We are very excited you have chosen Casa Bella for your luxury vacation! We will work hard to ensure your vacation is everything you have dreamed it could be. To help in this, we have prepared the following list of Frequently Asked Questions / Guidelines for you. Please sit back, enjoy one of our fine island drinks and peruse this at your leisure!
VILLA MANAGEMENT
The owners of Casa Bella, welcome you to this little slice of paradise and hope you find it as magical and welcoming as they have. While you are here, Victoria Hernandez is your Villa Manager and will be available to help you with virtually any request. She may be reached at 809-589-7951 during normal business hours or at 809-589-7951 during off hours. Victoria speaks fluent Spanish, from living nearly 20 years in the area. Her knowledge of this “zone” and the Dominican Republic in general will be invaluable to you during your stay...
CHECK-IN / CHECK-OUT
AFTER 3:00pm on the day of arrival and CHECK-OUT is 11:00am on the day of departure. During high season, check-in time may be delayed. Your patience is appreciated. For those arriving after hours, arrangements should be made prior to arrival.
PAYMENTS
All payments must be received by cash, personal check, money order, or recognized traveler’s checks all in U.S. currency or drawn on U.S. banks.
TIPPING
We are here to make your vacation dream come true and the entire staff will work hard to make certain this happens. Casa Bella is a private home so you are never charged the 26% mandatory tax and 18% tip levied by hotels in this country. Should you feel our staff have worked hard and deserve a tip, we suggest the customary tip of 12% of the villa rental price.
Our Villa Management will collect the tip at the end of your stay and distribute it to the members of the staff. Please do not hand out the tip yourself; we use a formula for an equitable distribution of the tips to the staff (even ones you do not see). We guarantee that our staff will receive 100% of your tip!
INCLUSIVE FEES
While you are here at our villa, please make yourself at home. The villa rental fee includes full use of the entire villa grounds, furnishings, entertainment & exercise equipment, fully trained staff, soft drinks, bottled water, and fruit juices. Additional charges are applied for food, alcoholic beverages, telephone usage and other incidental expenses. All additional fees must be paid prior to leaving the villa.
TELEPHONE
The telephone number of the villa is +1-809-589-7998 and is restricted to local calls and incoming calls (local or long distance). If you need to make long distance calls, a Dominican Republic calling card may be purchased at many locations in the country or from our Villa Management.
INTERNET ACCESS
Vacation is no time to need office equipment but in the unlikely event it is necessary for you to gain access to the computer or Internet or print something from your portable computer, we have made arrangements for you. Located in the first floor is the connections needed for your computer laptop. Internet access from the villa is available as direct DSL connection.
Connection Type : DSL - Rated Speed : 384K / 128K
AIR-CONDITIONING
Each of the Three bedrooms has been equipped with a high-quality air conditioning unit designed to sufficiently cool the bedroom. When using the air conditioners, please close all doors and windows. The air conditioners will not cool the entire house and leaving doors, windows open will prevent them from cooling your room.
Operation of the air conditioners is at your desire and no additional charges are applied if you decide to use them. They are there for your comfort and convenience. However, the ocean trade winds blowing into the villa will cool the rooms comfortably and allow you to hear the ocean as you drift off to sleep.
If you do chose to use the air conditioners, please turn them off when you are not in the room to help conserve energy.
WATER
We are pleased to provide you with bottled water in each bathroom for your personal use. We encourage you to use this water for brushing your teeth and personal consumption. Additional bottles of water are freely available in the refrigerator in the villa.
The tap water is good and is locally treated but when traveling into a foreign country such as the Dominican Republic it is better to be safe than sorry. We never recommend drinking the water unless you are acclimated to it through years of consumption.
On this island nation water is a scarce resource and one we encourage you to consume with care. While you can feel free to take long showers, luxurious baths, or any other normal use of water, we encourage you to use bath and beach towels for a couple of days.
ELECTRICITY
Casa Bella has also gone the extra step to ensure any electrical needs, such as for air conditioning, has been met. Although we are connected to the nationwide electrical system we also have a 20Kw generator and 3 inverters on site. Sometimes the local power is less than perfect, which could interrupt your vacation, so we designed for this and installed the generators to ensure plentiful power for the entire villa. All power supplied to the villa is 120v/60Hz.
If there is a power outage or one of the plugs seems to not have power, please bring it to the attention of the Villa Management.
LAUNDRY
We realize on vacation in such a tropical climate that you may want to have your clothes washed while you are here. We have equipped the villa with state-of-the-art washers and dryers, trained the staff in their use and would be pleased to wash your clothes for you. Place your dirty laundry into the hampers provided in each bedroom and they will be returned to you cleaned. We can wash standard clothing but cannot accept anything delicate or that requires dry-cleaning.
