Senator Hotels & Resorts – Puerto Plata DR

I departed Calgary, AB, Canada and landed in DR on November 19, 2023. The bus was over an hour late to pickup our group of 9 people. I requested 2 months in advance to be put in the same building as the rest of the group and when we arrived, we were across the resort from the rest of the group. Our safe in a our room did not work and neither did our phone.

We were in DR to celebrate my girlfriends cousin finishing Chemo and hopefully going into remission. On our 2nd night of 6 nights, my girlfriend received a phone call from back home informing her that her father unexpectedly passed away of a heart attack. This was at approximately 10pm on the 21st. The 22nd, I went to the front counter to request a cancellation of the rest of our trip – hoping to get some money back for the 4/6 nights we were not going to use and our flights back that we would not be on. The front counter promptly told me that they could not help and that I should call their HR department. I booked my trip on the senator hotel website and not through a 3rd party provider. I phoned the HR department and they said there was nothing they could do and to speak to the front desk. I went back to the front desk and they said I should call the airline company – WestJet. I informed them again that I did not book this trip through WestJet but rather the resort website. They told me that they could not help.

I booked new flights to depart that morning and asked the resort if we could jump on one of the many shuttles going to the airport. They told me that I had to book the shuttle in advance and that I would have to pay $60USD to get to the airport because they would not allow me on a shuttle.

I landed in Toronto, Canada later that day and had a 5 hour layover before leaving for Calgary. I again called the front desk of the resort, the HR department and WestJet customer service. I told WestJet that the resort was unwilling to help in anyway. WestJet said if the resort is unable to assist at all – last resort I should apply for exceptional circumstances reimbursement on the WestJet website.

Over the next month I was back and forth in emails with Senator Resort customer service & booking email. They were requesting a death certificate and proof of flights booked to leave the resort to come back to Canada to attend the funeral. Both of which I provided the same day they requested. Senator resort told me that my information and request lay in the hands of WestJet now and that they were acting as a middle man. Approximately 10 days went by and I received no further information – during those 10 days I sent 2 follow up emails and received nothing in return. I phoned WestJet to see where my file was at with respect to any reimbursement and they told me that the resort had not contacted them whatsoever and they had nothing on my file or record at all.

I phoned the resort customer service and requested that they respond to my emails. They emailed me just after 2am (Eastern Time) to let me know that they will not be reimbursing me or my girlfriend anything at all.

My girlfriend and I stayed 2 out of 6 nights. Our trip cost of roughly $3,000 CAD total. In theory we did not use approximately $2,000 CAD worth and did not take our included flights back to Canada. We paid an additional $1,200 CAD for flights back to Canada in order to attend the service of her late father.

The place is beautiful and the grounds are very clean. My room, as well as many other people I talked with, had no hot water and a telephone and clock radio that did not work. My sliding glass door was not operating properly and I could barely open it. If I complained, we got the standard reply from the front desk "We're working on it." They simply don't care about anything that is not working. Met someone who was at this resort a few months earlier and said nothing had been replaced and there was no hot water at that time either.

Had a great time and awesome staff that helped us take advantage of every day! Special shout out to Pollo, Cappuccino, and Skinny. Guys were dancing all night, putting their sweat into making sure we had a good time!