Royal Palace Hotel

We called on 11/07/2024 to book a room for Nov. 8-9, and the clerk asked when we'd arrive. I said the next evening, sometime between 7 and 8. We got there around 7:30 PM and the person who'd taken the reservation greeted us. Another clerk was at the computer. When we gave our names, he said our room had been given to someone in a group with priority over us. We warned him there'd be a problem if he couldn't give me a room, but he said he wasn't responsible, no matter what we said. We argued for about 20 minutes. I showed him proof that I'd been a sub director of tourism and a Consul General in the USA, and told him we'd worked hard to promote the Dominican Republic overseas and bring in more tourists. I said Royal Palace was causing economic damage to the D.R., and that we'd report them to the Association of Hotel and Restaurant of the D.R., the department of tourism, the presidential palace, and the press. I also said Royal Palace would get one star. Once they realized I was telling the truth, the clerk quickly found us a room at another hotel, offered us a free room for the next day, and called an Uber, saying he'd pay the driver. We turned down all the offers and didn't come back the next day as they asked. Imagine arriving from Europe, the USA, or anywhere else and being met with this kind of travesty.