VH Gran Ventana Beach Resort: Great stay at Gran Ventana

I stayed there with my teenage kids (age 19 and 15). We had 2 separate rooms, side by side. The rooms were well appointed, although a bit aged and could be due for an update soon, if the resort is not changed to a condo develooment like many of the prior resorts in Playa Dorada. We loved the compactness of the resort - just the right size, it's short distance from the airport, and the proximity to Puerto Plata. The grounds looked great, the pool was very nice and the beach was great.The buffe [... read more]t restaurant and the snack bar combined offered a very good variety. The 3 a la carte restaurant were very good as well, and they offered a nice ambience. We spent hours each day playing volleyball in the pool. The entertainment was really good as well. Altogether we had a great week there thanks to the wonderful staff. I am bad with names, but Amoury and Rosa stood out. The pool entertainment guys and gals were fun as well. I would certainly return!

Senator Puerto Plata Hotel: Nice resort

The hotel is nice but rooms are outdated! rusty and holes in tubs, low water pressure. Cabinets ( closets) and dresser drawers got stuck. Cleaning staff does a good job cleaning the rooms just old. Air conditioner not great woke up some nights sweating. Buffet was good somedays we had to wait to get in too over capacity. Food quality and service in Buffet and A la Carte were great! Steak house was phenomenal. The Sports bar service was not great especially when ordering drinks, bartenders woul [... read more]d overlook you and serve a local even though you were waiting 1st. Beach is beautiful well kept lots of chairs and shade. Pool was ok, some worn out areas, cracks in the concrete my son cut his toe. Not enough umbrellas in the pool area to protect from sun some shaded areas were available. Games and activities by the pool were good, entertainment staff were all great. Overall a good holiday but for the price the resort should update rooms.

Senator Puerto Plata Hotel: Very nice Resort

This resort is very clean, friendly, professional I would recommend this resort to anyone and would even go again to this resort but I would upgrade to a swim up room with ocean view. Only thing I wish It has was beer in my fridge in my room stocked daily.

Cofresi Palm Beach and Spa Resort: Regular resort

Room is in very bad condition. La comida debe ser mejora, el pan no lucia y sabia fresco. Alguna de la comida del Buffet parecía reciclada. Debería prohibir fumar en cualquier área del Resort. Sin embargo la gente que trabaja en el Resort son muy amables y gentiles.

Viva Heavens by Wyndham: Great stay!

Great stay. Smaller resort compared to the others that I went to but people are very nice in the resort including the staff. Food is not too bad. Could be better in terms of sea food as the reason why we travel into places like this is for sea food selection. Other than that it's good and I was happy in my stay.

Senator Puerto Plata Hotel: Not the best place

We stayed July 8 to 15, 2025. First this resort caters to local clients so be aware of that. Weekend was full capacity, 90% local folks with a very crowded pool and long lines at buffet. Room: Oceanview luxury swimup. Room is on smaller size(not a junior suite). Not luxury by any means. First Room the swim up was filled with green algae. 2nd room was better but bad stink from shower drain. Covered with wet cloth when not in use. Maid service was good. They do rent rooms out on a nightl [... read more]y basis and had a local couple who had a pot party in the room next to us. They were smoking it in their room which filtered into ours. Yes, I complained but nothing done but took the maid 4 hours to clean the room the next day. that was a rough night for us. Pool and beach: After the weekend pool was very cloudy. Pool needs repairs. Bottom has broken floor in spots so watch your feet. Beach is ok for walking. No sargassum but some sea grass. Not safe to swim there with the current and waves. Food: buffet not good. Food was geared to local cuisine. With the crowd on the weekend stuff ran out fast. Service was slow but eventually they came to your table. Snack and sports bar food was OK. Steak, Italian, and Asian was so so. Coffee, ice cream and pizza shops were good. Entertainment: they try hard. Been to other resorts with much better. No English spoken while I was there. Bars: I had a few occurrences of waiting for some time for a drink and a local came up and they were served first so gave up. Drinks were not the best anyway. We mostly stuck with pepsi from the room. I would not recommend this place.

