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Hotel Reviews:
Dominican Republic
Barcelo Bavaro Palace 7/12/00
Reviewers Rating:  Fair
My husband & I took our 4 children and mother in law to the Barcelo Bavaro Palace Resort in Punta Cana from June 26th thru July 10th. I want to make sure that anyone planning on spending their year-long vacation savings on this place to reconsider. I had a really bad experience and would like to share...- Roaches! Even in the fridge! My sister in law who also went during the same time with her 4 children found one in her son's crib one morning as he slept.
- Pool tiles broken. My son cut the bottom of his foot.
- Broken pool lamp. One of the lamps inside the pool was broken for 2 days and hung into the pool with the cables still attached.
- Feces in the pool! Pool was so poorly maintained that on the last 4 days of our stay, my children could not go in because the water was yellowish and cloudy. You could not see the bottom of the pool. My husband complained to the asst. manager on the first day the pool looked like this and when we left, it still looked the same. They didn't even close the pool! People were still swimming in this muck.
- I had 4 different rooms. Had to move the first time due to a bad clog in the tub. Water would not drain. After complaining for 3 days and insisting to be moved, they moved me to room #2. Here I stayed for about another 3 days. Had to BEG to be moved when the airconditioner ducts became condensed and leaked over both of the beds. Can you believe they didn't want to move us then either? Had to insist upon it. For this move, my husband and I had to move our luggage and the crib out of the leaking room and into the new one because nobody was sent to help us. Stayed in room #3 for 2 days because guess what...Leaks again! Complained again and we moved to the last room which thankfully had no leaks for the remainder of our trip. But you must know that room #3 had a major catastrophe. The day after we moved out the ceiling came down because of the water. Thankfully we were not there.
- Beach Towel Service. I guess the manager in Barcelo has not seen the latest system for collecting and distributing beach towels. Instead of having a cabin or hut located by the pool so you can drop off your used beach towels and pick up clean ones....they deliver the fresh ones at 11pm! While we slept, they would open the door and pick up the old ones and drop off the new ones. One night my husband locked the door so nobody would get in and the next morning had no towels. I had to wait from 8am until 11am to get fresh ones.
- Staff very unpleasant. Not helpful, not eager to please, not friendly. Despite all of our tipping to the waitresses, busboys and maids to see if maybe with the grace of God we would get better service...service was unacceptable for a 6 star hotel!
- One morning at 6am, 2 maids were cleaning the room next to ours because the guests had checked out. They made such a racket that they woke up my baby. Opening & slamming shut the drawers, etc.
- One of the days we were waiting for the plumber to arrive due to the leaks, I took 3 of my children to the buffet for lunch and sat at a table set for 6 (there were 4 of us at the time). I was not sure if my husband and other daughter was going to be able to join us. The head waiter came to me and told me that I was not allowed to sit at a table set for 6 if it was only 4 of us!
I have travelled extensively in my life and have stayed at 6 star resorts before and I am aware of the service you should receive while staying at a resort such as Barcelo Palace claims to be. I belive the $6K that it costs for us to stay there (hotel only without airfare) was a rip off. We had originally booked our trip to stay at the Barcelo Bavaro Beach Resort but decided to pay the extra $200 per person for the 2 week stay to receive top service and better rooms. Instead, I felt like I was staying at the holiday inn. I think that anyone looking to travel and stay at Barcelo should really re-read my note here and maybe pick another hotel. Last April, my husband and I took a long weekend off and stayed at the Occidental Flamenco located in Punta Cana. On the Apple Vacations website, it states that Barcelo is a 6 star resort and that Flamenco is a 4 star. I strongly disagree! Flamenco had way better service, the rooms were impecable and the food was wonderful. This hotel was !! new and definately worth it.
Hope you think it over and make a good choice.
Judy Leon
 Read more Caribbean Travel reviews at TripAdvisor
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