My 3rd visit

Still enjoyed my 3rd visit to the property. Food was excellent. Accommodation predictable and good. Golf course terrific! Staff very friendly as always. Weird shower design. There is nothing to stop the water on the shower floor going into the rest of the bathroom. Had to use towels to dam up the water. It was the same in 2009. Nothing changed?

Good

Our room was great, the bottled water is very inconvenient but not bad. The grounds are beautiful and the birds at the buffet are really nice. For such a nice place the people painting are making a huge mess a the walkways making it very unattrective. The beach is great and the pools are good…kids love the water park.food is good and drinks are tasty. I would go back

Lovely with some issues

Other than the language barrier and issues with our bathroom that ended up with us demanding a room move, this resort is lovely. Very clean, grounds well maintained, food awesome, beach phenomenal. We had a great stay.

Another great Iberostar

A quality resort, very clean and very well maintained. Very friendly and attentive staff in all areas. Excellent food choices and high end beverages. Fully equipped gym and lots of activities to work off the extra calories.

Best family vacation

Stayed for 11 days and 10 nights with kids aged 4 and 7. We travel to the Dominican every year and try different resorts. THIS WAS OUR BEST FAMILY TRIP. The resort is very, very clean, food is consistently good, everything is in walking distance, pool has gradual entry which is great for the kids, splash area was fun for big kids- the toddler area one didnt ever turn on though, beach is clean but a little rocky to walk into the water(coral). The main reason we loved it so much was the ama [... read more]zing focus on the kids, the kids club is not just a room or a small building like other places. First off its very well organized with secure processes to check in and out your children via the app and QR codes, SOOO many activities for the kids across the resort, with option to live track location via whatsapp . Staff are wonderful with the kids. Inside the actual star camp building there is a full play place structure, trampoline park, cooking station and movie station. At night the staff make sure all the kids are part of the show- putting them into costumes and including them.

Amazing resort, I must say the best resort we have been to in the last 38 years of traveling

Very clean resort, very family oriented, an amazing kids club. The food was absolutely amazing, not only at the buffet, but also at all the ala cartes. All the staff were very friendly and very accommodating

Amazing resort, highly recommended

We like resort beaches, rooms , dining, cleanness, food, very friendly staff. ============================================================ We enjoyed our stay, would definitely recommend this resort.

Amazing Resort

This hotel has a beautiful property. There is plenty of lush gardens and palm trees. The rooms are very clean and the service is great. Food was very good in most restaurants, especially the gourmet restaurant in the Dominicana resort next door. The pools are clean and the beach is kept very clean as well.

Good holiday

Enjoyed our 14 day stay. The resort , the room, the grounds, everywhere was super clean. The a la carte restaurants lacked a quality of food preparation, and taste. A bit disappointed on that aspect. We go on holidays to disconnect from our devices and enjoy nature and relax. Usually the devices are in the safe throughout our vacation, Unfortunately, we had to use our devices to read menus at the bars and a la carte restaurants. We were not the only ones of that opinion. I would not return  [... read more]to this resort as there were just too many children everywhere. It’s not the resort’s fault, we should have done better research. The staff was excellent. Of course, you can’t beat that lovely beach!

