On a clear, sunny day on March 25th at the shores of Punta Cana, on the east coast of the Dominican Republic, President Medina of the Dominican Republic cut the inauguration ribbon officially opening the first two Royalton Resorts on the island—Royalton Punta Cana Resort & Casino and Memories Splash Punta Cana Resort and Spa.
Before the ribbon-cutting, Stephen Hunter, the president of Sunwing Travel Group, the largest vertically integrated tour operator in North America, of which BlueDiamond Resorts is a subsidiary, welcomed President Medina and remarked that these two resorts, with their 1010 rooms, are the beginning of BlueDiamond resorts in the Dominican Republic.
The Race to Excel
He added, “Briefly, I would like to point out that the Royalton Punta Cana is an all-inclusive luxury resort offering important features that will be greatly appreciated by our guests. For example: free international calls to the United States, Canada and many European countries.
“Even though anyone can build nice hotels, the real difference is not made by concrete buildings and nice decorations. The difference is in the quality of service provided by the hotel staff.
“Without a doubt, we are proud to say that we have the best staff and they truly make the difference. In our industry, this aspect of the business is crucial, and we think we have done a great job in this respect.”
New, Yet with High TripAdvisor Ratings, Because . . .
“Memories Splash is currently at 19th place on TripAdvisor, while the Royalton Punta Cana is currently in 6th place, because of the hard work and dedication of our staff, led by our General Manager Mauricio Zárate,” says Stephen Hunter.
How do two new resorts get to such high ratings so quickly? Easy. Guts. Both resorts have lobby-to-beach Wi-Fi for the enjoyment of the guests. It is important for them to be in constant communication with family and friends and to be able to upload texts, photos and videos—right now. They do not like waiting.
What does this have to do with guts? It is this: Because not only do guests post the good times on Facebook and Twitter, they also post the bad experiences.
To minimize negative posts, the resort has to stand behind its product with all-the-time superior service, food and everything else. That is what brought the new Royalton Punta Cana Resort & Casino and Memories Splash to the top of the Punta Cana resort list so quickly—guts to do the right thing all the time, and guts to have the wall-to-wall Wi-Fi to report it.
Antonio Herrera, Commercial Director, BlueDiamond Hotels & Resorts, says “What additionally gives Royalton such popular reviews are such things as reservation-free dining, 24-hour room service, and our trademarked Dreambed, designed exclusively for Royalton Resorts.”
This is no ordinary bed. For a change, it has a better mattress than guests have back home. It has 816, specially-designed pocket
coils which are double tempered for extra durability and strength. It also has a patented Solo Split technology for motion separation. It is zoned with firmer coils around the head, sides, foot and middle of the mattress for extra support. On top of that there is a 3 inch high-density, convoluted foam euro-top and hypoallergenic sealant.
One of the highlight rooms at the Royalton Punta Cana is the Diamond Club Luxury swim-out room. These rooms are sequestered in a quiet part of the resort. These have either a king bed or two queen beds integrated into the living area. It has a large terrace with easy-access to the pool. Perfect for families. Summer rack rates, for these rooms, from May 1st through August 18th, range from $276 to $291, ppdo. The rest of the rooms, from luxury rooms to the Luxury Presidential Jacuzzi Ocean View One Bedroom Suite, start at $184 and go to $301, ppdo.
Water, From the Ground Up
“We Do It for the Children” could very well be the motto of Memories Splash. It is a very exciting piece of property and clearly demonstrates the advancement in family vacation resorts from having a mere, small playground as a gratuitous appendage set off in a remote, unused part of a resort for vacationing children. It is here and now that the children’s play area is the center of the resort and the reason for a resort’s existence. It is the resort’s heart and soul.
Where do kids spend most of their time on vacation? In the water. And this place is water city. It is designed from the ground up as a water park wonder-world. The big deal is that Memories Splash has the largest in-hotel water park in the Caribbean with 9 water slides and tubes, wave pools, splash pads and a spray ground.
The adults have their own quiet pool.
For most parents, their children and their happiness are paramount in their lives and this resort very wisely caters to a parent’s desire to see their children have a relaxing, sun-filled, fun-filled, splash-filled vacation. What more can you ask?
Summer rack rates for deluxe and connecting deluxe rooms start at $155 and range to $261 for the Presidential Jacuzzi One Bedroom Suite.
Sunwing TravelGroup is the largest vertically integrated tour operator America. It is composed of Sunwing Airlines, Sunwing Vacations, SignatureVacations, Vacations Express, Sell Off Vacations, Nexus Tours and Blue Diamond Hotels and Resorts.
Sunwing Airlines, which made its first flight to Dominican Republic in 2002, has taken a million tourists to the country and has evolved into one of the country’s major tourist partners. In the past three years it had a 12% average annual growth in flying tourists from Canada and United States. Sunwing has 32 weekly flights from 18 cities in the U.S. and Canada to Puerto Plata, La Romana, Samaná and Punta Cana.
Memories Splash, www.memoriesresorts.com; Royalton Punta Cana, aherrera@bluediamondresorts.com, www.royaltonresorts.com