Hotel La Colonia — Hotel in Santo Domingo

The location is excellent for exploring within the Historic Colonial Area - just about everything in easy walking distance - even for this old man on a hot & humid day. Everything surrounding is pleasant, well maintained neighborhoods easy to walk through. This is an amazingly clean area and looks as though it should be far safer than American cities. In the hotel the floors are all clean shining tile. ||The rooms are very small... the word tiny comes to mind - about 9' x 14'. Everything in the room is in good condition and squeaky clean. The problem is that there isn't enough of anything in the room. There is a bed with a sheet and pillows - no blanket and it is difficult to explain what a blanket is with an English/Spanish language barrier. I finally end up with what I believe must have once been a mattress pad some time back. There is no glass and the clerk wonders why I would want a drinking glass. There is one light - the ceiling light. Admittedly, after the ceiling light is turned off and one is going back to bed, the light from the A/C unit acts as a very welcome "night light". The room has a chair and a dresser with a TV mounted just over the top of the dresser - effectively killing some of the space available there. There are good, large drawers in the dresser where one can unload their clothes. That's good because there is no place to put a suitcase to "live out of" it. Can't hang clothes either unless you bring your own hangers - and you need to be VERY, VERY TALL. The hanger bar is almost 8 feet high from the floor. There is a light. It would be helpful in seeing the numbers on the little safe - IF there was a way to turn it on... There is a single ceiling light in the bathroom and when it is turned on the loud and powerful vent fan comes on with it. ||The bathroom is clean and functional and the hot water was quick and plentiful. The free wi-fi works well. On the 2nd & 3rd floors there is a balcony area open to the street where one can relax, eat, smoke, etc. The people who work here are ever so nice! If you don't speak a little Spanish, have your Google Translate on your phone ready to go :-) Everything was good that was here except tiny size of room - my less than stellar rating is based on what ISN'T here. Minor changes would make a huge difference: Night stand by bed with light on it; move dresser just a twitch and put a folding luggage holder; put a drinking glass or 2 on a little tray on the dresser; have a blanket for each room in the closet; lower the hanger bar in the closet to a reasonable height and add 6 or so hangers. ||When I took a 2 day trip to Puerto Plata and returned to Santo Domingo - I switched to a...

I had a lot of roaches in my room, even after they sprayed, the roaches were still present. Water leak in my room, a total of 3 fridges were brought to my room because the first 2 did not work. Could not get a refund on my room, because it was pre-paid. I stayed there for 10 days, and the location and price is excellent, the bed was comfortable and housekeepers did a great job cleaning. But handling issues is not there strong point. If there is an issue, you are on your own, because the customer service is non existent. The manager and I got into a shouting match because he refused to compensate me or issue any type of concern for the trouble I endured. At resorts in Punta Cana, hotels in America, and just about any reputable business would have known, not only fix the issue, but out of good faith, compensate them for their trouble. They did not want to move me to a bigger room, did not want to comp a night, did not offer free breakfast coupon, or Nothing. The manager just felt, if he fixed the leak, switched the fridge, and sprayed for roaches, then he had done his job. INCORRECT! I travel to the DR every month, and decided to give them a chance and it was a HORRIBLE mistake. I'll be sure to stay at the Hodelpa across the street, because I knew there had to be a catch with the low cost. If you stay here, just cross your fingers and hope nothing goes wrong, because management does not care and has no clue what customer service is. Also.... Property is 4 stories, no elevators, and most of the rooms has no windows, You will have to utilize the balcony on each floor to see outside. If I did not have any problems or encounter a rude, non customer friendly, clueless manager, this actually would be a decent stay. I am 6'1, and 230 pounds. The bathroom was tiny so thats why i switched to what became a roach infested room. I had to shower with the curtain open, because i had no space. The water was all over the floor. SO when they did offer to switch to another room, they wanted me to go back to my old room. The whole experience was awful and I would never ever step foot in that establishment again. THE BEST part of my stay was interacting with the front desk guy that works at night, His name is Emil. He knows what customer service is. He was kind, and should not be working there. He should be at a resort in Punta Cana or the manager. His customer service was phenomenal. He showed empathy and concern and greeted me with a smile and a pleasant greeting every time I saw him. That is how you make customers feel. Not argue with them and treat them like you are doing them a favor by letting you stay there. The manager...

The location is of course very central of the zone. The cheapest rooms like one in got had no window, no night table, bare walls, so if felt cave like? Still nice people working, very clean. I was bit conecerned with a crack in a corner area of the room. Especially after what happened in Miami Beach a year ago. Breakfast is not inscluded but can be prepurchaed (with front desk) and is quite good with several choices with juice and coffee as well. Just enough for me. By the way its at a resturant on the plaza just 1 min away at the park not in the hotel, but for me felt better, I could people watch. Water pressure was ok, one day i had little pressure and no hot? So I mentioned it to front desk. While it could not be solved for me at the moment he mentioned it was an odd mistake by manintence guy when switching from city to in house pressure and made me feel like he did look into it, and bothered to tell me. And it never happened again, that is good service! So at the park , which is literaly on the corner, there are many options to do and see of the area not least of which a tram that tours and explains area. I do wnat to send a "shout out " to Willy. Willy was a very knowledgable street tour sales guy? but he goes with you, knows all the data... more than you can swallow and can walk you around or take you to various places to tour and take pics. We did a quick Boca Chica beach run (2 hrs) and then a few local monument and natural sites (tres ojos). If you ve been to Tres Ojos ... sorry to tell you "Tarzan" is no longer there. He had an accident and can no longer dive in those caves like he did. Tourist enjoyed his antics for like 30 yrs before. I got to see him 15 yrs ago and he was no young guy then either.

Back to the hotel its lobby is cute, its decor is nice, except for the lack of any in my room. The other thing is my room needed a second light of some sort Either I had the center room cieling light ( very bright ) good for finding thing when dropped or dark unless you have TV on. It needs maybe night table (if it get a table) light or floor lamp ? anything to not feel like a cave. Another thing, my room didnt have a phone? not sure if that a new trend. But if I have a question for front desk have to walk over there.... course for me it was ok.. I was on the first floor down the hall. Shout out to Nitis front desk lady was very clear and consise.

The area has some great street...