A while back we asked if those Maxim Bungalows were too good to be true and found that as far as we could see, guests were loving this place.
Now, a hotel rep wanted to let us know that celebs are loving the place as well. Some stars making the trip down include, Carrie Ann Inaba, judge of "Dancing with the Stars", Brittany Snow, Dylan McDermott, Chris Evans and Laura Prepon. OK! Magazine also went down there to do a photo shoot for Cashmere Mafia's Bonnie Sommerville (above).
But aside from celebrity sightings, the resort just opened its Social restaurant thus enabling you to dance, drink and party like a celeb even if you don't spy one on your stay there.
Now if only those celeb guests would submit to us a VIP Hotel Review.
Prolific restaurateur Jeffrey Chodorow will open the Social Dominican Republic restaurant at the Cofresi Beach location of the resort on April 15th.
Chef Angel Mejia will oversee Social Dominican Republic along with general manager Sean Mohammed, both formerly at Social Miami at Sagamore in sizzling South Beach. Designer Carlos Oroza of architecture firm Prada Kulich created an intimate setting for Social Dominican Republic, seating 70 guests inside and 40 outside.
The restaurant will serve a daily specialty breakfast buffet as well as a full dinner menu. Some selections served at night include the Basil Cured Atlantic Salmon, served with crème fraiche and the Grilled Caribbean Lobster served with asparagus, brown butter, lime and cashews.
However, what actually interests us more is the special poolside fare Social will serve which includes Frozen Chocolate Covered Cheesecake Lollipops, Mojito Sno-Cones, and Frozen Spiced Grapes with Rum. Yummy.
Late last year we mentioned that the Maxim Bungalows in the Dominican Republic were ready to open, and now this hotspot for adventure, beach and a round of golf is in full swing.
We stopped by to check the TripAdvisor reviews and find out how the first guests have enjoyed their experience of Maxim Bungalows. Maybe because we just read about the new EU law which has made it illegal (not just plain dumb) for hoteliers to post positive reviews about their own hotel on sites like TripAdvisor, we were a little suspicious to see how universally positive the reviews to date have been.
Is Maxim as good as they say? A few of the adjectives thrown around by more than one guest include immaculate, comfortable, gorgeous, relaxing, stylish and gorgeous. The staff get fantastic feedback too, from the cleaners who apparently tidy the rooms several times a day, to the concierge who can organize everything, and the staff who supply endless drinks at the pool.
If this is all true--and in all the reviews, there's not a single, tiny criticism, which does make us wonder--then the opening months of Maxim Bungalows have been a big success. We probably won't believe it though until we try it out for ourselves.
We've told you about the Royal Palm Hotel and its Maxim Lounge--which you'll remember wasn't hip enough for the lad mag's Super Bowl Party. But we almost choked on our Memorial Day hot dog when we heard about Maxim's newest hotel project. Jennifer Conlin had the story in the New York Times:
Maxim, the men's magazine that features articles like "Secret Sex" and "Horror Movie Hotties," is opening a resort in the Dominican Republic this fall. Dennis Publishing, the parent company of Maxim, has partnered with Elliott, a resort, hospitality and real estate company based in the Dominican Republic, to create Maxim Bungalows, which is scheduled to open in October
Along with studio, one- and two-bedroom bungalows, mancationers will also have the run of a 44-foot yacht, multiple pools and a massive spa. Bro!
[Ed. Note: This is the Bad Rate in our Good Rate/Bad Rate feature. This screenshot was taken was on January 9, 2007 and is subject to change. Enjoy.]
If you want to go upscale, there are several all-inclusives in the Punta Cana area of the Dominican Republic where the food is a notch up, the liquor is not bottom shelf, and the staffers are fluent in English. Then there are those who just charge more and put a nice sheen on things. You can spend $158 per night for a couple at this week's Good Rate--Allegro Punta Cana--or pay $525 a night for a garden view room at Paradisus Palma Real.
The complaints on TripAdvisor are more entertaining than the typical ones your read for this kind of hotel (musty rooms, clueless staffers who can't fix problems, and ho-hum food).
The rooms have a "master switch" that turns all power off...and I mean ALL of it; lights, fans, clocks, etc. So, whatever you do, do not flip the middle light switch next to the bed or you will spend the next two hours trying to figure out what went wrong.
