Vik Hotel Arena Blanca

Recent Reviews: 4372

• User:Maps04717773330

  Trip type: Solo travel

  Worst trip I've ever been on. June 2026

  11 Jun 2026

  This place might have ruined DR for me all together. Im a solo traveller. I travel alone often and never have any issues. The staff straight up didnt want me there. I was there for 3 full days before a single staff member spoke to me (except check in). It was super weird. There is no table service, you have to juggle your plate and belongings to get yourself a water or pop on your way to your table. If you need more drinks while eating you have to either juggle it all again or risk leaving your plate on the table for the flies and birds. They do not bring any drinks to your table at all for any meals. My bed had a divot the size of a VW beetle in it, thankfully I was alone because I was able to sleep sideways along the headboard because that was the only flat spot in the bed. Extra blanket? Absolutely not. Control over the ac? Absolutely not. Either full blast or off. Control over the shower? Absolutely not. Freezing cold to scalding hot with no warning. Mid shower and soapy? Oh well, the water shuts off to a dribble. Full length mirror to see your outfit? Nah. Makeup mirror? Nope. 1 mirror above the bathroom sink too far away to use for makeup and too high up for an outfit check. Overhead lighting? Who needs that?! You get a super bright led spotlight attached to the headboard. Thats it. Room fridge? Water, thats it. No pop, no beer. The beach is severely washed away..not like the pics at all. The seaweed was horrendous. Totally not their fault but be aware. The ocean was essentially useless unless youd wade thru 30 ft of thick floating seaweed. Beach cleanup crew did an amazing job keeping the sand clean. The sellers on the beach are relentless. The absolute worst I've ever encountered. No exaggeration, every 6 minutes someone is trying to sell you something. I get it, its how they feed their kids but holy moly it was too much. Oh, surprise there's helicopter rides that take off just beside the resort so you get to listen to them chop chop chop chop fly directly over your head every 30 minutes. Super cool the first time! Less cool the 50th time. All chairs are reserved by ppl that dont come back to them until 3pm even tho there's signs everywhere prohibiting it. Security does nothing. Also, several broken chairs everywhere!! Beware! They don't take them out of service. Seniors were attempting to get onto loungers that would literally splat flat to the ground under someone's weight. I fell victim to one of these broken loungers. The room safe doesn't come with a lock. You have to rent it for $2usd/day cashonly. no biggie right? Except if you lose the single, small no key tag having key its $150usd cash!!! Total cash grab/scam. But what can you do? You need the lock. 10/10 will never be back.

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• User:282cat

  Trip type: Solo travel

  Definitely a No

  02 Jun 2026

  - Do you want to spend your vacation with no wifi, a toilet not flushing and a broken lock on the balcony door? - No room internet. It is 2026! Reliable wifi only at the lobby. Netflix / or any streaming from your room is not possible. This has been reported by other reviewers.- Toilet does not flush properly. You will need to flush multiple water tanks to get the toilet clean. I reported it 4 times to front desk and the hotel did nothing about it. This problem has been reported by other reviewers.-Balcony door does not lock. This has been reported by other reviewers. -Pushy salesman bordering on harassment (blue tent the by pool), authorized by the hotel to work on premises. Too aggressive, pestering and unpleasant. -Sargasso in the water is beyond anyone’s control. Sargasso on the hotel sand strip could be cleaned up. It was partially cleaned up once in ten days. Rotten sargasso smell. -To get a working safety box you must pay USD 2 daily. Paying gets you a physical key for the safety box-1/2 of the hotel beach is under severe erosion reducing in about one third the available beach to hotel guests. Any remediation would require a large investment.-Mislabelled buffet dishes, repeatedly. Pangasius/basa labelled as mahi-mahi/dorado or as grouper/mero "bait and switch". When questioned, management answered the fish served was “mero-basa”. I pointed that such fish species “mero-basa” (grouper basa) does not exist and they got visibly upset. Even if bait and switch was not the intention, a higher quality label on a bottom of the barrel product creates a bad opinion. Get your labels right!-Location: The hotel is isolated, far away from any local bars/local attractions and a ride by taxi, i.e. to Bávaro town centre will be an expensive USD ride.-I am not sure if this hotel has fire sprinklers or if it is fire regulation compliant.-Missing light bulbs are not replaced, lobby washroom stalls have no locks, a fire extinguisher is missing. This hotel is seriously mismanaged, otherwise non-capital issues of easy fix would be addressed. -Pack repellent. Mosquitoes at night. This is out of the hotel control, but it adds to the overall experience.The Good and Others:-Personnel (with some glaring exceptions) is polite, friendly and generally helpful. The Beach Bar bartenders have the best smiles.-Cleaning crew was excellent. They work very hard at making the best out of old and lacklustre facilities. The room and common areas were kept very clean. Please consider a small tip for the cleaning ladies. -Buffet concoctions are basic and a bit boring but adequate. Some dishes repeat over and over but I would think the repetition is unavoidable. There is plenty of fresh vegetables and 4 types of fruit every meal. (Passion fruit is a constant) -Besides the buffet there is only one extra restaurant in operation. It alternates Italian food and “international food. This restaurant lacks seriousness or sofisticación (“carbonara” with cream, american bacon and no eggs). Seafood and steaks are an extra charge.

