Room Key: Hilton Santo Domingo
Address: George Washington Ave., #500, Santo Domingo, D.R.
Phone: (809) 685-0000
Reservations: (877) GO-HILTON
Web:www.hiltoncaribbean.com/santodomingo
General Manager: Charles Muller
Sample Rates: From $120 to $180 per room, per night, double, in standard rooms; from $175 to $235 per room, per night, double, in executive rooms; suites are higher.
No. Of Rooms: 228, including 28 suites and four grand suites.
Location: Zona Colonia (Old Town) section on waterfront.
Facilities: Two restaurants, three bars, 24-hour room service, pool, gym, meeting rooms, business center, executive lounge.
Amenities: High-speed Internet access ($5 per half-hour), coffee/tea makers, CD-alarm clock, bathrobes, daily newspaper. Wireless in meeting and public areas.
Noteworthy: Excellent lighting in the right places; attentive staff; breakfast buffet dishes color-coded for guests watching fat, cholesterol and heart levels.
Not Worthy: The bathroom tub is very narrow, and amenities crowd the space around the sink.
SANTO DOMINGO,
Dominican Republic -- The new marble and glass Hilton Santo Domingo
has raised the bar for convention facilities in this historic
capital city.
The 228-room
Hilton Santo Domingo, Hilton Internationals 14th Caribbean
property, opened July 12 on the Malecon waterfront in the
15,000-square-foot Malecon Center complex in Santo
Domingo.
The $40 million
property overlooks the Caribbean and anchors a development that
includes Santo Domingos largest casino; a parking garage connected
to the hotel; and a 170-shop mall with boutiques, retail stores,
food courts, a movie theater and three residential condominium
towers.
Although Santo
Domingo has no separate convention center, an equivalent was built
in the hotel, which can accommodate 1,100 attendees in 12 meeting
spaces that range from boardroom to ballroom in size, according to
Charles Muller, Hilton Santo Domingos general manager.
While the meeting
space is businesslike, the guest rooms are softened with tieback,
flowered drapes, full-length windows on two walls and decorative
items.
The corner rooms
cost $20 more. Executive floor rooms add $30 per night to the rate,
but guests staying in those rooms have access to the executive
lounge with continental breakfast, all-day drinks and snacks,
newspapers and 15 minutes of free Internet usage daily.
Business guests
usually stay Sunday through Wednesday, but if they book
yield-controlled leisure rates for weekends, they can save between
$18 and $20 per night, said Giancarlo Goeta, the hotels director of
marketing.
Dining choices
include the Sol & Sambra restaurant, open all day, and La Torre
outdoor terrace cafe on the fifth floor overlooking the
water.
The hotels
enclosed fitness center and an outdoor pool and bar, on a shaded
sundeck, are on the seventh floor.
The propertys
introductory rate of $99 per room, per night, double, is valid
until Oct. 15, although rooms may be in short supply late this
month when the cast and crew of the Miami Vice movie, shooting on
location here, will occupy the majority of rooms.
To book, call
(877) GO-HILTON, use code TA, or visit www.hiltoncaribbean.com/santodomingo.
To contact
the reporter who wrote this article, send e-mail to [email protected].