September 29, 2010

Dominican Republic - Riu Mambo

Yesterday I spent a lot of time researching the Dominican Republic - with breathtaking Caribbean beaches, modern pool complexes, set in the backdrop of a rugged tropical forest, it can only appeal.

For example, look at the following phots accompanying the Riu Mambo hotel on the Thomson website (again, disclaimer - I use Thomson.co.uk as a first stop for research, simply because it’s a better presented website than most others, hence a good stop for first research).

dominican-republic-1

dominican-republic-2

Wonderful looking, isn’t it?

However, when reading up the reviews on Trip Advisor I found the feedback very mixed: feedback on Riu Mambo.

The “terrible” and “poor” reviews are quite illuminating - while there are some very petty comments, there is one key problem that continues to be reported for all of the Domincan Republic resorts I’ve researched: that of hundreds of locals entering the hotel grounds at the weekend to party.

Some negative reports comment on them being rude, using up lots of the food and drink leaving the tourists with limited choice or none, poor hygeine when picking at the food, getting drunk and vomiting in the pool, and a couple of reports even claim locals having sex on the lounger next to them!!

This whole issues seems especially partinent when there are reportedly a few hundred locals entering the hotel grounds on any given weekend, thus exacerbating the chance of problems.

I’m still undecided - after all, a number of the positive reports on Trip Advisor mention the locals not being a problem at all - but it has caused me to think again very carefully.

After all, with a family of five, it is going to be a very expensive trip.