Royalton Bavaro, An Autograph Collection All-Inclusive Resort & Casino

Crystal Henry

The absolute worst trip of my life. LADIES BEWARE! My sisters and I took a girls trip to this resort. We have been to Cancun, Cabo, Grand Cayman, Cozumel, you name it…we have never felt unsafe. This resort was the first time we were truly uneasy the entire time. My sister had one of the bartenders trying to corner her in the bathroom.The staff were constantly blowing us kisses, touching us on the back and shoulder, and would come and stand over us and stare if we were laying out. There was someone taking pictures and videos of us in our private pool… LADIES DO NOT BOOK THIS RESORT. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the resort itself was also terrible. The food was inedible. We have low expectations for all-inclusive resort food. They are cooking for hundreds of people all day long, so we were certainly not expecting gourmet meals. But this was truly inedible. We were shoving bread in our purses to eat later. There were bugs in TWO of our room service pizzas. The hibachi didn’t ask if you want chicken, steak, or fish, so if you have an allergy you’re out of luck. The salmon was gray and smelled foul. The steak looked like it had been hammered and stomped on. We were really not able to eat anything at this resort, except the Italian food and the food truck burger for lunch. Let’s talk about the room…it actually had so much potential. Swim up pool, very spacious, dual shower head, sitting area. When we arrived we noticed one of the beds was tilted weird. We tried to call for two days but no one answered the phone, or if we finally got through to someone, they said they would send maintenance and no one showed up. In the middle of the night, the bed broke and fell out from underneath us. We finally got someone out there to fix it after five days, and all they did was remove the broken piece…didn’t replace it or repair it. Our screen door was broken, once again, they came and took it, didn’t replace it. They took the comforters away to be cleaned about halfway through the trip, and never returned it. So all we had was a top sheet. Every time we called to try to get these issues resolved, there was either no answer, or we were transferred multiple times and eventually hung up on. Now we can talk about the staff. Aside from the men making us feel uncomfortable, the staff in general was unfriendly, no one had any idea what was going on ever…I can’t even describe the amount of staff issues, so I’ll just discuss the one that sent us over the edge. We checked in at the front desk on the first day (most chaotic experience ever, had to check in three separate times over the course of 4 hours) and our travel agent had informed us we had a $300 room credit. We confirmed this with the lady at reception, and she said we could use it at the spa, on bottles of wine, and other upgrades, like a typical all inclusive resort. During our stay, we used our credit on bottles of wine and spa treatments, and they told us the discounts would be applied at checkout. On the day we check out we asked about the credits, and they tell us we can’t use the credit, that it’s too late and we were supposed to give our “coupons” to the spa and the wine server at the time of purchase. We were never given “coupons” and we were never told this was the process. In fact, we were told the opposite. We argued with reception, guest services, “prime” representatives, and “info point” representatives for an hour and a half. We asked to speak to a manager and we were told the manager refused to come speak to us. We asked why we weren’t given the coupon book at check in or told about this strange process, and the receptionist rolled her eyes and said “you didn’t ask me for it.” All of this arguing and we ended up only being given $45 of our $300 credit. There’s honestly SO much more I have to say about this place, because every single day was something new, horrible and insane. But I’m out of space to write. Needless to say, we will NEVER book anything Royalton ever again, and this resort should be condemned.

Hanna

Came here for a friend's wedding. Check in was a very long wait and we were so tired. Finally got to the room and right away smelled the musty, moldy smell. Mirrors had dirty marks on them and furniture looked worn. Service for drinks at bars was great but not so in restaurants. It took a long time to get seated with reservations and then very long to be served overcooked salmon and noodles drowning in sauce. Seemed like they were severely understaffed. Coffee at the shop was great but sandwiches were nothing more than two pieces of bread with a slice of cheese. Pool and lazy river were the highlight of the trip. Overall disappointed and felt it was overpriced.

