Leading Hotels Adds Dominican Republic’s Tortuga Bay to Roster

The newest member of Leading Hotels of the World is Tortuga Bay in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

Of the 355 hotels that applied last year for acceptance into Leading Hotels, two dozen properties (7 percent of the total applicants) were accepted.

The 15-villa, 50-room Tortuga Bay, whose interiors were designed by Oscar de la Renta, is an enclave within the Punta Cana Resort & Club, a 15,000-acre resort on the island’s east coast.

Under construction now at the resort is an oceanfront Tom Fazio-designed golf course to complement the La Cana course designed by P. B. Dye. The Six Senses Spa recently opened at the resort as well.

Tortuga Bay features private transfers from Punta Cana Airport to the guests’ villa where guests register and meet their villa manager (one manager for every two villas).

Tortuga Bay’s Bamboo restaurant is one of eight restaurants and five bars available to guests of the Punta Cana Resort & Club. Breakfast is served, if desired, in guests’ own villas by their villa manager.

The resort also offers snorkeling and scuba, a tennis center, horseback riding, a children’s petting zoo and a 1,000-acre nature preserve with hiking trails.