Iberostar Selection Bavaro Suites

I have to say, I’m very disappointed with the Prestige service at this resort. Since Tuesday, I’ve been requesting a birthday cake and a dinner reservation for 12 people to celebrate my son’s 16th birthday. Unfortunately, no one ever followed up, and I’m leaving tomorrow with nothing arranged. The resort itself is beautiful, and the setting is lovely, but the customer service—especially at the Prestige level—has been truly underwhelming. For a brand that promises elevated service, this experience was a letdown.

We traveled as a family of 8 and booked three rooms. The rooms were spacious and generally comfortable, though some areas could use minor maintenance. One issue was the bathroom setup, the frosted glass doors didn’t provide enough privacy, and shower had no door at all, which caused water to spill throughout the bathroom. The water pressure was also very poor. The biggest disappointment was the location of our villa. Despite tipping the concierge at check-in (who told us he was assigning the “best” villa), we were placed right next to the morning staff gathering area. Every day around 6 AM, cleaning staff would meet outside our villa, speaking loudly and using walkie-talkies. Being woken up this early on vacation was extremely frustrating. Another major issue was the language barrier. Most of the staff did not speak English, making even simple requests very difficult. For example, we couldn’t order plain pasta for a child at the buffet — everything had sauce, and no one understood the request. At one point, I tried to exchange towels, and the staff member refused to help because I didn’t speak Spanish. Only when I asked for a supervisor did he suddenly cooperate. This language barrier made it feel like English-speaking guests were not a priority, which was disappointing. Only a few managers spoke some English, but not enough to solve everyday issues smoothly. That said, the resort grounds are beautiful, and the food is decent. But the poor communication and lack of service consideration for non-Spanish speakers left us with a very mixed impression. I would not recommend this resort to English-speaking travelers unless you are comfortable navigating significant language barriers.

Excellent trip. The resort is amazing and I’m a flawless condition. Gheremy at the star prestige is a tremendous assistant. Definitely recommend it.

We recently stayed at this resort as a family of 4 and were genuinely impressed by many aspects of the property. The hotel grounds and communal areas are absolutely beautiful—immaculately maintained and gives a tropical vibe. The beach is stunning, though seaweed is a huge issue so we could not use it for swimming and doing watersports. That said, the team works hard to try to to clear the seaweed with great effort daily. There’s a clear focus on sustainability and environmental responsibility throughout the resort. The pool area is spacious, with a good mix of activities and quieter times, and we never had trouble finding a sun bed. Housekeeping staff were particularly friendly and did an excellent job keeping the rooms spotless. Dining options were a highlight—plenty of variety across the restaurants. Drink selection was also excellent, offering something for everyone. Rooms are a good size and very clean, although they’re beginning to show signs of wear and could use some updates. The views from our room, however, were gorgeous. Where the hotel falls short, unfortunately, is in customer service. While some staff were friendly, especially housekeeping, many others (mainly waiting staff in the buffet restaurant and the entertainment team) were noticeably less welcoming—particularly toward non-Spanish-speaking guests . We had similar feedback from other guests who experienced this too. Guests should be aware that many staff members primarily speak Spanish. While the lack of multilingual staff was not a major issue, it did occasionally hinder communication, particularly when ordering food or drinks. Entertainment in the evenings was largely aimed at Spanish-speaking guests, and the entertainment team did little to engage others making evenings boring for some guests. The concierge team also came across as overly pushy with upselling, particularly at check in. Overall, this is a beautiful resort with excellent facilities and a lot of potential. With improvements in customer service and a more inclusive approach, it could be truly outstanding.

We came to this hotel 10 years ago and we have returned this year and unfortunately the standard has dropped significantly. From the staff around the hotel to the food to the service around the hotel and hotel facilities. This is my third time to the Dominican Republic and I won’t be coming back as I don’t know if it is the people as the staff are so rude and miserable I think they don’t like the English. This being my third time in this country I think it has to be down to the fact they don’t like the English. Upon arrival a big family were all excited to be here. We had checked in previously online as we thought it would had made the check in process quicker but this wasn’t the case. 6 adults and 2 children who have been up travelling for about 17/18hours at this point. We had Ariel (I think that was his name) took 1 hour to check us. No welcome drinks. However an American family of 8 checked in next to us were given a welcome drink and checked in within 20mins. After that we were given wrong rooms and had to change. I was really impressed by the new gym facilities and the lady behind the front desk is ever so nice and welcoming. However we were in the functional room upstairs 6:50am and the tall skinny personal trainer with long ponytail told us to get out rudely as she needed to set up for a class which is at 7:30am. Being a personal trainer myself this isn’t how you deal with clients/ especially guests in a hotel. Buffet food in the hotel is much better than the specialty restaurants. Mediterranean restaurant 0/10 rating - starter was just off the buffet pitta bread, 4 olives, old hummus with a skin on it, some blocks of cheese. Along with a meat on stick for main served with chips. Quality I could only imagine you would get in a 2 star hotel Italian isn’t much better and better food in the buffet Steak restaurant- meat is very good. Starters and side dishes terrible Japanese restaurant don’t bother The best restaurant by far and it isn’t a specialty is the French restaurant food and staff 10/10 Star cafe 10/10 especially the young man who works in there he normally does nights and very early mornings as he served us coffee before the gym he was so friendly i can’t remember his name but he is the best one in that coffee shop rest are rude and miserable Pool bar staff are friendly but the woman at the pool bar is by far the best. I would like to see the hotel would take on this board. Around the pool bar you drink out of plastic water cups. You should have plastic cocktail glasses. Drinking mimosa in a plastic champagne glass instead of plastic water cup. Pool is dirty I feel like they have cut back on budget as hotel shows are shocking. Overall it’s a shame they have dropped the standard. Wouldn’t recommend coming here again.