TAXI SERVICE
Although there are many entertaining and relaxing activities here at the villa, we realize our guests may want to visit the local town or take a short trip to one of the larger communities. We encourage “getting out” if you have the inclination because the Dominican people are so fun and interesting to be around.
We can organize a permanent guest van (taxi) to be on call throughout the day should you decide to venture out. There is an additional charge for this service, currently about $90(US) per day for the taxi. If you would like us to organize one, please inquire with the Villa Management.
We do not recommend renting a car to drive by yourself. The Dominican culture has them using the road for everything from driving to drying their almonds to walking from house to house. Driving here is an art form and not to be undertaken lightly. Use of a taxi is safe, economical, and allows you to enjoy the scenery and take in the local ambiance during your trip. Please, use a taxi!
SMOKING
We realize while on vacation you may want to partake of one of the fine Dominican or Cuban cigars or you are a smoker who just wants a cigarette. Please be considerate of the villa and guests who follow and only smoke outside of the villa. We ask your cooperation in not smoking inside the villa. We have designed many welcoming terraces throughout the villa so feel free to sit outside, relax, listen to the ocean, and enjoy your smoke!
EQUIPMENT & APPLIANCES
To help enhance your vacation and dining pleasure, no expense has been spared in equipping the villa with the best quality equipment and appliances.
The villa staff has been well trained in the proper use and maintenance of the equipment. The staff is here to help you enjoy your vacation, so please rely on them as much as possible to provide you with this assistance; this is what they are here for!
POOL & POOL HEATING
This beautiful heated pool is the latest low salt non-chorinated and uses a state-of-the-art pool filtration system. Each room should have a supply of beach towels replenished each day for your swimming pleasure.
MASSAGE
Nothing is as relaxing as getting a professional massage while listening to the ocean pound on the rocks below. Our Villa Management will be delighted to help organize massages for you. We suggest you book early, though, to help ensure you get the massage time and masseuse you desire. Massages are approximately $65 (US) per hour plus tips.
HOUSEKEEPING & REPAIRS
Casa Bella has a full housekeeping staff that will arrive daily to clean. They have been trained to be as unobtrusive as possible, including cleaning the bedrooms when you are at breakfast. If you have a specific request for when the housekeeping staff should appear, or when they should clean your room, please feel free to inform Villa Management. However, the villa must be cleaned daily to ensure adequate preventive maintenance to maintain the quality of the villa.
The villa is located overlooking the ocean. This fact and general wear will sometimes cause things within the villa to require repair. Villa Management reserves the right to enter the rented villa during suitable daylight hours to perform necessary repairs and preventive maintenance. We will inform you in advance of our need to enter and promise to work with you to make sure any repairs are conducted in a manner as to not overly interfere with your vacation.
SECURITY GUARDS
You may have noticed the security guard stationed at the entrance to the Orchid Bay Estates; they are there to ensure your privacy more than anything. Our full time security staff are here 24/7 to control and ensure your safety.
DRUG & CRIMINAL ACTIVITY
While you are here enjoying this splendid villa, please take any common precautions to protect the premises and its contents against damage, loss or theft. We recognize that our visitors will want to “let go” during their vacation and we encourage it. However, we do not condone and will not allow unruly or rowdy behavior we feel will damage the villa or place our staff in any danger.
Guests and members of the villa rental party shall not use nor permit to be brought onto the premises any controlled substance or engage in any illegal activity Casa Bella reserves the right to evict any guest, without refund, and further reserves the right to contact local authorities if deemed necessary. The Dominican Republic has a zero tolerance policy on drugs so please do not be tempted.
LOCAL GUESTS
The Dominicans and others who live here in this area are very open and friendly people who enjoy meeting and entertaining visitors from many countries. We encourage you to get to know the culture of the country through these local representatives. Most of our villa staff has been drawn from the local area so they can answer any questions you may have of the town and local community.
At the same time, please recognize that you are undoubtedly much wealthier than the typical Dominican. This is an attraction for them and, as they are physically beautiful people, sometimes this attraction can lead to temptation. We urge sober consideration of such relationships.
Should you choose to become personally involved with a Dominican we request you do not bring them to the villa without discussing it in advance with Villa Management. We require this for security purposes and to help ensure the safety of yourselves and future guests.
Also, we have specific rules on friends or family of yours in the area who would like to visit. Please check with the Villa Manager.
OWNERS AREAS
The villa owners often use this vacation home for their own relaxation and enjoyment. While they welcome you to use the house as you would your own, they ask that you do not open any of the locked closets. This is where they store their clothing and other personal effects while you are enjoying their private villa. We appreciate your consideration on this.