Playabachata Hotel: I would think twice

My time was a mixed emotion. On 1 hand I enjoyed my time and the environment. However, the room needs upgrade, the food needs improvement, some staff are rude and behave as though you are begging them the food or the drinks. The photos depict what was and not what is. They also show some part of the other hotel that is ran by the same company. The wifi was only in the lobby unless you want a “upgrade”. The poolside needs to be clean, it has green stuff growing there, and the beach chairs are old [... read more] with holes or broken. The 2 staff Andres and Carlos from the general information office were amazing help. Overall, I do not believe this would be the best place to promote as their main goal is to continue to build and not up keep the old ones.

Viva Tangerine by Wyndham: This is the hotel to be in if you're heading to Cabarete for water sports

First and foremost - make sure you're flying into Puerta Plata! Air Canada is running a scam with flights to Samana and the transfer to Cabarete is a 2hrs+ drag each way. Not worth it, never mind the time wasted. Second - it has been known for years that one does not go to this hotel for food - and that hasn't changed. Somehow they are managing to have worst food experience than Cuba - which in itself - is an admirable achievement! But give it a few days and you will also come to the [... read more] conclusion - that they just want you to be eating outside of the hotel and thus - supporting their local economy. Not like there's a lack of choices in that regard. Thirdly - learn to pick your battles when it comes to getting drinks at the bar. There's only one and it will be very frustrating if you'll be following the herd. Other than the points above - I had a great stay overall. Lovely hotel with a small footprint where everything is only a few steps away. Very decent, clean rooms. Don't get the "ocean view" if you care for good sleep - pool parties go on forever at night.

VH Gran Ventana Beach Resort: Good resort

Plenty of sun, beach, pool. Everything is clean, a lot of food Excellent service, everybody tries to help you. Amazing customer service. You will be very happy!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lifestyle Residence Suites: Disappointing

