Crown Suites at Lifestyle Holidays Vacation Resort
View prices for your travel dates
About
If you’re looking for a resort in Puerto Plata, look no further than Crown Suites at Lifestyle Holidays Vacation Resort.
Nearby landmarks such as Fort San Felipe (2.3 mi) and Catedral San Felipe (2.7 mi) make Crown Suites at Lifestyle Holidays Vacation Resort a great place to stay when visiting Puerto Plata.
Guest rooms offer a kitchenette and air conditioning, and Crown Suites at Lifestyle Holidays Vacation Resort makes getting online easy as internet access is available.
In addition, guests can enjoy a pool and a poolside bar during their visit. As an added convenience, there is free parking available to guests.
While in Puerto Plata, you may want to check out some of the restaurants that are a short walk away from Crown Suites at Lifestyle Holidays Vacation Resort, including Le Papillon (0.3 mi), Los Tres Cocos (0.7 mi), and Los Charros y Los Pinches Chaparros (0.4 mi).
Best of all, Crown Suites at Lifestyle Holidays Vacation Resort makes it easy to experience many great Puerto Plata attractions like Joyeria Las Americas, Project Esperanza Art Shop, and Casa de Cultura, which are some popular art galleries.
The staff at Crown Suites at Lifestyle Holidays Vacation Resort looks forward to serving you during your upcoming visit.
Location
Reviews
- 18
- 7
- 11
- 7
- 8
- Filter
- English
I have been to Lifestyle Holiday Vacation Resorts for the past five years; and reach the same conclusion each time. The club considers itself exclusive, yet year after year, they've had specials where you can pay anywhere from $50-100 per person per night for all-inclusive accommodations. It is much more expensive for members that do not benefit from these deals, and for many, they have the very same benefits as those travelling with a deal. I will share my case:
My wife and I are unusual in that we own timeshares, and have great experience owning them. In-fact, we now own 12 timeshares, and manage to use or gift our weeks very effectively, and tend to always do better with cost, than if we would have to pay for each stay.
Memberships at Lifestyle range from $6000- very very very high six figures. These memberships are not deeded, and so you are buying into an "exclusive club with very nice benefits" if you pay the highest level.
While at the resort, all guests are labeled by way of wristband colors; generating a cast system, with very disenfranchising effects. They will refuse access to some locations and services, if you do not have the appropriate membership level. This has resulted in the vast majority of members having the same benefit than would non-member guests. This was the start of my frustration. My family and I don't care about the exclusive sites, but would benefit from golf carts... you need to be a member to secure a golf cart to get around the very large property.
Last year, the resort, as is customary in similar properties, pushed hard for us to see what they could offer and ended up buying a travel club product that cost us only $2000, but according to the sales person, would afford us two weeks in a two year period, member access to some of their beaches and other limited locations. We only bought it because it gave us access to an ice-cream parlor at one of their beaches. Our frustration really came about this past week, when we attempted to use that beach and were refused access. In effect, we were sold two weeks with no benefits for $1000 each, plus all inclusive per person fees. Groupon and LivingSocial all have deals that give the same benefits for less than half the cost.
When I confronted the Sales Person from last year... He bluntly said, Oh yes, the benefits were stripped from that package, but no worries, they did that to provide the incentive in purchasing a more expensive package by doubling your investment? . This is really bad practice, and in my mind illegal... I just don't have the breath to waste more time during my short vacations.
The buyer beware comment is to be careful on what you purchase if you do purchase something. Their highest levels are amazing, to benefit from these, you are likely to put in much over $50,000 for a membership. I personally do not believe that the memberships are any where in the vicinity of $50k.
If you do go on packages, it is worth while going, their service is good, especially if you tip well... And if you arrive knowing that your access will be limited.
My family and I still enjoy going to the resort, but would not consider becoming members. They have frequently created new tiers of membership, and so wherever you purchase, you are guaranteed that more will be developed, new beaches, and restaurants, for which access will be restricted to new membership levels, while this is only speculation, I'm a scientist, and this a hypothesis I could easily bank on.
Review of the Crown Suites:
Large comfortable units, with plenty of wasted space. They have kitchenettes, but inaccessible to really using it. Pool for few people in that area, with a bar dedicated to the pool, but with limited hours of operation.
Furniture in the unit is OK, especially for a beach property. The pool areas are comfortable, and quiet. The resort offers many other pools, but similarly small. Only a few offer activities around the pool; but be ready for a 20 minute wait for a shuttle or a 15 minute walk to other areas in the resort. This is the main reason the membership is attractive, as you would get a golf cart... only guaranteed for the higher levels of membership.
Review of food:
Food can be a little repetitive, and for an All-inclusive resort, they can really benefit from having room dining, and 24hr food access; there are a few windows of time when food is not available, and then other windows of time, when you need to go to other sides of the property for burgers and hotdogs.
