Relaxing Tropical Resort with Beautiful Grounds, Great Service, and Minor Drawbacks

Gorgeous, lush tropical grounds that are beautifully maintained, with plenty of shade and trees taller than the buildings. Our renovated room had fully functioning A/C, two queen-size beds, and a garden view. It was conveniently located right next to both the beach and the pool. Housekeeping service was excellent throughout our stay. The buffet could feel a bit repetitive, but the wide variety of options made it easy to switch things up daily. It was especially nice having a buffet close t [... read more]o the beach. The à la carte restaurants were good, and the service across the resort was consistently good. That said, the buffet could benefit from more staff, as tables weren’t always cleared promptly during busy times. We didn’t try room service, so we can’t comment on that, but we really enjoyed the coffee shop. The entertainment team did a great job, and the pool was clean and appeared quite new. As for the beach, there is some seaweed in April, but staff clear it early each morning, so there’s very little during the day. Otherwise, the beach is clean and free of trash. The PURE Chill-Out Bar on the beach (reserved for Privileged guests) serves premium brands, and the drinks there were excellent. Overall, the staff were friendly and helpful. We had a minor issue with the safe (our mistake), which was resolved quickly. The phone line in our room wasn’t working, but since we were in the lobby daily, it wasn’t a major inconvenience—we simply used our cell phone when needed. We also didn’t receive beach towels in our room as part of the Privileged package, but it was easy enough to get them from the towel kiosk. The only downside is that the resort isn’t within walking distance of local shops, so you’re limited to what’s available on-site at resort prices. That said, if we return to Punta Cana, we would likely choose this resort again.

Beautiful Resort!

Just got back March 12, 2026. We upgraded to privilege which is located close to the beach. Large hotel with lots of walking which was fine with us. Here are my thoughts: Location & Beach: the location is pretty good but a good bus ride away if you wanted to go to Saona Island which is close to La Rowana. The Hotel is close to Punta Cana Airport & it is located on a strip where there are beautiful beaches. The beach at this hotel is very good and it has a sand bar & coral reef that’s  [... read more]in front of the hotel but behind the barriers however many ignored the barriers (ropes) and went beyond as you can stand up on the sand bar. Based on what I saw, the water was between knee to waist deep. That particular area had nice turquoise water which was beautiful to see. Value (price vs quality) & Rooms: the value was good. The suite we had was big, quite nice, clean & located close to the pool and beach. Our suite Rm 718 had 2 showers, a toilet, bidet & 2 sinks which was convenient.The bed was comfy however the pillows were too low for me. Nice touch with the umbrella which we did use, bedroom slippers, safe & laundry bag. Maid service cleaned the rooms daily. There is a Casino on site which we did not use, a games room, kids area and a nightclub where we did go in once however the music was playing way too loud. You were given pool cards which were exchanged for pool towels located by the pool. Food: I would say you get your money’s worth as there are many places there for food choices. Restaurants - Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Steakhouse (our favourite) & 2 buffet’s (main & by the pool). The buffet had a selection of various foods and it was pretty good, I expected worse. By the pool during the day there is bar-b-q meats with rice & potatoes and close to the kids area there is an area where you can have pizza. By the shopping centre there is a cafe/coffee shop where you can have your choice of tea, coffee, cappuccino and desserts. There is also the theatre where each night there is some event happening. Services: I would say my biggest pet peeve was the service and I have experienced this in every resort I have stayed in the DR. If DR would place some focus on training some of their staff in learning to speak basic English I do believe that the service reviews would improve greatly. I would say 90% of the staff do not speak or understand English so it is quite frustrating as a guest & I am sure also to the workers. They do not understand what we are requesting or asking majority of the time and it comes across as rude or indifferent but in fact they really do not understand English. In addition, they could improve our impression by smiling a lot more, many do not smile or acknowledge you when you are trying to get their attention. I was impressed by 1 staff member at the service desk who also spoke good English. His name is Jose and I believe he may be a Supervisor as the person I was dealing with called him over and said this was his boss. He is young and wears spectacles. I had a complaint went to see him and he resolved the issue right away. He was calm, professional & even went an extra mile to compensate for the inconvenience by having a small bottle of rum delivered to my room which was impressive. Any activities by the pool area or whenever any staff member was speaking, it was always in Spanish. As a result, we English speaking guests did not know what was happening but tried to figure things out when we shouldn’t have to do that.

