The hotel's website looked fine... we needed a place to stay that was reasonable in price. As soon as i walked into the lobby and saw the surly drunk old men and the hookers hanging out at the restaurant's bar, i knew we were in trouble. The pool looked like a swamp and you couldn't pay me to swim in there. The room's might have had charm the first day this place opened but were run down, worn and just dingy. We didn't even end up staying the night, but instead hailed a cab and had him take us around the town to find somewhere else to go that night!

I have traveled and I also work with a five star resort team in the states. When I go on vacation my search does start with 5 star resorts or hotels. Has to be different, inexpensive, small in size and a great location. Ah! The Kaoba Hotel. Has some character and great staff.
Simple, basic and an excellent location. I'm on vacation, I do not spend my time in a hotel room, I follow the sun, time at the pool and always get the time for the resturant and bar. Kaoba is a haven for gueats from all corners of this world. Local resturants offer anything your eating habits cater to and the night life is electric. Good things do come in small packages! Johnny

We stayed at Hotel Kaoba two different times and I would definately recommend checking out a room or two BEFORE you commit to staying the night! The quality and cleanliness of the rooms varies greatly! You have to pay for your stay upfront, so make sure you really want to stay here before you pay!

The front desk staff are not very friendly, but don't let this put you off. The hotel is located at the start of the town of Cabarete and is a 3 minute walk to the beach and a 1 minute walk to the restaurants, shops and other things. You can take a public carro or taxi from Sosua right to the hotel (just ask the driver to let you off at the hotel).

Make sure you ask to see a few rooms before you commit to staying here. The first time we were given a dark and dingy room that smelled very musty and the bathroom was not very clean. The second time we stayed in a much nicer room, which was cleaner and had a nice balcony, it was right by the pool and the bathroom was clean.

There is a mini-fridge in the rooms and some have closets or places to hang your clothes. There are no TVs or air conditioning.

There is a pool which is a great place to hang out and meet other people - it closes at 10pm though, so it is not noisy to sleep.

For the price ($RD 1000 a night) it is good value.

There is a great little bakery-breakfast place just up the road - turn right when you leave the hotel. Cross the street. Walk straight till you see Reposteria Dick on your left hand side. It is always busy and has VERY good breakfast for a very good price, they have tables inside and out. They also sell all kinds of breads and baked goods to take home-- -they are always busy, which is a good sign!

The town of Cabarete is a little seedy and at night there is a lot of prostitution. We just hung out at the beach during the day - great for long walks - watched the kite surfers and then at night we went for dinner to Pomodoros (a great Italian place on the beach) and went back to the hotel early. The nightlife here is very seedy.

I would recommend this hotel for its good value, good location -- just make sure you see a room or two first!

I booked a room with this hotel and it was below standard so I requested a better room. I had wanted a/c and a tv. The room they showed me the air conditioner didn't work. So they took me to another room, in which the a/c also didn't work. Finally, I was shown a fourth room that had a separate bedroom in which the a/c worked but in the main room and bathroom the a/c didn't work. The front desk person helping me had to keep going back downstairs behind the front desk to find the right a/c remote that would work and keep changing batteries out from one remote to the next. It would seem easier to have them all stocked with batteries and the right remotes kept in the rooms themselves. Really an inefficient system. I was assured someone would come fix the a/c that night but no one showed up. Also, a light bulb in the room was out and I didn't find it the cleanest hotel in the world, and also noticed that each room was missing either washcloths or a bathroom floor towel in each bathroom. The only good thing I noticed was that the hotel was in a good location of town.