A la carte restaurants are not always open, and they take turns, so you can be there a full week and never have the opportunity to visit some of them. They also limit you to the number of times you can eat at those restaurants.
Pool and beach service is sparse, so tip well to get good service there.
Beach Review:
Very disappointing, the vast majority of guests stay away from the beach, or keep to the resort side of the beach. The actual beach is public, ugly and stinks. What is worse is that they advertise that they have multiple beaches, but they are all the same strip broken into small sections. The beaches in this area are not an attraction.
Don't expect hotel like benefits, late checkout or early check-in... We've learned to book a day ahead and a day later if we know we will need access to showers.
Entertainment:
A little dated, the entertainment has been the same for 5 years. But there is plenty to do, if you are willing to take shuttles from one side to another in the resort.
All in all, I would give the resort 2.5 stars if that was possible... the luxury that they sale is only possible in the higher tiers of membership; everyone else gets sub-par accommodations and services.
Wifi is limited and slow. $25 for 25hrs in one device.
For a resort to have wifi available and charge per minute
Have a safe in each room and charge a rental fee
Have specialty dining but ONLY allow the guest to make reservations in person for 2/3 hours in the morning is unacceptable
If you don't book your excursions through the resort they will not allow the people to enter the lobby to get you as a guest for your excursion UNACCEPTABLE!
If someone helps you in any way they are expecting and REQUESTING a tip.
I am a New Yorker and former restaurant server and know the value of a reasonable tip but if you have not done something to require a tip then DONT ask!
We emailed in order to arrange a pick up by the resort and never received a confirmation for the pick up from Katiuska Peralta! We arrived to the airport and if we had not protested with the resort personnel there they WOULD NOT have helped us get to the resort.
Then we arrive and get a "upgrade"
I think it was a scam all along so that we would not have the suite booked.
One good thing was the VIP beach and amenities there. One server was excellent! I have never been to a beach and truly been able to fall asleep and rest comfortably! 1 1/2 hour nap!
The food was good at the resort but the recreation of some other cuisines was a failure.
The club on the resort was a definite hit or miss. I assume because there were people from all around the world that would happen. I did enjoy the club for my birthday while I was there.
One traditional Dominican restaurant on site definitely made an effort to redeem the resort with my birthdays songs.
The spa was also very luxurious as well. They have great pricing as I relaxed in the sauna, hot tub, message, and manicure pedicure treatments. The nail tech seemed very inexperienced as she cut too deep and dug too deep into my cuticles. The spa also made an effort to redeem the resort as they provided complimentary champagne and fruit platters.
This resort left a bad taste in my mouth overall and I will not revisit them!
The food is very good and of excellent quality, the best thing about this place is the human warmth, the staff are very friendly and helpful.
I will recommend this wonderful place to all my friends.
Staff definitely made the stay enjoyable. The cleaning staff it's wonderful and The receptionist was The Best.
Never a shortage of drinks and selection, bar staff are great.
We had a great time at Lifestyle, it's The Best Hotel of Puerto Plata.
What we liked most was the customer service. The girls at the reception are very friendly and helpful, thank you all, especially Alexa and Ana Victoria.
I will be back soon.
attentive staff, nice mention to Johaira
superb grounds, beautiful restaurants, the whole family really liked it, everything will have to be done again next winter!!!
superb temperature, very pleasant, the sea also everything was there!!
We were very excited about the VIP package on this vacation until we got there and we noticed that everyone is a VIP and that there was multiple “levels” of VIP, which the “level” of VIP we received was the lowest…only included SOME of the VIP beachs, and SOME of the VIP restaurants. This was the beginning experience with this trip.
Overall, the biggest issue we had with this vacation was the level of customer service. No one, and I mean no one, that worked at the hotel was willing to go above and beyond to make our stay enjoyable. They didn’t even complete their job at a basic level to ensure satisfaction.
The first day we arrived and went through the check in process. We were informed that there were two buffets that had food all day/night and the other restaurants required a reservation for dinner. The paper they gave us outlining the restaurants stated that the dress was “lunch – no bathing suits and dinner – causal.” We went up to our room and wanted to unpack and shower. We noticed there was only one towel and no wash cloths. We had to call the front desk FOUR TIMES over a two hour span to get towels sent upstairs.
We went on the timeshare tour (although they claim what they sell is NOT a timeshare) and of course, saw everything beautiful about the hotel. We were seriously contemplating buying into their program (thank GOD we didn’t). When we finally met with the sales manager, he gave us a number with a down payment that was about half of the total cost. When we tried to negotiate, he said that was the best he can do and walked away. I have been in presentations like this before and have negotiated significantly. Even if he really couldn’t negotiate his price, he still treated us like once our money was no good to him, we were no good and abruptly moved on to the next group of potential buyers.
