Ducassi Suites Beach Club & Spa — Hotel in Higüey

Subject: Warning: Tourist Scams at Ducassi-Sol Caribe Hotels and Related Issues in Punta Cana||||Dear Travelers,||||I am writing to share a detailed account of my family’s unfortunate experience at the Ducassi-Sol Caribe Hotels in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. I hope this serves as a warning to help others avoid falling victim to the unethical and fraudulent practices we endured.||||Our Experience||||My family and I booked a vacation package through Booking.com to stay at the Ducassi-Sol Caribe Hotels from December 25, 2024, to January 3, 2025. This was meant to be a long-anticipated family vacation and an opportunity to explore retirement home options in Punta Cana.||||1. Lack of Communication Before Arrival||||A week before our trip, I attempted to contact the hotel via email, text, and WhatsApp to arrange the free shuttle service from the airport. Despite numerous attempts, the property did not respond. I reached out to Booking.com, who assured me that our reservation was confirmed and there was no need to worry.||||2. Stranded at the Airport||||Upon arrival in Punta Cana, I contacted the hotel again to arrange shuttle service. A representative from Ducassi responded via WhatsApp, claiming that Booking.com had overbooked our reservation and that we needed to contact them to resolve the issue.||||When I reached out to Booking.com, they confirmed that my reservation was valid and assured me that there was no overbooking. However, the hotel refused to take responsibility, leaving my family stranded at the airport.||||3. Disorganized and Suspicious Hotel Operations||||Desperate for a solution, we took a taxi to the Ducassi property. Upon arrival, we discovered that the hotel lacked a formal lobby and operated out of a small booth in the parking lot, with aggressive peddlers and panhandlers in the area.||||I was directed to speak with Ms. Yuraima Mailyn Rivero Espinoza, the property manager. She claimed to have one room available but demanded a significantly higher rate than our original Booking.com reservation. The confirmed price was $1,250.10 USD, but she nearly tripled the amount, refusing to accept credit cards and insisting on cash or PayPal payments.||||Having no other options during the peak holiday season, I reluctantly paid for the room through PayPal.||||4. Uninhabitable Accommodations||||Despite claiming Ducassi was sold out, we were assigned a room in the same building. The conditions were deplorable:|| • Filthy room: It was dirty, with a foul smell, and infested with roaches.|| • Broken amenities: The shower, sliding porch doors, and air conditioning were all broken.|| • Contaminated water: The tap water was slimy and smelled terrible. We suspect it caused a stomach virus that left my family severely ill for several days.||||The hotel’s online photos on Booking.com appeared to be from another property, further misleading guests. The meal package offered was at an outdoor restaurant near the beach with no indoor seating and a significant fly/bug infestation.||||The property also lacked:|| • Basic amenities like toilet paper and towels.|| • Proper security—there were no peepholes, smart key systems, or security cameras.|| • Cleanliness—garbage was piled up in hallways, the elevators were out of order, and the rooftop pool was contaminated with debris, including baby diapers and fecal matter.||||5. Unsafe Environment||||The safety of the property was alarming:|| • Drug activity and prostitution were openly conducted in the lobby and disco entrance to the hotel.|| • A neighboring family’s room was burglarized on December 26, 2024. Their passports and belongings were stolen, and the police were called, but hotel management was absent.||||Many other families at the hotel shared similar complaints. We witnessed parents with young children crying and arguing with Ducassi staff, who told them the same story about overbooking and demanded cash payments. Some families could not afford the inflated rates and were left in distress.||||6. Power Outages and Illness||||Frequent power outages left us without electricity for hours at a time. Additionally, my family suffered from vomiting, headaches, and nausea, likely caused by the contaminated shower water. We had to purchase antibiotics from a nearby pharmacy, and the illness lasted several days.||||Reports Filed||||I reported these unethical practices to:|| • Booking.com|| • PayPal, for the unauthorized overcharge by Ms. Espinoza.|| • The Ministry of Tourism and the Department of Public Health in the Dominican Republic.||||Other tourists have shared similar complaints on TripAdvisor and Google Reviews, further highlighting the consistent fraud at Ducassi-Sol Caribe Hotels.||||Additional Concerns|| • Beach hotels and restaurants in Punta Cana appear to dump bathroom waste and sewage into nearby beach waters.|| • Taxis are operated by unregulated private individuals, adding another layer of insecurity for travelers.||||Final Warning||||I strongly urge anyone planning a vacation to Punta Cana to avoid Ducassi-Sol Caribe Hotels at all costs. Based on my experience, these properties operate as part of an organized scam that preys on vulnerable tourists.||||If you or someone you know has experienced similar issues, I encourage you to:|| • Report these properties to relevant authorities.|| • Share your story on social media and travel review platforms.||||This behavior not only harms tourists but also tarnishes the reputation of legitimate businesses and the Dominican Republic’s tourism industry.||||Thank you for reading, and I hope this information helps others avoid the distressing experience my family...