Katherine Brandt

We stayed here for our friend's wedding and were so excited for our trip. However, we were disappointed at every turn, and could not wait to go home by the end of our stay. It started with check in, which took nearly 45 minutes, because they only had 2 front desk workers who had absolutely no sense of urgency and spent most of the time chatting with other staff rather than getting people checked in. We got no bellhop service, or any map or instructions for our stay and had to find our room ourselves. Next, once we got to the room, we immediately noticed how poorly maintained it had been. Between smelling like mildew, loud air conditioning unit, chipped furniture, TV that had lines across the screen.... maybe this place was luxury once, but it sure wasn't now! As we were unpacking, the AC tripped the electrical circuit and the electricity to the entire room went out! We put in a ticket and stopped by the front desk to ask for it to be fixed, but no one came. After 4 hours of no power, we both went to the front desk and demanded it be fixed or switch our rooms. The front desk worker said they couldn't do that and that maintenance would "be there when they can". Eventually they took us to guest services, where they called the lead maintenance worker who fixed it within 2 minutes (just a tripped fuse). We thought this was the end of it, but the electricity went out at least twice a day EVERY. DAY. that we were there, and the time it took to get fixed varied immensely. On our last day, the switch to the fuse was broken and would not turn back on. And yes, when the electricity was out, the AC was out, and it got hot, FAST. They would not switch our room. The food and drinks also were disappointing. The buffet food was pretty good, but did not vary much and by the third day, we were tired of it. We were hoping to get some highlights of Dominican food and culture, and there were some ethnic foods but mostly the food was pretty generic, catered more towards American style food. The Asian and Italian restaurants were the only ones we visited during our stay, and the food was downright laughable for a "luxury" resort - the sushi was not fresh, with stale rice and grayish colored tuna, and the seafood pasta was just buttered noodles with some cold shrimp. Also, the drinks were clearly watered down especially at the beach and pool bars, and glasses were often dirty or poorly washed. The staff also left a lot to be desired. While we did have a couple wonderful waiters/bartenders, the majority were slow, disinterested and occasionally downright rude. At meals, we often had to wave down our waiter to order, and several orders were taken incorrectly or took forever to arrive. When we asked for simple things (like coffee with breakfast), we were treated with annoyance. Nothing happened fast, and we felt as if we were a burden rather than valued guest. The only staff who were attentive were the ones trying to sell us something, specifically the "guest services" staff who were disguised as a "resource" for us, but were just salesmen trying to sell us timeshares or memberships. They tried to trick us into attending a timeshare presentation by stating that they were giving us free massages to apologize for our electric issues - but only after we sat through a 3 hour sales presentation. When we declined, they repeatedly harassed us about why we didn't want to do it, despite declining multiple times, to the point that we felt like we had to sneak into our building to avoid them seeing us and harassing us. One of them even followed us up to our room and nearly came in the room despite us telling him no!!!! It was clear we were just walking dollar signs to them and it was very uncomfortable. The good things: The beach was gorgeous, the pools were nice - especially the lazy river, the area was beautiful. We had fun Kayaking to the nearby reef. The gym was pretty good and had a good variety of equipment.

KB

Went to an event here in March and stayed at the "Royalton Bavaro All-Inclusive Resort & Spa. in Punta Cana." Upon arrival the wait to check-in took almost an hour. They only had two people working with tons of people checking in. When we arrived at our room it was not the room we had requested, so we reached out to the front desk. They told us they couldn't move us until the next day. In our room we had a water leak and water was all over the floor and counters. Had a musty smell. Contacted the Front office again and they only sent towels. But the towels were constantly getting soaked because of the constant leaking. The room was not clean, someone had urinated in our bathtub, the sink was clogged. Others from our party had experienced the same thing plus they had cockroaches in their rooms. Food was not fresh "especially" the seafood. All of this reported to the front desk and nothing. At one point I slipped on the water from the floor. After the Front office finally called back, we were headed to our event and scheduled to leave the next day. To compensate us they wanted to give us 15k points. I asked for a full refund but they denied. When I declined the 15k they offered 30k which is not a night’s stay and considering everything that was endured and the amount paid it was an insult. After returning I reached out to corporate, and they were so rude. They transferred my call so many times and then was hung up by the manager. It's been nine days and so I called back. Again, the manager Edgar was so rude and basically told me I either take the points or they will close my case. This is something I never expected from Marriott. I would not recommend this hotel as it is old, the rooms are dirty, and if you have an issue forget getting anyone one the phone. They also had a big area full of sewage water out while we were there. It smelled so bad. I have uploaded the pictures to review. Marriott should be ashamed. I will never return to this place. Lastly, if you are considering going off property to shop or site see, don't as the area look abandoned. One other thing if you don't have the "Diamond package" which is additional you are screwed.

James

This is an honest review. Solid 3/3.5 star resort. The other negative reviews about this place are true. However here is my takeaway. For the price, which included food and drink then it’s a win Yes the rooms have a mildew/mold issue. It actually took my breath away when I first walked in. They need to resolve that. Room was clean though. Check in is confirmed a nightmare because of how slow it is. I don’t however agree with negative comments about service. If you are a normal human and tip a dollar or whatever per drink then you’ll have a great experience. I’m sure the Canadians and Europeans are the ones complaining about that. Pool is great, lazy river awesome. Beach chairs amazing. If you’re balling on a budget then do it.