BookIt.com Verified Traveler Chris McIntosh from Austell, GA

"This was the worst all inclusive hotel i have ever stayed at! I should have read the reviews before booking but was assured by my best friend that this was the nicest hotel in Santo Domingo. It took about 45 minutes to check in. After arriving late due to weather delays, i did not want to be standing in line for 45 minutes just to check in. When we got to our room, we only had 2 big bath towels! The bedding was dirty with stains here and there. Not a thing was in the mini fridge, nor did it ever get cold. There wasn't any soap or tissue. NOTHING!! We called for thing, no one ever answered. Had to go down to lobby. Towels never came that night so we couldn't shower. Next morning, asked for towels, waited 4o minutes, nothing. Finally towels came. Maids did not clean room until after 3pm. Food in buffet restaurant was cold and flies every where landing on food as well as birds. They never told us about the restaraunts with reservations only. Was able to be seated anyway, and the food was good in those restaurants. The only staff that was nice were the restaurant workers. The front desk was no help at all. On the 2nd day of our trip, the water in the room stopped working!!! We had no water for the next 2 days and they did nothing about it. The shower had about 5 lines of water come out so that was the only way we could shower. The sink water never came back on so we had to used bottle water to brush our teeth. This was my first time in Santo Domingo and it makes me want to never return!!!"

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BookIt.com Verified Traveler Gracy from Guaynabo, Puerto Rico

"I DON'T RECOMMEND THIS HOTEL. Hotel with poor maintainance, grey towels, dirty pool, dirty floors, poor Bar drinks, you see so many broken things in this Hotel. I really don't recomend this Hotel since it needs millions of dollars to make a first impression appeling to your eyes. Don't get impressed by the low price because then you will reggret it when you get there. We Pay for a service but the Staff is not paying attention on these matters they just don't CARE since is a 70 year constructed Hotel. We liked the Food, Rest. employees so nice but maintainance is OFF with GRAY Towells, Grey Bed Fittings. I am so dissapointed because I've waitted and saved the money for this Trip to come so badlly and It was a Nightmare. Is there any Rain check!!!!!!!!!!!?"

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BookIt.com Verified Traveler Shaheen Guerrero from Rahway, NJ

"It was the worst experience. Let's start with the room arrangements- first it was a wait, you can register at 12, but you get your room at 3 pm. Understandable, both my husband and me got acquainted with the place, while waiting for the room. At 3 pm, when we approached the front desk, the girls at the reception were busy flirting with a guy from a room. They gave us a room, to which the bellboy took us. The room was not made, the bed was like somebody had just got up, the bed was broken. A wooden plank from the bed with nails hanging out, was sitting on the floor. The bellboy tried to help us by taking us back to the reception, where the girls insulted him saying he doesn't have to help anyone. The second room was given, when there were people still in the room. When we spoke to the manager, we found out that he doesn't have any control. His subordinates don't listen to him. I have high blood pressure and diabetes and I had not taken my meds since the night before. When I asked for a glass of water, everybody who were standing there were telling the next person to get the water. Also another man had the same problem and he was with his family. The room was ok. There is a fridge, but nothing inside. They don't give water, in the rooms. They don't make beds, just straighten the sheets. The jacuzzi was not working. The food is ok. I would not recommed it to anyone."

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BookIt.com Verified Traveler Daniel Mejia from Bronx, NY

"Food was poor. You have to go to the desk sometimes because of the locker does not open. Employee need to learn to say: excuse me, can I retire the plate?, Do you finish? they need trainning."

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BookIt.com Verified Traveler Liz from Ny, Ny

"To check in is the worse. They are short staff. And you wait on line for 30 to 45 min. You get what you pay for. The hotel is very basic, nothing fancy. The entertainment was good, and the photographer. The room is basic with a ill ice box(fridge) in the room. For a few $$ more, you can get the suites which is better rooms. Very small club, but there's 1 down the street 3 blocks that's very nice."

