THIS IS NOT A 5 STAR HOTEL... 3 stars at best.

THIS IS NOT A 5 STAR HOTEL... 3 stars at best. Building 91 at the Bahia Principe "Luxury Esmeralda" was the worst 5 star hotel I have ever been to. We were a group of 9 people (with 5 rooms, 4 that were in building 91) and we all have a bad taste in our mouth & were ecstatic the leave on our last day. ( Which is never the case , even when I couldn't afford 5 star hotels in my younger days ) I was at the Royalton Punta Cana in Jan 2022.. That is a true 5 star hotel!!! We walked into our ro [... read more]oms, they all smelled like mold. Some worse than others... In our room, there was dust & hair EVERYWHERE. We spoke to our Air Canada Rep the next morning & he called for a "deep cleaning" which never got done. I complained a second time once we took our first shower the 2nd evening & the shower head was completely rusted as water was dripping. Already the pressure wasn't great after the shower head was changed. We further wiped down around the toilet bowl & found dust & hair that had accumulated for MONTHS... I complained a second time, now to the front desk & the head butler came to the room after I showed the tissue we used to clean around the toilet which was full of dust and hair. They ordered a 2nd "deep cleaning" which never got done. DISGUSTING and what a waste of my time & money. I would have to ask the maid EVERYDAY for something that was missing in the room after they would clean & I would still leave more tip than my other friends did in another building and we got horrible service. I think towels, water and toilet paper should never need asking for. Furthermore, service from the waiters at all the restaurants was unorganized. We would order WATER and beverages & EVERYDAY at least once per day the beverages would never arrive or arrive once we were finished eating. I'm sorry but water should be served instantaneously... I never complain but this hotel in rundown and was left to rot. And the service was unorganized in the buildings as well as the restaurants. THIS IS NOT A 5 STAR HOTEL... 3 stars at best.

Not bad

Overall fine but it no longer feels like a 5 star. Generally slow to get water in the buffets. Changed room once because of water leaking from the ceiling. A few days later the A/C was leaking in the new room. They seemed to fix the problem but there was always a weird smell in the room. The entertainment staff were the highlight of the trip.

Nice resort

Room were good but so many mosquitoes in the room and coridoor trying to book ala cart restaurant but you can’t get booking all booked but food in cafeteria was good good customer service and good food nice room service

Exceptional Resort

This resort is very focused on client satisfaction. They "go over board" to ensure that you are satisfied every day. If you have any concerns, they would immediately resolve the matter to your satisfaction. The entire resort including rooms, grounds and restaurants are exceptionally clean. The food selection and quality is the very best that we have seen. Drinks are quality liquors. Every staff is focused on you the guest. The entertainment is very good but I would suggest that they have more " [... read more]English" music because many of the guests are from English speaking countries. The Singers and Musicians were very good and work hard to entertain all guests. The staff are all wearing masks and continually clean all surfaces that are touched by guests. It is a very large resort with the exchange program to the other hotels so having the Golf Cart Shuttles is an excellent idea. Tipping is not necessary but certainly appreciated by all staff. The beach is beautiful and there is an abundance of loungers for everyone.

This is my third time returning to this resort and it never disappoints

Amazing resort, great service, beautiful beach, good food, very clean and wonderful overall experience. I recommend it to everyone! I will definitely return with my family and friends. I was also very impressed with the A la carte restaurants at the Ambar. Amazing service and very good food.

Beautiful as always

Comparing our trip in 2019 to the trip this year it seemed as though there was less interaction from servers poolside and few of the alacartes were disappointing, specifically MEAT, as we all were excited to eat there. The only other thing I noticed were a lot of people from the other Bahia resorts coming to Esmeralda’s pool. Other than that the resort was as beautiful as before. Oh also the seaweed at the beach seemed a bit extreme, but that could just be the season. Thanks for another rel [... read more]axing trip to the beautiful Dominican Republic!

Very Nice Beach and Property!

