The stay at Barcelo Bavaro Beach was amazing. A huge resort as you get access to the palace side as well. My biggest issues was house keeping waking us up every morning between 8-9am just to see how many occupants were in the room. This is something that they should have record of already or be checking at a later time as we are on vacation we would like to sleep in

Our family needed three beds in our room which was provided. It was comfortable. We liked the ocean view across the grass and bring on the 3 rd floor so we could leave our sliding door open for the breeze.
The ocean view rooms that faced the loud boats parked in the water would have been terrible.

I’ve stayed at over a dozen resorts in the Caribbean islands and Mexico. This was my first time at a Barcelo, but it was a last-minute booking at a reasonable price. A group of us just returned from a 4 nights stay at Barcelo Bavaro Beach. The resort itself was spread out with access to the larger Barcelo Bavaro Palace (family side). Barcelo Bavaro Beach (adults-only side) was outdated, TOO quiet, and lacking entertainment. How was it that the swim-up bar, casino, and “club” was located at Palace? We’re in our mid thirties, so we weren’t looking for foam parties and loud obnoxious music playing at all times, but we would’ve appreciated some music playing at the pool.

The food everywhere was subpar. We ate at Chez Gourmet, La Brisa, Caribe buffet, Coral Seafood, Santa Fe Steakhouse, and even paid the up-charge for Kyoto. Even though the buffet had a different cuisine every night, most days somehow still tasted very one note and all protein (beef, chicken, fish, seafood) were overcooked… rubbery and dry. The quality was slightly more tolerable immediately when the buffet/restaurants open; otherwise, you’ll find the food picked over and tables not turned over- missing glasses, utensils, and plates.

The room we received was the top floor of the very last building, which was a short but annoying walk from the pool/lobby. Since the demographic was mostly retirement aged folks, lounge chairs were always reserved in the AM.

However, all of the above could’ve been overlooked if the customer service was at least friendly and attentive, but it was not. January wasn’t busy, so I can’t imagine what it’d be like in high season. Most of the staff acted like guests were a nuisance. We understand a language barrier, but the eye roll and attitude are understandable universally. Yet, we still gave hundreds of cash tips to servers, bartenders, and bell boys during our stay. Throughout Beach and Palace combined, there were only a handful of staff members that would actually smile and greet us- Elizabeth at the bar was our favorite.

And to top it all… On our first night, we found out the TV in our room didn’t work and since then, we called front desk on 3 different occasions. The 3rd time, someone finally came to look at it and confirmed it was broken. He said they’d come replace it the next day, which never happened. Of course we didn’t come to a resort to watch TV, but it’s nice to have this basic amenity for when we get ready or before bed. When we checked out, we told the front desk about the TV, and the woman didn’t apologize or offer any recourse. We had a small $75ish room charge, so we asked if it could be waived for the TV inconvenience, and the manager treated us as if it was insulting to ask, claiming she’d have to pay if we didn’t. She said they’d email a report for guest services to see what they could offer, but we had to still pay. We asked to include our email on the report, paid the charge, and we never saw an email of the complaint report come through.

This was a last-minute vacation, so we got what we paid for… There are far better resorts in DR, so we won’t be coming back to Barcelo Bavaro.