Occidental Caribbean Village Hotel

I stayed at this hotel at the end of January, I have just read other reviews from other holiday makers and am very concerned about the level of theft from the rooms, I myself didnt have anything stolen but within a two week stay I knew of 4 separate rooms that had been broken into with money and valuables taken, reports were made to holiday reps and they didnt want to know, making apptointments to meet all and take details but then didnt show, the Hotel didnt want to know saying to go to local police station but it was CLOSED on that day, everyone was fobbed off until departure date, one of the victims made a report to the police and written confirmation to hand to insurance company when got back only to be told its not valid. We thought it might be a holiday maker as the Hotel said that it had not happened before, it seems it had and still is. RENT A SAFE.

This was literally a last minute trip for me. I booked on a Friday and left on a Monday. For the price I paid, this was a good hotel. However other people told me they paid twice the price I paid for their trip. I found mine on expedia. Remember this is a two star hotel. Your room is not going to be the Ritz Carleton. I was actually impressed by my room, it was on the second floor and I had a view of the golf course. If you just want to lay in the sun all day, drink, and eat, this is a great place. They offer nightly entertainment at 9:30pm. And games and lessons are offered throughout the day. Drinks are available from 10am to 2am and there's always food around. The hotel says that you should avoid drinking the water, and theat they supply you with bottled water. Actually, you are supplied with one 1.5 litre bottle of water and then you have to fill it up yourself. Unfortunately, the pool closes a 6pm. And the D.J. who plays music around the pool often plays the same songs over and over again. There were not many single 20-30 somethings. But then again, there weren't many children when I was there either. Most people were couples, or married couples. I suggest going with friends or your significant other. I had a great time until my last day. After being there for a week, I felt at ease with the place and left my wallet in my room in my packed suitcase. I had checked my wallet the night before to see how much money I had left, because I only spent money on gifts for people. When I checked my wallet the night before, there was $100 in it. I went to breakfast and then came back to my room to get my camera, so that I could finnish my film. Housekeeping was cleaning and the lady said that she was going to clean my room next. I left for a couple of hours, and when I returned my room had not been cleaned. I had a weird feeling (and in no way am I saying it was the staff). I checked for my passport, credit card etc.. and they were still there. However, only $40 was left of my money. I guess I got a nice criminal. I called the front desk to report the incident and they told me this kind of thing never happened. I was told that I probably misplaced the money. I was told that security would be called, but nothing was done. No one came to investigate, or ask me questions. That's the only thing that ruined my trip. It would have been great if the hotel even cared about what happened. So I highly recommend buying a lock for the "safe" in your room.

We just got back from the resort about a month ago, and I was pleasantly surprised. After reading the reviews I expected horror, since we got booked to the wrong resort, and the one we wanted was fully booked by the time we realized. THE ROOMS - we requested a second floor room, but found out that our request was not granted once we go there. As soon as I told the receptionist that our travel agent promised us a second floor room, we got switched not only upstairs, but also to a junior suite. The room was amazing. Huge balcony, a sofa bed along with the king bed in the bedroom, and a little closet that converted into a kitchen. The rooms were also cleaned very nice. The cleaning staff made extra effort if you left them 20 pesos every night (about a dollar) RESTAURANT - the buffet was really good. My last vacation was to Cuba, so the good food took me by surprise. There are two a la carte restaurants, but we only ate in one...the Italian one. The food was good there too, but supposedly the Brazilian one was even better. However, the restaurants would be better if the food varied more from night to night. GROUNDS - very nice. Lots of greens, and a lot larger and nicer than some of the other resorts in the Playa Dorado complex. The resort is located right by one of the entrances to the complex. On the other side is the Jack Tar Resort. About a 20-25 minute walk from one end to the next BEACH - meh.....not that nice. But if you walk further along the beach towards the market, it gets nicer. There is a shuttle bus that drives from the resort to the beach as the resort is not right on the beach. But we often took a walk. There is also a snack bar and a volleyball net on the beach. BARS - There are a couple of bars on the resort and one night club. The resort disco closes at about 2 am, and then many people walk down to the other discos. Hemingways is right by the shopping centre, and Mangu is right by Jack Tar. That's where the party continues till about 6am. ENTERTAINMENT - low budget. There are about 4 guys that enetertain almost every night. All of them are amazing, but more people should be hired. DAY TRIPS - the resort rips you off. Do not buy day trips from the resort. They will try to tell you that buying from the resort is the safest way. That is not true. We bought our day trip from MARTIN on the beach for $45 when the resorth sold the same trip for $80. The guys on the beach will not rip you off. They buy permits from the complex to do their business on the beach. They are not out there to steal your money. Besides, we only paid $5 deposit, and the rest we paid at pickup. Bargain with the guys on the beach. POOL - small. Don't expect a lot. But i'm a beach person so I didn't care. SHOPPING - check out the market on the beach. You can really bargain with those guys, and the later in the day you go the better prices you get. The shopping mall is very nice and also a lot more expensive, but it offers better quality and selection than the market Overall a good experiance. We went during spring break, so lots of young people. One major drawback is that at night no shuttle busses run, so to get from one part of the resort to the other is by foot only. But once you have a few drinks, who cares how far you have to walk.