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BookIt.com Verified Traveler Mike Dawson from Tyrone, GA

"This is a sub par resort by all standards!, The resort is divided into 3 sections, the main legacy hotel, the new renovated part and the VIP vacation club. The rooms in the main hotel were horrible and not what you see on the pictures. Everything is 1960 old and you are not supplied with enough towels or face clothes.

The food is horrible. If you are lucky, you will escape without a food virius or food poison. I was not so lucky! I realize they have to feed a ton of people but it is not the quality you would expect a resort to have. I heard someone compare it to 'prison food'.

The hotel staff were pleasant but very unorganized. They were extremely busy with check-in and check outs but that is even more reason to develop a better system.

We will go back to DR but certainly not this resort"

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BookIt.com Verified Traveler JANEA from BRONXVILLE, NY

"THIS IS MY 2ND STAY AT THIS HOTEL AND THEY ARE NOW UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT...THE UPGRADES TO THE AMBIANCE HAS BEEN UPGRADED, HOWEVER SHORT STAFF, UNDER PAID AND POORLY TREATED DID NOT MAKE MY EXPERIENCE WORTH WHILE...rn-WAITED HOURS FOR TOWELS EVERY DAYrn-NO HOT WATER IN MY HOTEL ROOM EVER!rn-DR TIME IS THE SLOWEST NOT ACCOMMODATINGrn-NEVER GOT A RESERVATION FOR ANY OF THE RESTAURANTS...STAFF DID NOT ACCOMMODATE.rnrnOVER ALL THAT IS MY VERY LAST TIME IN SANTO DOMINGO AND AT BE LIVE AS I'VE BEEN TOLD BY MANY THIS IS THE BEST HOTEL IN BOCA CHICA!!rn"

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BookIt.com Verified Traveler Teamox from Springfield, Virginia

"Hotel was very clean but also very loud. Every night my family was awakened several times by people having party in their rooms or running up and down hallway. Food was good but on the weekends they ran out of food as fast as they put the tray of food down it was gone. The staff could not keep up with the demand. This was very noticable in the buffet and in the snack bar at the beach. The back of the hotel brochure says non-motorized beach activities were included, also sailing lessons. We did not see a single paddle boat, sailboat or anything, not even snorkeling equipment. When we asked two different people at the front desk they looked at us like we were crazy. Shows were ok. Overall good trip but hotel needs to improve on a few things."

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BookIt.com Verified Traveler Fern from Upper Marlboro, MD

"It took 3 hours to get the room requested- deluxe ocean view. The final room had a hugh palm tree at the balcony restricting the ocean view. The buffet food was bland and uninspiring. Le Gormet restaurant was good. The daily reservation system was a joke. Some people were allowed to make multiple day reservations. We were allowed to make only reservations the day before. Even with this system most restaurants were empty during our reservation. Visitors need to be able to communicate in Spanish for efficient service."

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BookIt.com Verified Traveler Milon from Lawrenceville, Ga

"It was Horrible!!!!! I've never seen so many disapointed guess in my life. I went 3 days with no hot water.I ask for a king side bed beach front . Which I didn't get. The whole experience was bad. It was awful. I will be callking you guys soon.Just plain awfull. The worst vacation I ever had, and gave you guys too much money. "

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"This hotel was one of the worst establishments that I have ever lodged. The immediate staff was friendly on check in but the quality of the hotel was not appeasing. The rooms view on the website is more than what I would consider to be deceiving. We switched rooms twice and had to pay for an 'upgrade'. The 'upgrade' was a room surrounded by construction and endless noise that began at 730am. I find it hard to believe that the construction within the hotel will better the lodging. Highlight, no towels for the beach chairs and horrible food during buffet. The staff at the buffet look and act like they don;t want work there or as if they are doing community service for prison reform. They need to shut down completely and reopen when it is fit for guest to enjoy their vacation. I would recommend staying here if the term 'all inclusive' all involves all but relaxation."

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"The food and grounds was great .... The Rooms need a little work ..."

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"GARBAGE! That's all I have to say! Do not waste your time! You're better off spending extra $ on the more expensive resorts I promise!"

