Sheraton Santo Domingo Hotel

The location worked perfectly for us, with quick Ubers to zona colonial. The pool was fine, the pool food was average, and the air conditioning was glitchy. We arrived at the Sheraton at 5pm, ready to check in, but were told to wait 10 minutes for the room. That turned into repeated 10-minute delays. They gave us two drink coupons, which we later found out only covered nonalcoholic drinks. Forty-five minutes after arriving, we were still being told to wait another 10 minutes, even though check-in was at 3pm. My friend had arrived at noon to try for an early check-in, so staff already knew we needed the room as soon as possible. We finally got our keys at 6pm, three hours after check-in time, and received no compensation. Free breakfast would have been the least they could do. Those nonalcoholic drink coupons were a joke. After I left a negative response to the survey that came up when I connected to Wi-Fi, a staff member called our room to apologize and said they'd follow up with compensation. They never did.

I won't stay here again. I've been a guest for a long time, but now this hotel gets a zero from me. The staff, including the GM, talk down to you and patronize you. They charged more than I actually owed and called the difference a conversion rate to pesos. Even the awful airport currency exchange doesn't charge 20 percent. You can call to verify your reservation and amenities, then arrive to find a bait and switch. I felt taken advantage of and belittled, and it put me in exactly the wrong mood for a vacation. It's a shame that a decent hotel has such incompetent, indecent staff. Don't assume it can't happen to you. Save yourself the headache and go to crown plaza or another brand.

Awful service. I won't stay here again. On Friday night, one person was handling reception while a line of people waited to check in. Breakfast cost 32 USD, which is a week's pay for many locals. The cleaning staff stole my hat, and a security guard tried to kick me off the property even after I showed him my hotel key. At the pool, four staff members sat around doing nothing while we waited to order food. When I asked for a printed room-service menu, I was told it was on the TV, but staff didn't know how to access it. I asked several times to speak with the manager and never heard from them. On Sunday I was told “tomottow,” and on Monday I was told the manager wasn't there. And this is Sheraton? Ewww...

Our Air Transat flight was cancelled, so we hadn't planned to stay here. The Sheraton ended up being a wonderful place to get a few hours of sleep. The staff were great, and the food was better than at our Punta Cana resort.