The next day we went down to the pool and asked to make a reservation. We only had a list of two restaurants to choose from, which at the time was fine. We were leaving early for an excursion and made the reservation with the front desk receptionist. When we got back and went to the restaurant they asked us for our receipt for the reservation. We told them we never received this. They proceeded to tell us that they did not have us down for a reservation and that they could not seat us – note that it was 8:30p and there were more than half of the tables open. We continued to explain that no one gave us a receipt but insisted that we had a reservation. They made a call over somewhere and then sat us.
The following day (Tuesday) we went to the front desk to make a reservation for that evening’s dinner. They told us that the hotel had already pre-made our reservation for this day as part of our check in and gave us the receipt for this and two days from then – two total dinner reservations. I had asked about making a reservation for Thursday, since we were going to be gone during the day at an excursion beginning at 7a, and I was told that you can only make reservations for dinner between 9a and 11a on the day of. I explained, again, that we would not be available to make a reservation that morning since we were going to be off property. She told us to come back tomorrow.
Later that evening we were getting ready to leave for dinner and my husband wanted to confirm with the front desk before we went that the reservation was scheduled. When we went to confirm, they told us, again, that we did not have a reservation. This time they gave us a ticket and we showed them the ticket we had and they still were saying they didn’t have the reservation scheduled. It took us about 30 minutes for them to finally confirm the reservation, which made us about 30 minutes late for said reservation.
When we got there, the hostess told us that my husband was out of dress code. I asked where it stated that there was a dress code for this restaurant, and they said it was on the reservation ticket. The ink on our ticket was so faint, you could barely make anything out on it, let alone the dress code for the restaurant (even though the sheet of restaurants given at check in clearly stated “dinner-casual). We told the hostess that no one told us about this and she offered to give my husband a pair of pants that she had behind the counter that was elastic in the waist. We asked to speak to a manager. We were directed to a supervisor of the hotel where we explained all of the above frustrations. If we were TOLD about all of these things, we wouldn’t have been upset. She told us there was nothing she could do and either he had to go back to the room and change (which was across the resort property) or use their pants. We had to take a shuttle back to our room, have him change into pants, and come back. Needless to say, we did not enjoy this dining experience.
The next day (Wednesday), I went back to the front desk receptionist to ask for a reservation for that evening. She scheduled us for dinner (again, only offering two restaurants) and gave us a ticket. I, again, asked about a reservation for Thursday since we would not be on property in the morning. She then told me that we have exhausted all of our dinner reservations for the trip. I asked her how that could be since we were staying through Friday. She told me that we were only allotted three dinner reservations for the entire trip. I asked to move the reservation for Wednesday night to Thursday night (since Thursday was Thanksgiving) and she told me that nothing was open for Thanksgiving anyway. I asked her if there were open reservations for the seafood restaurant (which we were really looking forward to eating at during the stay) and she told me that they were closed. That night for dinner when we went to the reservation, the shuttle driver dropped a group off at the “closed” seafood restaurant.
Wednesday evening, on the way back to the room from dinner, we stopped to the front desk again and I asked about scheduling transportation from the hotel to the airport. She told me that I needed to schedule that with the “groupon lady” but she only works from 9a to 5p – which, by the way, seem to be the hours of EVERYONE including managers. Since we were going to be on an excursion the next day from 7a to 5p, we figured we would just call Friday morning before we left.
Friday morning at 9a I called the “groupon lady” and someone else answered. They told me that she would not be in until 10a-10:30a. My husband called back around 10a and she answered. She told him that we needed to arrange transportation two days in advance. He told me this was her response, so I called her back a few minutes later to confirm. When she answered she reiterated that response. I asked her how we were supposed to know that we needed to contact her two days in advance and she said that she was there every day. I asked again, how were we supposed to know and she said that she had sent us a letter. I told her we never received a letter from her or anyone from the hotel. She told me that it was too bad. When I asked her for her name she told me her first name (Elaine) and then rudely said “do you want my last name too?” and hung up.
The examples above do not depict the impolite, arrogant and overall rude employees of the Lifestyle Holiday Club. On top of that, the food was barely edible – did you know that bolognaise sauce was an orange/pink color? – and the tricks they played with people about what you think you’re getting versus what you actually get as part of a package is a bad business tactic and just down right despicable. We will NEVER return to a Lifestyles Holiday Club no matter where we go and are now seriously considering not using Groupon for vacations again in the future. It is my hope that Groupon is unaware of the shenanigans being pulled at this resort and that you stop offering this through your company after you’ve been informed.
"Don't flush the toilet paper! There are trash cans for that. Explore the entire resort, there is so much to see and do! Shuttle buses help!"Read full review
"Just because it’s all inclusive doesn’t mean you can’t tip believe me they all will appreciate it more than you could ever imagine"Read full review
Own or manage this property? Claim your listing for free to respond to reviews, update your profile and much more.
Claim Your Listing