Catalonia La Romana

Very disappointing stay at very hight price in a so called 5* hotel. 1) I chose to book La Romana (where we stayed for 16 nights) because I saw on its website that the hotel is "adults only" and, despite the ambiguity of the expression, I imagined that the absence of children would mean a calm and quiet hotel. As soon as I checked in, the television showed that PORTABLE loudspeakers (soundboxes) were forbidden in the hotel, a warning that was all over the walls and everywhere. I couldn't have been more wrong. Impolite guests were using these speakers at an unbelievable rate, some at an incredible height, without the hotel taking any action. I complained to reception three days in a row without anyone doing anything and the other guests continued to be harassed by this. Wouldn't it be the hotel's role to enforce the rules that are visible to everyone and that the hotel uses as advertising to attract a certain type of guest who likes silence? What is worse is that the hotel itself doesn't respect its own rules. The hotel's space is small and there is a central square that leads to the restaurants and a central swimming pool with the rooms around it. Every night at 8pm there are live shows that go on until 10.30pm. The noise is deafening, making dinner in the restaurants that open onto the courtyard a martyrdom. Only one of the hotel's four restaurants is set back and escapes this problem. On a Saturday, my wife couldn't even finish her dinner because she had a massive headache due to the noise. That day the show had started at 7.30pm. Before that, a loudspeaker deafened everyone in the restaurant. What a horrible thing to do. 2) On the first night at Tao Cat, the negative point was a waitress who asked for a review of the restaurant, typing 5 stars into my wife's mobile phone and then asking her to praise 5 names she had on a piece of paper. After that, this same approach happened at Toscana, Thalassa, Bloved, Rodeo, in short, at all the restaurants, in a slightly less aggressive way. This was repeated throughout our stay. This seemed absurd to us, which can only exist with some encouragement from the restaurant management or the hotel itself, which must use this procedure to favour or promote the staff who have the most praise on social media. This is an unmissable absurdity in a hotel of the level of La Romana, as it is too annoying for guests. We were horrified again. 3) In this hotel, as in the rest of the civilized world, there is no place reserved for smokers. It is impossible to find a place, even on the beach, where you don't have to breathe in the smoke of a cigarette or cigar. This includes the pool bar and snack bar and the beach bar and sushi bar, places where you can EAT! Even in the Tao Cat restaurant we had to change seats because someone was smoking an electronic cigarette without being bothered by the staff. I even saw cigarettes floating in the pool in front of my room. Add that to the noise and goodbye to a peaceful holid

Reviews are misleading don’t understand how this hotel is rated so highly wouldn’t come back here again, have to book online dinner reservations which are always fully booked so ending up eating some thing every night, beaches are nice that’s about it, if you don’t speak spanish then get treated like an inconvenience honestly look elsewhere hotel shouldn’t be rated anywhere near what it is.

We have been to many all inclusive resorts and this is the first one we have ever experienced such poor service. First, all the pictures of the adults only side are very deceiving, it looks bright and airy, appears via the pictures to be much bigger than it really is. The check in area is very small and lines back up quickly. We booked a Superior Jr Suite Swim Up and were given room 101. We knew we were in trouble when the bellman laughed when we told him our room number. It is the first room outside the lobby, so the swim up would have guest traffic going by all day and night long - not exactly what we thought we would experience. We asked for a different room and were told they were sold out of that category. We said we would pay for an upgrade if one is available and we upgraded to Duplex Suite & Swimming Pool. This room has two floors and a bedroom/bath and small pool on the 2nd level. Upon dragging suitcases to the second floor, we discovered water pouring out of the ceiling AC vent. Back to the front desk for another room. This time, a room, 134, in our original category was suddenly available with the exception that the AC had just been fixed and it might be a little warm, but if we went and had lunch it would be fine. It was not fine 27.5 C and after numerous calls and visits throughout the evening, they said maybe tomorrow and there were no other rooms available that had working AC. After threatening to leave, we finally got a room with working AC. While the beach is nice, it is a haul to get there and crowded. They have golf carts that run every 15 minutes just to take you to the beach, maybe a 1/4 mile walk. Overall, the majority of the staff seemed annoyed that we were there. At restaurants and bars it was not uncommon to wait 5-10 minutes for their conversations to end before you would be acknowledged for service. Everything is done via QR codes, so plan on taking your phone everywhere you go and all of the restaurants require making reservations on the app, everyday and it is not user friendly. We were under the impression this was a new or newly renovated resort, but you still have landlines in the toilet, signs telling you not to drink the tap water in your room and a maze of switches to turn lights on and off. We have been to other 4-5 star resorts in DR that are so much much better. Lastly, my CC was charged twice for our stay, although my final bill indicates only one charge. To date, the resort has not responded to repeated emails and calls.