Subject: Warning: Tourist Scams at Ducassi-Sol Caribe Hotels and Related Issues in Punta Cana||||Dear Travelers,||||I am writing to share a detailed account of my family’s unfortunate experience at the Ducassi-Sol Caribe Hotels in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. I hope this serves as a warning to help others avoid falling victim to the unethical and fraudulent practices we endured.||||Our Experience||||My family and I booked a vacation package through Booking.com to stay at the Ducassi-Sol Caribe Hotels from December 25, 2024, to January 3, 2025. This was meant to be a long-anticipated family vacation and an opportunity to explore retirement home options in Punta Cana.||||1. Lack of Communication Before Arrival||||A week before our trip, I attempted to contact the hotel via email, text, and WhatsApp to arrange the free shuttle service from the airport. Despite numerous attempts, the property did not respond. I reached out to Booking.com, who assured me that our reservation was confirmed and there was no need to worry.||||2. Stranded at the Airport||||Upon arrival in Punta Cana, I contacted the hotel again to arrange shuttle service. A representative from Ducassi responded via WhatsApp, claiming that Booking.com had overbooked our reservation and that we needed to contact them to resolve the issue.||||When I reached out to Booking.com, they confirmed that my reservation was valid and assured me that there was no overbooking. However, the hotel refused to take responsibility, leaving my family stranded at the airport.||||3. Disorganized and Suspicious Hotel Operations||||Desperate for a solution, we took a taxi to the Ducassi property. Upon arrival, we discovered that the hotel lacked a formal lobby and operated out of a small booth in the parking lot, with aggressive peddlers and panhandlers in the area.||||I was directed to speak with Ms. Yuraima Mailyn Rivero Espinoza, the property manager. She claimed to have one room available but demanded a significantly higher rate than our original Booking.com reservation. The confirmed price was $1,250.10 USD, but she nearly tripled the amount, refusing to accept credit cards and insisting on cash or PayPal payments.||||Having no other options during the peak holiday season, I reluctantly paid for the room through PayPal.||||4. Uninhabitable Accommodations||||Despite claiming Ducassi was sold out, we were assigned a room in the same building. The conditions were deplorable:|| • Filthy room: It was dirty, with a foul smell, and infested with roaches.|| • Broken amenities: The shower, sliding porch doors, and air conditioning were all broken.|| • Contaminated water: The tap water was slimy and smelled terrible. We suspect it caused a stomach virus that left my family severely ill for several days.||||The hotel’s online photos on Booking.com appeared to be from another property, further misleading guests. The meal package offered was at an outdoor restaurant near the beach with no indoor seating and a significant fly/bug infestation.||||The property also lacked:|| • Basic amenities like toilet paper and towels.|| • Proper security—there were no peepholes, smart key systems, or security cameras.|| • Cleanliness—garbage was piled up in hallways, the elevators were out of order, and the rooftop pool was contaminated with debris, including baby diapers and fecal matter.||||5. Unsafe Environment||||The safety of the property was alarming:|| • Drug activity and prostitution were openly conducted in the lobby and disco entrance to the hotel.|| • A neighboring family’s room was burglarized on December 26, 2024. Their passports and belongings were stolen, and the police were called, but hotel management was absent.||||Many other families at the hotel shared similar complaints. We witnessed parents with young children crying and arguing with Ducassi staff, who told them the same story about overbooking and demanded cash payments. Some families could not afford the inflated rates and were left in distress.||||6. Power Outages and Illness||||Frequent power outages left us without electricity for hours at a time. Additionally, my family suffered from vomiting, headaches, and nausea, likely caused by the contaminated shower water. We had to purchase antibiotics from a nearby pharmacy, and the illness lasted several days.||||Reports Filed||||I reported these unethical practices to:|| • Booking.com|| • PayPal, for the unauthorized overcharge by Ms. Espinoza.|| • The Ministry of Tourism and the Department of Public Health in the Dominican Republic.||||Other tourists have shared similar complaints on TripAdvisor and Google Reviews, further highlighting the consistent fraud at Ducassi-Sol Caribe Hotels.||||Additional Concerns|| • Beach hotels and restaurants in Punta Cana appear to dump bathroom waste and sewage into nearby beach waters.|| • Taxis are operated by unregulated private individuals, adding another layer of insecurity for travelers.||||Final Warning||||I strongly urge anyone planning a vacation to Punta Cana to avoid Ducassi-Sol Caribe Hotels at all costs. Based on my experience, these properties operate as part of an organized scam that preys on vulnerable tourists.||||If you or someone you know has experienced similar issues, I encourage you to:|| • Report these properties to relevant authorities.|| • Share your story on social media and travel review platforms.||||This behavior not only harms tourists but also tarnishes the reputation of legitimate businesses and the Dominican Republic’s tourism industry.||||Thank you for reading, and I hope this information helps others avoid the distressing experience my family...