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"Be Live Hamaca
Well let's get right to it. This was by far the one of the worst resorts/hotels I've stayed at in my life. My girlfriend and I stayed there for 3 days and I tell you we wanted out as soon as we checked in. We arrived earlier than the normal checkin (3pm) around 1pm. I didn't think this would be much of an issue as I figured we could get some food and wait for our rooms to be ready/sadly mistaken. So we go to the front desk, which was extremely dim (this is at 1pm during the day mind you) and was told that we would not be able to checkin until 2pm or we would have to pay an additional $18. Of course we opted to wait, which was not a huge deal as I figured we would at least be given our wrist bands and guided to the food facilities where we could eat as we waited to checkin/again sadly mistaken. We actually had to wait 1hr in the lobby just to receive the wrist band (this was the first bad sign). Needless to say we were pissed off with the Front Desk personnel, whom mostly appeared to care less about their guests.
As we waited in the lobby we started to look around and could really see how little the place had been kept up as it was pretty dark and bland looking. However, we remained positive as we hoped things would get better. So it's 2pm and we are finally allowed to checkin so we go get something to eat and at the snack bar that was extremely unimpressive (all they served was chicken wings, fries, etc/same thing EVERYDAY!).
So now it's time we go to the room/or should I say our PRISON CELL. When we arrived at the room we actually thought we got pranked! We couldn't believe how dirty and unkempt everything was. If I wasn't so tired upon arriving I would have ran the hell out of that place. First thing I noticed was the fridge looked like something out of the Honeymooners/serious! Next the bathroom was dark, tub was filthy, towels %u2013 hard and dingy, toilet %u2013 wow/ Let's talk about the toilet for a moment. They actually had the nerve to put a sanitized sticker on the toilet seat and I kid you not that was the cleanest thing on the toilet. Since the bathroom lacked adequate ventilation many things were rusted (screws on switch faceplate, bottom of bathroom door rusted and cracked, etc/). The bed in the room was a joke, I've slept on better beds in the army. The furniture looked like it was from the 80's. Lampshades filthy, AC worked, but was LOUD. The only plus about the room was that it was huge, but it was bland and dirty so that didn't help much. Also after a day or two in the room we started noticing roaches (yes I said ROACHES) and we even saw a rat near the theater. We actually requested another room after this point, but when we checked out the other room it too had roaches. The problem was so bad the hotel actually put notes on everyone's door as they eventually fumigated the entire floor (which did little to help). Also the towels looked like the housekeeper picked them off the floor and just hung them back up. If we weren't in another country without a phone we would have flipped the hell out and left this place immediately!
I know this sounds unreal and I could write a novel so let me just give you the Pro and Cons about this whole place as concisely as I can/
Pros
Our room was large
Beach is beautiful, water crystal clear
Dinner was actually ok (the fish was fantastic!)
Security was friendly and helpful
Pelican Restaurant %u2013 Food excellent, service was slowwwwww
Drinks strong
The Night Club was good

Cons
Rooms dirty (refer to first paragraph)
Breakfast sucked
Making reservations for a restaurant or even a tour was a pain in the a$$
Front desk staff was horrible, unfriendly, and flat out unhelpful
Sells people positioned near dining facilities were annoying
Serious lack of activities %u2013 the game room area with pool table was a joke. The ping pong and foos ball table were falling apart. The pool table was a mess as it was uneven and one of the sticks were missing a tip, lol.
Bartenders had no clue of how to make any drinks (only plus they weren't cheap with liquor)
The evening show sucked
Area surrounding resort UNSAFE %u2013 motorcycles frequently rode through the middle of the resort with some shady looking characters
Music repetitive
The tours are a joke (will actually go into detail in a paragraph below)