We booked privilege rooms trip 5 months in advance (3 families with kids). When we arrived, lady on front desk said they have no rooms and we have to go to their other hotel in Punta Cana… after arguing for one hour with two managers and keep hearing the no available rooms, we were given cheap rooms in front of the hotel AC was not working and mosquitoes in the room. Next day they moved us to the rooms we actually booked…. Btw I’ve heard the some guests had same problems with AC Privilege rooms were ok, but in one of the rooms AC wasn’t working as well. Maintenance guy came with one screwdriver and after “working” on it for 2 minutes said it’s fixed… it wasn’t. So overall no one cares there…… Now the good stuff….. Sea is beautiful, clean and warm Pool is 5’8” deep. The deepest pool I’ve seen on the resorts and also very warm. Kids loved it. The food was good/ok. Nothing fancy… Entertainment is good…. Overall if it wasn’t for no AC for a week and poor check in experience I would go back to this hotel.

The service was exceptional, Jessica at the Baqua Pool bar was outstanding, she was always very friendly, our housekeeper Reyna was so wonderful and made sure we had everything we needed. The concierge Yves was helpful and friendly. Twist lounge for evening cocktails and espresso was nice. The beach was absolutely gorgeous and breathtaking. The main pool was nice. The spa was so relaxing. We recommend the superior swim up pool room for location and easy access. We had some trouble upon check in, we were not initially given the room we paid for. Food was good, Not great. BLoved definitely the best of the restaurants for dinner the Thalasas was good for breakfast. Only issue is that not all restaurants are adult only and would have liked to see more adult only spaces. You have to go through the family spaces to get to the beach, the shops etc. overall we enjoyed our trip not exactly worth what we paid and We love La Romana and would return to this area but to a full adult only resort.

Totally recommend this hotel. It has the best beach on this area of DR, completely sea**** free! The hotel itself is in very good shape. We got the updated rooms (privileged family) and they were good. People are very nice and do their best to make your stay happy. Particularly the entertainment group.... totally amazing! Food is good for an all inclusive, with plenty of options and easy reservation system. Pool and beach area with plenty of seats and umbrellas. I will totally recommend this place.

Absolutely beautiful resort !! My wife and I just returned last week from a week long stay. Check in was smooth, we arrived fairly late so it was quite. Our room was a swim up room, not really a swim up room, more of our own little pool, the room was beautiful, nice and clean when we arrived. Fridge was stocked with a few beers, some pop, water. Lovely king sized bed, the double shower was amazing. The walk to the beach was a fair hike, but only reason I say that is because I had a knee replacement a few months ago so my walking is not quite as good as others lol. They do have a small cart you can get that will take you too the beach and back again. We never had any issues getting somewhere to sit at the beach, and most days we didn’t go until 10-1030 and we still found chairs too sit in, didn’t have to get up early and go put towels on the chairs like others say you have too. The Caribbean Sea is absolutely beautiful here, absolutely no sea****, and it was so clean. The pool bar up by the main lobby is great also, never had an issue finding somewhere too sit there either, the water was a little cold at first but once in and used too it, it was lovely. Night time entertainment was pretty good. If your looking for a party scene this is not for you. The entertainment is done by 945-1030 ish and by 11 most nights it was just my wife and maybe one or 2 other couples sitting around having a drink. It’s a very quite resort which I really liked and enjoyed. The food … you cannot go hungry here, so much too choose from, we only ate at 2 buffets while there, one was a breakfast buffet, it served its purpose but wasn’t great, other buffet was down at the beach, lots too choose from, we just wanted some salad a few pieces of pizza. The rest of the nights we made reservations at the restaurants, never had an issue making them so I am not sure why some people say it’s impossible to get into places too eat. Room service was interesting to say the least. Not many option and you never know what you will get, they offer hot dogs late at night, says it comes with sauté onions, bacon and cheese… I never had any of that on mine, chicken ceasar salad was different everytime, never had chicken on it, one night it was shredded lettuce, next night it was spring mix and tomato with ranch dressing. I order room service every night just too see what I would get and every night it was different. The staff at the resort are amazing, this place is so clean, everyone is friendly, bar tenders are great. Erizon at the main lobby bar looked after us very well as did the young lady at the pool swim up bar( cannot remover her name), Victor down at the beach bar at night was also awesome and looked after us. All in all it was a great resort and we would definitely return. Pro’s… Nice and clean Beautiful beach Plenty of seating Friendly staff Nice and quite later at night Con’s… Getting USD changed to smaller bills for tipping was hard The boys in blue trying