Butlers barely speak english and are basically a waste- -they stand there and jabber away about the property but they don't do anything and you need to keep tipping them.
My 11 year old turned on the bathtub jets and it shot water across my whole room, soaking down my bed. Don't do that.
The other negative comments mostly revolve around indifferent service, ocean-front rooms that get downgraded on a whim, and a major language barrier. If you're going to deal with these problems--common in this region--then go get a place where you're not paying a premium for supposedly better service.
[Ed. Note: Welcome to our Good Rate/Bad Rate feature where we look at hotel prices in the same city and decide which is better worth your hard-earned benjamins. The rate here was valid on January 9, 2007 and is subject to change.]
Fresh off a renovation, the Allegro Resort in Punta Cana is offering a fantastic deal (through BookIt.com) at only $79 per person all-inclusive through the end of January.
This is your usual vacation factory experience, complete with 540 rooms and a chirpy activities director shouting in a mic by the pool. But hey, at this rate, it's hard to go wrong if you're looking for a beach getaway.
If you've been to a typical all-inclusive resort anywhere in the world, you know the scene: free-flowing cocktails from five bars, lots of activity diversions, and a choice of four restaurants and a snack stand. A big plus here is that the pool and beach bars stay open late instead of them being shut down at sunset. The liquor will be far from top shelf, but at least the rum should be good.
The new rooms depart from the usual tropical floral theme and actually display a little style. They have the basic resort hotel amenities, including a safe, hair dryer, cable TV, and furnished balcony.
You can't book this rate through the buggy hotel site. Instead you need to follow this link to BookIt.com.
In most circles, The Godfather Part II is considered the shining jewel in the Godfather trilogy. The film's director, Francis Ford Coppola, no stranger to exotic locations (like using the Phillippines as a stand-in for Vietnam for Apocalypse Now), had the foresight to use the Dominican Republic as a suitable replacement for Cuba during the filming of the movie, which released in 1974, well before the onslaught of all-inclusives and hotel strips.
Michael (Corleone) and (Hyman) Roth traveled to Cuba under Fulgencio Batista in order to forge a partnership with the Cuban government, allowing them to be free to conduct their operations in Cuba without interference from the authorities, in return for generous payments to Batista.
These nefarious underworld schemes take place at The Occidental El Embajador Hotel situated in Santo Domingo, the capital city of the Dominican Republic, and an ideal location to stand in for the grandeur and splendor of Cuba in the 1950s.
While the hotel bills itself as "the most emblematic hotel in Santo Domingo," reviews on Expedia show opinions split firmly down the middle, from raves to complaints of mildew and a new one, even for us jaded hotel chatterers: A "terrible amount of birds that were loud outside of the hotel on the car park side throughout the night and morning."
Movie lovers will appreciate the irony of the situation. In the film, Roth attempts to control the mob's gambling circuit in pre-revolutionary Cuba, but the whole gang has to flee once Fidel Castro and his rebels overtake the government. Fast-forward to today: While you can't (legally) go to Cuba, you can (legally) gamble your heart away in The El Embajador Hotel. The hotel boasts a casino, open daily from 4pm to 6am. It's 7,500 square feet of slots and tables, so you can place your bets and give the waiter an offer he can't refuse: A banana daiquiri.
Admittance into the elite Leading Small Hotels of the World status is the equivalent of being offered a bid by the swankiest sorority, where hazing, if there were such a thing, would involve sleeping on zero thread count sheets, once daily maid service and Pier One decor. Thankfully for Torguga Bay in Punta Cana, they've got Oscar de la Renta as a guaranteed "in."
The hotel has 15 "casually elegant" beachfront villas encompassing 50 rooms decorated by the famed couturier (who also has a home nearby) and is now the first Dominican hotel to be accepted into the famed luxury hotel collection.
Tortuga Bay is also the latest in a series of new developments at the PUNTACANA Resort & Club, the 15,000-acre resort located on the eastern coast of the Dominican Republic. A new oceanfront Tom Fazio-designed golf course is under construction, complementing the acclaimed La Cana seaside course designed by P.B. Dye, and just opening is the new Six Senses Spa, recognized as the number one spa chain in the world.
More on what it's like to stay at Tortuga Bay post-click
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by juliana
