General Info

[Turgid]

I usually stay at an Airbnb or the New Garden. Casa Linda a try, New Garden sometimes has lound music going very late and early morning, so if the noise is controlled at all, this would be a blessing.

The New Garden was my go to place when Wilfred was there. Cool guy. After he left I found the New Garden starting to have loud music so I went over to Wilfred's new place. His leaving the business and me cease going to Sosua coincided.

[Mr Gogo]

My boys flew out of STI this morning on American Airlines and when he got to MIA they cancelled his connection to Las Vegas. 700 flights cancelled today. They are citing weather and staffing shortages.

[George03]

Casa Linda is very chica friendly but there are rules. One chica per bedroom. ALL chicas need a valid picture ID and can not be on their banned list and believe me they check. Many chicas carry fake ID's,the guards can spot them a mile away and confiscate them and tell the girl to leave or the police will be called. The one thing about Casa Linda is depending on the villa you can't throw loud parties especially after 10:00 pm. Do what you want, swim naked in the pool with your hookers but do it quietly or you risk security showing up. That said, many weekend warriors break the rules, some get away with it, some don't. I've seen the power shut off to villas after their second warning on multiple occasions, security in Casa Linda don't play.

I usually stay at an Airbnb or the New Garden. Casa Linda a try, New Garden sometimes has lound music going very late and early morning, so if the noise is controlled at all, this would be a blessing.

[Cestme]

Do you know for certain that the charge was due to fraud, or just simple incompetence?

In any case, my credit card companies have always done an excellent job of protecting me from all kinds of incidents in the best.

Definitely, it was fraud. The one and only time that the physical chip on my credit card was used was, when I checked-in and the $444.27 was authorized by my bank. Whereas, the voucher that the lady signed for her $89.92 payment, had a hand-written last 4 digits of my card. They also supplanted the physical chip on my card from when it was used when I checked-in, to fraudulently show that the chip was used for the $89.92 charge. It was cleverly done, I must say and, I don't think that this was the only time they have done something like this.

[One Eyed Man]

If this happened to me, it might be happening to other unsuspecting customers and it's probably not limited only to Hotel Napolitano. The big lesson is to make sure you sign up for alerts, so your bank can alert you whenever your credit card is charged. And, also to constantly check your credit card account especially when you are out of the country. The $89.92 payment to Hotel Napolitano has finally been credited back to Account.

Do you know for certain that the charge was due to fraud, or just simple incompetence?

In any case, my credit card companies have always done an excellent job of protecting me from all kinds of incidents in the best.

[Turgid]

I just got back from a two week stay in Santo Domingo.....

This was most informative. Thanks.

[Oakie]

......The big lesson is to make sure you sign up for alerts, so your bank can alert you whenever your credit card is charged. And, also to constantly check your credit card account especially when you are out of the country. The $89.92 payment to Hotel Napolitano has finally been credited back to Account.

Sorry to hear about your problem, and glad it worked out in the end, but what a hassle!

My first trip to Sosua years ago, I used my CC at the Waterfront Restaurant. The very next day charges started piling up from Shanghai, of all places.

Like you I went thru hell to get it finally sorted out. At least these days, with fast WiFi available everywhere, and online banking, you can stay on top of things.

But I think the "big lesson" here is never use a credit card, or at least never let it out of your hands. Use the bank's ATM for cash to get you thru no more than a day or so, and take at least 2 bank cards, as those machines can swallow your tarjeta, or be compromised.

And most hotels will offer you a discount for cash, which was your original intention.

[Cestme]