This was our first vacation in Punta Cana. We have vacationed in DR in the past but we did not enjoy the vendors constantly intruding and interrupting our time on the beach. This time was quite different, they were regularly walking by offering their products but they were not annoying or intrusive. The beach and ocean were fabulous! We haven't been away in years due to the pandemic and that is all we wanted to do was spend time in the ocean and rest on the beach. The resort is old, the roo [... read more]ms are dated but very nice size, clean and overall odor to our room was refreshing every time we entered. Since the resort is older the grounds have mature trees and bushes and flower beds are exceptional. We ate at a la carte restaurants 13 out of 14 nights, they were all good to extremely good. This is the main reason we booked at this resort was for the many restaurant options and we were not disappointed. We would stay here again!

Great vacation

This hotel is very clean and the employees are very helpful. The check in staff for me were amazing as check in was easy and quick. The overall resort is very big but there is always trams running to get you to where you want to go. They sanitize all the time and when you get up from your seat at the buffets or restaurants there is someone right there sanitizing. The food was amazing and every a la carte we went were fantastic. The service in the al a carte was top notch and I never left hungry. [... read more] Travel agent Heather recommended this resort and she was right as you are right on the beach the there is so many options for pools if you go that route..

Amazing resort

It was our second time at this resort. Stuff is friendly, service is very good. Food is good. Everything is close by. Would recommend highly this resort. Will be coming back to Esmeralda. Thank you very much all of the stuff!

Long Time Favorite

This was our 14th visit to Esmeralda, giving us privilege to adjoining Fantasia, Ambar and Aquamarine. All sections are immaculately groomed, the beach is clean and the ocean is wonderful, just beautiful. Service at the bars, restaurants and shops is friendly and efficient, but see below. It appears Covid has taken its toll on food preparation. Coffee and tea were often cold and the buffet food was not very warm and we had difficulty getting a spoon or fork! Tequila - Mexican *** Menu had m [... read more]any items unavailable, starters were disappointing, service was good and friendly especially the supervisor was very helpful. Mashua Nikkei - Japanese/Peruvian **** Very nice restaurant, food was tasty although not as described Garden Grill - Steak ** Confusing menu, unable to determine what steak they were actually offering, baked potato was 1/2 baked Rodizio Las Olas - Brazilian **** A very beautiful restaurant overlooking the Ocean. A wide offering of starters buffet style. The meats were nicely done and plentiful. The Greek* A mistake to go there. We 3 were all disappointed with the food, ordered skewered chicken, got a miniature pita instead . We were placed under a cold blowing fan and offered no relief. Portofino - Italian **** Minestrone soup, Seafood Linguini and Shrimp Risotto well prepared and efficiently served. Our favorite Ala carte restaurant of the week. Esmerelda Los Geranios Buffet ** Esmerelda Jasmine Buffet ** Aquamarine Buffet ** Received no table service after 10 minutes. Ambar Buffet ***** Excellent service food and variety Sports Bar ** Don't order snacks unless you like them cold Pool Bars *****

Sun and fun

We stayed at the Bahia Esmeralda in Dominican the hotel is huge I prefer a smaller hotel. The hotel was very nice adult pool that was nice when you had enough of kids. Franklin front desk was very personable friendly and helpful. The entertainment team was great Jennifer and Ledy went out of her way to make sure all ages got involved. Joselito very fun. There entertainment supervisor not friendly at all rather rude. Xendy from the Jasmine was so nice kind and helpful a positive addition to [... read more] your team. The beach was so nice be prepared to get up at 6 to get a chair, I suggested you bring clips to put on towels for the chairs. Over all a great trip

Great Resort!

It was our first family trip to Punta Cana and many thanks to Monique for assisting us with our travel plans. Bahia Principe is a beautiful clean resort with beautiful grounds, great food, amazing and friendly staffs, and fun entertainment for adults and kids. We loved the circus and magic shows. We would definitely come back again!

