TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

I’ve been going to the barcelo Bavaro Palace since 2015. Regarding all the negative reviews, yes the palace which they spent 300 million on was unbelievable With a great staff and all the amenities but The world has changed and inflation has kicked in things have changed, but you can still find great experience at this Resort if you know what you want and know what you’re doing and respect the staff they’ll respect you The beach is stunning great security to protect the guests and make sure the only guests are staying on the property The à la cart restaurants are improving every day. The concierge help you in every way they can,just make sure you respect them and they respect you. security cameras everywhere in the hotel for protection couldn’t ask for a safer place The buffet restaurants there’s two of them international and local. You can find anything you want if you look around and see what you like The fruit and desserts are great very fresh and tasty The hotel design was built to be timeless with With Latin and European designs, very well kept to this day biggest theatre I’ve ever seen and a great place for a wedding

Whatever you do if you are here do not go to the Santa Fe steakhouse. First of all, they advertise it as air-conditioned on the reservation slip and it had to be 80° inside. It was cooler outside. I ordered a New York strip steak with corn on the cob and a baked potato, and what came to my table was a piece of shoe leather that was in edible, a 1 inch piece of corn and a baked potato that was a wedge of potato skin filled with maybe some kind of cheese and sour cream and virtually no potato. It was so disgusting I had to walk out. It was in edible. Beware of this place. Don’t waste your time at this restaurant.

The resort is full of contrasts, highs and lows. The good: The resort is spectacular. This is the best stretch of beach in the Dominican. The water is shallow and still like a lake. The palm trees are beautiful and the beach stretches for what seems like miles. Compared to Iberostar Punta Cana where I stayed years ago the beach is much less crowded, many times longer, and the water is calmer. The grounds are beautiful as well and well maintained. The layout of the resort is great. Most rooms are almost oceanfront and ours the family room was close enough for a pleasant 5 minute walk. Our room had 2 bedrooms, 2 queen beds and king and 2 balconies, one with whirlpool tube, it was the reason we chose this resort and it did not disappoint. The buildings are gorgeous. The Michael Jackson show was good. The ladies at the kids club were pleasant and made sure all children did not leave unless they knew it was with a parent. The pools and waterparks were great. The bad: The resort is mismanaged. The common theme is casual indifference. Some employees are nice and some do try. The ladies at the buffet do try but they are overworked. There is rarely politeness or a smile. No one picks up room service calls or customer service calls. Food management is terrible and it is amazingly bad in terms of operations. 90% of meat at the buffet is inedible due to poor preparation. Beef is super hard, cant be chewed. It tastes gamy. Chicken isn't properly cleaned and cut so you get fat parts and hard to chew connecting tissue. Shrimp is never de-shelled and overcooked. Food often isn't labelled at all. Sauce isn't labelled most of the time. The buffet mostly does not change. Burgers are completely inedible. People flock to a la carte restaurants so reservations before 10 pm are almost impossible to get. We waited with 2 kids at Mexico Lindo for 1 hour (exactly 1 hour not an exaggeration) after ordering our food only to find out from our waiter Angel Linares that they ran out of chicken which we ordered for our kids. No apologies (not in Spanish which I speak), not a care in the world. We left back to the awful buffet and avoided a la carte the rest of the vacation. Front desk people are also awful they will waste as much time as they can. Housekeeping was good since we do tip well. Overall the resort is mismanaged, there is no visible management presence and therefore no one cares.

This is one of the largest all-inclusive resorts I have experienced. The beachfront length clocks in at almost a mile, which is really something. With so much property and so many dining options, it’s shocking how atrocious the food is. The buffets, every one nearly identical, have more than 90% of the food literally inedible. The restaurants, where making a reservation is the standard level of all-inclusive misery, are only elevated by the fact that you can actually eat the food. You just regret doing so afterwards as the overcooked, dry, tasteless items are a calorie waste. The only thing worse than the food at this “resort” is the service. Management here deserves to be commended! I would have thought it impossible to have each and every service person at the property display identical levels of rudeness, coupled with indifference, punctuated with molasses-flowing speed and efficiency. The training program here is clearly second to none in its ability to clone truly awful front desk, bartenders and wait staff. There are so many places to spend your money and vacation time. Hopefully this short review guides you safely elsewhere.

TL;DR: Beautiful hotel with extremely poor customer service. The overall stay was negatively impacted by the lack of service from the hotel staff. It seems like they hired a bunch of people with no service orientation, and definitely not a single drop of intention to make your stay (I'm not even saying remarkable) good. Pros: The facilities are GREAT! the rooms, restaurants, halls, everything is modern, tidy, and worthy of a 5 star hotel. Cons: The staff is one of the worst I've ever seen in any all inclusive in my life. Whenever you asked any question the default answer was NO. Can I have some Ice? No. Can you help me accommodate the tables for a 10 person group dinner? No. Do you have some no sugar Coke? No. (no kidding. 3 out of 5 days an All Inclusive ran out of sugar free coke). Reservations for the restaurants are impossible for a large group. The buffet quality is really poor, so if you're planning on going with more than 6 people try finding a different place. A lot of activities (and the hotel has lots of them) are with extra charge, and those free of charge remain like that only during beach or pool hours (after 6pm they start charging for example for Paddle or Tennis courts). There were a few exceptions that I can count with the fingers of one hand. Clarissa Yan for example was the only person in the whole buffet that served you with a smile, asked how was your stay and even wished you a good day. In an environment of horrendous service, even a smile could make your day.