Daniel B.
Yelp
If you find this place online, you might think there's no way it'll look as beautiful and neat and cool and welcoming as it does in the pictures. You'll be wrong--it's exactly as advertised. If you want to know what you're getting, just look on their website and their IG (@_the_dreamcatcher, and @chefjeromepr for the chef's private account). The rooms really do look like that. The breakfasts from Chef Jerome really are that photogenic. The dogs really are that sleepy and cute. Etc.
Most reviews of this place are effusive, but here and there you find negative ones that seem well thought-out and sincere. And because the rooms have a lot of quirk, and because it is not a typical hotel, these reviews might cause you to worry, or at the very least, wonder what you're getting yourself into. Instead of telling you why Dreamcatcher is awesome (their website and other reviews do that nicely), let me spend this review dispelling the concerns I saw raised:
* Noise: Not a worry. I was here 5 nights with every or nearly every room booked--quiet ruled, and signs reminding guests of quiet hours (10pm to I think 8am) were posted everywhere. From what I can tell, reviews complaining of noise are extreme outliers.
* Mosquitoes: I have only my stay here to judge, but, this wasn't an issue. Obviously there were mosquitoes--the house is in the tropics, it has outdoor areas and terraces galore, and it's full of plants and fountains--but I didn't get bitten much despite showering outdoors every evening and spending plenty of other time in the outdoor areas. If you forget to bring bug spray, they have some. (Note, I was here mid-December--no idea if this is high or low season for mosquitoes.)
* Shared toilets: Some of the rooms don't have en-suite facilities, some do. I stayed in one of the three "Designer" rooms, which have a private terrace with outdoor shower and sink, but share a toilet between them. The shared bathroom was kept so clean it looked unused, and the loveliness of the outdoor shower made up for the very minor inconvenience of having to walk nine feet down the hall to poop. If the en-suite rooms are booked and you're on the fence, I'd say don't worry about this.
* Hot water runs out in the outdoor shower: Not in my experience.
* Only hipster youths come here: Nope. I saw a wide range of age, ethnicity, and nationality.
* It's more like a hostel than a hotel, lovely but low-service: Not true. If anything, it's more like some kind of hybrid of spa and B&B. They have on-site and on-the-beach yoga, meditation, in-room massage, incredible breakfast/brunch daily and optional private lunch if you ask the chef to make it for you. The rooms are very well cleaned, the towels plentiful and changed daily if you want them to be. The staff are not typical hotel staff, it's true, they're more like casual B&B hosts, but they're professional--if you need them to book you a taxi or a tour, they're on it.
* It looks too nice to be real: If you're skeptical because you think their marketing pictures are just too nice, all I can say is that the pictures are how it looks.
So hopefully that dispels your concerns, if you have them. And after five full days, I had maybe two complaints:
* My room, while delightfully arranged, didn't have enough storage. It would have been nice to have an armoire or drawers, or just some more shelving in the closet. Because of the lack of space, we had to colonize the beautifully arranged book/knickknack shelves and put our stuff on/around them. Having your mouthguard out next to a beautifully craquelured Buddha kind of diminishes the effect.
* My bed was too soft.
I mention this less to complain than to give you a sense of how there isn't much to complain about.
Tips:
* Free beach umbrellas and coolers, towels and chairs. I think lots of hotels charge for these things and don't even offer them all. Note that the house's supplies aren't limitless--they have maybe 10-12 chairs on hand, and ~5 umbrellas, but in my experience some of everything was available at any time.
* Fair-skinned people, take note: the beach has some good shade from palm trees, but the shade gets taken if you don't go early. See the tip above about the free beach umbrellas.
* It is legal to drink on the beach. The beers and champagne in the lobby fridge are pretty nicely priced. You know what to do. (Just don't go swimming if you do it.)
* You must absolutely have Chef Jerome's three-course breakfasts. You are a fool if you don't stay in for breakfast, and an only slightly lesser fool if you opt for the single-course over the three.