Lopesan Serenity Bay Resort, Spa & Casino

We booked this hotel directly in early April specifically to stay in Serenity Bay, the advertised adults-only section of Caoba Lagoon. Unfortunately, Serenity Bay is not adults-only. In fact, we seem to be one of the only rooms without children nearby. Every day and night we’ve heard children shouting and crying, and they’ve even been using the terrace of our swim-up room. We raised this with reception several times, but got nowhere, so we emailed the hotel. They eventually admitted in writing that a “small number of families” are staying in Serenity Bay. That simply isn’t true—it appears that most rooms have families. After that admission, they stopped responding to our emails altogether. The resort itself is visually stunning, with a great choice of restaurants, and most restaurant staff are friendly and helpful. Sadly, that’s where the positives end. Many staff members seem to ignore guests who don’t speak good Spanish, and the overall customer service has been extremely disappointing. Around two weeks before our holiday, we received an email saying we were being moved to Costa Bávaro. We immediately complained because the adults-only aspect was the main reason we booked. The hotel then confirmed we could stay in Serenity Bay after all. I followed up to ask whether everything would be fully operational, as I was concerned after the attempted move. I was assured that all restaurants, bars and beach clubs would be open. This was simply not true. The Vela Beach Club, which Serenity Bay guests are supposed to have access to, doesn’t even exist yet. As a result, if you spend the day at the beach, there is nowhere nearby to get food or drinks. The only option is to walk around 25 minutes back to Caoba/Serenity Bay, which is completely impractical. You effectively have to choose between spending time at the beach or having access to refreshments. For the first four days, we used the Goldfish Beach Bar, assuming it was the temporary alternative while Vela Beach Club was unavailable. On day five, however, a manager escorted us out as though we didn’t belong at the resort. We were given no explanation as to why we were suddenly no longer allowed to use the facilities, nor was any alternative offered despite the promised beach club not existing. Overall, the hotel has failed to deliver what was advertised and what we were specifically promised before arrival. We booked and paid for an adults-only experience, but have not had a single peaceful night’s sleep. Despite repeated attempts, we’ve also been unable to speak to anyone in management to resolve these issues. It’s such a shame because the resort has so much potential, but poor communication, misleading information and extremely disappointing customer service have completely overshadowed what should have been a relaxing holiday. We will be seeking compensation for the experience.

Where to start with this company. . . This review is really more about Lopesan Hotels (at least in the Dominican Republic) rather than the Serenity Bay facility itself as while we reserved and paid for a stay at the brand new SB facility, Lopesan moved us, without our agreement, to the much older and less desirable Costa Bavaro facility. I will cross post this to the Costa Bavaro reviews as well. In addition to the non-consensual move, they then tried to give s ONE room in the regular hotel when we had reserved and paid for Adults Only junior connecting suites (see photo). This is after they sent an email about the move promising a "Free room upgrade to a superior category than the one selected in your reservation." (see photo) As we had reserved and paid for the Adults Only tier of accommodations, the only upgrade would have been to the "Unique Club" tier. Not only did they refuse to honor their promised upgrade, they claimed that the "Adults Only" tier no longer exists at this particular resort, but they told us so many conflicting lies (especially the manager, Ms. de la Cruz) that it is hard to say if that is true. If so, there were still areas, bars and dining areas designated "Adults Only" at the resort, so I doubt the veracity of that claim. In any event, we ended up getting only a king and a queen swim-up rooms (they lied and told us that these were "suites") in the regular hotel - no upgrade, so in actuality, it was a downgrade in rooms and amenity tier. Otherwise, the facilities were acceptable (unless you actually want to mini fridge in the room to keep things cold - it did not) and the staff was, overall, friendly. The food in the buffets and in the Asian restaurant was average to below average. The food and service in the steak restaurant and the Italian restaurant were very good. All in all, I'll never stay at a Lopesan resort again.

I typically don’t write reviews because when I have a great time, I have a great time, but I am writing this one because this was the most terrible trip. I travel twice a year with my husband so I am aware of good service versus predatory practices. My family and I are all adults we booked this hotel because it’s adult only and it’s brand new and we love soft openings. We traveled from June 9 to June 16. On June 8 we got a call from the hotel saying that we have been upgraded to a “superior room” and immediately the phone call was hung up on, I’m talking 30 second conversation. We tried calling back the hotel. No one picked up we but we still traveled the next day because we have flights paid for and we show up to Lopesan Coasta Bávaro. Which is the sister resort to serenity and the main resort as well so we figured we’re just getting checked in here and we will be brought to the hotel that we actually booked later. In fact we get moved to the unique check-in for our “superior room”. We get to the room still in Coasta Bavaro and just as strong whiff of mold and just dirty smell hit us immediately it was really disgusting and we’re sitting there wondering why are we here with children? There’s children all over the hotel but we booked adults only. We were so confused but it’s late and we were trying to get food and we end up being told we can’t eat anywhere. It’s completely packed. We have to go eat at a buffet for dinner mind you my husband and I will stay at five star resorts all the time, and we always have sit down dinners where people are courteous and kind. The staff are so rude. They don’t care about providing good service and if you don’t speak Spanish, you will be ignored. eventually we figure out the next day serenity is located past the Boulevard and passed the waterpark and we recognize that is the hotel we booked and there are a few people staying there WITH THEIR KIDS. I’m not kidding kids running around and swimming up to the swim up bar. So management is allowing local Dominicans to stay there but if you’re in an American tourist and you book this you’re not going to get this hotel. When we went and talked to check-in staff about this they basically laughed in our face and said this has been going on for a month and they are going to continue to operate in this manner. Since Serenity is not finished I am under the impression that are having tourists book to get their money and just tossing them in an older hotel. They’re going to continue to take your money get you in the country and put you in their older resort with children. I highly suggest if you are able to cancel your reservation cancel and go to a different resort in the Dominican. In fact, if you are able to cancel your flights and just go to a different country that would be great as well because we had other issues with excursions and what not being left behind from the tour bus and almost died from parasailing because the driver dropped us underneath the buoy. He thought it was funny. My husband and I are currently in contact with our credit card company and running investigation to try to get our money back because this was the most stressful trip with staff who had no empathy whatsoever they do not care. They just want your money and that is why they are promoting this hotel with all these rooms that do not exist. Do not book this hotel.