Decent Value, But Far from Perfect

The Pros • Potential for Improvement: Senator acquired this property from Riu, and while it still needs significant upgrades, there’s noticeable potential. • Our Stay in Building 7: Though this building had some quirks—issues with pumping, outdated chest of drawers, and older electrical outlets—it felt justified for the price. We were offered an upgrade to Buildings 2 or 3 (Ultimate Club), but for an additional $500–$800, it didn’t seem worth it. The rooms were similar in size and also lacked  [... read more]functional chest drawers. • Access to Playabachata: The neighboring property added variety to our stay with more pools and amenities. • Beautiful Landscape: The resort’s setting is stunning, with lush greenery and natural shade from palm trees. There are also long walking paths and multiple pools spread across three properties. However, be sure to pack bug spray! • Entertainment & Amenities: Entertainment was typical, but having two theaters between the properties was a nice touch. The market street stood out with its delicious coffee and free ice cream shop. The Cons • Food & Health Concerns: o Several guests experienced stomach issues, and we observed questionable food safety standards at times. o The food itself was inconsistent—some meals were enjoyable, others not so much. Still, there was always something I could eat. Shoutout to Juan, who provided excellent service at the outdoor buffet tables! • Beach Quality: o The beach wasn’t ideal. The sand is coarse, and the water entry is steep and rocky. o Garbage occasionally floated into the bay, and the water visibility was poor—not great for snorkeling. • Crowded Pool & Beach Areas: o There aren’t enough lounge chairs to accommodate all guests. Many chairs were “reserved” with towels early in the morning and sat unused for hours. o The central pool area, for example, has only two umbrellas. • Cruise Port Visitors: Being next to a cruise port, the property is often flooded with day visitors, making chairs even harder to find. Final Thoughts This resort delivers fair value for the price, but it’s not without its shortcomings. The beautiful surroundings and access to additional properties are strong positives, but challenges with food safety, overcrowding, and aging infrastructure can’t be overlooked. It’s a case of “you get what you pay for,” but it’s worth comparing other properties in the area for potentially better options.

Wonderful holiday!

I will start off by saying we had no expectations. Therefore, we ended up having a great time even-though we did experience the odd bump or two. Some the resort could control and some not so. First we found the resort extremely clean. Staff for the most part was very friendly. We didn’t try the specialty restaurants. We found the buffet good. However, as most resorts it could be a little inconsistent but we enjoyed it. It was odd that we always had to ask for a spoon for our coffee as well a [... read more]s salt and pepper. Drinks for the most part were very inconsistent from the pool to Legends. Legends is the party bar. Entertainment was fine. One thing I was disappointed in was the lack of shade around the pool. Palm trees being trimmed made for a lack of shade. But the most annoying was trying to get a lounger. If you were not at the pool by 5:30 am to snag a chair with shade and preferred spot you were out of luck. With so much space around the pools they easily put out more lounges to accommodate guests. I will end by saying this is a very nice resort. As I started off we had no expectations. Keep in mind it’s not a five star resort! Great value with no bells and whistles. Cheerful midsize resort that’s easy to get around and that’s why we will return same time next year!

Good resort for the value

Overall I rated the hotel a 7. The buffet was ok. Japanese and steakhouse were good, but Italian restaurant, Grappa was disappointing. I’m Italian so I’m more critical on Italian food. The rooms were nice and clean. The resort had a lot of Canadians but there was no Canadian sports channel like TSN or Sportsnet. It was all US sports channels; henceforth I missed the hockey games.

Needs some tlc

I would rate this resort a 3.5 star. Staff is very helpful and friendly. Rooms were clean, food not the greatest but lots of choices. The pool and pool area is in need of repair (paint is peeling in the pools and the lawn beds are in rough shape). There were 4 umbrellas available for the whole pool deck.

