That was a mouthful in the title! This post will review my stay at Secrets Tides Punta Cana and a little glimpse into why I was there – the ALGV (ALG Vacations) Kindness Connection!
I headed to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic for the first time in July 2024! I stayed at the new Secrets Tides Punta Cana for a conference. This will be a little different viewpoint considering I was here for a conference and not a regular vacation.
It’s a little over four hours nonstop from DFW to get to Punta Cana. This hotel is about a 45-minute ride from the airport. Amstar was in charge of all our transfers. I use them all over Mexico and the Caribbean for clients and myself. Big shout out to Amstar!
I am so glad I arrived a day before the conference started. That gave me a day to get settled before the events started. It was a good thing I did this since my flight was delayed and I didn’t arrive at the hotel until about 7 PM. I was able to have dinner, unpack, and enjoy the resort the next day.
The Hotel
Secrets Tides Punta Cana is an adult-only, all-inclusive resort. It just opened this year. The resort has 668 rooms, including pool view, ocean view and swim-out. They also offer master suites and a Presidential Suite in the Preferred Club. I had a tropical view room.
Preferred Club guests have a few additional amenities: the Preferred Club pool, lounge, restaurant for breakfast, and a lounge in the Preferred Club building, with concierge service. I had a great concierge, she was very helpful. One thing we did notice among conference guests is the concierge service wasn’t always consistent. It could be many reasons for that and I would give the resort some time before this would concern me too much.
The Food
Because I was attending a conference I didn’t get to try all the restaurants like I would on vacation. For breakfast they offer a buffet and Preferred Club guests have an a la carte restaurant by the beach, Oceana.
For lunch, the buffet opens and there’s also a grill by the pools and Oceana as well for Preferred Club guests.
They do not open the buffet for dinner. All the a la carte dinner restaurants do have a dress code. Keep this in mind. Most 5-star resorts will enforce their dress code.
The Rooms
The rooms offer a king bed or 2 double beds depending on room type. They offer several different room views. There’s plenty of storage, double closets with drawers, and shoe storage. The shower can close off from the room making it easy to share with friends.
The bathroom itself does not close off from the room in the standard rooms. They have a sitting area and table with chairs. The minibar snacks were my favorite, they have Milky Way candy bars. Also, shout out to my concierge for making sure I got those every day!
A Few Highlights
- Adults only
- Very nice beach with soft sand and a lot of palapas
- A variety of restaurants to choose from
- Plenty of poolside chairs
- All the pools have swim-up bars
ALG Vacations Kindness Connection
Now for the reason I was in the Dominican. I applied and was invited to attend this first-ever conference for 40 agents with 20-plus years of experience. We will call ourselves veterans. Last year ALG started with 40 under 40 and added us veterans this year. The younger group met a few days before us, then we overlapped a day and then our conference started.
This conference was to drive home ALGV’s passion for kindness. This includes kindness to ourselves, to others, and in travel. We were also included in a give-back event where we got to give back to the local community. We assisted in a few projects to help hired workers complete renovations and upgrades at a school and boys’ home.
Are you ready to book your all-inclusive vacation to the Dominican Republic?
If you are interested in a vacation, I’d love to earn your business. You can reach me at Lake Pointe Travel at sarah@lakepointetravel.net
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