Riu Palace Bavaro - All Inclusive

La limpieza en general es excelente y el mantenimiento del hotel y las habitaciones, la atención del personal es pésima, yo al llegar no tuve quien me ayude con las maletas , nadie se mueve, al hacer el check in la habitación olía a pintura, nadie me explicó que necesitaba una tarjetas para toallas , tampoco me las dieron , el hotel es grande perdí una tarde completa cambiándome de habitaciones , yendo a reclamar las tarjetas es realmente molestoso y el personal no se mosquea

We stayed at RIU Palace Bavaro for our anniversary and were very impressed! The room was spotless, staff were always friendly, and the Elite Bar and food were excellent. Loved the coffee shop in the lobby and the nightly bar cart with specialty drinks—such a nice touch. I usually stay at Ritz-Carlton or St. Regis properties, but this resort truly surprised me in the best way. Highly recommend!

This is my first time to the resort but my 5th time to the island and my first time in a damp and mouldy room. On arrival our room had a damp smell but we opened the patio doors for it to air as we assumed it may not have been used for a few days. However we also noticed the bedding was slightly damp to touch and the coffee table was warped with water damage. Over the coming days the room continued to feel damp and we began to notice small marks on the wallpaper. By day 4 this was much more noticeable and on day 5 the green mould took hold and many large patches appeared. I complained to reception and asked to move rooms only to be told the mould was in fact my fault as I hadn’t kept the air con on constantly! I found this response unbelievable and said that if the air con must be kept on constantly then why are there not notices in each room stating this and why on the hotel app does it suggest using doors/windows or the ceiling fan to conserve energy rather than the air con. I was eventually given the option to move rooms which we did but on returning the keys of the original room back to reception I was told I had to sign a disclaimer for the room upgrade. I argued this was not a room upgrade but merely a move to a habitable room but was told if I wanted to stay in the room, I must sign the form. I had no choice but to sign. This experience could have been handled so differently with courtesy, respect and honesty but instead soured our whole view of the hotel. This is not the standard of room or customer service I would expect from a hostel let alone a 5* resort. So my advice is on arrival if you have any doubts about your room do not unpack and demand a change.

I would rate this resort as “Average” 3.5 out of 5. The grounds were nice and mostly kept clean. Check in was ok, however, we were not given towel cards, and were told afterwards (at the pool) that we need cards or we can’t have towels. So it was back to the lobby to wait in line for towel cards. We did the online check in, while the other family we were with did not, and our check in process was not any faster, so don’t sweat it if you can’t do the pre check in. Our room was clean. The shower water pressure was hit or miss. Also, keep in mind the thermostat is locked out, you can only adjust the speed of the fan, not the actual temperature which was set to 21 C. I’m sure a phone call would fix that but it was fine for us. Big negative for us was that our room was directly above the theater stage, so the loud music would keep the kids up past 11pm each night. The mattress was too soft for our liking but I guess that’s a personal preference. Otherwise no complaints about the room. We found the food to be just ok. Nothing to rave about but there are plenty options to choose. The food court by the main pool is awesome, try the fried rice, which was great. My wife and I did get sick, but since we did eat off the resort before we got sick, we are not sure what caused it. No issues with finding chairs by the pool. We have traveled all over and have done over 20 all inclusives, and I would classify this as a budget friendly resort. If you’re just starting out with the all inclusive experience, this is not a bad choice, but if you’re expecting something high end, I’d recommend spending some more money and booking something better. Overall, not bad, just not anything to rave about.

Very clean and tidy hotel , rooms were clean , plenty of pools and sunbeds were always available . We thought daytime entertainment was lacking a bit but with so many pools it was probably difficult to do . Buffet was cold most of the time for breakfast and of an evening . Krystal was a good restaurant and the food courts were quite good . Steak house food was ok but the service was annoying , second you sat down they wanted your order , prawn cocktail was useless and the Caesar salad wasn’t any good either , steaks were ok but they started clearing the table when my wife had finished and twice tried to take my plate away while I had food left. We walked out then annoyed . We found most the staff don’t interact with you which is ok but no hello or good bye like we find the staff in Jamaica . Hotel seemed full of Mexicans and puerto ricons . Pool bars were ok but found the pool service hit and miss , one day they were round all the time and the next we saw one person all day . We found the bars quite of a night , no music on and staff very quite apart from the bar in the main entertainment were the staff were a bit more entertaining but even that bar didn’t have any music on in between waiting for the night entertainment but even then you had the kids club on for an hour around 8 but the other bars had nothing . In all nice place but buffet a bit of a let down and bars a bit subdued for us

We stayed for a week and really enjoyed this resort. The food was excellent, and the resort was very clean. There was always someone cleaning which was really good to see. The restaurants were also all excellent and the pools clean and WARM! The beach was very close, and our kids all had a blast between the beach and pools, and beach volleyball and waterpark!