Very Disappointing

We are not picky people, and have visited the DR many times, and know what to expect. The only good thing I can say about this resort is that the grounds are beautiful, the layout to the beach is gorgeous. The pools do need to be painted, but grounds maintenance does a wonderful job. That is all it has going for it. I am serious, stay away. I have never written a review like this. We normally will choose Air Transat if given the option, after this experience I don’t know who to travel with.  [... read more] You will be told this resort is 30 minutes from airport, after we CLEARED the airport and got to the Air Transat bus. We sat in parking lot, in bus with no AC for 1 hr 40 minutes, while they sold beer to the people on bus, then drove over an hour to get to the resort. Almost 3 hrs!!!! Then stand in line at resort to get your room. Our first room had no A C, no working toilet, sliding glass door I could not open on my own. The plugs in room were old and European. The shower had no water pressure and impossible to adjust. After going back down to reception, I am told there are no other rooms, unless we pay more money. I refused as I did not want upgrade, I wanted a working room. I contacted Air Transat, who only directed me to rep there. The Rep was not there, could not be reached, so had to wait till next day. The rep was useless, we were offered a room worse than the first at the very back of the resort, or pay more money again. Finally after rep left us. Managed to get a manager who moved us to working room. 2 days of our vacation ruined. The rooms are very dated, the big news here is you cannot adjust the AC, the ones in room are not broken, the AC is controlled by resort. You can barely feel it. Most rooms have ceiling fan you need running full blast. The Tv has only CNN for the only English station. The resort has power outages all the time. Make sure to have flashlight in bathroom with you as i was in pitch black in shower. You also need that power to keep fan going. Good luck!! Now on to food. Breakfast buffet was good for fresh made eggs, then be prepared to fight the flies off your other choices. Flies are sitting on all the food. First time on holiday I lost weight. If you like Diet Pepsi, you are in luck. It is all they have. No regular pop and all. There is so much more I can write. 2 days to get umbrella. 5 times to front desk for it. Beach is pretty, but hard to walk in to sand because first 5 feet are broken coral. There is absolutely nothing to do here in the evenings. Bartenders don’t know any drinks. I wanted to go home. How Air Transat represents this is beyond me, and never expect help from the rep there. My suitcase was kicked by the person loading the bus. They cracked it and denied it. This could be a great hotel, but they don’t care, and never will. I spoke to so many, all with issues and would never come back. You have been warned!!! Normally we would be booking our next trip for February, I have no interest in travelling at all now. Just thinking of the disgusting food, and flies there makes me sick. Choose somewhere else please. The staff and management is horrible. I sure miss the great staff at Sunscape.

Not worth the money

Small resort with very few amenities. Food was OK, but they ran out of wine for 3 straight days including buffet and all restaurants/bars. Forget about any service. There is almost no entertainment there and the only activity is beach volleyball (self organized). Hotel looks very bland with zero decor. Beach is OK if you are allowed to swim as they just hang permanent red flag and do not allow anyone to enter water. In general it is greatly overpriced regardless of how much you paid for it. The [... read more]re are way better resorts in Dominican at the same or even lower price point (ignore star ratings, those have nothing to do with actual value).

Nice Resort

The rooms were spacious and clean, pool needs improvement there are pieces of concrete in the bottom. The staff is friendly and courteous. The resort would be best for adults, the restaurants were nice, the staff was amazing and the food was really tasty. We went to the Japanese and steakhouse.

Lovely beach and grounds!

Rooms were okay, bathrooms could use some updating. Comfortable bed. Beach was beautiful with lots of space. Pool was okay - crowded. Full buffet with attentive staff. Nightly entertainment to suit your taste. 24 hour sports bar - great for early morning coffees etc. Wonderful array of coffees and pastries at the specialty coffee shop. Tried the specialty restaurants - good steak house but don't expect a leisurely meal. No activities but we knew that when we selected the place so no com [... read more]plaints. Check-in/out staff should set realistic expectations for customers who have concerns - i.e. TV didn't work for 3 days, but only after the 2nd follow up did they offer to switch rooms - not what you want to do when you only have 1 day left of vacation. Internet availability - no sign ins/passwords. For older couples looking for a nice place to chill, this is a good spot!

