How to choose a resort

mrsrutkowski

My fiancé and I have decided to go to Dominican Republic for our hm. I am having a hard time choosing a resort. We want an AI at somewhere between 3-4k for the week. Trip advisor is overwhelming and conflicting- each good review is followed by a bad one.
How did you go about narrowing down your choices?
Any good recommendations for resorts?
Thanks!

HoneymoonMe

Check out AmResorts...they pretty much have nailed all-inclusives because that's all they have. They have multiple tiered resorts too...Zoetry is going to be their most expensive, followed by Secrets and then Dreams. I know that they have multiple resorts in Punta Cana in particular so check them out.

As far as tripadvisor?? Always vet their top recommendations against articles or reviews in popular travel mags like Travel & Leisure or Conde Nast (google is your friend). You never really know who is actually posting (could be competition or the actual hotel posing as a past guest), and you never know if the person that hated a particular resort could be a total opposite type of traveler as you. The main thing I look for in TripAdvisor is the number of posts...if something has been reviewed 800 times and is for the most part, positive, you know it's a safe bet. Be wary of the 40 reviews and under, and always look for second opinions in other sources!

Shanicenicole

I would start by figuring out what's most important to you and your fiancé (adults only, swim up bar etc.) Then once you narrow it down do a price comparison to stay within budget.  I personally have been to DR and stayed at the majestic elegance. We loved it, one of our most romantic trips to date.

dazyabbey

On AllInclusiveOutlet.com they have a nice way to narrow it down. Then when I saw a few I really liked I would take those to Trip Advisor. You can narrow it down to Adults Only, Where you are going, activies you would like to do, Then from there it will give you a list of resorts that match your criteria. I really liked using it because it helped me to eliminate going over the resorts that didn't have what I was looking for.


As for Trip Advisor take reviews with a grain of salt. Some people are really really picky and have like 100 negative reviews. It is ridiculous. Also I notice that if someone has 100 good experiences and 1 negative they will write a review on the negative one and ignore the 100 good experiences. I usually write reviews on all of my travel experiences and I love Trip Advisor but it can be very daunting especially for someone not used to doing research like this.

mrsrutkowski

thank you for those ideas! I will be checking those websites out now! THANKS!