Iberostar Selection Hacienda Dominicus

“Enjoyable Easter break”

Had a pleasant stay over Easter. Hotel, grounds and location are beautiful. Hotel is clean, staff are friendly, and the grounds are kept pristine at all times, including the stunning beach. Food - food I’d describe as OK. The buffets offer a good selection. Breakfast is definitely a highlight. The … more

Had a pleasant stay over Easter. Hotel, grounds and location are beautiful. Hotel is clean, staff are friendly, and the grounds are kept pristine at all times, including the stunning beach. Food - food I’d describe as OK. The buffets offer a good selection. Breakfast is definitely a highlight. The beach snack bar is good and handy it’s open until about 6 for a late afternoon snack (nacho station was great). The à la carte restaurants are forgettable. They’re by no means bad, but the food is pretty bland. It looks better than it tastes. The Mexican has more flavour, but we were disappointed with the Italian (steak was very average), the Japanese lacked taste as did the French. Greek and tropical (both on the beach) have a bit more atmosphere and we enjoyed, but not amazing. For a 5 star hotel, I’d expected more from the food, but again, it isn’t bad, just quite average. I actually found the food from room service to be amongst the best (cheese burger and panini to the room were excellent). Drink - the bars in the main are great. Poolside bar and staff is good. The lighthouse bar is the focal point during the day and they do great cocktails and some afternoon music and events. Sadly they close at sunset. Literally the staff are packing up from about 6 which is completely baffling. It should remain open all evening, with chill out music or some acoustic music. Instead as soon as the sun sets it closes - such a shame. The lobby bar is huge and as such, as it’s a family hotel is pretty empty most of the evening, certainly post 9:50pm once the evening ‘show……..’ starts. The coffee shop was an unexpected bonus, great coffee and cakes (the cakes actually taste of something, compared to those in the buffet which are all completely tasteless). Would I return to this hotel - YES. it’s lovely, in a great location and very family friendly (even the beach as the water remains shallow all the way to the reef so very safe for children). Staff are great, albeit they speak very little English. Drinks are branded which is a bonus and in the main, the food is good (but pretty plain for a 5 star hotel). Entertainment is not in your face which is good and the hotel is pretty quiet (which I personally like). If you want outstanding food, loud and party like atmosphere, lots of English speaking people, this resort may not be for you. If location is key, somewhere quieter and where the service is paramount I would highly recommend this resort, and personally myself and my family of 5 (3 children 8-15) would happily return in the future

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“Great family vacation!”

I just returned from a great vacation with my family. We stayed here from March 9th -14th. I truly loved this resort and would say it's one of the best I've been to of the 7 resorts we stayed at throughout the Dominican Republic. By far the best part of this resort is the beach. There were no rock… more

I just returned from a great vacation with my family. We stayed here from March 9th -14th. I truly loved this resort and would say it's one of the best I've been to of the 7 resorts we stayed at throughout the Dominican Republic. By far the best part of this resort is the beach. There were no rocks or seaweed just white sand . The water is fairly shallow with some gentle waves making it perfect for the whole family especially the kids. This is where we spent most of our time. The lush green grounds and water features made the resort very picturesque and even made the air feel cooler on the hot days. The wildlife including the peacocks and ducks made the surroundings more exotic and interesting. I liked that this resort was fairly quiet overall however if you wanted to participate in activities you could. Most of the exercise classes etc. and activities were near the beach. I would say the service was consistently good at restaurants and with any issues we had during our stay. At one point our tv did not work and staff came right away to fix the problem. We also had a leak with the air conditioner and again they responded right away and fixed the issue. The resort is older but they do make an effort to maintain it to a high standard. Overall, the resort appeared well managed and very clean. I wanted to point out when we were there most of the guests spoke spanish and staff were mostly interacting with them. It did prompt me to brush up on my Spanish and French. However, it would have still been nice to be able to interact more with other English speaking guests. We appreciated the refillable purified water stations within the resort which was very convenient and environmentally sustainable. The only other negative thing about my trip was that my stomach got upset the second day there. I couldn't pinpoint what it was but the rest of my family was fine. I thought it could be from food sitting out too long at buffet/ snack bar, accidentally ingesting tap water or sea water or just not washing my hands enough? It could have been anything to be honest. In any case, for the rest of my trip I was okay but also became more careful not to eat anything that didn't look safe. Apart from my mild illness, my family and I truly enjoyed our time at this resort and would still recommend it to others.