Good Resort

The grounds were well kept and beautiful. The meals at the buffet were very good with many, many choices. The entertainment at the theater was exceptional and very professional. The meals at the Italian, Spanish and Steak House were first class. The maid service left a bit to be desired--the maid would take the dirty towels but did not leave as many clean ones as she removed--however the room was always cleaned very well. The room itself needed to be refurbished---the bathroom counter was in  [... read more]bad shape and needs replacement---we arrived very late on Feb. 8, 2026 and there was water leaking from the light fixture directly above the toilet so that when a person sat on the toilet the water dripped right on them--this was reported in the morning and did not happen again---however when the shower was used water dripped from the ceiling in the entrance. Overall we enjoyed our time at this resort.

Going back again.

Upgraded to Privilege and rooms are closer to beach but farther from main buffet and Lobby. Not the resort if u don't like walking. Walked 6-8000 steps most days just getting around. Found this to be an advantage though. Food was mostly excellent with usual buffet problems of sometimes not hot as we would have liked it to be. Lots of variety. Grounds are very well kept, lots of birds and fish in ponds. Occasional bug bite. Room comfortable. Several English language TV channels. Huge p [... read more]ool with shallow entry and deeper section. Going back again with Grandson and his parents as we are now sure they will like it. Short bus ride from airport.

Three star hotel not four

Rooms are very outdated, this hotel is focused on their privileged guests, regular rooms are awful. The room we stayed in was missing hairdryer, the fridge was filthy, ceiling was leaking. The room was not ready for guests, linens were dirty and it took 3 calls to front desk for housekeeping to come and change the bed sheets.

Beautiful Resort!

This resort is immaculately maintained and is picture perfect to look at but the staff make it even better to stay at. The staff go out of their way to make your stay enjoyable. If you need anything, all you have to do is ask and the staff make it their mission to accommodate you with a smile on their faces. The help desk is very helpful, the wait staff are always smiling and singing. The bar tenders will make you a myriad of drinks. The overall vibe of the resort is a large, sprawling hote [... read more]l but the staff treat you individually and make you feel seen and heard.

Catalonia bavaro

Needs a refresh. Most bathrooms are rough. Buffet mediocre. Main buffet is terrible. Service is non existent. Staff pretty good at beach buffet and specialty restaurants. Our service got better when they realized we were tipping well for every meal. Beautiful beach. Most privilege advantages not available. 9 hole Golf finally worked after negotiating fora better price. 200$ for 9 rounds instead of 60$ per round.

Perfect holiday

This is our fourth trip to Catalonia. Three times on the family side and one time on the adult side we are already looking into rebooking for this October on the adult side and once again with our entire family next February as well on the outside. Our trip was amazing and everyone had a fantastic time. I have no complaints whatsoever about anything at this resort. If I could only suggest one thing when a returning guest of several times makes a request for certain buildings or certain areas of  [... read more]the resort that you try your best to accommodate. Our group was split up amongst three buildings, and we were not in the buildings that we had requested. Hopefully, our next trip our request request can be made. Once again, thanks for a fantastic holiday. See you in October.

Awesome food, short staffed.

