For almost 2 years now I’ve been driving past Zoetry Curacao on my way to have sunset drinks in Piscadera. I’ve always known that the Zoetry brand represented a more upscale boutique all-inclusive experience with a focus on wellness, but I didn’t know if our Zoetry did that. So when I was offered the opportunity to experience Hyatt’s Inclusive Collection resorts on the island I call home, I couldn’t say no! Did Zoetry live up to its reputation? Keep reading to find out!

Location

Zoëtry Curaçao Resort & Spa is located in the Piscadera area of Curacao, the same area where Dreams and their new Il Mare section is located. I mentioned before, but I really like this area because of its proximity to downtown Willemstad while maintaining a relaxing beach resort vibe. For reference, you’d be looking at a 10-minute drive to get to the Otrobanda side of Willemstad from Zoetry.

Style

There aren’t a lot of Zoetry resorts in the world as it’s still a growing brand, but the existing resorts definitely have a consistent style. You can expect any Zoetry, including the one in Curacao, to incorporate more natural elements into their design. This means seeing more woody tones, stone textures, and art that highlights the natural surroundings. You’ll find open air common spaces and plenty of windows to showcase as much of the area as possible.

Zoetry Curacao is unique in that it’s tucked into a little jungle paradise. The property is surrounded by trees, bushes, and flowers. There are no ocean views – only garden or pool views here. The design of the hotel harmonizes with the jungle surroundings so little touches such as wood stump tables, rattan furniture, and floral patterned fabrics do a lot to make guests feel immersed in nature.

First Impressions

Before entering Zoetry, I arrived at the security gate and was greeted by a lively female security guard. She jokingly assured my husband, who was dropping me off, that she would take great care of me. It put a smile on our faces for sure!

We drove up the short hill to the open air lobby entrance and I was greeted by a front desk associate who immediately offered me a glass of champagne and advised that my bag would be brought to my room for me. Already I could see palms, plumeria trees, and bougainvillea bushes adding a bounty of color and floral scents to the lobby area. The design of the lobby was definitely meant for travelers who appreciate being one with nature as the stone tiles and neutral tones meshed well with the tropical foliage.

I sat down at the front office, provided my identification, and followed the same associate for an in-room check-in. How lovely! I was led to my room a short distance away and was given a brief tour of the room features. As an aside, I always enjoy the personal touch of in-room check-ins and wish more resorts did that. With no questions and warm wishes for a memorable stay, I was left to bask in the comfort of my room.

Rooms

The Zoetry brand is known for their “all suite” accommodations offering larger room sizes, even for entry-level categories. The suites start at a much appreciated 403 sqft. with the higher categories offering more space. I was thankful for this as I stayed in an entry-level Junior Suite Tropical View with a King Bed on the first floor and was amazed at how spacious the room was.

The first thing I want to get out of the way is that there was a tall glass shower in the center of my room. Yes, you read that right. As if it’s the focal point of the room, they placed a large glass shower right next to the bed. If you couldn’t already tell, this resort is definitely geared towards couples or friends who don’t mind a bit of nakedness.

Now that we’ve addressed the glass elephant in the room, I want to say that the room was really lovely. It was decorated with well-made wooden furniture, the closet space was ample, there was a separate toilet room, and the balcony was spacious. I particularly loved the carved stone bathroom sink and high ceilings in the room. The view was nothing to write home about since tropical views almost always equals staring at trees (spoiler alert: I live on the island so I am very spoiled when it comes to views).

If I could gripe about one thing it would be that my room was the very first room down the hallway nearest to the lobby bar. The lobby bar is in an open air space so the noise and chatter from the bar traveled down and could be heard clearly from my room. Was it an issue? Not really, people cleared the bar around 11:30 PM every night. Keep this in mind if you’re an early sleeper though!

Amenities

I’ll start with the in-room amenities, which I was pretty happy with! The toiletries were furnished by Le Labo, a well-known French-inspired luxury fragrance brand owned by Estée Lauder. If you read the bottles closely, you would see in fine print they say “For Park Hyatt”. I wonder what deal Zoetry struck with Park Hyatt to get their luxury bath amenities. Either way I’m not complaining as I fell in love with Le Labo during my stay at the Miami Beach EDITION.

Since Zoetry is one of the more upscale brands of the Hyatt Inclusive Collection resorts, there are many more amenities to find here, one of my favorites being plush terry cloth bathrobes. I was also welcomed with a delicious cheese plate, bottle of red wine, bottle of blue Curacao liqueur, a bowl of fruit, and a plate of petit fours. The minibar was stocked with the usual soft drinks and beers with a replenishment cart coming around every afternoon.

You may see in photos on the websites that there are iPads in the rooms, but my colleagues and I did not have iPads so I believe the resort is phasing out that technology in favor of downloading and using the Hyatt Inclusive Collection app. I did just that to place my in-room breakfast orders before bed every evening and found it easy to navigate. A quick call to the front desk always cleared up any questions I had.

In terms of hotel amenities, keep in mind that this is a smaller resort that offers the ability to take advantage of the amenities at sister property Dreams. That said, the star amenity is the pool. I mentioned before that Zoetry is not a beachfront property, but they do have a huge pool and jacuzzi for floating around in. There are a handful of board games in the lobby area, two bars (lobby and pool), and a spa. I’ll be totally honest, I did not get a chance to visit the spa. There aren’t any photos of the spa on the website for me to share, so suffice to say the spa isn’t a huge draw of this property.