I just got back from a two week stay in Santo Domingo. In the past few years I had decided on staying in Airbnb, except occasionally when my preferred apartment along the Malecon in Santo Domingo, is not available to check in on the date of my arrival and, I have to stay a few days in a hotel, usually Napolitano, while waiting for the apartment to become available. My last trip was one of those and, I had to check in at hotel Napolitano on 10/9, for 3 days while waiting for my preferred apartment to be available. At check-in, I specifically instructed the front desk lady at Napolitano, not to charge my credit card but instead to put a hold on the 25,000 pesos /$444.27 that she said was needed, as I was going to pay cash for my 3 night stay at check out on 10/12- she agreed. Nonetheless, unbeknownst to me, she went ahead an charged my card. I usually get an email alert from my bank whenever my card is charged. Unfortunately, I did not get to my email until 10/12, my check-out date and, only then did I discover she had, despite my instructions, charged my card for $444.27 as per the alert from my credit card bank. The lady who checked me in on 10/9, was not on duty but I expressed my displeasure to the front-desk staff's supervisor. The supervisor tried to cancel the charge electronically but encountered a glitch in the system and had to call their banker on the phone to do the cancellation from his / her end. After which, she told me that the charge should fall off my account statement within 2-3 days. The first time I noticed something fishy had happened was, when I logged into my credit card account, I saw a charge of $89.92 from Hotel Napolitano, which corresponded to a one-night stay. I had expected to see the $444.27 that my bank had emailed an alert to me some days earlier that Hotel Napolitano had charged, of which, the supervisor had attempted unsuccessfully, some minutes earlier, to cancel. Curiously the $89.92 was the only outstanding charge from Napolitano, there was no trace of the $444.27. Most perplexing, I did not have an email from my credit card bank alerting me of the $89.92 charge from Napolitano. Luckily, I am a qualified accountant and can smell a fraudulent scheme from a distance. I instantaneously knew the reason I did not receive the alert from my bank for the $89.92 charge, was likely because some savvy crook, most likely a hotel staff, had tagged the $89.92 charge to the original bank authorization on 10/9, via my credit card chip for $444.27, to pay for someone's else stay. The reason I quickly suspected this likely scheme was, $89.92 is the normal charge for a one night stay ($70 plus taxes) at Napolitano, whereas I had negotiated a private offer of $66.50 and with taxes, my total charge per night only came up to $85.12. So, if this was inadvertent error and, I was being charged for a 1 night stay, it would have been $85.12 and not $89.92. I immediately brought this up with the front-desk staff's supervisor and soon after, many of her colleagues joined in, with each trying to come up with a probable justification for the charge, from my eating in the restaurant, my girlfriend using the card, to my bank being the problem, since they couldn't find the charge of the $89.92 in their records. All of which, made no sense as the charge in my credit card account clearly listed Hotel Napolitano as the merchant. Not only did I let them know that American bankers are arguably the world's best but also, I asked to know why my girlfriend would take my card to make a room charge when she was with me? Needless to say the language barrier limited their grasp of the guiding hints that I presented to help them troubleshoot the issue and, the whole process painstakingly took so long and I had to leave but not without getting the direct phone number of the supervisor and her promising to continue with the investigation and getting back to me the next day or earlier. I also immediately filed a dispute claim for the charge with my credit card bank. This is already too long, so I will leave out more details. The supervisor maintained continuous communication with me while she continued with the investigation for a couple of days. Finally, informing me that the rigorous internal investigation guided by my hints, had led to the discovery of my credit card being used to pay for a certain woman's one night hotel stay. She also sent the picture of the woman to me. The hotel was able to has track the $89.92 charge indicating the physical chip on my card was used for the charge, confirming my initial gut instinct suspicion that the charge was tagged to the original bank authorization of $444.27 when I physically handed my card to the front desk staff, hence I remained in unseparated possession of my card in the duration of my entire stay at Napolitano. This is most likely how the fraudulent scheme is setup, a hold is initially put on your credit card for more than the calculated amount for your hotel stay, Soon after, or when convenient, a cancellation is processed for less than the amount of the initial amount on hold, and the remaining amount on the hold is used to pay for accomplice (s) hotel stay at lower rates and the difference from the normal rate, shared amongst them. This will work especially in cases where the customer promises to pay cash for the hotel stay. It also won't surprise me if the woman, in this case, was a high-end escort who boost of living in a 3-star hotel uses the hotel for her business with clients. If this happened to me, it might be happening to other unsuspecting customers and it's probably not limited only to Hotel Napolitano. The big lesson is to make sure you sign up for alerts, so your bank can alert you whenever your credit card is charged. And, also to constantly check your credit card account especially when you are out of the country. The $89.92 payment to Hotel Napolitano has finally been credited back to Account.

[Archineer88]

Yeah its only 3 of us, we're all pretty mellow guys we don't do drugs and we all make good money and are willing to spend it to have a good time. Thanks for the heads up about the 10 pm quiet time I reached out to the owner and they said the same things. Can't wait for the trip to report back and let you guys know h. Ow it turned out.