I’m not sure where to begin. I guess with a message to the reader. The following is an accurate account of my experiences and situations that happened at this resort including both positive and negative. On arrival, the check in process took over 1 hour and 20 minutes. There were about 10 people in front of us. On average, check in was taking about 20 minutes per person/group. We were privileged, in room 0412. The safe didn’t lock (dead battery), the fridge didn’t work, air conditioning was no [... read more]t working. We called the front desk immediately. Priority was getting the safe working. We had to wait in our room for about an hour for the security technician. He changed the battery and left – the battery was changed with another dead battery. I immediately called the front desk again and they were understanding. The next day at 5pm we were switched to a different room (#1624). In the new privileged room, the fridge door was broken, the AC did not work properly in my experienced opinion the refrigerant needed to be recharged and the “#” button on the safe had to be pressed extremely hard to lock. Staff quickly replaced the fridge, and we “lived” with the other small issues. It took four days for the AC unit to bring the room down from 28 degrees and maintained 23 degrees. These are all fixable issues and in my opinion the hotel staff acted quickly to resolve – it was just annoying to deal with. I felt the entire first 36 hours at the resort was delegating things to be fixed for the rest of our stay. Food: Food was 10/10. Every restaurant food was awesome. Zero complaints on any of the food. Even the buffet was awesome everyday. The food availability to me fell short a bit. Outside of the Al-la-carts and buffet (buffet is closed between 1030AM-1230PM and closed 330PM-630PM for the dinner change overs), the only other option was pizza until 2AM. We loved the pizza, but I really wished there was another late-night option such has burgers and fries or a BBQ style setup. Past vacations had this in other places, and I missed not having it here. Room service is horrible. It took almost two hours to receive our order. The options are quite limited (burger/fries, chicken and BLT sandwiches, brownie, salad) drink options are not available on the online ordering tool. Overall, the resort is short staffed. The entire week we were there, there was only one bar tender working the pool bar, one or two at the beach bar and one to three working the lobby bar. While sitting pool or beach side, there are either zero or one person taking drink orders. In our entire seven days not one person offered to get us a drink. We had to wait in line at either the pool bar or beach bar. Lines were long because of the lack of bartenders. To add on that, the pool bar and beach bartenders were in a horrible mood. I speak Spanish so it wasn’t a language barrier. They were really in a bad mood, not helpful and in a couple cases confrontational. Juan who worked at the towel stand, he would stand at the towel stand for 25 seconds and then wonder off. Often leaving until he noticed someone waiting for a towel from across the beach. There were staff cleaning up the drink cups around the beach and they would drink the leftovers right there Infront of anyone. I’ve never seen anything like it. Situation: One early morning around 9am, two younger hotel employees knocked on our door hard, loud and fast. I answered immediately because I thought something was wrong. They were holding a bottle of rum and gave it to me. I told them I did not ask for this. They replied, “Do you have something for me”. I went to the front desk, and they were quite concerned, asking me questions like what color were their uniforms ext... Long story short this was not normal, and they would be investigating. Bottom line, I won’t be back to this resort. I’ve been to resorts very close to this one and had very different experiences.

Catalonia

Good stay. Staff amazing except one from the lobby bar. I don't remember his name. He never wants to say hi to me or serve.me a drink during two weeks! I told him.before my departure! He is short, a llittle bit chubby and working at night.

Amazing beach

The resort was beautiful, with plenty of activities that we didn't get a chance to participate in all of them, the food was delicious and plentiful, the beach was gorgeous, albeit a bit windy while we were there. The only downside was the stomach bug I caught on our 2nd day that ravaged through our group all week long. The room was very nice too, loved the hammocks on the balcony, but the giant tub could've done better as a giant shower.

We have been there three times. Loved and would go back.

There is something for everybody. A spacious beach with mild waves with the creperie and Ma Loo (natural juices station) being the highlights. There is some activity every day for all age groups including cooking fresh food. Beach restaurant nearby if you don't want to go to the main buffet. The room was great and staff were friendly and responsive. If minor imperfections bother you, this is not for you. We truly enjoyed it.

Overpriced hotel for the value offered

Check in: Smooth checkin. Flight came late at 11pm. Only the pizza place was open. Very good pizzas. Saved the night. Beach - there is no beach. The sea was artificially filled with sand and there are lots of underwater growth and rocks. Very uneven sea floor, ten meters from the shore if you are swimming your arm may hit the bottom. Good thing is that there are plenty of beach chairs with excellent shade. The infrastructure around the beach is nice. In conclusion: there is no beach. Ro [... read more]oms: very modern. The small fridge os well stocked. Jacuzzi was a little bit outdated. Overall is decent. Sound insulation is not great. Facilities: Superb Aroma Cafe place. Super polite staff. There is a natural juice place open all day till 5pm. I suggest that you direct the preparation of the juices yourself; otherwise you may not like the results. There is a crepe place beside the beach. The crepe is gummy and chewy. Tried it once, but could not eat it completely. Entertainment: shows are ok. There is a break between the end of the show at the start of the disco. People must find ways of entertaining themselves in between. Pools: beautiful design; however, it is overcrowded. In my opinion, due to the beach’s poor quality, everyone hangs out at the pool. Bars drinks are not of the best quality. Golf: only one nearby course was working. The course right beside the hotel was closed for major maintenance work. No one knows the opening date. The nearby golf course requires a 5 minute driving. You may be lucky if you are picked up at the time assigned to you. Usually there is at least a 30 minutes delay. Once I had to complain to the manager because the car came an hour late. Luckily the course is not that busy. The course’ fairways are, in itself, a rough. You can hit the middle of it and still can lose your ball. The greens are thick, not properly maintained and very slow. The course itself is not difficult, with exception of hole number 2. Par 3s are refreshingly challenging. There a practice ground that you need to ask for; otherwise, you are sent on your way the moment you arrive. Use of cart is mandatory at 50 USD each time. Checkout: there is no courtesy room despite what the hotel staff state. There are bathrooms at the back of the shopping area with one shower and they may provide a towel. There is no shower curtain so if you bring a small suitcase it will get wet. There is not enough space to change inside the shower cabin.

