Sunscape Dominicus La Romana

Reyni juhnson y Manuel Constanza restaurante Sunny Side

Perfect accommodation! Service is great from all the staff, especially Derick! He helped us a lot with finding the right spots around the swimming pool and the beach!

There are mixed reviews about this hotel which is understandable because there are some great features to enjoy but it could be so much better. Our family stayed at Sunscape Dominicus La Romana for 2 weeks in September and we enjoyed our holiday as the hotel is in a fantastic setting. The sea and beach is incredible. Similarly the hotel grounds with stream, ponds and gardens with wildlife are lovely. We upgraded to Sun Club and our rooms were basic but clean and everything worked well. We just needed the hairdryer changed which was done after a couple of requests using the App. The rooms are nothing special but no real complaints. One thing that was frustrating was that Housekeeping continually failed to replace all of the towels with hand towels missing on several days and despite requests made on the hotel app there was inconsistent action taken to resolve housekeeping issues. Another thing that we found particularly disappointing was the swimming pools. All of the pools were dirty with bird droppings continually found floating in the water along with hair and other things. Whilst staff are continually cleaning the pools it appeared to us that the filtration system was not working properly in any of the pools. If the hotel resolves that then this would have vastly improved things. All of our swimming costumes were dyed yellow after a few days. At other hotels we see staff regularly checking water quality. I did not see this happen once at this hotel which is a worry. Whilst there are several à la carte restaurants at this hotel, which you can book in advance using the hotel App, in general we found the food quality to be to a lower standard than other all inclusive hotels we have stayed at. The best ones we felt were the Mexican and the Bluewater Grill. Whilst some of the restaurant staff were very good it was a bit hit and miss, particularly at breakfast in the buffet where on occasions it was a struggle even to get served water at the table. I did think that the fact there are no restrictions on booking restaurants is really positive at this resort apart from you can only book around 3 dinners in advance at a time and some restaurants do get booked up but that’s fine as long as you plan ahead. We went to La Cala restaurant for a couple of dinners, and although you have to pay for it, we thought it was well worth a try as the food quality was much better than at the other restaurants. Whilst there were some advantages with the upgrade to Sun Club, we did find that the hotel did not really manage the use of Sun Club areas with some other guests using the facilities who had obviously not paid for the upgrade and it was advertised as Adults only but this was not enforced either. The premium grade drinks made a big difference in Sun Club as the standard of drinks in other areas of the hotel was poor due to the quality of the alcohol in use. I do think that this is something that the owners should review. I would also suggest that there should be a cocktail menu displayed at the bars around the resort. Another annoyance was the continual use of paper cups as they kept running out of plastic ones. I don’t want to be drinking a cocktail on holiday from a paper cup! The entertainment team worked very hard and were extremely friendly. They worked from early morning to late evening. We would pick out Christian in particular who worked very hard. The coffee shop is a good idea and we used it almost every day. So overall, I think that the hotel management should review how they can improve this hotel from what I would say is currently 3 star to what I think could be a 4 star hotel if they can improve the decor in the bedrooms, get the filtration system and management of water quality in the swimming pools right, improve the food quality and service provision in the restaurants and upgrade the drinks in the general bars because the hotel and setting has greater potential than what they are currently delivering. Unless they do this I would not recommend this hotel as things stand now.