The tours were an absolute joke. First it was pain to even find someone to book a tour. We actually went through a shady vacation club promoter whom at first seemed friendly, but in the end we realized he only cared about booking us with vacation club and getting his cut of the tour money (beware of Antonio Tavares/yeah I'm blowing names, haha). We went on two tours. The first a tour was a historic trip of Santo Domingo which was ok at first as we saw the Lake of 3 Eyes, some historic sights of Santo Domingo, but then the last 2hrs of the tour the guide kept taking us to various stores to buy merchandise and disappear. Now I was fine going to one store, but we went spent at least 2hrs in 3 different stores that basically sold all the same tourist stuff when we could have seen more stuff in Santo Domingo! The Second Tour %u2013 Trip to Saona Island, which was hyped up big time by our shady vacation club promoter (Antonio Tavares) whom informed us we would "paaahty pahty on the catamaran and take a da speed boat to a natural pool/... Unfortunately, he failed to mention that we would spend at least 6 hrs out of our all day tour TRAVELING on a tight a$$ Dominican bus to the island and we really only got to spend 2 ½ hrs doing stuff (on Saona Island, speed boat, and in Natural pool, which was no more than an extended beach).
In conclusion, there were so many negatives about Be Live I've probably messed a few, but all you need to know is to STAY AWAY. We would rather BE DEAD than ever go back to BE LIVE!


"

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"Excellent Trip and Price even better!"

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"I stayed for one week with my girlfriend. Got in late at night and about 15-20 minutes check in. The checkin process needs to be more efficient. The room was spotless and very nice. The food was very good each and every day. There are enough restaurants so you do not become bored. Service in the restaurants was very good. The staff was very attentive. Great smiles all the time. Internet is very expensive at the hotel and is a bit slow. Overall this is a good place to stay and I would return."

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"We spent 4 nights 3 days at this resort, while it is not a 5 star resort, it was not as bad for us as the reviews we had read. Check in can be slow, we arrived in the evening so ours went OK. The place is dated and a little run down, our room was clean, the staff were all friendly and helpful, if they didn't speak english or understand us, they found us someone that would. We had some things that did not work in the room, most were addressed but not all, we never did get a safe that would work, nor did our ceiling fan, but overall the value was good for the money we paid. We had a oceanview balcony, the beach and pool areas were always clean, the ocean swim area is calm and warm, great for families with small kids. If you are going to the ncier restuarants ( reservation only ) take long pants, no shorts allowed, we didn't know this so we did not get to eat in them, the food at teh buffet was OK, not great not horrible, the wait staff were wonderful and made sure we had drinks and any other thing we needed. Tipping will get you extra special attention even for a few dollars. We tried to venture to a little shopping street downtown by ourselves, i would not recommend that unless you speak spanish well, the locals maul you to get you to follow them to spend your money, no harm done, just a little freaky for me. We would go back without hesitation, just know that this is more like a 2.5 to 3 star no where near 5 star resort. "

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"We had read some lousy reviews before going, so our expectations were low. The ocean view room was slightly below average in condition but clean, but the view more than made up for it. The property was well kept, food and drinks plentiful, and the staff we all very helpful and friendly. The condition of the room and efficiency of the front desk were the only two deficiencies we experienced. The rest of the resort was fabulous. We met a couple of guys from Kansas City that were not happy at all with their room and were ready to leave, so it may be the luck of the draw or your perception going in that affects your experience. Boca Chica is not Punta Cana and is priced accordingly - you get what you pay for."

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"First let me say the pictures of the rooms for the property are very deceiving. I don't know where those rooms are but we definitely didn't have one and the linen was sour smelling. We received new towels daily (I think) but not washcloths, there was NO towels or anything in our room when we got there. The staff was nice, if it wasn't for that my stay would have been VERY disappointing. Although they do need more staff that speaks English especially on the front desk. I think the only part of the hotel that was renovated was the lobby area. The resort looked like it was the spot back in the day - alot of it isn't even utlilized. The food in the buffet was ok, nothing spectacular. The menu was pretty much the same with a few new items for dinner.



I wouldn't recommend this resort to anyone and I know I won't be going back. The smell of the linen was disappointing because I was looking to relaxing and hanging in my room some - that was definitely not happening."

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