I went to the Caribbean Village Club on the Green March 1 through to March 8. Our vacation was filled with overcast skies. We didn't eat for 2 days as some of the food was exotic and we didn't want to try it. (We are quite picky though) The pasta bar at dinner is good in the Buffet. During our stay our water was shut off for a whole day. Two of the three of us got sick, and we are still waiting for the results from the Doctor to find out what is wrong. This was my first trip to the caribbean, overall i would rate it 7/10. I didn't expect much as it is a 3 star hotel. This hotel is FULL of canadians, but its not exactly the 'party' resort, its very quite. The staff was very friendly and spoke good english. Knowing Italian definatly benefited us. The rooms are decent, nothing special, but the maids will come in your room when you are sleeping to clean up. I recommend paying the $15US for the safety deposit box, so nothing of value can go missing cause there was some rumors about things going missing. If you enjoy eating midnight snacks, bring some munchies as they stop serving food at 1:30am.

The rooms could use some remodeling, but the maids keep them spotless. The BEACH is AWESOME. Food is average. Pool & swim up bar are a lot of fun, all day long. THe Main bar gets pretty fun at night. Disco is alot smaller than in the pics and music selection is poor, but it's fun if you make it fun. What makes this hotel stand out is the service. The staff is WONDERFUL!

Two of my friends and I decided last minute to head down to the Dominican Rep for reading week and club on the green was the cheapest last minute deal we could find. I was a little nervous after reading all the negative reviews of the resort but we ended up having an awesome time!! The people who are complaining about how horrible this resort is have to realize that it is a 3 star resort; not a 5 star. You get what you pay for and for the amount we paid, we were overall VERY satisfied. Check in was quick and easy. We were taken to our rooms in 10 minutes. The rooms were average. They were clean and well maintained. However, be warned that if you recieve a ground floor room as we did, it can get very damp and sticky. Try to get a room on the 2nd floor if possible. We didn't spend much time in our room anyway so it wasn't too much of a problem. There is only one pool and while it's not very exotic looking, it was decent. The food was great. Enough variety to keep us happy and the theme dinners were amazing. We were only able to get reservations to one of the a la carte restaurants. We went to Firenze, the Italian restaurant and the food and service were impeccable. The staff at the resort were amazing! They were all so friendly! The resort is primarily an over 35 resort, however, we managed to find a bunch of young people to party with every night. The disco at the resort is okay but if you really want to party its about a 15 minute walk to Hemmingways bar and the club Mangu. Just drink all you can at the resort before you leave because you have to pay for your own drinks outside the resort. The beach is average. It was nice and there were plenty of water sports to do but it is the atlantic ocean not the carribean. If you're looking for beautiful beaches, go to Punta Cana. Still, the playa dorada beach was great for swimming and tanning. Overall, we had an amazing time at the resort. The food was great, the staff were awesome, the people we met were amazing and the nightlife was THE BEST!! We can't wait to go back!

