The Bannister Hotel & Yacht Club

Traveled to the Dominican Republic for the first time in October 2025. Friends picked me up at the Puerto Plata Airport. Although 3.5 from Samana it was the best roads with traffic to travel on. The ride was stunning with natural beauty along the way. Driving there with scooters being the main transport for locals is not for the faint at heart, to do without experience or lack of patience. It is the way it is and the locals are used to it and their safety is very high. So once again when in someone else's country, have patience. We stopped along the way to view the beautiful cliffs dipping into the seas, have a beverage and enjoy the local scenery. Arriving into the colorful and beautiful town of Samana I instantly knew the drive was worth it. Small but great shops, bars and restaurants were generous. It is very inexpensive to visit the DR. We drove around the town a bit before heading to the resort. Once entering the lush driveway rhe vegetation was lush with palm trees, flora and fauna. The resort has 30 suites and stunning common areas, much like we see of a top tier 4 or 5 star hotel in the states. The property sits on its own Marina with beach access and a large condominium complex. The resort is open air and flows out to the beauriful ocean view. Gorgeous marble floors welcome you to the concierge desk who checks you in while offering a cool drink or adult beverage. All rooms are suites with a dining area, full service kitchen, very nice sitting area looking out to the balcony. The private bedroom and bathroom is large and comfortable with a TV and lots of storage. All areas a very nicely decorated, comfortable and roomy. Rooms can have either a view of the jungle or the Marina/sea, all with large balconies. Your room rental comes with free breakfast that is very unlike anything we are used to in the states. It is served by waitstaff, overlooking the Marina with a very full menu to choose from. Fresh fruit, beverage of choice, fresh squeezed juices to choose from, assorted breakfast breads, croissants and condiments are brought to your table beautifully traded while awaiting on your cooked to order morning meal. Food is plentiful & delicious. The resort provides daily transportation into the township of Samana as well as a water shuttle to a very nice island, you can see from the hotel, that you can spend the day, hiking, swimming, snorkeling and enjoy the beach ⛱️. I will return in mid Feb to mid March 2026 to see the Humpback whale migration and enjoy carnival. The resort has 2 edge pools looking out over the ocean, two delicious restaurants, several bars, on site ATM, very high quality equipment in the work out room, a billiard room and wonderful lounging areas around the property to relax and enjoy your gorgeous surroundings with service that is top notch If this doesn't draw you to the DR the people will!

The hotel is not an All Inclusive! The room rate only include the breakfast. They have 3 Restaurant: One of them only open at breakfast, Italian and Ocean Grill. The room very nice also have a Kichennette if you one cook any meal. Hotel has a Marina and a minimarket. Pros: Excellent service all staff is very kind. Breakfast at la carte very good. Gardens and landyard well maintened. Reasonable drinks price. Pool very clean and beatiful view. Check in/checkout process very fast. Parking lot free and enough for local residence. Ocean view room excellent view. Cons: Tennis court need a repair. The Ocean Club restaurant has not available all that option offer in the menú. Theres not activities at night. Lobby bar was closed. Need to place Smarttv or at least installed a firetv.

This place is very old and dated. We chose this place because it had a “tennis court “that was a joke! It was unplayable as you would hurt yourself with all of the cracks and potholes! Very disappointed. They didn’t have half of the food on the menu, and the majority of the staff were very rude and basically ignored us most of the time.

We stayed in this hotel for 2 nights. The a/c in our room was not working and we notified it as soon as we entered the room and then for the next 2 days at leat on 5 occasions to different employees including a supervisor. Not only was it never repaired but there was never information in what they were doing nor an offer to change us to another room. We visited 2 restaurants (poor quality on both). They didn’t have pepper, pepperoni (for pizza offered in the menu), goat cheese and honey (for a pizza offered in the menu), hollandaise sauce (for eggs benedict offered in the menu), orange juice or pineapple juice (as offered in the menu). The closet in the room was dirty and dusty and the bathroom towels had seen better days. The hotel is beautiful but is too run down. Do not stay at the Bannister. Not worth it.

Stayed at hotel for three days for a fraternal planning retreat. The hotel lodging were acceptable and decent for the price. The hotel has a marina flr boats which alea for a breautiful vista. The hotel offers aeveral restaurants to choose from and we eat at twl lf the three options. The food was delicious and reasonably priced. The ocean club restaurant was right on the water and provided a great view of the ocean as you eat or had drinks. The hotel was about a 20 ninute drive ro the Samana city center which we visited two nights to have dinner and take in the stores and shops. My room was a standard room with a kitchenette, a sitting are with a couch and a queen bed. We negotiated a group rate and sone enbers lf our party got one bedroom suites and two bedroom suites for the sane price. The appliances were dated but were serviceable. The room also had a nice deck facing the marina with a tabe for four as well as a larger wicker sectional. The Overall i would reconnend the hotel if you are visiting the area