I have just returned from 2 weeks at the Catalonia La Romana and this resort gets more right than wrong in my opinion. In fact I am quite surprised by some of the negative reviews. Some of my positives are Cleanliness….this place is immaculate everywhere and there is constant cleaning of all areas on going , the grounds people seem to work constantly Ambiance, the resort is beautifully layed out with quiet areas everywhere, beautiful gardens and a number of relaxation areas Food, there are so many places to choose from and if you can’t find food you like, you amaze me. We did have some food we didn’t like but there is so much to choose from just go somewhere else. I would guess with this hotel and the sister hotel you have at least 8/9 restaurants to pick from and their online booking system is super easy and low maintenance. Don’t miss the Terrace restaurant at night, it’s ok in the day but the night time Tapas is amazing and if you get a front row seat you are practically on the beach at sunset….perfect. We loved Switchi too Rooms, they are large and well maintained , we had a basic room and it blew away similar resorts on other islands I have experienced. The mini bar is stocked everyday with water, beer, sodas and snacks , rooms are detailed everyday to a very high standard , pool towels are replaced for you and they are large and plentiful. Rooms are turned down at night too , our cleaner Anna Luisa was amazing Pools/beach - both were gorgeous and loungers by the pools were super comfortable , service at the pool is fabulous , especially if Mariolas is working Less positives Service is patchy, some servers are amazing like Mariolas in the snack bar and Melqui In the Terrace restaurant but many are indifferent at best and a bit rude at worst, a lot of them seem overly interested in entertaining themselves rather than the guests, they appeared to be poorly managed , I saw lots of managers ( I assume they were managers by their uniforms ) but none of them seemed to do anything and certainly never made themselves known to guests Reception , the only thing we asked of them was some change ( to tip their staff ) but they didn’t help , they didn’t even try, we assumed they didn’t keep cash until we paid our bill at the end and noticed they actually had a till full of cash Points to note This resort is adjoined to a family resort, the 2 sort of meld in the middle and it works well giving you a nice variety of facilities whilst protecting the peace of those who don’t want children all around There is a very nice little commercial street to buy pretty mush anything you want , they didn’t take cash , card or pay on your bill The pool areas are very peaceful, beach is livelier and more popular, but unlike other reviewers we never had any trouble getting a lounger at anytime of day There is an exclusive club which does have advantages, we didn’t join it but you may want to look at it before you visit if it interests you We had a basic ro

Stayed here for a week in October on honeymoon. Staff were great and very attentive. Room was cleaned very well each day. Great choice of food across the various restaurants. The wine was very nice, except in the family bit where they served something very different to the adults only area. Beach was perfect and plenty of space to watch the sunsets. Worth taking a snorkel to see the fish in the corals but we were lucky enough to see some on our last day without one near the shore. We didn't need or want to leave the hotel during our stay. Probably could do with more parasols / covers on the beach as we struggled to find one some days and it's impossible unless you get up at 7am and reserve one with a towel and the heat can be a bit too much if in direct sunlight for more than a few minutes. Lots of sun loungers though. Entertainment was great with some talented singers performing. The rock band on our last night was a bit too loud though. Great hotel to stay in and we'd definitely consider staying there again if we return to DR.