Is the third time the charm?

As suggested by the title, this was my 3rd visit to Catalonia Bavaro Golf and Casino Resort. Previous visits were pre-COViD in 2018 and 2019 when we found this to be an excellent 5 star experience. Our trip in 2018 was so good that our golf group chose to return to a Resort in 2019 for the first time in our history. Obviously we were hoping for the same with our return this year. With the exception of the check-in experience, it was ( more on this later). From the moment you step off your s [... read more]huttle, you know that you are in a special place. The lobby is stunning and welcoming at the same time. Helped by a friendly and active front staff. The rest of the resort was as remembered all the way to the beach. Buffet and à la carte choices were all very well staffed and full of delicious options for everyone. Sadly we discovered that the large bean-shaped table that the 20 of us were so fond of gathering at in the lobby bar, was gone. This only forced us to find another spot to call ours, which we did! The service from our servers was excellent. My experience with housekeeping was outstanding. She was dedicated to making my room a highlight of my stay. The same goes for the pool bar staff. Now to return to the check-in experience at the front desk. This was so poorly done, that in spite of everything else being so good, there likely won't be a 4th visit from our little group. There is the typical large, wide counter and despite the fact that there were 20+ people checking in at the same time, there were only 2 attendants. And these guys kept disappearing into a side office for long periods of time. I would say that I was in the middle of the line and that it was an hour before I got to the counter. I apologize that I am an English only, speaking guest. This was clearly a source of irritation to everyone who was on the other side of the counter. I was ignored, interrupted and made to feel, at best, tolerated. And that was the good part of my experience at the front desk. Next, they advised me that at 4:30 in the afternoon, my room wasn't yet ready. I was banded and advised to go find something to eat or drink and return to the desk, my room would be ready for sure. All I can say is that between then and 6:30 I returned at the instructed intervals, 4 times. Each time I had line up and wait my turn, only to be told 3 of those times, my room still was not ready. I was given so many excuses (lies), I won't waste my time listing them here. The best was when a gentleman claiming to be the supervisor suggested that the delay was somehow my fault. After a wait of 3 hours I was finally assigned a room. The bell hop delivered me to my room, only to discover that the maid was still working on it. I guess that is better than what 1 of my 4 travel mates who enjoyed this same 3 hour wait found when he opened his door - another guest already in the room. I think that is my 'drop the mic' moment.

It's ok!

It's an ok resort. Rooms need to be upgraded! Only 1 pool and its full of kids. So go to adults only if you don't want kids all around all the time! Beach is terrible! Lots of rocks I got a couple cuts walking in the water. Its not a beach that you can swim in. The water only came up to my waist and that was even after walking out past where they have the net. Make sure to wear watershoes. Food was just alright right. Staff was very friendly.

Beach

grounds are nice , a lot of items did not work right in the room , like show knob falling off and A/C only down to 24 deg., but the beach was great !, Food was good ,But not a lot was label gluten free need more .

Wonderful vacation.

We had an amazing vacation. The weather was hot! The food was fantastic. The kids loved the buffet. I was worried after reading reviews about getting sick but we had amazing food and no one got sick! The ala carte restaurants we went to (steakhouse and italian) were very good. The staff is exceptional. Contagious happy personalities that made the stay! Awesome pool. The ocean was warm and area in front of the resort was great, lots of sea grass otherwise. We stayed in privilege, rooms were ok,  [... read more]clean, air conditioning worked, and beds were comfy. Our only issue was that our sunwing transfer didn't come for return to airport and we had to get a taxi and pay which was supposed to be part of our package. Overall a amazing family trip and would recommend resort.

Great time!