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“A Small Overview of Iberostar Selection Hacienda”

The property of Iberostar Selecion Hacienda Dominicus is a nice location. From the moment that the family including children arrived we were warmly greeted by Johnny one of the front desk representatives. He asked us if we would like something to drink, champagne for the adults and passion fruit … more

The property of Iberostar Selecion Hacienda Dominicus is a nice location. From the moment that the family including children arrived we were warmly greeted by Johnny one of the front desk representatives. He asked us if we would like something to drink, champagne for the adults and passion fruit juice for the children. The lobby decor is elegant. I appreciate that they have a children's play area in the lobby close to the arrival entrance. Yes, this was so very needed after traveling H-O-U-R-S with a 3 year old and a 8 year old. The children can be children, this I love. It is their vacation to enjoy and not just that of the paying adults. Massage at the SPA was nice and soothing. However, a top disappeared between visit from the pool and the SPA and to this day 6 days later no one has turned in the blouse and it has not been reported to Guest Services. This is such a shame as I hate to think that there is a person walking around the property stealing clothing. It is so good that another top was available from a family member or we would have had one person not be able to enjoy lunch in the buffet if only wearing a bathing top. There is a water feature nice for older children and teenagers that is an inflatable ball that people can climb up the rope to get to the top and bouce or slide down. The one thing that was very disappointing is that the Kangaroo Club at Iberostar Selection Haienda Dominicus in Romana, which is a play area for children from 1-3 years old is NOT open until after 7pm. I have traveled a couple of times to Iberostar Waves Dominicana in Punta Cana Dominican Republic and they have one of the best children's programs that my family has participated in. At that location the open the Kangaroo Camp for parents to bring their 1-3 years old to play with them in a daycare like setting with toys and video screen opens at 10:30am-1:00pm and 3-7pm. There is always a trained Iberostar staff member on site when you sign in with your toddler. For the older children 4-12 years old Star Camp at Waves Dominicana is so wonderful usally open from 10 am-1pm and 3pm-10pm. The have fruit, muffins, yogurt, water, pastries, and sandwiches for the children to snack on with an inside small dining area. The Star Camp at Iberostar Selection Hacienda Dominicus is a little smaller than other locations but they also have a small playground area and vegetable garden outside. There is a wonderful buffet that has huge decorative copper fixtures in the buffet area. I appreciate Carlos and Jose helping to get a child highchair for our 3 years old traveling with us. It made all the diffrence to be able to eat and enjoy our food while the toddler fed themselve. The seafood soup was so very delicious with calamari, mussels, potato and shrimp at the buffet and salad bar! There is a very nice snack cafe with very friendly staff, such as Ms. Betania, which is near this resorts lobby that serves coffee, tea, hot chocolate, pastries, sandwiches and croissants. I really liked shopping at the woman's clothing shop, which is next to the small snack cafe and coffee shop. The name of the lady who is working in the woman's clothing store is Alba. This clothing store has linen, and cotton fabric designer clothing from India and Italy. It is located on the side walkway next to the coffee shop. Alba was very friendly. I was hapy that she let me know about the special promotion Buy one item and get the second item 50%. Over all me and my family had a good visit to Selection Hacienda. I really wish that someone will turn in our tan blouse that someone took and knew very well that it did not belong to them! The temperature fof the water in the pool and the child pool was cold. QUE Lastima!! You will get a nice surprise when the beautiful peacocks walk by you near the pool in the evening.

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