Iberostar Selection Bavaro Suites - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

13607 reviews

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  Good overall but not worth a second visit

  I would give this resort 3.5 stars if I could. Overall, we had a good experience at this resort. I probably wouldn't return as there are many other options and nothing stood out as absolutely amazing, and a few things were just disappointing for this price point. The beach is stunning and there were always loungers and shade for all of us. We were an extended family group of 11, so I was pleasantly surprised that we could more or less sit together every day (though if you want first two rows, must be up by 7am to 'reserve' your spots). There was virtually no service on the beach- we saw a server maybe 2 times in the week we were there. Not terrible but at this price point, I would have expected frequent service on the beach. The beach bar was a few minute walk from where we were and the bartenders there were great! This resort is quiet. There is no music on the beach, and no activities. Great for relaxing but not so much if you want entertainment. The calendar shows plenty of beach and pool activities but they rarely happened. The kids in our group ranged from 9-13 and they were bored compared to other resorts we've been to. The kids club was for younger kids and they wouldn't let the 12 year olds into the teen club with their 13 year old cousin, even though it was always empty when we walked by. The gym activities were great for us adults but our sporty kids were not allowed to join in, which was disappointing since there was nothing else for them to do. The grounds of the resort were stunning- really well maintained, lots of flowers, greenery and birds. They were probably one of the most beautiful grounds we have walked through in punta cana. We appreciated the conservation efforts and the water station near our room was always working with cold water. Remember to bring your own refillable bottles as their glass ones are not practical to carry around and definitely not great with kids. While the conservation efforts are great, this does mean that the buffet always felt a little limited. There's probably a lot less food waste but also less choice than other resorts. It was lobster mating season (from march-june) so they don't serve lobster during this time. I was disappointed but also understood the rationale. The food that was available was good, just repetitive. We also ate at the Japanese, steak house and Italian restaurant with minimal complaints. Our room was cleaned every day, but my sister-in-law's was not. We did get fresh towels when we placed ours in the shower but the sheets were never changed in the week and counter tops were not wiped down. My biggest complaint was the 'concierge'. We had a big birthday celebration two days after arrival and it was near impossible to get a reservation anywhere. Our 'concierge' finally gave us 2 separate ones 15 minutes apart and told us it would not be a problem to sit together once we showed up at the japanese restaurant for the earlier of the two times. The restaurant refused to sit us together and finally found a spot for 9 out of the 11, and then placed the other two people across the restaurant, where they missed the whole celebration. Had we known this would happen, we probably would have just gone to the buffet. The concierge then started harassing us over the next few days to attend their timeshare presentation (we did not), which left a sour impression of this resort. Particularly irritating was that after I firmly turned him down, he then went to my husband to complain that 'your wife doesn't want you attending this opportunity'. My sister-in-law was here with her kids and was questioned multiple times by staff where her husband was, which was inappropriate and again, left us feeling a bit irritated by the intrusiveness. There was live music on occasion at the lunch beach buffet but the lobby was a bit dreary and could have been livened up with consistent music. The shows ranged from terrible to fine. We appreciated that the night shows often featured live bands and singing vs lipsyncing to music. Overall, we enjoyed the beautiful scenery, beach and each other's company, but will choose another more lively resort for ambiance and tween/teen activities next year.

  Apr 23, 2025
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  Excellent Stay once again!

  This was the 6th time we have stayed at this Iberostar Punta Cana Complex and we are still in awe of how wonderful it is! The food, grounds and location were all perfect. Staff is friendly and most speak some English. We ate at Kabuki Hibachi (Japanese), Il Forno (Italian), Brave (Steakhouse) and El Tapatio (Mexican) restaurants as well as the delicious buffet! We will be back!

  Apr 19, 2025
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  Beautiful beaches and wonderful resort!

  We were pleasantly surprised by the resort as we vacation at a Barcelo resort in Mexico over New years and were expecting some of the same hassle over spring break. Check in was pretty fast and we were taken by golf cart to our accommodations. We were offered rides throughout our stay which was a nice bonus when you are walking to dinner. Layout of the resort was nice. Our concierge was able to book reservations for us at all the specialty restaurants no problem… the steak house and Japanese were great… service was perhaps lacking but not unexpected. Beach was beautiful… did NOT have to get up super early to stake out beach chairs which was so nice. Did NOT have to stand in long lines to get weak drinks. There are vendors that walk through but I didn’t find them too aggressive. But you will feel locked in if you make inquires. The pools were clean and a nice temperature. The Barcelo buffets were probably more impressive but we loved the coffee shop open 24hrs and the bar outside the coffee shop. Also the snack bar by the beach was convenient to grab a burger and we also love the sandwich shack with their version of a cheesesteak & fresh fries. The entertainment was also a good effort compared to Barcelo Mexico- beach party and circus were fun! Though we didn’t travel with young ones, there is a kids club that seemed fun. We were also warned about the sales pitch so we were able to avoid it.

