Having stayed at luxury hotels in the caribbean before this, Casa Colonial definately met my expectations. The staff is nice, cordial and not intrusive. The accomodations are excellent. The price is great considering that other islands charge 3 times that price to have four star service.
The food is good but expensive for DR....stay in the hotel...playa dorada is not known for their cuisine...more expensive restaurants are in Cabarete but they are 30 minutes away. I think overall if you need some days to get away and relax this is the way to go...my husband and I had dinner on the beach prepared by the hotel...and it was amaizing...full moon and great service.. I agree with the other reviewer that service is slow at times...but it is the caribbean so everything slows down a little...
The pool area is wonderful, but the beach is not the best in the caribbean...but that is all of playa dorada...for amaizing beach visit Sosua during weekday...and have fish on the beach prepared by a local....

From New York City you can fly direct to Puerto Plata. The hotel is an easy ride of about 20 minutes from the airport. Staff is very friendly and extremely helpful wanting to make your stay enjoyable. This is our second time visiting Casa Colonial, we are impressed by the details within the hotel. As a self confessed anal retentive person, this hotel is spotless and you never have to ask for products, clean towels (plentiful and plush) or for your room to be cleaned. The room we stay in is a deluxe ocean suite overlooking the sea. It has a beautiful king size bed with good thread count linens and two bathrooms, seperate room overlooking sea with claw tub.

Our vacation started off rocky as my husbands luggage did not make our flight (thought that was illegal now a days). Freddy at the front desk took care of everything and had the bag delivered to us the next day. He went beyond his duties and dealt with me patiently and politely as I was upset with the situation.

If you are looking for a spot with other things to do other than relax at the hotel, look elsewhere. This is not St. Barths, once you leave the hotel there is nothing except low end all inclusive resorts. This being said, you can still take a nice walk along the long flat beach and it is quite clean. In fact, it is rather amusing to peruse the people who do frequent these all inclusive hotels whilst getting your morning walk in. The pool on the roof (fourth floor but with an unabstructed view of the sea) is the place to relax with the the jacuzzi's. Know what to eat as with anywhere you visit. Anything with seafood is great and so is breakfast...there coffee and OJ is out of this world, including fresh bread and pastries. Unlike a lot of islands the drinks are well made and delicious, especially as one would expect the Mojito.

For those of you who like me who need to be "connected" at all times no matter where you slow it down, there is free wireless in the rooms and hotel lobby/bar.

I recommend highly visiting this hotel for 4 to 5 days. Hope you find this helpful as I know need to get back to Mojito here at Casa Colonial.

My wife and myself just took four days, after leaving the kids with their grand parents, to this Hotel that nobody I new had ever stayed but everyone spoke very highly about it. I spend 70% of my time travelling through the world on business, so I think what to look to determined my ratings; this one blow me away. It is what I would call a "petite boutique hotel" with one of the best spa's, restaurants, room space an decoration, with an interior traquility not ever experience in a Hotel.
The architectural mixture of a french Maison and a Italian Palatzo. Once you enter the loby it reminds you to Le Ser in Paris, or Grand Soho in NY. Right from thr brginning you feel at home.
Tremendous swimming pool on the third floor with jacuzi's overseeing the ocean, a full gym, and all the room ammenities you can think of.
Sincerely I would say this is probably the best hotel we have ever stayed in, we not only enjoy and appreciated the architecture and decore, but took advantage of the best personal service I had experience.

Lorenzo Lacroze
Miami, Fl.

I stayed at this hotel the week of July 2nd. The staff was amazing, the service spectacular and the food was very delicious. I would highly recommend this property to anyone wanting a quality place to stay in the Dominican Republic.