Rejuvenating a Grande Dame

The Hotel Alegria enjoys one of the best locations on Cabarete beach, just a few steps from the main shops, bars and restaurants in this much-loved Dominican Republic beach resort. She was one of the first resort hotels on this stunning bay, and a stalwart favorite with Dominican and foreign tourists alike. When we took over this beautiful hotel we wanted to keep everything that was perfect about this Cabarete Grande Dame - the view, the authentic Dominican feel, the home-away-from-home - but also give her a make-over to transform her into the best boutique hotel on Cabarete beach.  So we got to work! 

​So many people had slipped between the almost-Mediterranean entry way to Hotel Alegria over the years, that there was a clearly-defined beaten path across the Dominican stone, to the private garden view rooms and one of the best restaurants in the resort. So we decided to give her a brand-new patio floor. 

"We found the new stones in three different quarries right here in DR. It’s a type of Laja stone that has variations of raw quartz, hues of green, yellow and orange on top of the most creamiest beige. It is absolutely stunning," explained co-owner Inbar. "We picked the bits with the most color variations; each stone tells a story. We needed about 200 meters square and it took two weeks to lay. The giant stones came from a sweet elderly man in Santiago."

The beautiful Hotel Alegria entryway is now ready for the footfall of decades more welcome guests. Replacing the entire entrance patio also gave us the opportunity to take advantage of the low season to completely re-lay the restaurant, bar and garden paving.

As all women of a certain age will attest, when it comes to recreating one's youth, one must start with the foundation. 

The next task was to choose the color-scheme for the walls. We needed a hue which was modern, classic, in keeping with the beauty of Cabarete bay, and also the perfect backdrop for the huge array of mature plants in the garden at Hotel Alegria. Note the ivory, pinky, sandy choices. Which color would you prefer? See our next post to find out which one we chose. 
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