Ollie264

I was looking at this hotel for a family stay coming up - I am an SPG Gold, almost at Platinum so are keen to stay with SPG properties where I can.

There seems to be no 'BreatheWestin' initiative here (I thought all US and Carribean properties were part of this) and I am not sure what the smoking policy is like? I know that islands have different cultures, but I won't stay with my family if it is a problem. Can anybody help?

EleanorMcDaniel

It is in the middle of the "city" which is 10 shops, a grocery store and a pharmacy.

Shuttle bus to the beach.

There is a reason why it's Category 1.

EleanorMcDaniel

As mentioned before, there is a Cigar Bar on property, and that is the only place smoking is allowed on the facility. We were there for four nights and I never smelled tobacco.

Ollie264

It looks like it is an option then - thank you ^

chvora01

Just came back from 6 day stay at the Westin PC. It is a very nice right on the beach property. I was upgraded to a suite as a Plat and was 50 feet from the beach. The suites are not really 1 br, it is a large room with large bathroom, however they are still very nice and have two balconies.

All the rooms have balconies and some view of the ocean (perhaps except 1st floor rooms that are further back)

The bathroom had a door with a separate nook for the toilet (no door there) but not a big deal.

Food was hit or miss - the skirt steak was very good but the rib eye was steamed. They do lack local options and the menu reminds me of the usual Westin food anywhere. It gets boring fast. Walk over to the Playa blanca restaurant at least there they have very nice dominican goat stew.
Be aware that food is not that cheap and you can easily spend $100pp/day for very modest, no wine experience (srv. charge is included at 10% and 18% sales tax)

There is not much to do on the resort besides the pool and the beach. It is enclosed into a very nice private area with two security entry gates so there is not much you can do around. The beach was enough for us though.

As for the Four points, we never went to that area but it looks brand new, it is close to a small shopping center so probably has some more affordable dining options. there is a shuttle that goes to the same beach as the Westin every hour so overall if you want to have vacation on the cheap it is a really good option.

kokonutz

Wife and I stayed at the Westin Punta Cana for 5 nights in low season (early July) as Platinum Starwood members on points.

Looking at the reservation before we arrived, it showed we had been upgraded, but to a smoking room (no other mentions of suite, jr. suite, etc). A quick call to SPG and they assured us we would not be in a smoking room.

Arrived around 10PM after a quick (but $20 flat rate) taxi from PUJ. Check-in was quick and easy and we were off to our room, a corner junior suite closest to the beach on the ground floor (154). At first we were a little nonplussed to be on the ground floor, but with doors that opened to the pool and beach what we first thought might be a bug turned out to be a great feature. We spent a lot of time sitting on the patio outside our room looking at the beach and the pool.

The service at the hotel was either spot on, or just bad. Never in between! We went to play golf, and did: 2 days at La Cana and one day at Corales. The staff was extremely helpful with taking and storing our clubs, with setting up tee times, and with arranging for the hotel van to take us to the course and then pick us up at the course when we were done playing. This was a complimentary service, but we tipped generously for the sake of golf karma. Customer service around the golf was spectacular.

However, other aspects of customer service still need work. Breakfast was a prime example. It’s a $20 buffet, but for our Platinum amenity we took the free continental breakfast. That meant that to upgrade to the full breakfast we had to pay a $9 upgrade charge. No problem, right? Wrong. Rather than a receipt that reflected that math, our check every morning showed the full price for the buffet breakfast PLUS a $9 upgrade charge each. We were told that that’s just how the computer insists on doing it, and that our bill would be adjusted at check out. My wife is morally opposed to signing an incorrect bill and hoping for the best at check out, pointing out that a signature on that bill is agreement to pay that incorrect amount. At check out the bills for breakfast WERE adjusted, but it just seems really stupid to have to go through that. Besides the bill issues, the service at breakfast was quite poor. Requests for a bottle of water were forgotten. We drink hot tea rather than coffee and two mornings had to repeat our request several times before the tea was served. The buffet itself is just great though. Good mix of American and European breakfast selections plus an egg station.

Another issue is the shuttle around the Punta Cana properties. It runs regularly all day…until dinner time when it stops running for 2.5 hours and the only way to get to any of the other property restaurants or to the village for dinner is a $20 flat rate taxi. And then there were not enough cabs to handle the demand…in off season! Not directly the Westin’s fault, but that’s a cheap and needless scam that really put us off.

And one will want to get off property for food. There are only 2 restaurants on site and the options at the hotel (especially for lunch) are pretty limited: burgers, sandwiches, pizzas along with entrees. There is one restaurant (Playa Blanca) a short walk down the beach (and the spicy goat there is awesome), but the better restaurants such as Bamboo and La Yola are a drive, not a walk, and around dinner time is a scarce $20 flat rate taxi.

That said, the bar drinks at the hotel are excellent. I loved the green bloody mary and my wife really loved the blueberry mojitos. So well done there.

Which brings me to the beach service. It, too, was hit or miss. Sometimes we would be asked if we needed anything every 15 minutes which was lovely. But other times we had to walk to the beach restaurant to find service.

All in all, we came to Punta Cana for golf. And the service around that was spectacular. Just wish that the rest of the experience was as consistently first class.

Happy to answer any questions!

sapman986

Thanks for the report.

We encountered the same Plat Breakfast policy at The Westin Cancun (the newer one) earlier this year. Illogical, but we were charged correctly on check out.

jerseygirl

What is local area like? Safe? Do most people just stay at resort?

kokonutz

The Westin is in the Punta Cana resort area. It's 5 or 6 resorts and 2 golf courses spread across about 10 miles or so, all owned by the same group as is, interestingly, PUJ airport itself...a very rare privately owned commercial airport! There are guard shacks with gates all over the place. I think we passed through three between the Westin and the golf courses. It has to be among the safest places in the world.

Even the 'village' is pretty much just a few tourist restaurants and some shopping along with a druggist and supermarket. It's right out of an amusement park main strip.

So if you are looking for local culture or anything other than a resort atmosphere, Punta Cana ain't for you. @:-)

CNWO4LIFE

I think that is done as a way of showing how much it would have cost, so their tip will reflect that. I have found this at almost all the Mexican SPG properties I have stayed.

skelzer

Thanks to all for the feedback... just cancelled our 5 nights.

Looks like we're back to the drawing board... with another stay at St Regis Bahia Beach as last resort.

dingo

I am so on the fence here. Wow, almost a year in and still some fundamental issues not being solved. Having said that, some questions:

1. Do the suites have pull out sofas? I'd be travelling with a 4 year old. Online at spg.com, the room descriptions say 'extra bed - not allowed', 'rollaway - not allowed.'

2. it sounds like the beach is great, but the ocean is disgusting...seaweed like crazy. Is that true?

sbtinme

I appreciate this candid remark and it cements my decision to not put Punta Cana too high up on my list. One of the finest resort properties I've ever visited was the truly sensational JWMarriott in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. As solid a top drawer, world-class resort as they come, but 20 miles from most anything else and entirely void of ANY CULTURE or sense of local flavor. I hated it.

Different strokes for different folks.

Songer5

Any more recent reviews?

1readyset2go

No activity in this thread in a while, so I wanted to give it a bump to see if there were any more recent reviews. We are considering a stay here in either Jan or Feb on points (as SPG Gold). My main focus is having a nice beach and not being surrounded by a bunch of screaming kids.