Our stay was durring xmas and the hotel was quiet; not a lot of guests. The rooms were clean and comfortable. Rooms located in villas 19-22 not so clean. We had a late check out and they relocated us; not so clean rooms. We went on 2 tours one to the National Park ( you should enjoy looking a birds and like long boat rides), the boat is metal so bring something to sit on. The Waterfall tour was all on horseback and you will laugh through the whole adventure. The beach at the hotel was wonderful and the staff were delightful. The weather is a little on the windy side and everyday the clouds roll in and it is over cast till night. They say this is typical due to the mountains. Alert (food not so good)

First of all let me say that my following review of this hotel is as honest as we found it.
We travelled between 17th September-2nd October.
Weather during stay- inclemental (rainy season). When it rains, it rains!! But usually hot and dry again within 30 mins.

We were lucky enough to have been upgraded to the golden club suite ( free of charge due to when we booked our holiday with the tour operator First Choice).

Initial Impressions of the hotel and country:
Clean
Simple
Friendly
Hot and humid
Beautiful gardens
Food OK

Room:
Our room was a large bedroom with a kingsize bed, settee and table and chairs with a blacony. The bathroom had a seperate shower and a jacuzzi bath. Both the room and the bathroom were clean. The towels were clean but had long past their throw away date as they were no longer white but grey and thin!

Food:
The food was good but not exceptional. In the main buffet the food tended to be repeated daily and was often not warm enough for me.
The hotel advertises that it has 4 a la carte restaurants. Seafood, Italian, Oriental and Gourmet. However, during our stay there was never more than 2 open at the same time. The seafood and Italian were in the same room, therefore on 1 night it would be the seafood and another the italian.
The food quality in the a la cartes was in our opinion, varied. It was nice and hot when the food arrived and the presentation was excellent. However, tastes can vary hugely between people therefore I wil not put our own taste opinions down on the individual a la cartes. What some may not like others may love.

Staff:
Very friendly and helpful. Reception desk are a bit frosty, but the rest of the staff are fantastic. Our room maid; Dejanira was great. Always did a great job of cleaning and always left little flowers on the bed and around the bathroom.
If you read other reviews about this hotel that dis the staff, check to see if it was made by an American!

Resort:
Beautiful gardens, fantastic birds (hummingbirds and woodpeckers plus many more)
stunning butterflies. Beach is gorgeous, sea is warm and the sealife is spectacular!!!!
Once the sea had calmed down after the hurricane had left the region, the sea was crystal clear with beautiful coral reefs that were teeming with life! Be careful of the sea urchins which are on the corals.

Excursions:
We decided to go on 3, Ocean World (to swim with the dolphins), Los Haitises National Park and El Limon (a waterfall)

Ocean World was a 4 hour bus ride with a pit stop for breakfast.
The breakfast restaurant was not good!!!!
We are unable to tell you how good Ocean World is due to being held up in a jam caused by the locals uprising and pulling trees and electricity cables down onto the road blocking it!! We were about 10 minutes drive from our dream of swimming with the dolphins. To top it all off, the locals were firing guns!! Our bus was turned around and we had to return, therefore an 8 hour bus ride for nothing!! We had the choice of the money refunded or to go on another day! We took the money.

Los Haitises:
What more can I say but outstanding!!!!!! Beautiful, great trip, if there is 1 trip you do, make sure it's this one.

El Limon:
Cost aprox $100 for 2 people ( I say aprox as First Choice seemed to charge different amounts in different hotels!)

Not a single penny goes to the volunteers who bring their horses so that the tourists can see the waterfall!! Disgusting, they have to rely on tips from the tourists. Talk about exploitation, I am disgusted with First Choice for even offering this slave labour.
The trip to see the waterfall involves getting on a horse and treking for what feels like a long way, up and down very, very steep paths, then walking on foot for the rest of the way. My partner was thrown of her horse onto some rocks due to the horse loosing it's footing.
Fortunanately she was wearing the helmet that was provided and sustained no more than severe bruising and cuts! And the horse was OK thank god.
In our opinion the trip is not worth the risk of potentially life threatening injuries. We were not informed prior to the trip of the health and safety risks and I know it was not the 1st time someone had come off a horse as on the trip a few days before ours another woman was also thrown off. Which begs the question, how often does this happen!

Tour rep:
Fazarna (Canadian) was very helpful and always frendly. Our only critisism is that First Choice do not have a rep there everyday. Our rep was based at another hotel and visited the hotel for very little time during the 2 weeks. We had to rely on a mobile phone number if we needed to speak with her.

Summary:
Great value for money hotel! If you expect gournet food then go to a hotel that costs 3 times the amount!
Fantastic staff
Beautiful weather.
Very relaxing.
Would go again.

They overbookd the hotel every day. Then they had people approaching guests lying about where they will send you, and the great accomidations you will have when you get back.
When aproaching the manager he defended the hotel worker, and said we signed a dontract. The manager lost the original agreement and tried to get us to sign another the morning 1 min before leaving. We did not sign but wrote all the things we were offered like the upgrade in room. He could not find this one either and said word of mouth was the contract. But the person who promised us to move was not part of the adreement.
On returning we were put in a room under constructon, no doors to the bathroom, and broken lights still arcing when touched.
When going home the next morning the manager asked if all was OK, I stated all of my issues and he said I should have told him.
All in all, we felt like the 3rd class workers that worked at the hotel.