Hotel El Palacio was a great surprise as I came upon it one day while looking for a place to stay in Santo Domingo ( I'm a student here, but I wanted to get away without leaving the city). I had a list of hotels in Zona Colonial and when I came across El Palacio, I knew I had found my place. The staff was very nice and helpful. I asked to be shown a room and they patiently showed three different options. The room that I checked in was on the third floor, accessible by elevator, with a 42"Plasma TV, king size bed, comfortable desk, fast internet, and a very comfortable rooftop pool. El Palacio is centric in the Zona Colonial, so I just left my car parked in the garage (very convienet) and strolled on to Calle el Conde, had drinks at Proud Mary's Pub ( best Sangrias!!!- the pub owner is also the bartender and the vibe is quiet, jazzy, and mysterious), and just was able to walk to all the sights in the Zona. This is a great alternative to any Santo Domingo hotel. I've stayed at the Hilton and the Marriot Courtyard, but El Palacio has been the most staisfying.

It's been a while since I've stayed here, but I've been meaning to post a review-- we stayed i think 3 days in Santo Domingo, and booked this place since it was in the zona colonial and seemed like a nice place. It is a very nice place, the pool was nice (the view's kind-of strange-- you can look at other balconies, and they can look at you-- whatever). Yeah, the front desk isn't exactly brimming with friendliness, but they will attend to you, and they will do what they can to accomodate (like when we had to leave for the bus to go to Punta Cana they called the bus company and found the times and prices and called a cab company to take us there). The breakfast could use some improving, but I didn't really want to eat there anyway-- I wanted to get out and explore! Some have not liked the shower with no curtain, I thought it was refreshing and fine. There is a nice atrium style architecture, which I enjoyed. You will be in the center of the zona colonial, which means you will be harrassed and bothered to buy things, use a cab, etc.

Overall, I thought it was very nice, and very well maintained, and liked it very much.

Palacio is a nice little pension/hotel. It's very centrally located to the main tourist spots (walkable). Clean and seems to have a lot of security, both around the zona colonial, and at the hotel (@ night) -- enough to make the fears die down and actually enjoy walking around at night. There's an in-room safe, and the rooms are large. The rooftop pool is a little on the cool side - but overall, the place is clean, well maintained. We'd stay there again.

Tips:

1. bring enough cash with you, since the hotel doesn't always have enough for exchange - (the airport is a total rip off for currency exchange).

2. If you get desperate, there's a hard rock cafe about 2 blocks away (cheaper than the maison de bari and a lot of the other tourist traps) and a whole strip of cute little restaurants on that same main "drag". btw - there are actually a lot of coupons for restaurants that are in the little 1/2 page sized local guide, for places where we ate (noticed the coupons a few days after we left Santo Domingo and were trying to figure out how to match the pictures to the sights).

3: We did take a cooking class in Santo Domingo, at a place called Cookers and Friends (just excellent - arrange in advance) - it's a cab ride, but well worth it.

4. Also, another very authentic Dominican restaurant was called Restaurante Conuco (El) - Calle Casimiro de Moya No. 152. The food was pretty good, but the dancing (to watch) was really quite something.

We stayed here from Jan 1st 2010 through Jan 4th. We liked the location- it was very easy to walk to nearby restaurants and sightseeing. The streets of Santo Domingo are a bit chaotic, and we enjoyed the quiet and well landscaped courtyard at the end of the day. Our room was very clean, although small (it was the least expensive in the house), and we really appreciated the clean, modern bathroom, the stocked minifridge, and strong wifi signal. The continental breakfast was okay...I generally just got coffee, juice, and cereal. The overall atmosphere at this hotel is excellent. We found the staff helpful. Only downside to the location is true to the entire Colonial Zone, a bit tricky to navigate given the one way, rather narrow streets. Once you are there, the pedestrian experience is quite enjoyable. If you like to travel a bit off the beaten path, this place is a gem.