I write this review because we really relied on reviews to book our trip. We travelled with a toddler and another family. This resort was fabulous. It is a medium size resort which I enjoyed. It was not so large that it felt crowded, but it was not so small that you felt there was nothing to do. The beach is great and so are the pools. The staff are great. We had an incident on our first day where our toddler fell into a swallow pond (my fault, not the resorts) and I was so scared of potentia [... read more]l illness and the on-site doctor walked me through it and the resort staff really comforted me in a time of high stress (I was crying lots, mom anxieties) The facilities are beautiful, clean, well-maintained, they are constantly working on the grounds. We stayed in the privileged section. From the looks of it, there is not much benefit for being in that section (maybe nicer decor in the room), so if it is cheaper to not book privileged, I would recommend the regular option. The place was clean. I heard horror stories about Hand, Foot, and Mouth at Domincan resorts, but luckily I was not concerned once I got here. I think because of the medium size nature there were many children but not too many. Everything seemed clean. We didn;t use the Kids Club, but it seemed really well-run. Our daughter was too young to attend. FOOD: We are vegetarian, I found the food was good. It had enough choices and I never went a day without having many options to eat. My husband felt the vegetarian options could have been better. I only ate food that was cooked, boiled, or I could peel myself (because I was very worried about getting ill), and I had enough options every day to eat, even as a vegetarian. My husband and the other family we travelled with ate everything, including meat and no one got sick. So, it seems I might not have needed to be that cautious. When we returned my husband and I did have a couple days where our stomaches were feeling funny and a bit of loose stool (sorry, I know, tmi, but these are the things I was looking for in reviews travelling with a toddler). But it was nothing serious that prevented us from carrying on our day Overall, I would recommend this place!

Nice Resort--glad we went!

We travelled with another couple and had a bit of difficulty at the beginning with rooms that had poorly functioning air-conditioning and ceiling fans. The front desk staff was quick to resolve these issues by moving us to other rooms. There were several other maintenance problems which were also resolved quickly. In keeping with these difficulties, it should be noted that some parts of the resort need to be upgraded and have become 'well-used'. Overall, the resort grounds and main buildings are [... read more] extremely well-maintained. We enjoyed the pool and the beach area and although (as noted by other reviewers) it was necessary to 'save' lounges quite early in the morning (before 8:00am--so save your beach towels at the end of the day!) we were able to get 'choice' spots under cabanas. It is unfortunate that many people chose to save spots and then left them vacant for much of the day---not sure how to rectify this though. We were quite pleased with the variety and presentation at the 2 buffets and the waitstaff was excellent! However, 3 of the 4 a-la-cartes were somewhat disappointing in terms of choice and food quality. We were really pleased with Mikado restaurant--both the food quality and service. Also, we found the baristas (great specialty coffee shop!!), bartenders and servers to be extremely friendly and attentive. Our biggest disappointment with this trip was with the service provided by Nexus Tours (contracted by Trip Central) who were responsible for our transportation to and from the airport. We found the process to be unnecessarily complicated and time-consuming. For example, when we arrived, we had difficulty finding the representative and then we were taken to the wrong bus. For the return trip to the airport, Nexus's on-site representative could not be found the day before departure to confirm a pick-up time. On the morning of our departure, we found the representative who at the time was dealing with someone about a refund for a missed excursion. After waiting some time, we asked if he could simply give the people waiting (there was a line-up by this point) the time our bus to the airport was leaving. He rudely told us 'No' that we would have to wait until he was done with the refund--which turned out to take in excess of 1 hour. A simple posted announcement or just providing the information we required would have minimized stress at the end of an otherwise pleasant vacation.

A good place to take it easy

We stayed at the Catalonia Bavaro in Punta Cana. We went for 8 days, and had a great time. The staff was friendly, and the resort was well kept. We had some language barriers (which our booking agent mentioned at the time of the booking), so that proved a little more difficult than originally thought. We were able to communicate well enough, and the resort uses WhatsApp for all of their communication, which was very helpful. The food was good, but not out of this world. The rooms were nic [... read more]e, and the wifi was decent. We stayed on the family side which was nice. The only thing for us that we found frustrating was the room cleaning schedule and lack of fresh towels. We would leave at the same time daily when the cleaning staff arrived, and we would come back about 5-6 hours later only to be asked to leave our room so they could clean. Overall it's a nice place to go and honestly take in a week of sun.