As a group, we found this resort disappointing for a variety of reasons. I will provide more information below and although it may be lengthy, I feel this is a perfect opportunity to explain, fully, my concerns. I would also like to state that the natural state of the resort was beautiful. I really appreciated that the resort was built around nature instead of nature being taken down for a resort. With that said, I think it is important that future travellers are aware of the amount of walki [... read more]ng uphill/downhill and stairs that they face regardless of shuttles or the use of golf carts. 1. Shuttles/Golf Carts: We were not part of the 'Presidential Suites" and therefore did not have access to the golf carts. We relied on the shuttles. These shuttles are crowded and there was no consistency with the time that they would pick up. Given that to get to any location on the resort it a 'walk' and a lot of hills, it would be nice to be able to have the option to rent a golf cart for convenience and independence. In addition, given the size of the shuttle, many times they were full, making it difficult to get on and off. The shuttle was not consistent with when they were picking up and how long to the destination. In some cases, it would take 5 minutes to get to a location, another other times it was 15 minutes. Regardless of the number of people on the shuttle. This made it difficult to make proper time arrangements for a la carte reservations. As a recommendation, please run more shuttles. 2. Entertainment: Entertainment, more like lack of entertainment was a definite issue. There was no music at many of the pools. No disco on the resort and no general feel of entertainment. We did participate in the foam party, which was great, but there was little to nothing else. The time spent in the evening was frustrating when it came to getting something to drink and there was a lot of inconsistency. For example, we could not get coffee at certain bars, lobby bar would have none so you would have to go to the buffet. The poolside bar would close, so you would have to go to the buffet for a drink, and if that was closed you would have to go to the casino for a drink. Too much time was spent moving from one location to another for a cocktail when none of these locations were close. You must agree that when on vacation, one would want to be able to stay in one location without having to constantly move areas in order to get a drink. In addition, it was surprising that I could get a martini at the casino but I could not get one at the martini bar?!?! With a resort of this size, one would think that there would be a disco/dance club, a place where adults could go dancing in the evening, but no such place existed. What! But, there was a location, a tiny club location beside the casino. But alas, you could not gain access to this place unless you were a member, which I will speak to in another section. In addition to no real entertainment on the resort, there was no entertainment or music whatso ever on the beach! 3. Food: Generally, the food was good. Although many times, in the buffet, the food was cold, this was not really an issue. The issue with the food is the lack of what would be considered 'regular' stuff. Specifically, ICE CREAM! Why was there no ice cream available at the buffet. We were able to enjoy some ice cream when we went to a la carte restaurants but that was it. When we enquired about ice cream, we were told that it was available to 'members' only. This seems very unfair. We later found a small freezer in the mini-mart that sold ice cream, but this is not acceptable. In eating at the a la carte restaurants, which was great, at the Italian restaurant, there was so much food that we requested to be able to take some of our meal back to our room, we were denied. Instead, our leftover meals were thrown in the garbage! This did not make sense to me and is a real waste of food. And, why is there no room service at this resort???? Although our rooms were cleaned very well, everyday, we were disappointed when the fridge was only refilled withe water. We had consumed the pop and beer the first night and after that, no more was replemished. 4. Sales: The sales people at the resort, selling time share, were extremely aggressive. Daily we were approached to take a tour and learn more about the resort. These people were standing outside of the buffet. Upon saying 'no thank you', they would continue to follow us trying to convince us of the tour, asking why we didn't want to go and overall being pushy. 'Winston' in particular was very aggressive. I can appreciate that they are doing a job, but it is unnecessary to keep questioning on someone's availability and why they are saying no. It was too much! 5. Power: Several times during our week, the resort lost power. No mention of what happened, how long it would last, or any compensation for any inconvenience. Basically, this was not a problem, power outages happen, but in the room, the air conditioning unit was very loud and would shut off when the power went out and then turn back on. This happened 8 times in one night! We were a travelling group of 8 adults and three out of the 4 rooms had power issues, loud air conditioner and no hot water in one room. The concerns were brought up to the front desk who offered another room, but by this point in our vacation, the idea of packing all of our luggage to relocate seemed fruitless given that we were only there for another two days. General points: Overall the resort was beautiful in landscape, the staff were helpful when approached, but it was surprising to approach several security guards asking for directions who did not speak or understand English. To advertise this resort for all is a terrible mis advertisement. The treatment and explanation we received indicated that if you were not a 'member' or 'VIP', you did not have access to a lot of amenities. I would recommend they stop selling travel packages to the average person and just concentrate on being an 'Members Only' resort. We had a great time on our vacation but that was based on the company, not the resort or what they offered. IF I take a trip to Dominican again, I will definitely NOT return to this resort, nor will I recommend it.

Cofresi Palm Beach and Spa Resort: Loved it

Although we were warned of Renovations, it was of no inconvenience at all. The hospitality and food were fantastic. We had our personal shuttle to and from the Resort, that was very much needed, zero stops along the way. Thanks Cofresi for the memories!

VH Gran Ventana Beach Resort: Best Resort

We have been to this resort about 5 times, it’s very easy to get around, not too big, The staff are very friendly and helpful, the food is amazing, we love to eat. The beach is clean and beautiful. Love that every Wednesday, they have a white party, (bring something white to wear if you like), where they introduce all their amazing staff, and they have a couple of draws, ( nice prizes), we won a couples massage❤️ shout out to Solange(in customer service) who was very helpful and accommodating  [... read more]with a minor issue we had with our room. Definitely going back soon, and love their entertainment staff

VH Gran Ventana Beach Resort: Cozy and welcoming Resort

Amazing Resort! Delicious food with plenty variety, friendly staff and lots of activities to do. Decor is a bit outdated, I wish they had a long mirror in the room. Pool is nice, beach area was always windy, could not enjoy… Otherwise no complaints and I really enjoyed my time-

Playabachata Hotel: Not great!

Unfortunately I am unable to say many positive things about the resort. The rooms are very run down and invested with Ants. We had to shake off all our clothes outside prior to moving to new rooms. At least 20 ants were on each piece of clothing. We also had to throw out all the snacks we brought from home to have on the plane ride to/from and to have at night, the bag had at least 100-200 ants inside and outside of it. We had to change rooms (Both rooms-across from each other). Once they mov [... read more]ed us 2 days later the toilet in one of the rooms did not flush, we had to call them twice within a few hours. Their solution was to put all used toilet paper in the trash can. We used the other rooms toilet as we did not want to move again. The food was the same every night breakfast, lunch and dinner. We could not make reservations for the 2 restaurants as it filled up quickly and they only had 6 tables each night. You had to go down by 8:30 am the day of to make reservation. The staff was very friendly though and the beach is beautiful. The pool is small for a resort and with the locals coming in every weekend there is no where to sit. Very disappointed! This is definitely not a 4 star it would be lucky to get a 3.

