Barcelo Bavaro Palace - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

25469 reviews

• 

  A lovely family vacay

  Overall the resort was lovely and perfect for our family of 6 (mom, dad, 4yr, 15m, and grandparents) and friend group (2 other families with similar aged children). The check in: we had a horrible experience BUT everyone else in our group had a wonderful experience. The guy that first checked us was telling us all the wrong things, refused to give us towel cards or room bracelets for the kids. Once we figured out that we needed to avoid this one guy, everyone else was much more lovely and helpful. The room: The families with young kids booked the Family Room Family Collection and we all got in the same block, in front of the Barcy Kids Club. Ours was on the ground floor which was so useful as we used a wagon to shuttle our kids around. Note there are no elevator for these family rooms. We loved having separate rooms for the kids and still have access to a patio when the kids are asleep. The kids room had 2 double beds which we were able to rearrange to better suit us. We turned both beds horizontal and pushed them against the wall which opened up the room way better. And if the 4yr old fell out while sleeping there was only one side he could fall from (into a pile of pillows on the ground). The hotel provided a crib for the 15 month old, so the other bed was used as a giant change table. Best part was the monitor almost reaches the nearest bar! Maybe 15 ft short. So we were comfortable enough to duck out quickly to grab a drink and come back to other parents with sleeping kiddos to chit chat or play card games on the patio. The Barcy Kids Club: Our kiddo actually celebrated his 4th birthday during our stay and he absolutely loved the ball pit. Couldn’t get him out! So it was an easy decision to actually host a small birthday party there. The staff were wonderful. By the end of the week, everyone knew our little guy. Also note, our 4 yr old has mild autism. He was quite overwhelmed with all the new things. He didn’t want to swim (at first) in the pools, water parks, or beach. But he took to the kids club right away. We were just happy he found something that he loved on vacay. The food: We mostly ate at the buffet. Our 4 yr old is the pickiest eater so it wasn’t worth trying new restaurants at very specific times. The buffet would make custom pizzas upon requests so that was super helpful. The rest of us enjoyed the buffet. There’s enough variety to keep everyone happy. We did try a few restaurants, and they were tasty but they often take long! Too long for a family with young kids IMO. So we were happy with the buffet. Other things to note, the resort is very large. Lots of walking everywhere. We loved having a wagon to lug the kids, toys, towels, all the things. There’s also a covered walkway to all the main areas which we really appreciated. Sometimes it’s worth it to take the long way around to stay in the shade. Bugs are around, but not terrible but around. Didn’t actually see mosquitoes but there’s definitely something biting our ankles. Kids got it worse but big spray helps! Biggest complaint would be the amount of smoking there is. As a non smoker from Canada, we’ve taken for granted how many public spaces are smoke free at home. At this resort someone is always smoking. At the pool, beach, buffet, you name it! Even when we went to the show, we were sitting at tables with a no smoking sign. A lady by us was smoking away with a hotel provided ashtray. Clearly the no smoking section is not enforced. Not sure if this is at all resorts down south or if I’m noticing it more because I have kids now. But I’d pay more for a 100% smoke free all-inclusive resort.

  Jan 23, 2023
• 

  Weak drinks

  Pros: Great location, great views, nice beach. Friendly staff, Cons: food no flavor dried out, check in difficult, check out long wait, drinks are very weak watered down. Bowling was expensive minimal lanes

  Jan 22, 2023
• 

  Girl’s weekend

  We had originally come to Punta Cana for a concert that got canceled but luckily we were able to get three incredible rooms at Barcelo palace, and had an incredible time. The pools and staff and restaurants were wonderful.

  Jan 22, 2023
• 

  SCAM! Hotel tried to take over €7000 from my bank account and told me it wasn’t them

  Our holiday started as any normal one does me and my partner wore very excited to be in the Dominican Republic for 10 days as we had stayed at the Barcelo in cancun and we absolutely loved it and said we would try the one in the Dominican and the first couple of days wore great but then it took a turn for the worst, One of the days we wore there I had been ironing a shirt in the room and removed the plug from the socket but the socket came with the plug completely out of the wall and gave me a shock I had went to the reception and explained this to them and she said someone will come look at it (they never did) that could’ve been extremely dangerous but they did not seem to care Then The Hotel tried to take additional €7,129 on the 4th day of our 10 day stay, the transaction declined luckily as we didn’t have that much money in the account, the transaction came up as Barceló Bavaro Palace but the location was outside the hotel grounds. The day after they tried to take an additional €82 but once again it declined. We had only used our card in the hotel facility since arriving to the Dominican Republic, 3 times to be exact, as it is an all exclusive hotel, we didn’t need to buy anything, we used it to book 2 excursions and once in the gift shop. When we asked about this at reception, we were told to come back the next day, the next day, we were told the same thing, come back the next day, and then again the next day.. 4 days later we got to speak to a manager about this, her name was Olga, she basically told us that our bank and us were in the wrong and that Barceló had nothing to do with the transaction, even though we contacted our bank and they told us themselves the transaction was definitely Barceló. I was made to feel like I had done something wrong when it was my account that was being charged the absurd amount of money. I had asked the manager would it be possible that someone made a mistake charging my account for something and she kept repeating that I was wrong and the hotel doesn’t have anything to do with it even though on my account it said the charge was from this hotel. I had sent on all of my transactions I had made in the hotel to them and they still told me I was wrong. I was told to cancel my card that it could be a scam leaving me in a country with absolutely no money left as I had my remaining money in my account that I had to cancel. We believe that using our card in the hotel between booking excursions and in the gift shop, a staff member had taken our card details or they have a bad card machine that they use to scam people, as the transaction is coming up as Barceló but the location is outside the hotel. The manager and supervisor we spoke to was extremely rude, telling us that we were in the wrong, kept asking did we use our card outside the hotel, even though we kept telling them that we didn’t leave the resort, they didn’t seem to believe us for some reason. they then tried to blame Apple Pay for trying to take the money, basically putting the blame elsewhere. They told us, to go home to our country and sort it out there and get our lawyer to have a look at it. We were getting no where so we left, I had explained how this has ruined our holiday and that we wore worried about our money being taken from our accounts and they did not care at all, the person we wore speaking to said “have a lovely day” and smirked at us as we wore leaving! After spending almost €8000 to get here for this to happen is absolutely ridiculous I would never stay at this resort again and I would urge others not to either. Afterwards we contacted the bank again just to be sure and they confirmed for a second time that the transaction is definitely from the resort. Avoid this hotel at all costs absolutely horrendous how they treat the people staying here once something goes wrong your the one they blame

  Jan 22, 2023
• 

  Excellence

  Thank you to all the wonderful staff at Barcelo Bavaro Palace after a terrible experience at another resort this hotel exceeded my expectations. Food was fantastic, lots of a la cartes thanks (Andre) in guest services for setting us up and explaining where the restaurants were. The room was so clean you could tell they used bleach which makes me know it was cleaned. There were towels for shower and hand towels. Every thing worked in the room and all the little extras like coffee, sugar stocked fridge were nice. It was so nice to see how all the staff helped each other and genuinely seemed to enjoy their jobs. Thank you to all at this resort I would definitely return!🥰

  Jan 22, 2023