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Review: We ended a cruise in Santo Domingo & wanted to stay one night in the Colonial zone before heading north for some scuba diving. Let me say that I have stayed in Sofitels before & I have yet to be impressed ... in fact, after this stay, I now believe I am downright biased against them. They're all show & promises & not much delivery. There are 2 Sofitels in Santo Domingo & we chose the Frances because of location, the fact that it is in a restored historical building & looked marvelously quaint, & was substantially cheaper than the other Sofitel. We knew the rooms were small & there was no pool ... that didn't bother us. Yes, the rooms are small (we had a standard room), odd shaped, about 10ft x 12ft with very tall ceilings (~20ft). The room was also dark, dank & smelled moldy. The window was mostly blocked by the TV. The AC was efficient but noisy. Our first treat was finding that the lights flickered off when we sat on the bed!! The minibar fridge was broken (it was nicely stocked with warm candy bars & drinks). The bathroom was very large and very tired ... broken tile, missing plumbing parts, a mirror that badly needed replacement. Cleanliness was not great. Someone had thrown something at the TV & the screen had a big sticky blotch on it with dried drippings. You get better towels in Motel 6. Worst of all was the bed. The linens were old cotton muslin ... very scratchy & so thin you could see through them. The bed was a queen but the bed pad was a double. The sheet & pad slid accross that hard mattress & wadded up constantly underneath us. The pillows were kingsize, but the pillow cases were twins. The blanket was full of moth holes. It was really disgusting & miserably uncomfortable (you get better beds in Motel 6, too). OK, to try & give an unbiased review ... the patio was as pleasant and beautiful as pictured. The lunch we had was delightful, although menu selection is somewhat limited. The bar served a great drink & icy cold beer. The breakfast buffet was amazingly excellent. The location is great for the Colonial Zone. For dinner we walked to a restaurant on the square that, by all appearances, looked great (it had a crowd of locals eating there). It was, beyond a doubt, absolutely, incredibly, terrible. Worse than terrible. We truly should've had dinner in the beautiful patio garden of the hotel. Would I go back? Yes -- for dinner or for a drink. Would I stay here again? Not on your life.

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