Yes

Very beautiful resort, delicious food, just the kind I love to eat , dessert was delicious, fruits were the best, dinners were excellent, beach was very relaxing, the water was clean and crystal clear. The pool was very clean, the chairs by the pool were sanitized every evening. Toilets were cleaned constantly throughout my stay there. Service was the best. Highly recommended for both adults and children.

Senator spa resort puerto plata

I had an excellent time at the senator. the resort is safe, great location and very well maintained. the food at the buffet, al la cartes and sportsbar were very good, lots to choose from and if you didn't find something good to eat you must be a gourmet chef at home. all of the staff throughout the resort were very kind and considerate.they had quite a sense of humor. excellent customer service. the entertainment team kept us busy from morning to midnight every day so if you wanted something t [... read more]o do it was there. i stayed for 3 weeks and will definitely go back and plan to in the near future. this resort is very good value for the money

Okay resort

The hotel was okay. I found the room was not as clean as I've experienced in the Dominican Republic. I aslo found the food selection was not great. The Buffet served many of the same dishes each night and the A La Carte Steakhouse was not a great experience. I was rushed in, served really quickly and rushed out, whole experience was 30 minutes and the food was prepared in advance and not fresh. The evening shows were not great, mostly the resort dancers dancing with guests. One evening they didn [... read more]'t even have a show. I found that 5 days was more than enough time at the resort. It was a very quiet experience, which is what I was looking for, so it all worked out.

Good resort - but lock your door!

Honestly, I wish I could give this resort a higher rating, overall it was great, however we did have an unsettling experience which has lead me to knock off a few stars. We travelled here for a trip in February 2024. - The grounds are spotless, there are people working around the clock to keep it that way - Food was decent, nothing to write home about but there was a bit of variety, and the quality is what is expected from an all inclusive resort. - I loved the little “downtown” area with th [... read more]e coffee, ice cream and pizza shop - there was always some kind of entertainment or event going on - loved that I could get an espresso martini - they kept me going for the week! - The room was okay, we just stayed in the standard room. It was dated and the air conditioning leaked, but the bed was super comfy at least! - We loved the staff that cleaned our room, she was caring and always ensured we had what we needed And the not so great story: - Our room didn’t have a deadbolt lock, we didn’t think much of it until after the first night when we found out that everyone else in our party did.I’m always paranoid, so I made sure the door was shut and set up a chair in front of our door before we went to bed on the first night. In the middle of the night I woke up to the sound of the chair being pushed across the floor. Someone had swiped into our room and opened the door, and I heard them pulling on the door on the safe (which is immediately to the right when you open the door) and then left. It all happened so quickly and I was half asleep I didn’t have time to respond. We reported it to the front desk first thing the next morning and they assured us that we are supposed to have a deadbolt and they would send someone to fix it immediately. We waited until the afternoon to check, and when we went back to our room it still hadn’t been fixed. Luckily our lovely housekeeper was there and we told her what had happened, she messaged someone to come and fix it immediately. The guy showed up, and he told us he would be back in 5 minutes so he could fix it. He never came back. They called our room the next day, and asked us how our stay was, again we requested the deadbolt to be installed and they told us someone would be up in 15 minutes to fix it. Again, they never came. Eventually we just gave up, and piled furniture infront of our door every night. They clearly did not care, and had zero intention of fixing it. Moral of the story: LOCK YOUR SAFE! And if you don’t have a deadbolt…just ask for a new room.

Great Stay!

Having stayed in the area before at cheaper resorts, I figured it was time to try Senator and boy had I been holding out on myself! Beautiful grounds and a lovely beach with lots of sun/shade options. Largest selection of food options I’ve seen for DR. Staff were all great, though buffet service was hit or miss if you wanted anything other than water. Rooms could use a bit of work/updating, but nothing ridiculous needed to be done.

