Recent content by MariaRubia

It's been an ambition for many years of the ministry of tourism to get AI guests in Punta Cana / Bavaro to come to the capital, speciifically the Colonial Zone, as part of their stay. I suspect that the main driver behind this train will be tourists and the definition of "affordable" will be...

More evidence that Abinader is serious about eliminating corruption. It would have been easy for this to have been hushed up and for her to slip out free, instead she gets 5 years prison and a lot of assets confiscated. I seem to remember there were a lot of expensive cars and a helicopter...

I guess it depends on how simply you live. I have been working and running a business so that involves a lot of interaction with suppliers and other companies, and I could honestly describe Dominican service as atrocious, in general. Nothing arrives on time, staff in shops frequently say...

So you've never been in a shop and had bad service? Or a supermarket? Or a bank? I'm referring to Dominicans' general perception of what service looks like. What they grow up experiencing. Remember the vast majority of people who work in hotels in DR never stay in a hotel.

Do you mean El Embajador? (A little surprised if it's your favorite hotel that you don't know it's name). That hotel always does a lot of political stuff. I went to a couple of events there for foreign embassies.

My business wasn't particularly fancy. I employed some wonderful staff and in the main they worked hard and tried hard. However I've travelled a huge amount in my life and normally stay in 4 or 5 star hotels, normally fly either business or first class. So I understand what service at that...

Yup so do I. I think the population is wide awake to the fraud and corruption they were involved in and isn't going to stand that again.

Exactly. And the atrocious education, the lack of English (places like Antigua and Bermuda speak English as the native language), the visa restrictions which mean that the majority of Dominicans have not travelled whilst the majority of Bermudans have, the general culture of trying to do as...

The whole point is that the majority of tourism is the Carnival-cruises brigade, mass market bottom end tourism. From Europe they do all-inclusive packages with a long-haul flight for about US$ 1,500 per person for a week in the depth of winter. And they pack out flight after flight with...

Right just like all Dominicans follow rules for everything else. They turn up see you're going to the airport say Now Way and cancel. You book another. Rinse and repeat until you miss your flight. I just don't get why people try to nickel and dime 10 dollars out of a guy who is...

All of these are about 500 US per night. For that price anywhere should be good. I really wanted to go to Hyatt Zilara but when I saw a couple of video reviews it seemed atrocious for the money - you have to get up early to get a sunbed near the pool and there are lines for drinks. Having...

I have run a tourist business in ZC for many many years and I can assure you that there are very few Uber drivers who will go to Boca Chica happily for 800 pesos. I have seen tens if not hundreds of tourists being refused by Uber drivers when they put in destinations out of town.

The problem is that the drivers refuse to take you for the price shown in the app. I've had it happen to me twice (on both occasions I was meeting someone at the airport not getting a flight). I have also hear multiple reports of people being picked up and then told they either have to tip...

A friend of mine who works in a restaurant in Las Terrenas said that this year the off season is absolutely terrible, everywhere is empty and they are sending staff home. I guess it's the same all over the country.

Never miss an opportunity to bash SD in a post SKY, it would get boring if you did.