[Manizales911]

Most hotels in Sosua are chica friendly, not all Airbnb's are. I am 99% the Casa Linda is. Even though I have not stayed there, I am pretty sure that I have read others on this forum that have been there and brought guests. I usually email the hotel or Airbnb if I am not sure. Try do a search on this forum for Casa Linda.

Casa Linda is very chica friendly but there are rules. One chica per bedroom. ALL chicas need a valid picture ID and can not be on their banned list and believe me they check. Many chicas carry fake ID's,the guards can spot them a mile away and confiscate them and tell the girl to leave or the police will be called. The one thing about Casa Linda is depending on the villa you can't throw loud parties especially after 10:00 pm. Do what you want, swim naked in the pool with your hookers but do it quietly or you risk security showing up. That said, many weekend warriors break the rules, some get away with it, some don't. I've seen the power shut off to villas after their second warning on multiple occasions, security in Casa Linda don't play.

[George03]

Hey there guys, me and my buddy's will be visiting Sosua the week of Thanksgiving for our birthdays this is all of our first time there. We booked a villa in casa Linda I wanted to know if anyone has stayed there and is it chica friendly or if we should cancel and book somewhere else we want to do the average tourist stuff like hit the beach, sight see but at night game some of the women up. What would you guys recommend.

Most hotels in Sosua are chica friendly, not all Airbnb's are. I am 99% the Casa Linda is. Even though I have not stayed there, I am pretty sure that I have read others on this forum that have been there and brought guests. I usually email the hotel or Airbnb if I am not sure. Try do a search on this forum for Casa Linda.

[Mr Gogo]

Hey there guys, me and my buddy's will be visiting Sosua the week of Thanksgiving for our birthdays this is all of our first time there. We booked a villa in casa Linda I wanted to know if anyone has stayed there and is it chica friendly or if we should cancel and book somewhere else we want to do the average tourist stuff like hit the beach, sight see but at night game some of the women up. What would you guys recommend.

Welcome. Very interesting first post with and it intrigued me. I usually am cautious about first time posters because they only fish here for information but don't give back.

Okay Arch but I think you need to sit back and take a deep breath because this decision can change your life and perspectives LOL. You won't ever be the guy you are now after visiting Sosua. Do I have you nervous?

Check the rules of the villa in the rule section. How many guys are with you? Have you taken a trip together before? That will determine if you should be together or have space. I've traveled in groups before but I try to keep it small. My first trip was to Medellin in 2010 it was eight of us and half were strangers. We had two penthouses but luckily I got my own apartment one block from them. We had the cheap guy, the druggie, the guy who wanted to fuck every girl he saw and the guy who was always late. Complete disaster. Good luck LOL.

[Archineer88]

Hey there guys, me and my buddy's will be visiting Sosua the week of Thanksgiving for our birthdays this is all of our first time there. We booked a villa in casa Linda I wanted to know if anyone has stayed there and is it chica friendly or if we should cancel and book somewhere else we want to do the average tourist stuff like hit the beach, sight see but at night game some of the women up. What would you guys recommend.

[MamaGuevos]

---I'm sorry to hear about the new requirement in Brazil. Seems to me like before mandating it they should wait 5 to 10 years to determine the long term affects on the immune system, among many other extremely important concerns.

Sam,

I don't mean to troll you, but the yellow fever vaccine has a long history. A Nobel Prize was awarded to one of its inventors, Max Theiler, in 1951. Originally, it was not the safest vaccine (there were small outbreaks of vaccines who got the disease), but the current vaccine was modified in 1982 and is considered to be very safe. About 1 out of every 2 million vaccinated people get ill. The disease has a mortality of about 15% when symptomatic. People who get sick from the vaccine either die or get better in a few weeks. There are no long-term effects on the immune system other than lifelong protection against yellow fever.

Sam, I am guessing that you are similarly worried about the potential for immune disease in people who are given a vaccine against COVID-19 even though there is no known adverse effect against the immune system and 2.2% of COVID-19 infected individuals are known to die (Much higher than that if you are 70 years old).

But, we are discussing yellow fever. How many decades more would you like Brazil to wait before vaccinating people against yellow fever?

[Member #4740]

Just landed at Punta Cana airport and the police lady before the actual immigration ask me a certificate, without that I would need to do or show PCR.

Anyway I took the bus to Boca Chica they speak dollar in all hotel.

This town is finished rotten and broken to death.