Playabachata Hotel: Not great!

Unfortunately I am unable to say many positive things about the resort. The rooms are very run down and invested with Ants. We had to shake off all our clothes outside prior to moving to new rooms. At least 20 ants were on each piece of clothing. We also had to throw out all the snacks we brought from home to have on the plane ride to/from and to have at night, the bag had at least 100-200 ants inside and outside of it. We had to change rooms (Both rooms-across from each other). Once they mov [... read more]ed us 2 days later the toilet in one of the rooms did not flush, we had to call them twice within a few hours. Their solution was to put all used toilet paper in the trash can. We used the other rooms toilet as we did not want to move again. The food was the same every night breakfast, lunch and dinner. We could not make reservations for the 2 restaurants as it filled up quickly and they only had 6 tables each night. You had to go down by 8:30 am the day of to make reservation. The staff was very friendly though and the beach is beautiful. The pool is small for a resort and with the locals coming in every weekend there is no where to sit. Very disappointed! This is definitely not a 4 star it would be lucky to get a 3.

Senator Puerto Plata Hotel: Beautiful Vacation

We went in May as a family of 4 and booked 2 rooms. We had asked for rooms near eachother and there were no issues. Our kids room was across the hall. The rooms were nice, no complaints. We were in building 4 and that is the 3 story building near the pool but everything is quite close. Beach was lovely and well maintained. The pools could use some TLC as there was pats of the bottom of the pool chipping and broken grates. All in all a great experience. My only flags are that on the weekends  [... read more]some of the locals book in. During our time there that meant the pools were very busy with lots of kids. We saw many situations were items were taken from people's chairs, and even kids stealing other kids items and the parents claim they were their kids. I spoke to some staff and that's a common occurrence. Just something to be mindful of. Also make sure you bring enough sunscreen as the shop charges 38$USD.

VH Gran Ventana Beach Resort: Great!

The staff were super kind all around, the room was kept very clean, restocks were consistent, food was amazing, and overall a great resort if you’re looking to relax, or have fun, there was quiet parts of the resort, but there was also parties every night that were optional and didn’t interrupt if you wished to relax.

Blue Bay Villas Doradas: So so. 3.5 out of 5.

Having stayed at Blue Bay's resort in Mexico and at both VH Gran Ventana and Viva Heavens, this is a tired resort. Stayed in the 8000 building block in late May, being the shoulder season, it was very quiet; about less than 100 guests, thus not all the facilities wasn't available. Besides the above average service as disclosed on previous reviews, allow me to go over the small cons: 1) from the previous reviews, the lauded Asian restaurant was closed for renovations, but the food was available  [... read more]once a la carte and once at the buffet. 2) that in mind, besides your room, there's no air conditioning, except for the Italian restaurant. 3) showed up for the scheduled bicycle tour and asking 2 staff what happened, left after an hour. 4) difficult to get toiletries, shower gel. 5) service at reception for both checking in and especially checking out was with poor attitudes and frowns.

VH Gran Ventana Beach Resort: Relaxing and fun vacation

We had a wonderful 7 day vacation in Puerto Plata. Our experiencing booking the vacation with O'Neil Graham was extremely pleasant. He provided adequate details of the trip, including all necessary formalities for the trip. I will not hesitate to book with him again!

VH Gran Ventana Beach Resort: 5 Star Resort

This was our second time at VH Gran Ventana and it felt like home! We saw a few friends from last year, made some new friends and relaxed for a whole week. The rooms are clean, mostly adult guests, the pool area and beach are always clean, the staff is very friendly and will help with anything, the food is top class, and the wait staff is amazing. The white party for return guests is unbelievable. Can't say enough good things about this resort.