There are only a few guest friendly hotels in Santo Domingo. Most of them you have to pay for a guest or they won't even allow you to have a guest unless is reguistered. I can give you two of them in which I stay all the time because they are cheap and guest friendly. Hotel Napolitano in the Malecon area is about $70 to $80US a day with breakfast included and is guest friendly. Also, the Marriott Hotel is guest friendly and on a cheap day will cost you around $79/day but then after two or three days the rate changes to a higher price. The Marriott Hotel is located at Maximo Gomez street. Try them because they are comfortable.
I was in Santo Domingo on 11-09-12
Because of this site I stayed in the Hotel Napolitano
I thought the Hotel was good. The rooms were nice and large, they were clean, the staff was friendly
Although English was at a premium. The pool was good, the pool bar was acceptable, they had a band there in the evening
The hotel was very guest friendly with no extra charge. In fact I was having an issue with the touts outside my first evening (God yes there are a ton of them) and went back in to the Casino to ask if there was anyone that spoke English to help me find a local bar or club. The pit boss hooked me up with a guy in the casino who took me in the "Hotel Taxi" around to different clubs and bars. Worked perfect. I gave him a tip at the end and he seemed genuinely surprised.
Casino was good with TONS of staff. The only issue at all is they are re-doing the lobby
The lobby is an unGodly mess. But when it is done they will have a lobby bar
I fully expect this to be a VERY good thing
I'm going back down Thursday 11-22. I will be staying at the same hotel
By the way, the price was $83 a night plus tax ($110 total) for the most expensive room in the place - 2 Queen beds