**Good value resort with lots to like, but some very easy improvements needed** We stayed at Sunscape Dominicus for two weeks in the Sun Club and overall had an enjoyable holiday. There is a lot to like about the resort, but there are also some recurring issues that stop it from being as good as it could be. The grounds are lovely, the beach is excellent and the ponds with the fish and turtles are a really nice feature. We particularly liked the Sun Club wristbands, which double as your room key – such a simple idea, but incredibly convenient. Most of the staff we encountered were also friendly and helpful, and the waitress who worked most days in the Sun Club snack bar deserves particular praise as she always worked hard and had a smile on her face. The à la carte restaurants were generally good. We enjoyed the Italian, Mexican and pizza restaurants, although Chopsticks was pretty rubbish in comparison and easily the weakest meal we had. The main buffet was very hit and miss. Some dishes were genuinely very good, while others were poor, and food that should have been hot was sometimes only lukewarm or even cold. Breakfast was similar – plenty of choice, but consistency could definitely be improved. The coffee shop is a nice addition and my partner really enjoyed the coffee. Our room was also a disappointing first impression. The bedside lamps were missing bulbs and shades, the room smelled strongly of damp and the air conditioning initially struggled to cope. The lamps were sorted quickly and, after we reported the AC, it did improve enough to keep the room comfortable and the damp smell eventually disappeared. Once those initial issues were addressed, the room itself was perfectly adequate and had everything we needed. Housekeeping and towels were one of our biggest frustrations. The hotel asks guests to leave towels off the floor if they are happy to reuse them, which we did, yet our towels were regularly removed anyway and then not replaced. On several days we returned to the room to find towels missing altogether. The worst occasion involved us asking the housekeeper, contacting the butler service twice and eventually going to reception before finally receiving a full set around 2½ hours after our first request. It is particularly frustrating when perfectly usable towels are being removed despite guests specifically indicating that they do not need changing, only for no replacements to be available. The biggest issue with the Sun Club itself is that the hotel does not appear to enforce who is allowed to use it. Throughout our second week we repeatedly saw guests without Sun Club wristbands using the Sun Club beach, pool, bar and snack bar. On our final day the snack bar was completely full, yet from what we could see only ourselves and one other table appeared to be occupied by actual Sun Club guests. This really needs addressing. Sun Club is sold as a paid upgrade, so guests who have paid extra should not regularly find the facilities being used by people who haven't. The wristbands make Sun Club guests extremely easy to identify, so there is really no excuse for having virtually no access control. The area is already gated, so the gates could be opened by wristband, or staff could simply check wristbands when serving guests. As it stands, it does make you question what exactly you are paying extra for. I would also make the Sun Club pool adults-only. There are lots of facilities around the resort for children and families, whereas the Sun Club pool would be ideal as a genuinely quiet area. We had several occasions where one or two children shouting, repeatedly jumping into the pool and throwing balls changed the atmosphere for everyone around it. I have no problem whatsoever with children being children, but the main pool is a much better place for that type of activity. Another issue we noticed repeatedly was staff using personal mobile phones while working. We saw staff scrolling, watching videos and wearing earbuds while guest-facing. It looks unprofessional and inevitably means their attention isn't fully on guests. We unexpectedly spent a night at Hyatt's Breathless Punta Cana after our flight home was cancelled, and although I appreciate that Breathless is a more expensive hotel aimed at a different market, the contrast was noticeable. We didn't see a single member of staff using a personal phone, the service was extremely attentive, breakfast was a step above Sunscape and the à la carte meal we had there was outstanding. Sunscape management could genuinely benefit from seeing some of the operating practices used there. There were also unnecessary early-morning noise issues. A petrol motorbike with a trailer used for transporting towels around the resort could often be heard from around 7am, luggage trolleys rattled loudly over the cobbled areas, and from around 8am the housekeeping trolleys would crash over the metal floor plates outside the rooms. None of these things are huge individually, but together they make sleeping later than about 8am surprisingly difficult. We did also encounter one particularly poor service interaction in the coffee shop with a member of staff named Yully, who ignored us while talking to another member of staff and then spoke to us as though we had done something wrong because we were waiting at the ice cream stand rather than ordering at the main counter. This stood out because most of the staff were considerably friendlier. Despite all of the above, we genuinely enjoyed our two weeks at Sunscape Dominicus and think the resort offers very good value compared with some of the more expensive hotels nearby. The frustrating thing is that most of the negatives are not fundamental problems with the resort – they are relatively straightforward operational issues. The grounds, beach and facilities are already there. Better enforcement of the Sun Club, improved food temperature and consistency, tighter housekeeping procedures and some basic standards around staff phone use could make a very noticeable difference. Would I return to this side of the island? 100% yes. We much preferred the sea here and also enjoyed the more international mix of guests and the fact there were far fewer native English speakers – and I say that as a Brit! Would I return to this particular hotel in its current state? Probably not. What Sunscape seems to need now is strong, hands-on management that is prepared to challenge existing working practices and make changes where they are needed. At times, it felt as though some old habits and ways of working are still deeply embedded in the resort. That is a shame because the hard part is already done: the resort has a fantastic location, beautiful grounds and all the facilities it needs. With stronger management and some relatively minor operational changes, I genuinely think it could be considerably better.

I think the quality of the meals should be improved, with a wider range of healthy food options. Drinks should contain less sugar, there are no alcohol‑free beers available, and the pastries at the buffet are served from 6:30 p.m, When you go for dinner later, everything is warm when it should be cold. Everything else is more than acceptable; the beach is beautiful, and the people are very friendly