We read loads of reviews before visiting Lifestyle Vitalis this September gone - chavs creating havoc and peeing in the pool, a rep's child peeing in the pool, loads of room facilities not working, being treated like a second-class citizen for wearing a green armband etc....

I'm pleased to say I was pleasantly surprised. The Vitalis is very pretty and the dinky hut/chalets have a lot of character. Yes, our door had a gap under it and a few ants got in, but I stuck a towel under the door at night and wasn't troubled by the ants at all.

Other people will refer to how poor the DR is and that the staff are badly paid, so don't expect first-class service. I found the staff to be fine and friendly (some more than others) - their just not always in a particular hurry to sort things out - but then it is the Caribbean after all.

We did have a bit of a long wait, standing our ground with dogged determination, when our air conditioning broke down. Eventually we spent one night in another 'hut' and our air conditioning was fixed the next day. Some people got in a strop and demanded to leave while we were there. I can only say there are 5 star hotels in Puerto Plata and the VIP club and all that snobby stuff, if you can't exist without first-class treatment, but you won't come across that in 3-star Vitalis.

We were lowly green bands and chose that option for the value for money (as we were also taking a trip to expensive Turks and Caicos on route). The thing about this is not so much we were made to feel like second-class citizens, but more that's it's really confusing knowing where you can and can't eat. As a result, we ended up drinking in bars we weren't supposed to and eating in restaurants we weren't supposed to be in. You have to get your head around it.

The 'green band' food was fine I thought, and the whole thing good value all in all. I particularly enjoyed the beach and swimming in the sea - and the Spa is to die for - had a couple of massages there. This all-inclusive experience could be just the ticket if you want a nice, hot chill-out place for a week or two, do a bit of horse-riding and go on a few excursions (all sorted out for you) - nothing too taxing.

Me and my husband Paul did go scuba diving with the local club on site run by Stephanie and Peter? (Scandinavians). They are great, but sadly the diving wasn't up too much. Maybe they've blasted the reef for fish catching, I don't know. In nearby Turks, however, the diving is well worth it with shark, ray and all sorts.

If you're the philosophical type with a sense of humour, you'll be fine here and have a good time. We were out of season, so it was quiet and we didn't run into the drunken shenanigans that some other posters have written about.

Be aware - unless you go on a lot of excursions, life revolves around the site. I think it would hard work attempting to travel through the Dominican solo or as a couple. The driving is terrible and you would probably be hassled for money constantly. Our scuba diving van passing through the town of Puerto Plata met with some hostility with locals trying to clean the windows and being rejected. They were banging on the van and shouting and the place felt a bit edgy. It is a poor place and that's very obvious.

Aside from that, have fun. x

Sarah B

we have just returned from the lovely dom rep wich i must add we have been to before, but after seeing in what we where staying i was a bit disapointed but when we went inside my heart sunk it was dirty old and very tatty,but i thought we only have to sleep here, but we lived out of our suitcases because i just could not fetch myself to put our clothes away. the food was terrilbe i saw a chef one night drinking under the food area where he was serving food.there was only one pool bar and no where to sit at night. the staff were very pleasent but to me did not look very happy,i would not go back there and not recommend it to anybody. from a very disapointed middle aged couple

this place is not for the faint hearted rooms basic ie 1 bed 1 toilet 1 shower 1 tv no kettle no fridge in fact sleep and be wary 2 inch gaps under door allows everything in that crawls from ants spiders lizard you need to place a towel at the base of the door i dont think the insects get feed as the bite as often as they see you the staff were friendly and the weather was great but would never return to this place even if it was free ,read some of the other reveiws (bad ones) there all true cleansiness is not at the top of there tree got a bad ear infection from the pool if any staff do anytthing for you its tip tip dollar dollar,we did find a place that was good clean and the food was exelent visit chris and madys down by ocean world the steak melts in your mouth and the drink is cheap we went there every day as we could not stomach the food on the complex unless you are a gold member,time share welcome gift tell them to --- i intend to complain to going places that we booked with

this is the second time we stayed at lifestyle resort when we went last time in 2005 it was called hacienda gardens. so if you are checking this place out on this site you might want to look under hacienda gardens and compare the reviews as not much has changed with the place.

we booked up with my travel as an "allocated on arrival "holiday.
when we got to Puerto Plata still things as busy and as hectic as last time, tons and tons of people getting on and off the planes once you finally get your bags through the herds of people ,you will have to go and find your tour rep among hundreds of people (not for the faint hearted). MAKE SURE YOU HAVE SOME DOLLARS I. E 1$$ as the people that try to carry you bags will try to get a tip. they will say something like "tip" and show you a $20 just say no there is $1. as they will try there luck.
if like us last time in 2005 you didn't have change you end up giving more.
they will even take you bags and just place them into bus and expect dollars.

We were told when we met our rep that we were going to lifestyle tropical 4*, which i felt ok with as i had been to that resort before and i knew what we were getting.

When we got to lifestyle we noticed that they had changed the names of the places to hacienda tropical to lifestyle tropical and hacienda gardens to lifestyle gardens. they gave the tropical guests yellow bands and green for the garden guests .
we all had pink last time

when we got to our room it was clean very cool with great air conditioning 2 big massive double beds balcony looking over see room good deco , fridge, coffee machine big tv with cable lots of units and a big double wardrobe( tropical)

its funny as last time we were there every one could use every thing, there was no separation with the bands ,the green bands were 3* and yellow 4* it seemed that if you were a green band you could only use the 1 swimming pool at the gardens with the one restaurant buffet you had to book the al a carte restaurants.
if you were yellow you could use every thing else.

the food and drink is the same as the rest of the resort. the only difference is the accommodation im not going to go on about the accommodation as if you read my other review in my page you will understand and i didn't stay there this time.
the only reason we used the garden resort was it was the much quieter than the other pools. we we even ate at the gardens for the 2 weeks . we popped into the tropical resturant every day for a look and i knew what was for dinner at the gardens.

we use to tip our cleaner $2 -$5 per day and she use put fresh flowers in our room every day and make animals out of our towels.