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• User:Trek07558666144

  Trip type: Family

  Canadians sick of snow 😎

  20 May 2026

  We stayed here the first week of may 2026. There were 7 adults in our group. We flew out of Toronto late afternoon which meant we arrived at the hotel around 930pm all restaurants and buffet were closed. Snack bar was open so we were able to get a bowl of soup and a sandwich. Check in was relatively quick . Unfortunately when we entered our room it had not been completely cleaned. So back to the lobby we went. The clerk at the desk was unable to give us another room and we were told to come back in the morning to speak to the day manager. He not only gave us a different room he also upgraded us . 😊We stayed in room 4110 room was clean and everything worked as it should. They also put a blanket on our bed as requested. The food was by far the best I’ve had so far in the Dominican. The drinks from the lobby bar were the best in our opinion. The whiskey sour and Mai tai were the favourites for the week. The Mexican a’lacarte was delicious but I definitely recommend going early as it fills up quickly. The pool was well kept and clean although getting a chair with any kind of shade was tough some days . People put towels out first thing in the morning but never used them all day. The resort did posts signs saying it wasn’t allowed but someone took them down by the next morning. Seats at the beach were equally hard to get but because there was so much seaweed during our stay we only went a couple times. Overall we enjoyed our stay and will likely return in September.

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• User:Michael J

  Trip type: Solo travel

  Expectations equal Happiness

  14 May 2026

  Go in with the right expectations and you can have an alright time. For reference, I stayed five nights in the beginning of May.You genuinely get what you pay for but see below for an honest review by category. FOOD (2/5 Stars)Very few choices for breakfast or lunch - more continental at an okay hotel. Dinner was hit or miss. I had a couple dishes that were decent but I found that they were not available most nights so I had to settle for something else. Restaurants were also closing early or not opening at all due to low occupancy. ROOMS (2/5 Stars)I had to request a change initially because the latch lock was broken off of the door and the shower was not clean. The new room was an improvement but still had maintenance issues such as lack of warm water, broken furniture, and Motel 6 level renovations. POOLS (3/5 Stars)Note that the swim up bar is only available in the upgraded section of the resort. The two other pools were nice and well maintained but easily became overcrowded by noon, even under 'low occupancy.' ACTIVITIES (2/5 Stars)The resort lists Kayaking at no charge but this is not the case; there is kayaking but it's offered through a third party and cost approx $30 USD per hour. I did witness a small yoga / stretching course near the pool in the morning but it did not look very appealing as they were trying to stretch on the pavement with only towels. There are a couple of pool tables but both are missing balls, there's no chalk, and the cue sticks are broken and actually giving splinters. STAFF (2/5 Stars)During five nights, I saw one and only one person outside of the concierge smile or make the slightest effort at customer service. His name is Weegie (sp?) and he worked the small bar for one night. Most others rolled their eyes or actively tried to avoid assisting guests. The front desk staff, however, was nice enough and accommodating when needed though there was always a decent wait to speak with them. BEACH (3/5 Stars)They actually kept up with the seaweed pretty well for such a small resort - that was impressive. The size of the beach is smaller, however, and like most other reviews mention, you won't likely find a seat after 9:00a. There is no drink service on the beach. GYM (1/5 Stars) All equipment is old, unsafe looking, and there's a stark odor that you can smell as you approach the doors. CASINO (1/5 Stars)I think I counted four, maybe five machines in total.One table. Brightly lit Casino. Awkward. OVERALLIf you're just going to sit on the beach and you don't care about luxury, nice drinks, or fine dining, this could work for you. I will say that even in early May, there were a lot of children running around. The resort is desperately needing an overhaul and you will absolutely feel like you're in a motel on the beach. But it's a nice beach and if you know what you're getting into, you can enjoy it. Good luck!!

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• User:G C

  Trip type: Friends getaway

  Worth it but sub standard sports equipment and facility and music needs to be more diversified (not just Latin)

  12 May 2026

  The pros about this resort are:- Food- Cleaniless - Pool and beachThe cons are:- Entertainment: the choice of music for dance needs to be more diversified to satisfy an international crowd. Just very limited to Latin music will not attract international crowd. - the sports facilities and equipment are very poor to the point where it may cause injuries. Please spend some money there before someone gets injured. - The advertised entertainment are often it accurate. For example, the 70 and 80 disco night ended up being Latin music again !!!! Please diversify the music. International crowd cannot listen to Latin music every day!!!!

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