As we were on-line and mid way through booking a room at Ducassi Suites, the website said the room was unavailable. This was the second similar incidence that day, so we decided to walk to the building to check it out. We walked into what should have been a reception area/lobby, but instead was just a folding table with two guys and a computer. The senior of the guys was named Ricardo (spoke little English) and the other guy was Dominican and spoke English quite well. They had a room available, but told us they do not deal with credit cards, so the room must be paid for up front in cash or via paypal. That should have been our first alarm, because credit card companies will pursue a refund if there are issues, but paypal will not. We also had to leave a cash deposit of one hundred dollars in case of damage. That should have been our second alarm. The third alarm should have rung in my head when the guy offered to take me to an ATM on his scooter to get cash. The website mentions a private Beach Club. That is an outright falsehood. There are several bar/restaurants on the beach (not affiliated with Ducassi Suites) that allow you to use their loungers as long as you purchase a minimum quantity of food/ drink. The “front desk” guys simply referred us to those establishments as the private beach club mentioned on the website. Guests pay for the electricity used during the visit. The check-in guy took me to the electrical meters and couldn’t find the one for our room, so he claimed that the number for the room next door was actually our room. Turns out that room was a full-sized suite with a family of four staying there. When I informed him that I would not be paying for electricity for a family of four, Ricardo took me back to the meters and found one without a number written on it and said it was ours. He showed me a spreadsheet that looked legit and had our number assigned to that particular meter. I suspect that the meter was actually for the suite that our room was attached to, but since that suite was empty, we decided to let it slide and to accept that reading. We were put in a very small bedroom without a room number on the door, that is presumably attached to a much larger suite by a door at the back of the room. The room was clean and adequate for our needs. It was modern and had a nice bathroom. The rooftop pool is beautiful, but exposed to the wind. On the second afternoon, I tried to open the door from the inside and the doorknob became detached from the locking mechanism, trapping me inside. My travel partner was at the pool, so I texted him to come let me out. I immediately informed the guys of the broken door lock asked them to fix it. The check-in guy immediately informed me that they would call for a repairman and that the broken knob was my fault and I would have to pay to have it fixed OR PAY TO HAVE A NEW ONE INSTALLED. Any reputable hotel would immediately apologize for the inconvenience and have the issue fixed, but it was very clear that Ducassi Suites is more interested in siphoning money from their guests than in providing decent service. They sent a repairman who reassembled the door mechanism, but the next time we tried to open the door from the outside, it did not work. The realization that the customer would be blamed for any existing or new problems in the room gave us great concern, so we decided to leave the hotel. We had paid for four nights and had stayed one, and checked out at dinnertime on the second day. We expected that we would pay for the first night and the check-out day, since it was too late for them to make up the room for new guests. But we expected that we would get a refund for the two final nights that we had paid for but would not be using. The check-in guys told us that they already had our money from paypal and they would not be giving us any refund. It became clear to us that Ducassi Suites management are rip-off artists and we would not be seeing any of our money again. We are still out two hundred dollars for two nights that we did not stay...