Amazing resort except the food

the Palmira buffet at the Luxury Esmeralda served only cold food. The breakfast was OK but the lunch and dinner was repeatative and always cold. One day they ran out of eggs. Ha, eggs? One day the beach bar had no beer, only foreign beer for sale, at a 5 star? The beach buffet had a good lunch. The alla carte dinners were ok, but always cold. I think all food is prepared offsite and delivered to the hotel for the sitting, that would explain the cold food. My wife took some stewed pumpkin [... read more] at the lunch buffet at the beach. There was a worm in it. I would submit a picture if this survey had that option. The tables at the beach buffet were suposedly cleaned and a blue card placed on the table indicating so. The blue card was placed on the table but the tables were not always cleaned. We like the line dancing they have everey night at the Punta Cana hotel. The entertainment staff do a great job to lead novice dancers in the dance. The beach dance is terrific as well. I would recomment the hotel just for the enternainment staff, beach, buildings. The food really needs a makeover and is not 5 star.

We keep finding our way back!

This was our 3rd visit to this resort. We have stayed other places but keep finding our way back here! Despite Covid our stay was mostly great. Food was great. Grounds are pretty. Beach was great. - Room key problem needs immediate fixing - Covid testing could use some better organization (let people fill out forms while they wait will save time) - only ever saw a concierge at the desk in our villa once THANKS AGAIN FOR ANOTHER GREAT VACATION!

Had a good time not great

We loved the pool and all the extras for our grandson.The rooms were also nice and the grounds well kept and beautiful. Although the a la cartes were tasty ,the two main buffets were lacking.Too many of the same dishes every night and the food was never warm.I would go back if they improved these buffets

Outdated Resorts

This was our (me and wife’s) third stay but unlike the previous ones it was a disappointment. Most waiters/servers either new or haven’t got proper training. Even the manager we dealt with was very defensive while handling complaints. Our room phone didn’t work for 5 days out of our 7 days stay. So our package which included room service but to no avail for us. None of the TV channel was working. We were told that it’s cable fault. We couldn’t understand that how it was our concern. T [... read more]hey simply said that it can’t be repaired. On the 6th night the roof leaked. We were told that someone would come right away but it didn’t happen. So we went to the concierge. The night duty officer sent us with the porter to two different rooms which were either dirty or ineffective. He should have first ensure beforehand that rooms are ok and ready. We were denied to be moved to other group resort where rooms were available. So we were forced to stay in our original room whose had started dripping. That was a nightmare for us and also a shock that how come hospitality business could be so mindless to their guests. Next morning when we asked manager if she is aware of the problem we had last night, she had no clue. I asked that do have of their own internal system of incidental reporting but it seemed liked they she didn’t pay attention to any of those reports or no report was made. We are the people who understand that issues could arise, but we also expect that it would be addressed in a appropriate manner which didn’t actually occur.

Lovely resort. Great value.

The resort is spectacular with good entertainment. Restaurants were really good. Service was good except for room service due to the limited English. Beach,pool etc. we’re really good. The resort is very well maintained and clean.

5th Time at Esmeralda

Resort is still gorgeous. COVID testing two days before you leave went very smoothly. A la carte restaurants have a QR code to scan at the entrance which contains the menu - very cool and safe - nothing to touch or disinfect.

Very beautiful and nice place

This resort was really good and very clean. All tables and chairs were cleaning after any use. Specially I would like to thank my agent from tripcenteral.ca ( Susan Snider) that sent me lots of information from beginning till end of my vacation. DG.

Very good resort

We spent our vacation at Luxury Bahia Principal Esmiralda in October 2021, very good positive impression, safe environment and very helpful staff, any questions they immediately react. We asked to print some documents and find emails with test results, very appreciate assistance. Very important for us that hotel doing tests on site, and results in 24 hours after.. Also food is good,,a lot of sea food, fruits vegetables and meat. Beach very clean and safe, every day they disinfect all equipments. [... read more] Room service very good. A lot of entertainment during day and night, we had chance to see beautiful shows at resorts around, especially lights show.