The Ocean Club, a Luxury Collection Resort, Costa Norte — Hotel in La Hispaniola

I would give this place five stars for the location, the grounds, and the staff alone, but a resort is so much more than that. IN a nutshell, there are some serious issues and some "kinks" that need to be worked out before I would consider this place to be a truly luxury resort.

To begin with, we came here with a large contingent of people from the US and from the DR for our son's wedding, having booked many of the rooms. There were about 40 from the US and almost double that from the DR, so the sample size is not small when I'm making points:

Over 90% of the US contingent got sick and several of the DR family got sick. My entire family of 10 got sick! We don't know if this was due to food poisoning or a bacterial infection, though taking antibiotics that we were able to purchase from a local farmacia have helped immensely, so we are leaning towards something in the water. If you're going to call this a high-end, luxury resort, you should invest in a high-end water filtration system and ensure that your food prep meets an extra high standard to at least mitigate the number of people getting sick!

While the buildings are gorgeous, there are some serious safety issues; yes, I realize that I'm looking at this through the lense of being from the US where we take this stuff for granted. First, all stairwells should have handrails. My wife almost tripped walking down the stairs in heels. Luckily one of my sons was there to balance her. Ramps should also have handrails. Yes, these things may not look "cool" but injury to guests is not something you want to deal with.

In general, the expectation people will have with a high-end resort is that things should just work and just be right. People go to a luxury resort to not have to think about these things:

The elevators do not work, making hauling heavy bags up and down stairs dangerous. While there are plenty of wine glasses, there should be more regular drinking glasses. What is a puzzler is that there is an oven in the kitchen but not a microwave, which would be far more useful. The glass doors to the rooms are horrible! The point of going into a room to retire is to have some darkness. If someone turns on a hall light, or even a bathroom light, it shouldn't light of the room! We got woken up by lights coming on way too many times to count! Charging $20 for glass bottle of water is absolutely ridiculous. That said, if everything was perfect and things worked and everything was right, I wouldn't mind paying that. But the cost of the water doesn't match the value.

On the positive side, the outdoor facilities are incredible! There are lots of places to lounge and enjoy each other's company. The food is also excellent, especially the grilled food at the Sun Club. I highly recommend the fresh catch of the day and the grilled octopus and calamari. The steak baguette is also excellent.

@Marriot, I do hope you read this and the other recent reviews that have been less than stellar. This would be such a nice place if you addressed the issues people have had. But most importantly, you must address people getting sick and do what you can to...

We stayed at the Ocean Club in February and while it wasn’t a “bad” experience it ended being quite negative because of expectations. Topline is that at the end of the day this should in no way be part of the Luxury Collection. It just isn’t up to par…it’s nice don’t get me wrong, but not part of the collection. OC should be part of the Autograph Collection as that is what it delivers upon (upper mid-range properties vs 5 star luxury). This hotel is just run down. ||I have a list of issues a mile long driven by the fact that I was expecting a LC property so it fell significantly short. ||Room: we had to change rooms because the first one just wasn’t acceptable…dead bugs on the floor, broken cabinets, open toothpaste tubes in the bathroom, towel holders falling off the wall and someone’s hairs all over the couch. The room was also very “cold” and uninviting which one can still achieve (warmth) with modern decor. And yet when we switched rooms there was only 1 robe in the room, no body lotion, body wash/shampoo bottles were filled with water, and the espresso machine was missing so I had to carry the one from the original room. Not to mention the power kept going on and off for no reason. It has a very “IKEA” feel to it. ||Food wise, a buffet was offered a couple mornings during the stay and the food was ice cold…the burners were out under the food pans so I had to ask them to prepare me food that was edible. ||The gym is very small for a “luxury” property and was stifling hot…almost no air con in there at all. ||Many elevators are in complete disarray with mold on the floors and barely working lights. ||Service at the pool was very slow…45 min for gazpacho (it’s cold, how long does it take to bring it over) and others noted coconut water and ice cream served during the day but that never happened over the 5 days we were there. We always had to flag someone down…no one ever came up to ask if we needed anything. One day, at the adult pool a woman fell when the wooden chaise under her completely snapped in half (and she was a tiny lady.)||We ate at a couple restaurants around the hotel but the area has a very sketchy vibe to it. ||Also we were there Sat-Thurs in the dead of winter and the weekdays were empty…a handful of people were at the pool so we have no idea how this place stays open. ||The staff tries, but in the end, it’s a fine hotel to relax by the pool, sit by the beach and chill out, but DO NOT expect a luxury property in either service or...

The Pros: The room was immaculate, spacious, and well designed. The amenities (washer, dryer, shower, kitchen appliances) were great. Juan in the restaurant was the best waiter I've ever had in my life. He remembered what you ordered and liked the day before. He was the highlight. Rafael and Fernando were nice as well. They send good morning text to ask if you need anything. Great views facing the ocean.

The Cons: my sliding doors didn't lock at all, so I had to booby trap them. They could be slide open by anyone walking in the hall pass my bathroom. They offered to change my room and the other one didn't lock either. It was to the back hall walk way, I was able to enter my room thru my bathroom. All I thought of was the movie Taken. My room was flooded from bedroom to living room. It was a full on monsoon. Clothes were ruined and they didn't offer to clean them or nothing. I slipped on the floor and my side hit the dining room table. My coworker came to check on me and slipped. The front desk agent was rude, cut me off and didn't even ask how I was. He was very unbothered. They send a morning text every day. I asked why I didn't get a text that I needed scuba gear for my room. I left noon and returned 9pm, yet wasn't made aware. He said well we called and came to your room. I said why didn't I get a text. I had a do not disturb sign on my door and their crew went in the wipe the floors for water. Yet just laid my clothes in a pile and put my wet express pants on the sofa. The water in was 3 inches high in the front. They moved me that night to another room where the sliding door, internet or cable didn't work. I thought being a TITANIUM ELITE STATUS would mean something, not. I asked to speak to the manager the next morning. The manager was not rude at all but nonchalant and blase. He didn't ask how to make it right, clean my clothes, how was my side or ask if I was OK. I was there for business and the side of my rib was throbbing. I had to wash clothes that normally I would dry clean because of the brown flood that came in from the drains in the floor, leaks from ceiling and balcony entrapment.

Never would I think a place with luxury in its name would be so flippant like. The area was ok, the parking flooded where staff had to park the car. It was channeling Jumanji. Never would I or my coworkers stay here again. Only come to say hello to Juan. My side is just starting to...