If you’re the type of traveler looking to be entertained with shows and performances, just know that you’ll need to take the golf cart to Dreams for that. During my stay at Zoetry I was treated to a brief dance and cocktail workshop in which I learned to make a rum punch. This isn’t an expansive property with a lot of walking paths to get lost in. It’s small and, in my opinion, meant to be a place to relax and get away from the hustle and bustle at Dreams.

Restaurants

There are two restaurants and unlimited room service available at Zoetry. With the shared privileges at Dreams, guests actually have access to a total of 9 restaurants. You can’t order food from Dreams restaurants and have it brought to Zoetry, however. If they did, that would be an amazing perk.

Bloom and Botanica are going to be the two restaurants on site, with Bloom being open daily and Botanica being open on select days only. Bloom would be your option if you wanted to dine indoors with AC. To be perfectly honest, I was not impressed by either restaurant and preferred the dining at Dreams.

I ate at Bloom for lunch and dinner and the menus for both leave a lot to be desired. Lunch fare consisted of basic salads, wraps, and sandwiches. I had a caesar salad with some french fries and they were fine. There was more of a variety on the dinner menu, but the service was unfortunately slower than the island time I’m used to. Not to mention there were a handful of menu and drink items that were out of stock. I would expect that from Dreams, but had higher standards from Zoetry. This was addressed with management so I’m hopeful the service standards will improve going forward.

My last meal of this trip was at Botanica and I enjoyed the open air pool side atmosphere. The kitchen is open concept and I could see the chef working the grills and cooking up a storm. This meal was served family style so we were passed around platters of grilled meats and shrimp along with mashed potatoes and rice sides. It wasn’t my favorite meal of my stay but I appreciated that it was fresh wholesome food compared to other all-inclusive slop that can be served.

Service

With the exception of the dinner at Bloom, service was pretty good. Everyone I spoke to was really friendly and didn’t hesitate to answer my questions. There was a miscommunication my first evening with a dinner reservation and my server from lunch escorted me to the front desk to help clear it up. Everyone in my group fell in love with the bartender, Jason, during our stay. He went above and beyond in crafting his cocktails and even did our wine tasting at Il Mare plus the cocktail class at Zoetry.

Any time I hopped in the golf cart to head to/from Dreams, the driver would always ask about my day and what I think of the island. I even spoke with a young man who said his dream was to open his own resort on the island eventually – I love that! I got into the cheeky habit of asking Zoetry staff if they preferred working at Zoetry or Dreams and without pause they would always say Zoetry. The service levels are noticeably higher at Zoetry, and I imagine the staff must enjoy being in a less intense and less crowded area.

Share Privileges with Dreams

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I want to emphasize that Zoetry guests are entitled to use the amenities at Dreams – but not vice versa! This keeps Zoetry from ever feeling over-crowded. While Zoetry isn’t particularly adults-only, it is adult-oriented so the idea is to enjoy the beach at Dreams and then come back to your comfortable and quiet room at Zoetry. Here are some of the excellent share privileges I want to highlight:

• Complimentary golf cart transportation to/from Dreams (it’s also walkable if preferred)
• Access to 7 additional dining concepts
• Access to the Preferred Club area of the beach at Dreams (and the regular beach)
• Usage of the many pools at Dreams
• Usage of the spa at Dreams
• Ability to use any of the sports amenities at Dreams
• Usage of the dive shop
• Access to shows and entertainment

One of my favorite perks of Dreams was visiting Coco Cafe. Surprisingly, there isn’t a grab and go cafe at Zoetry, so I visited Coco Cafe at Dreams to get my coffee and ice cream fix.

Who Would I Send Here?

Zoetry Curacao is definitely meant for a particular type of traveler. Guests who stay here should know that this is a tropical property and the beach is across the road at Dreams. It’s also a small property with only 72 rooms, 2 restaurants, 2 bars, and not a ton of entertainment. That said, here is who I would recommend stay at Zoetry Curacao:

• Guests who prefer an adult-oriented all-inclusive with a laid back atmosphere
• Guests who appreciate having tropical views
• Guests who don’t need to be directly by the beach
• Guests who appreciate smaller boutique-feeling properties
• Guests who enjoy a modern property with a wellness focus
• Guests who want to be nearby downtown Willemstad
• Fans of Hyatt’s Inclusive Collection looking to try their upscale brand

Is Zoetry the best all-inclusive on the island? I think Zoetry is a good fit for travelers who want access to a lot of amenities at Dreams but want a quiet place to return to at the end of the night. I wouldn’t put it at the same level as Sandals Royal Curacao which is a true adults-only property, significantly larger, and offers more of a luxury experience. On the other hand, Zoetry is closer to sightseeing and downtown Willemstad compared to Sandals, so that should be considered if you plan on exploring the island.

You’ll notice I’ve been describing Zoetry as “upscale” instead of “luxurious“. That’s intentional as I don’t quite feel the service levels and quality are up to luxury standards. I think Zoetry Curacao is a step above Dreams, for sure, but if you’re booking this resort with traditional luxury in mind, you may be disappointed.

Overall, I had a great stay at Zoetry and appreciated the connection to nature. It was refreshing to stay at a property that emphasized the island’s natural environment. I wouldn’t mind going back again for a little staycation when I need to disconnect from technology!

Looking to travel to Curacao in the future? Reach out to me for expert travel planning with exclusive perks!