It's ok, but would not go back

The good: This resort is very well taken care of. We had a HUGE storm one night. I looked outside early (6 am), and there was debris everywhere - by 8 am, it was as if nothing had happened. The grounds are well taken care of. The room was nice, a little worn out, but above average based on our experience of going to resorts in DO. A handful of staff were amazing. Two from the main buffet and three from the lobby bar - they made us feel very welcome. The steak house was AMAZING!!! I h [... read more]ad an amazing beef rib dish. It would have easily beat both of my fav steak restaurants in Montreal and Toronto! Everyone at our table had an amazing dish and top-notch service! The not-so-good: When we arrived, we were greeted by check-in staff, who made it seem like we were a burden. He was very cold towards us. We were not deterred by this. Everyone has a bad day once in a while. Unfortunately, this theme was consistent throughout our stay across the buffets and bars by the beach and pool area. The a-la-carte restaurants we visited were the Japanese Grill, Steak House and Italian. The Japanese Grill was so awful that one guy threw up eating his food. It was extremely salty! The Italian was the same food you got from the pizza and pasta station at the buffet, with no service. I gave up on a pepper grinder, walked to the server's station on the other side of the restaurant, and just got my own. Again, the food was over-salted, and as someone who loves salt, I think that's saying something! Entertainment - it's the same songs and show every night - and no matter where your room is located on the resort - YOU WILL HEAR IT!! The beach... If you enjoy walking in sand and cigarette butts, you will enjoy it! Drinks on the beach... Good luck - ZERO service while on the beach - there were servers, but they were having too much fun chatting with their co-workers. If you like to snorkel, Barcelo Beach is not the best place for it. Rough Atlantic waters make it quite difficult, but if you are a good swimmer and are confident, you should be okay - but watch that current. Mixing 5ft waves and fine sand will disorientate you! The swell was HUGE - on a calm day, what would be 5ft deep would be 12-13ft deep. If you really want to see some amazing marine life (and there is some amazing sights), look at the tide times and go out on the incoming tide. My final comment is not to go beyond the rope, divider. Speed boats rip up and down within a couple of feet of that line - they will NOT see you, and if you are snorkelling within 20ft of the rope, you will choke on the exhaust fumes from these boats!! In summary, the positives were too few compared to the negatives. My inlaws, who were with us, had been to the same resort just before covid and said it's gone downhill considerably. Maybe internal politics is causing the staff to be not as friendly or attentive, who knows. Such a shame - my inlaws loved the last two times they went, but this time, they didn't recognize the place based on service.

Excellent accommodation and stay

Lovely hotel amenities- pool and beach beautiful and well kept- buffet food very good - we were 2 couples but saw many multi generational groups and we all were well fed and little to no delays- very limited seating at the specialty ‘a La carte’ restaurants- hotel very clean - nice extras of water bottles and flip flops - 24hr amazing coffee bar included- desserts were delicious- good trip ! Oh and if you like entertainment there were nightly offerings by talented enthusiastic staff.

I would not stay at Iberostar again.

The beach, pool and grounds were all great and well maintained, but the rooms were disappointing and needed a lot of maintenance. Out of four rooms, two had ground floor patio doors that didn't lock. The cleanliness of the rooms was poor. Despite asking the maids each day to change the sheets they completely ignored this request and the floors were never swept which meant the sand you continually drag in from the beach even though you try not to accumulates on your floor and in your bed. One o [... read more]f our group actually took the sheets off the bed and bundled them up. Their sheets were changed but the maids were put out that they had to do this. The maids did change the towels but didn't clean the sink, which again accumulated sand through the week. Many of the ice and water machines around the property were broken. You are provided with water bottles to fill at the machines for filtered water, but I'm not sure the bottles are cleaned between guests which may be the cause of the stomach issues half of us had. Communication with staff was challenging at times which could be expected, but the process of trying to book one of the specialty restaurants should be made a bit easier. The flood was good and varied and the hostess of the main buffet was awesome and took care of our party of 12 very well. All in all, great beach but I would not stay at any Iberostar again.

