cozy sm hotel in Sto.domingo

Static · #1 03-01-2008, 03:15 PM

I will be visiting Sto. Domingo with my son (27yrs) on March 13 - 17 2008. Any suggestions on a historical type motel. I don't always like the 5* luxury grand hotels when I visit different countries (to touristy)... I like to feel my living area as native as possible; when possible.
I would have loved to stay in the outskirts but time is limited; and that would have to be for my next long visit to DR.

For now, a cozy motel/hotel (clean, safe, with lush vegetation) that is in walking distance to the zona colonial would be ideal. Any suggestions on such a short notice?
Thank you in advance for the impute I receive.

Alyonka · #2 03-01-2008, 03:27 PM

I would do a search on this site with the key words "small hotel SD" or something like that. There are a lot of threads on this subject...

Chirimoya · #3 03-01-2008, 03:46 PM

Be careful with the term 'motel'. In the DR this means a 'date' hotel that rents rooms out by the hour.

Doña Elvira and the other small hotels full of character in the Zona Colonial are what you're after. Hostal Nader, Hotel Frances, Hostal Nicolas de Ovando and several others in the area are located in nicely converted colonial buildings.

Look in http://www.dr1.com/directories/index...Hotels_Resorts

Lush vegetation is not so easy when it comes to smaller hotels in the area, apart from a few trees and plants in the patio.

jggm1971 · #4 03-01-2008, 04:51 PM

hello
try the Maison Gautreaux Hotel
Hotel Maison Gautreaux... En Santo Domingo, Algo Distinto.

GringoCArlos · #5 03-01-2008, 09:43 PM

Forget the Doña Elvira in Zona Colonial. Avoid it like the plague.

We stayed there in November for one night. Never again. My normal choice of the Palacio didn't have any rooms available with two large beds, and the Accor didn't either. Ditto for the new hotel on Maximo Gomez.

I thought it would be much easier to just grab a nearby hotel due to our very late arrival to home. Just go to sleep, and go to our home in the morning instead. A treat turned into a trick, and it took about a week for my wife to get over blaming me for the Doña Elvira.

I made my reservation online for the Doña Elvira, paid with a credit card, paid their 6% additional charge for using a credit card to pay, total cost for an "upgraded room" was about US$120. I included a message with my reservation (which they anwered as a confirmation) that we would be arriving late in the evening due to the arrival time of our flight from Panama, and they responded they would be expecting us. We arrived at the hotel within minutes of my estimate to them in the message.

It took 20 minutes to arouse the Haitian-with-an-attitude watchyman so that he could unlock and open the front door. Meanwhile, we waited outside on the sidewalk in pouring rain (no awning out front) until he evidently got out of bed. Once he opened the door, no offer to help with the suitcases in, or to our room, just more attitude and sullenness.

Bright and early the next morning, a bunch of visitors on their way out woke everyone up, because their boistrousness on their way out was echoing in the inner courtyard to the point that it was useless to try and go back to sleep. Short night.

At checkout at 9 or 9:30 am, no sign of the Belgian owner or his wife, just the other 2 Haitian employees - the front desk clerk who must be the one answering e-mails, and the maid who didn't look to be in any hurry to do any cleaning, just talk to the clerk.

The Palacio is a much better choice, colonial-era building run by German owners, everything works, and a beautiful breakfast in their inner courtyard. Quiet too. And they ALWAYS have someone at the front door to let guests in, and to help them.

After our experience, not only did I vow never again, but that I would do my best to warn anyone else about this "hotel". You have been warned.

qgrande · #6 03-02-2008, 06:03 AM

The joys of the internet.....If I'm honest, I see very little in post nr. 6 that warrants statements like 'avoid like the plague'. It's clear Gringocarlos did not like his stay. But there were some rowdy other guests; does that happen often? We don't know, just this one experience. A cleaning lady having a chat? quel horreur! It seems to boil down to have waited a bit outside when arriving late at night, while it happened to be raining, with an unhurried doorman. Is that something structural? We don't know. Is it something to be so enraged about? You'd expect someone heading up to a 1000 posts here to switch on their relaxed attitude when arriving in the DR, towards things like chatting cleaning ladies and slow doormen. But, maybe it is a structurally terrible hotel, maybe it's not. We just have this furious post - with little that would deter me (no awning, oh that settles it) - to rely on...

A.Hidalgo · #7 03-02-2008, 10:37 AM

Now that is the opinion of a reasonable person that I would pay attention to. I welcome more of that. Thanks ggrande.

Ant · #8 03-02-2008, 12:48 PM

A beautiful new place just opened in the Colonial Zone, Coco Boutique Hotel. It is run by a couple who live there with their young child. Went to check it out the other day and was really impressed.

Coco Boutique Hotel About

GringoCArlos · #9 03-02-2008, 04:24 PM

Sorry for being too wound up for you, ggrande. But as a difference, living here in the DR is really TOUGH to remain relaxed. It's different as a tourist, you're on vacation, it's a new environment, you finally got away from the things in your home that might bug YOU.

I live in the DR, and have for 8 years. Coming back to the DR, they never let you forget where you are, and it starts immediately upon your return. Every day, in most ways, people here in the DR are busy ****ing with everybody else. A tourist does not see it, or doesn't understand enough Spanish to know what's going on, or don't realize what's happening, or just brushes it off.

Folks who may live here in a beautiful North Coast foreigners-only development, or have the $$ to have their hired help deal with all of the bull**** out on the street, deal with it in their own way. I have to do most things myself. After 8 years here, I have to unwind and loosen up when I go outside the DR, or people ask me why I am being such a hardass (I forget I am no longer in the DR sometimes when travelling). Being a hardass is about the only way one can get by, or avoid being taken advantage of in the DR. At least its been my way.

This is my weakness, and I admit it - its what makes me crazy here in the DR. It made me crazy thinking that I spent the $$ for a nice quiet night after travelling all day, so we could relax, but shame on me - I forgot what I was returning to.

The recommendation for Hotel Palacio still absolutely holds true. It is a gem.

Static · #10 03-02-2008, 11:01 PM

Thank you to all for your honest and well guided suggestions, I look forward in trying some of these places as I will start travel more often to the DR. I truly enjoy staying in different places; all within a mixtures of cultures, Very useful information.. Thank you