  Apr 15, 2025
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  Nice family vacation

  We spent 1 week here with our son, his spouse and their 2 children (4 years and 22 months old). It's only about 30 minutes from the airport, which is nice. We liked the rooms, the layout, the pools, and the beaches. Gym and spa facilities are impressive. The ice cream stand was very popular and appreciated! Hotel staff were very good, very kind with the children. There was one notable exception (I'll come back to that later). Food was plentiful and basically good. For the specialty restaurants, Mediterranean was good, Japanese was good, Mexican was OK (not great), Italian was good (service was not so good), French was good(We went twice, 2nd time service was not good) and we didn't get into the Steakhouse. Would be nice if earlier availabilities were possible for families with young children. I had an unfortunate accident, slipped and fell on a wet surface at the pool. Resulted in requiring stitches for a cut to the scalp. Hotel staff provided first aid which was excellent. Our only negative experience, and it's a big one, was with our concierge, Rudy. He tricked us into attending a presentation/sales-pitch. Although I considered myself warned about this from previous reviews here, he offered us a "special" breakfast and free massages for 2 people (my son and his spouse got the massages and found them excellent). The breakfast quickly became the presentation/sales-pitch in which we felt trapped, and the staffer assigned to us became less and less friendly when it became clear that we were not interested. Also, Rudy supposedly made reservations for us at the Steakhouse for our last night's supper. When we got there there was no reservation for us and it was full. Very disappointing!

  Apr 13, 2025
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  Good food, good atmosphere

  The food is good. The outdoor is beautiful and clean. The pool not so much clean. The staff: mostly good. We did have problems with one of them, a guy calling himself a concierge. His initials are C.U. He was very aggressive with us. First, he told us that he was assigned to be our concierge and as a result, he would help us . He told us he would do the dinner reservations for us, and sitting in front of the computer, he told us the 3 dates and 3 times of our dinner reservations. Then, he asked us to attend a "presentation". We told him that we weren't interested at all, and that's where he started to be pushy with us. He told us that if we didn't go to this presentation (he refused to call it a "timeshare"), not only he would not get new points, but his boss would even remove the points that he had already earned. Basically, he was trying to make us guilty, so we could accept his invitation. We didn't! I go in vacations to spend time with my family, not strangers trying to sell me things I don't need. The following day, when I tried to confirm the 1st dinner reservation, I found out that he had not reserved any dinners for us at all... Other than that, our vacation went smoothly. The staff there are very nice, and really try to accommodate your needs. The room/unit was outdated. It needed a fresh remodeling. The bathroom smelled like mold. When we took showers, the water would go all over the bathroom. We had to put towels to prevent the water spreading everywhere. There are no fans in the bathroom - that was annoying. The food is good. Apparently, there were more restaurants there than we heard or knew of - we found that out the very last day as we were leaving. We had a dinner reservation at the Steak House and we saw cockroaches there, so we lost our appetite and left early. The Italian restaurant was good. The Japanese restaurant was good as well. The chef there really tried to entertain us and he did a very good job. We liked him. The resorts tries to keep the beach clean from the seaweeds. I was pleasantly surprised with how clean the beach was. The beach - we had to wake up early to get 3 chairs for our family (as early as 7am). The later you went there, the less chances you had to get a chair. Same thing with the pool chairs. I noticed that there was no drink service by the beach chairs. You had to go to the resort to order the drinks and bring them by yourself to the beach chairs. Towels - not very happy with that service!!! They would not bring clean towels after 2 or 3pm. You had to keep the same towels all day long. When we asked the towel guy what was the reason they wouldn't provide us with clean towels in the afternoon, he directed us to the Front Desk, as he told us he wasn't in charge, and this is how things were there. The entertainment team - the very best!!!! This resort is lucky to have such an amazing entertainment team, who are amazing dancers too. We enjoyed their entertainment! The spa is amazing! They use carts to go around the resort. Most of the time, the carts were very punctual and we did not have to wait a long time. We had a problem with losing a few items from the room. Learned my lesson that if you have valuable things, put them in the safe provided in the room. In general, the service staff there works very hard there. They were not just hard working, but also nice and eager to help. It was a good resort, but honestly, I do not think I will return there anymore. We had a good time, but not a wow!

  Apr 04, 2025