Great golf/beach vacation

Just returned from Iberostar Selection Bavaro. Travelled as a couple. Beach is lovely with plenty of palapas for shade, never an issue finding one and miles to walk in either direction. Didn't really use the pool but it appeared to have ample loungers and shade as well. Grounds are beautifully maintained and lots of bird wildlife. The main buffet has much better service and ambience than the buffet closer to the beach. We found the food and service at the main buffet on par or better th [... read more]an other equivalent level all-inclusive hotels, and in particular with the amount of fresh seafood grilling each day. A-la-cartes were a bit more hit and miss in terms if service and quality. Booking for a-la-cartes was through "concierge" whose main goal appears to be get you to attend a "morning meeting" sales pitch. Thankfully, they don't bother you after the first "no thanks". Rooms are large, but dated (I believe some are renovated). Ours had a musty smell (was likely not used recently) but was able to air it after a day or two. They will ask (suggest to you) if want to upgrade at checkin. We didn't and were closer to the lobby than the beach which worked well for us since we were golfing most days. Golfing was great - did a 5 round package and stored our clubs there. Shuttle service to and from the course was courteous and prompt. Also can easily walk to or from the course if desired. It was our first time to this property and wasn't sure if we should be booking down to save a few dollars (IB Dominicana or IB Punta Cana) or up (Selection Coral Level or Iberostar Grand). In the end we felt we made the right choice and would book the same category and hotel again after spending some time at the Dominicana and Punta Cana where you have access to the facilities.

Awesome resort!

The beach was fantastic and we never had any issues finding beach chairs. The buffet and restaurants were very good - especially the Japanese restaurant. The service throughout the hotel was excellent. Special shout-outs to Luis and Daniel.

Great time with lots of sun and sand

Hotel was great, clean and excellent location and beach. Room service was slow, food at restaurants was average. Buffet and pool side food options were great. Language was an issue for English speakers but overall the experience was great and we had an amazing time

Changing times

Beautiful birds, fish, lush gardens all around, good service, kind and caring personnel all over the place , nice rooms , spacious beach but people flooded them after Covid , sea weeds like other beaches, average entertainment ,the loveliest given by our beautiful children dancing shuttle bus was great, security was noticed which gave sense of safety, they all made us to forgive the lack of food variety, quality known of Iberostar ? No lubsters, you love it ? You pay 65$ a person at the restaura [... read more]nt ? no good beef, and Mexican restaurant foods were not great surely higher management trying to compensate for Covid losses , may be same for other resorts ? I wanted to book the big modern nearby riu palace at 1200$ pp rather than the 1750$ pp we paid , but my wife thought Iberostar had super foods , based on the good recommendation of martine from tripcentral we had been to Barcelona palace and the food was great that was before Covid . Airport a small mess , our plane was late 2 hours, they changed the departure gate without people informed , and they had to search for the bags of that rouge late passenger , may be he/she did not notice gate change, the screen changed so fast ? And the few transat personnel were only at the departure gate busy with long lines , the whole airport is not adequate for the huge traffic , I noticed buses loading people to jets almost pumping in with wings of planes like human traffic in crowded bazaars in less gifted places against all safety standards of dedicated lane design in airports

Needing improvement

Air conditioning was not working in a entire section of hotel....very hot in rooms. Food was over salted and boring in buffet, no Covid restrictions. Check in was a night mare. We are several times repeat guests and nothing was done to recognize that. Overall sad to say failing grade from this repeat costumer.

Iberostar Selection Bavaro

This is an excellent resort to go to. The beach is expansive. Cleaned daily. Plenty of lounge chairs and beach umbrellas available. The variety of foods available is incredible. If you do not gain any weight than you must be running miles and miles daily. We have been here before and plan to return next year God willing..

Loved the resort

We absolutely loved the resort. What we liked was the big open spaces, the open buffet and the whole layout The staff were always extremely helpful, the rooms were clean and well laid out and we would certainly go there again Our one criticism was the entertainment. There was no variety and it was so loud we went down to the beach area to avoid it

Fantastic Resort

From the staff to the location down to the beautiful weather. The place is beautiful. The villas are well kept with housekeeping daily. The pool is gorgeous and the beach is well maintained the only thing bad I will say is I had a room fairly close to the theater and lobby. At night the entertainment was extraordinarily loud. So much so that when there to enjoy a drink you could not char with those at the table with you. If you wished for an earlier night the volume was way to high. It didn't n [... read more]eed to be that high. Beyond that though the food, drink and staff make this resort a great place to be. It was my second stay here and I would certainly come back again.