Great smaller resort

We had a great vacation at this resort. The grounds are very well kept and the hotel/room is very clean. The food at the buffet was very good with alot of variety. The a la carte were so-so but we enjoyed the buffet so much we didn't care. The main pool is clean but is in need of some repairs. I would say there needs to be more umbrellas around the pool area as there is no shade and more seating in the lobby/bar area. That would be the only negative thing I have to say about this resort.

Great resort!

We arrived on April 8th for 10 days and it was our first visit to Senator. We were a party of 8 ages 20 to 60. The resort is laid out very well and is easy to get around. We stayed in building 5 ocean view and our friends were in building 6 and 13. 5 and 6 were clean and fresh with good AC and warm water for showers. Building 13 was dated and had a musty smell and the safe did not work in it. Pools were great, buffets were good with a daily variety and had bacon and eggs etc every morning. Ala [... read more] Carts - steak house and Japanese were great. Italian was ok. I was disappointed that the cappuccino was from a machine and not fresh ground but was still good. They made good iced cappuccinos at the legends sports bar and had good coffee at the Mokka coffee shop in the alley. Entertainment was ok but was typically the entertainment staff putting on the performance. Shade around the pool is scarce and was difficult to find chairs most days. We didn’t spend much time on the beach but looked like more shad there but loungers were hard to come by. All in all, we would definitely return for another stay and would recommend this place. We did the city tour and buggy rental through Ramon tours and had fun on both excursions.

An excellent vacation

The only minor issues while we were there were the 3hr wait for our room upon arrival to check in, and the one store had medication to prevent sea sickness before an excursion but couldn’t sell it to us because it was not priced in the computer, and the manager wasn’t answering her phone. Apart from that all of the staff were incredibly helpful especially our concierge Wellington (I’m sorry I’ve probably spelled his name wrong). The resort was extremely clean and the beach was beautiful. The foo [... read more]d and drinks were excellent. I highly recommend the coffee shop, the gelato bar and the sports bar. There was lots of selection on the buffet. The room was quite comfortable, it was cleaned every day, fresh towels and water were always available. It was nice and quiet for sleeping after 10pm. If you want an excellent all round vacation to relax and unwind I would 10/10 recommend it.

Pretty but tired.

The grounds were kept beautifully. The pool however seemed to not be functioning quite right and was pretty dirty some days. There is a kids pool and two large pools. With a couple of baseball teams present, I am not sure why the kids are allowed in the pool with the bar. They took over all the pools and were lacking any respect for the other guests in the pool. The room was clean but tired. The shower head kept sliding down the pole so you had to bend down to rinse off and the musty shower cur [... read more]tain kept clinging to you. Yuck! Every time I tried to dry my hair, the breaker blew and all the power went out. It must have been a regular thing because the panel was right by the door and we could just flip it ourselves. The food was not great at the buffet but the Japanese was good. All that being said, it was a beautiful resort and we had a good vacation.

Resort

Hotel was good staff were mainly excellent but service was sometimes slow and non existent. The sun wing representative spent most of his time on his mobile, asked him for advice when he was there which was not often and his knowledge was poor. Far too busy on his mobile.

Good time

We enjoyed our trip, met many lovely people. Only one complaint and that is getting up early to get a chair, otherwise all was good. We have been to this location before when it was owned by a different owner and wanted to relive some memories.

Another 10 days in paradise.

This was our 3rd visit to the Senator this winter and each time the staff out does themselves. Love the hospitality and friendship we receive each visit. On a sad note we will sure miss our friend Alejandro Castillo who will be leaving the Senator next month for Morocco to manage another hotel. As general manager he has worked hard to make the Senator the wonderful facility it is today. We are already planning another 2 week tour in November. Looking forward to seeing all our family then