First time in Caribbean in 20 years - OK so whatever that's worth. Playa Dorada (formerly Club in the Green) was fine!. Clean enough, but pretty tired. The sliding door lock was worn out of the floor, the bathroom countertop had been painted many times - so it could be kept clean but old and kinda home handyman special and for a couple days the tub drained so slowly we ended up standing in water for a shower – but it got fixed soon after we mentioned it.. When we got to the room we couldn't lock the balcony (balcony is a nice feature and make sure you get on the second floor to avoid any potential mould - not that I saw any) and so I walked back for a safe lock - wish they had told me to just get one at check in. People are friendly enough but not really forthcoming and interactive – but they'll surely answer direct questions. This isn't a five-star so maybe training and wages don't attract leaders in tourism but everyone was nice and seemed to work pretty hard. Great long beach (10 minute walk or tractor trolley) with a snack and drink bar on beach shared with a number of other resort (about 10). Take the local bus-vans if you like to save money and have a little adventure. Instead of $10 US minimum for hotel taxis - we paid the equivalent of $1 Canadian but were sometimes sitting on strangers laps in passenger vans (sometimes old - very old) with 24 other people (yes - 24). Sousa - about 8km away - has a much nicer vibe. It isn’t a closed off resort but it is much more freer - for lack of a better word. Time limits on everything at the resort is kindof restrictive. In Sosua we paid a bit to rent our snorkeling but then we could do what we wanted for as long as we wanted. Venders their actually sold you stuff you wanted (fresh fruit and snacks ) and really understood what no meant. Ok - 2nd last day our new acquaintances credit card was taken out of her (unlockable - same as me) room. No big deal because it had fortunately just expired but the next day another girls card was taken and she was cleaned out. Definitely an organized gang because the purchases were -cross island where no one could have gotten to that fast. Management said it 'never' happens and then - it happened twice - so think what you will. Finally check out. Our pane wasn’t leaving until 11pm so we had to check out at 1pm (MAJOR DRAG NOT ADDRESSED BY TOUR OPERATOR AIR TRANSAT)so we had to leave our bags in a closet for the last day. Major drag. Couldn't enjoy many activities so kind of a waste. And - we wanted to rent a room for the day (extra $ of course) but they told us the tour operator was sending 100 more people and they didn’t have that many rooms - so the tour operators were going to be screwing over a few people. One of the couples we met were down-graded to the Playa Dorada and didn’t get any of the Honeymoon stuff they were promised and had to walk to the beach etc etc. Travel is still a bit wild west I guess. As I said – I think a lot of last-minute (read cheap) bookings get sent here but it is clean, foodworthy, sunworthy and good value. I will try to go to a better place on the beach next time.

DO NOT COME HERE! This hotel gives the other Dominican hotels and the entire Dominican Republic a really bad name. It is a hell hole. It was a terrible experience. I stayed here this past December 2004..... It was my honeymoon, we had plans on going to Sosua but it started pouring outside and we needed a place to stay for the night, that was the closest vacant hotel. The rooms need serious help. The room was moldy, it needed a paint job, there was no remote control for the TV, the lamp had no cover, the AC did not work, the furniture was from the 1800, the food was bland and disgusting. While I was there I saw some tourists at the restaurant and they felt the same way we did. I was so embarrased being that the Dominican Republic is such a beautiful Island with beautiful hotels and resorts with exceptional service and amenities. I visit the Dominican Republic every year and this is the worst I've seen. I do not recommend this hotel. DO NOT COME HERE!!!!

I have never encountered anything so awful as this complex. Toilets overflowing (with contents), burglaries, cold bland food, dirty plates, cutlery and overall the restaurant needs to be stripped and refurbished. Sun loungers were a disgrace. We had to clean off the bird droppings ourselves. Some of the staff were so disinterested. Although I put this down to higher management ie the big boys in high places who have not provided the money to maintain this complex. The rooms are do damp my husband and I contracted bronchial coughs. I got food poisoning because the burgers were still pink inside. I also blame the tour operators who point blank refuse to acknowledge that there is a problem. If they get in touch with me I could give them a detailed overview of this resort. Definitely a holiday from hell.

My fiance and I travelled to the Caribbean Village on the Green in Peurto Plata last march 2003. We were not overly impressed with this resort. Although it was not located right on beach the shuttle and walk wasn't all that bad and not too far away. The food was actually really good at least. Desserts and dinner food were delicious.. The actual resort was OK.. Kind of dirty.. The main pool was crappy. Very small and looked like a backyard pool- not a resort style pool. Our room was cozy but nothing spectacular. I think this hotel was rated a 3 1/2 star? It's more like a 3 star.. if it wasn't for the food I don't think this place should be allowed to run. Overall our stay was ok.. We are not hard to please- as long as there is sun and beach, I am happy. However, on one of my last nights at the hotel, I left my reading glasses on my night table- and after the maid was cleaning up I came back to my room and they were GONE. We complained to the front desk but not sure if that did anything. I took a piece of paper and drew a picture of my glasses and wrote "GLASSES MISSING".... Apparently the Dominican maid's read english, because my glasses magically appeared back on my table later that day. Overall, I wouldn't reccommend this resort.. there wasn't much to offer.