My family and I loved this beautiful, quiet, and friendly hotel and its staff. With its clean, relaxing pool surrounded by lush vegetation, Casa Valeria felt like an oasis to us. This was the first time my Mom and I had been to the Caribbean, and we felt very welcome and well taken care of. We stayed at Casa Valeria for a week, ending on August 2, 2008.

Even before our trip we got a very good impression of the place as the owners replied to my emails promptly and thoroughly. We too had read all the TripAdvisor comments before our trip, and can concur that the owners of the hotel are really as helpful as the reviews suggest. I even needed someone to help me pick up my passport from an embassy in Santo Domingo (an 8-hour trip roundtrip!), and Arien arranged someone to help me out. I felt that there was never a question that the owners or another staff member did not help me resolve!

The location of the hotel is ideal--just a 10-minute walk to the beach, and near the main restaurants, etc. It's very quiet during the night, so we all (a 6-person group) slept very well.

In sum, I think the best features of this hotel are: comfort and relaxed atmosphere, the pool, friendliness of staff, location, and quietness. I think this is an awesome hotel to stay at, whether traveling with kids, friends, or by yourself!

This is a first for me. I have never felt the need to write a "fan letter" before. But the excellence of this small hotel simply must be acknowledged. Casa Valeria was recomended to me by a friend and I booked my stay from their web site. I was pleasantly surprised to be contacted through personal e-mail by the proprietor. This set the tone for the entire stay. Personal sincere service is the hallmark of this friendly, intimate oasis.

But the excellence does not stop there. My room was clean and fully functional. Maid service/valet service as quietly efficient as any Ritz Carlton or Fairmont Hotel I have stayed in on corporate trips. Each room has its own private veranda overlooking the central pool area.(My favorite place for morning coffee and newspaper.) The restaurant (open to the public) clearly dispenses some of the best dinners in the Carribean. It's not often one looks forward to the next "hotel meal" of the day, but that was certainly the case for me during my entire ten day stay.

Over the course of those ten days I came in contact with not only the proprietor Arien and his wife Diana Vlogtman but all of the hotel and restaurant staff. The friendly,courteous, sincerity evident in my first encounter with managment is consistantly displayed by all in their employ. This is the stuff of not only fond memories but lasting friendships as well.

Other reviewers have accurately mentioned the convienient central location, security, and quiet surroundings. I concur but will try not to duplicate the reviews of others.

Suffice it to say: if an All Inclusive Resort sounds more like a prison sentence than a vacation to you, than this little gem of a hotel is your lush tropical Eden.

Let's start out by saying I am A Frequent traveler and travel often for business. I am picky! Being a New Yorker, born and bred, I expect good service. This hotel and their owner/operators went above and beyond my expectations. Their attention to detail in every aspect of my stay was astounding. My room was cleaned spotless every day. The pool and grounds were imaculate. It was also conveniant to have a bar and restaurant with great food right on the property. We were 1/2 block away from city center and a 5 minute walk to the beach. Perfect. I am already booked for this November with friends and am looking foreword to another week in paradise.

Our first trip ever to the Dom.rep. (Sosua) and Casa Valeria was amazing! We selected Casa Valeria due to the several positive reviews and were not disappointed at all - quite the opposite. We had high expectations due to the fact that we had long been waiting for this trip and to spend quality time with the family (my sister and mom joined us the next day from our arrival). We were all together 4 adults and 2 teenagers (14 and 15 yrs. boys) and accomodated two rooms at Casa Valeria. Both rooms were very cozy, spacious and functional. The decor is very caribbean/mexican-style; colorful with unique paintings of butterflies and tropical flowers. The beds were firm and supportive and all the linens clean. The room had a fridge where you can keep the after sun lotion cool and drinking water cold.

The bathroom is rather large and the maids made sure we had clean and fluffy towels each day. They even folded out the towels into the artistic "sculptures" such as swans etc. A small - yet very beautiful - gesture to show genuine care and appreciation towards guests.

Also there was a TV in the room and once it went out of order (due to a sudden thunder storm), Arien (one of the owners) quickly took a look at the problem and fixed it.

Casa Valeria is like a little hidden garden hotel surrounded with beautiful flowers and trees. All the 9 (?) rooms are located around the pool which was kept clean from the tree leaves. Arien and Diana (the owners) are keeping busy all day long helping guests and doing it with a smile. You surely feel yourself welcome and free to ask them anything. For example, one day I asked Arien if the waterpark nearby would be open. We had just seen an ad about the place and thought it would be a nice place to visit. Arien used his computer (internet) and phone constantly to find out answers to all of our questions. The web pages of the waterpark had not been updated for ages so Arien suggested he could drive me there to check out the place and see if it was open or not. He did that volunteerly and charged nothing for the service. (The waterpark was closed.)

Casa Valeria has a nice restaurant on-site. The staff of the restaurant is SO friendly and constantly smiling. This was propably the best part of it all; the heartwarming smile of every staff member. Not all of them speak fluent english but it doesn't always require one to know the language if they can speak with their hearts:-) I will miss that smile!

What ever we required at Casa Valeria, our needs were well taken care of. And believe me, we had QUITE A FEW questions! Casa Valeria was exactly what we wanted out of our accomodation. Surely it all depends on what you like, but if you prefer small, cozy, intimate, friendly, safe, clean and quiet resting place, Casa Valeria is an excellent choise. It is the opposite to those multicomplex, all-inclusive, non-personilized chain hotels that would not make you feel special.