbage. If you want to stay at an AI fine, no problem but defending them as beneficial and helping the whole economy is moronic, do the poor or small business owners have any interest in the AI's, no. The government and rich love AI's because it keeps money flowing into their pockets. I will never stay at an AI again in my life, maybe this is a strong statement but AI's suck the life out of and rape the economy for the working poor and small business owners. Next time anyone stays at an AI go out into the country and surrounding areas and take off those rose colored glasses, maybe then you will feel something besides the burning of the sun.
dale7(Howard)

Prior to my becoming enamored with the Dominican Republic I went to Mexico twice staying at AI's both times.First trip was to Cancun with a friend.Second was to Akumal with an ex-girlfriend.During the second trip my ex-girlfriend suggested leaving the resort to venture out and experience Mexico. I did so to please her and I was very happy that I did. I realized what I had missed the first time in the way of experiencing the culture. I made sure I did not repeat this mistake when I came to the DR.
Larry

I know that my first time here I went to an All Inclusive in Punta Cana. Never even heard of Dominican Republic before. I went there cause it was a cheep vaca. But after I got bored and didn't listen to the guards and people saying it was dangerous to leave the resort, I snuck out one night(got caught the first night so I took a different route the next night and made my escape). Thats when I discovered rthe people and the country and returned 3 months later to explore on my own.
So really the resorts are a good introduction. Get your feet wet kinda thing. Seems that alot of people do return and stay out of the resort. So they can't be all that bad.
For my first time in any country I'd stay in one just to get the feel of the place. And it is exciting sneaking out the back door!! Never got stopped before with a guard holding a gun in USA!!!

so what we have concluded here that dale and larry are not the average tourist
I would guess that the majority of the frequent posters here are not your average tourist.
Jan lives here and is not even a tourist.
So we will still get lots of condamnation of AI.
But the average tourist wants them.
They just built a huge new one near PC.
In another thread I learnt it was built or is built by local
investors.
I still mantain they are good fot the DR economy.

If the question was "would the average tourist benifit by leaving
the AI and go local"?.
I would agree ofcourse go local.
But that was not the point.That's not his goal.
His only goal SUN and FUN.
The last thing on an average tourist mind is widen his horizon.

Hi, I'm just a newbie to your message board, but I have to respond to this thread! I've just returned from the DR (peurto Plata) and stayed at an A.I. This was my first time in a different country (other than the USA) and I felt I needed the A.I. experience just to feel safe. I ventured off the complex a few times at varying times of day and night. I found the ppl in pop were much more respectful, not hit on as aggressively (do the resort workers take a required course called "How to hit on tourists?"!) I am returning to the "real" D.R. in March for an extended stay, and I will not be fighting my way back over the guarded gate! :cheeky:

goos for you

good for you gypsygirl.

And by the way,the resort workers were not hitting on you.They were hitting on your pocketbook.

Hope you get as much pleasure out of the non-AI experience as I do.

Larry

Paul Thate,
You are right that most posters here aren't the average tourists because those who don't care about the DR and its people wouldn't be members of this site. It is true many tourists come for the sun and its a shame they stay at the AI and don't experience something new. AI's will always have business but if only a few hundred a week in each resort area didn't stay at an AI and spent it locally, among small restaurants/bars/hotels the economy would improve some and distribute the wealth more evenly. Without a few AI's tourism would be hurt drastically but I can't stand the attitudes of the management of the AI's, they treat their countrymen as riff raff and warn of dangers that are mostly based on falsehood to monopolize the tourism trade. I just can't understand those who want sun and want to stay in a secluded environment, that doesn't make sense in my eyes. Not attacking you Paul, though I was a doing that earlier because I didn't read into your whole message that most tourists don't gave a da.n about anything except sun and being catered too. That is a harsh reality and still baffles me, why go to another country and get the same type of thing in Florida where you will spend less. I have to think about normal tourists and not my own views or those who love the DR and its people.
dale7(still irked at AI's)

You started a great thread, Robert.

The AI has its place.
I think the original question was "Why do people leave the AI? And can we get some of whatever is out there?"
My answer was "no." Those who leave the AI are looking for something that is not at the AI.
It is ironic that the owners would try to capture the Dominican spirit, and put a price on it.
mk

Hello

Hello All,

I am new here, so the introductions are in order.

I am a tour operator and I have lived in Sosua for over 6 month and also I have been goping to other Caribbean Islands, especially Jamaica since 1986 and loving it. That's why I started the business...LOL

In any case, I like to reply to the All Inclusive post: Yes, as much as I hate to say that, but many people feel more comfortable with the AI Holidays, and I am puzzled myself, as no matter how cheap I can get into the AI (and beleive me, as a tour operator I can) , I still rather rent my own villa with a private pool or apartment and have a great holiday on my own by meeting the locals and enjoying the food , the people and the life of the country.

But everyone has their preferences in Holidays and after debating for many years, we also decided to include some of the Superclubs in the stock of our properties for the clients, who don't want to be bothered with anything and want to know exactly what the holiday will cost them.

But I still love a self catering vacation, there is nothing better !!!!!

I would like you to visit our website : www.sunnyvillaholidays.com and give me your opinion and I will also offer the members of this branch a diascount of their next holiday with us.

Happy travels!!!!!!!!!!

marketing!

The one thing left out of this conversation is marketing, when I wanted to go to the DR I went to my travel agent and all she has is slick pamphlets from AI's, nothing from Mom and Pop's in the local part of town. I had to decline several followup calls about other AI's and how "great of a deal" it was. As was stated before there are 2 kinds of travelers, those looking for sun and fun on "any sand beach" and those looking to meet greet and get to know the people culture hobbies of those who live on the great sand beach (or nowhere near them). I am the latter, (as seems to be the case of most of the posters on this board). But you have to work hard ahead of time (especially the first time to a new country) to not be an AI'er.... Fortunately for me the planning is half the fun of the travel. (p.s. I just got back from my second trip of 2 weeks and will try to find time to right a trip report later).

S

Marketing.
That's part of the problem. The Mom and Pop's don't have the budget to provide slick brochures to all the travel agents in the world.
That's why this site is so important. You can get info on AIs and you can find out about the local economy too.
mk

I have always considered myself to be an "average tourist" and I have to say that wherever I have been on holiday during the last seven years I have always gone all inclusive. It provides fantastic value for money.

However, I have always also gone out of the resorts to see what life is like and to meet local people. Many tourists don't do that though. I have met tons of people who say "I went on holiday to DR", and when I ask where they went they say Playa Dorada. "Oh nice", I say, "what did you think of POP, or did you go to Sosua, or what did you think of the beach at Cabarete?". "Where? What?" they say.

I blame it fairly and squarely on the tour reps. They invariably put the fear of God into a lot of tourists, telling them it is too dangerous to venture out unless it is on one of their tours. This isn't just in DR either. I've seen it in Cuba, Mexico, Egypt, even Cyprus!!! But they have to make their money somehow I guess.

Added to that, even those who are brave enough to venture out get hassled by the taxi drivers as soon as they are off the hotel grounds. I have spoken to many people at Playa Dorada who don't like even going to the plaza because they have to "run the gauntlet" of the taxi drivers and the time share sellers.

I always try to convince people I meet to venture out. Some do, some don't.

But then again, lots of folks just want the sun, sand, food and drink on offer and have no real interest whatsoever in the country they are visiting. Certainly for us Brits, the DR offers guaranteed weather and is cheaper than any of the other Caribbean islands. So, I guess you pays your money and you takes your choice.