VIK Hotel Arena Blanca - All Inclusive

Budget friendly...

This hotel provides the basics- no frills. Great for the budget minded traveler. "Obama" at reception is a gem. The entertainment team is great along with the shows. You get your own drinks- they will come by and clean up the glasses. The hotel is on the smaller side, quaint. The rooms are where there needs to be improvement- outdated and very minimalistic. You will only get one bathroom towel per guest, no extra toiletries(bring your own). I wouldnt pay more than their off season rates, its not worth more than that. I just looked for the week after Christmas and it was double the price. I would go back, probably will.

Taxis are overpriced. I paid $18 to get somewhere I found out after was only a 10 minute beach walk. Take the motoconchos if you dare, same ride $3. I was alone, there was nobody to split the cab cost with. No matter what you take it will be a white nuckle ride, the driving there is insane. If your young and single and ready to mingle get out to one of the discos- Mangu, Pacha, Imagine and more. Drink before you go at your all inclusive, there will be a cover charge and drinks are not cheap. Mangu has 2 different dance floors on 2 levels depending on the music you like, a drink is included with the cover you pay. Men are aggressive here but also beautiful and born with dance moves. Lots of fun but you have to know how to say no and mean it.

Lacking in customer service but beautiful location

This hotel would be great if it wasn’t for the consistently poor customer service. Pros: -Great price -Beautiful location -Decent food Cons: -Took me 2 and a half hours to check in because they could not "find" my reservation from hotels.com. I’ve booked with hotels.com several times and never had this problem before. After they finally accepted a copy of my reservation I thought the problem was settled. However four days later at check-out they claimed that they still didn’t have the necessary information from hotels.com--had to provide them with another copy of my reservation before they allowed me to check out. I wish I could say that check-in and check-out was the only problem but unfortunately that was not the case: -Terrible wait service at dinner buffet- you could only get drinks directly from the wait staff at dinner and they were highly inattentive. One meal I never got a beverage. A couple of times I had to hunt down the beverage area myself- which for some reason the wait staff was not pleased with but they let me sit at my table for at least 20 minutes without acknowledging me and my travel companion. If it is such a hassle they should just allow guests to get their own drinks, after all it is a buffet. -Another thing about the buffet meal service be prepared for them to run out of plates often. Which wouldn’t be a big deal if you didn’t have to wait 20 minutes for more plates. -Rooms were clean but sparse. This is a four star resort but the room was missing simple things like toiletries and the remote control for television. Plus the pillows were very very musty- had to cover them with my own blanket in order to sleep. -Common area restrooms were disgusting. Got to the point I would rather go back to my room then deal with the filthiness. -Also beware of getting drinks at poolside bar. They do not wash dirty glasses- just rinse them out and reuse them. I witnessed this several times-- which is not only disgusting but irresponsible in light of the current swine flu pandemic. -Be prepared to be harassed by vendors as soon as you walk outside your room. Not just the typical timeshare reps but people selling jewelry, paintings, etc. And they are quite aggressive and persistent. I expect to deal with this when in touristy shopping areas but inside the resort itself is unacceptable. People are there to relax and not to be hassled. -Since management could not properly find my reservation I felt that it would be more aggravation than it was worth to report the above problems. But again the trip was not all bad the beach is gorgeous and the price is great. Look forward to going to Punta Cana again but I will not be staying here.

Requires remodeilng

The hotel looks very old and seems that with the years it only has superficial maintenance.