Not What It Used To Be

This resort did not seem to come out of covid too well. It has gone downhill since we were there a year before covid hit. On the outside everything looked good, clean rooms and grounds, busy bars. Now we get to the poor parts. The food service was the worst part of our stay. Under staffed and struggling to set tables and replace dishes, the buffet was a disapointment. It was 7 days of the same menu with little to no variety. Some days the main course at lunch became the main course at dinner. O [... read more]nly once did bacon show up at breakfast. At times some items were gone and were either not replaced or took forever to be replaced. There was no such thing as a teaspoon. The a la carte restaurants, only two, didn't amount to much. The servers couldn't tell you anything about the menu. I guess they wanted to curtail smoking. Hardly an ashtray in the whole resort. Entertainment was as per usual. Daytime staff playing games and bass heavy music. Nightime staff were trained dancers putting on theme shows. They catered to the younger crowd while ignoring their senior guests. Kind of missed a local merengue band brought in for a show. Another noticeable part of this resort was half of it was in darkness. The older part formerly known as the Mambo was completely shut down except for the pool. From the lobby, to the buffet ,to the disco, all in mothballs. The water sports sign out area was closed until the day before we left. The best part of this trip was the weather. 7 days of very warm days and cool nights with zero rain. hardly used the a/c. Finally anyone travelling to a Puerto Plata resort should be aware of a 1 hour detour around a closed bridge which will be added to your travel time to and from the airport.

Beautiful location and great staff!

Lots of fun and the geographic location is absolutely beautiful. The resort was far more fun than it's 'parent' resort Senator just up the beach. If you want a more upbeat, fun and vacationy feel go to Playabachata, if you want shiny and boring, go to Senator. Rooms a bit out dated, but clean and staff is very pleasant. Rocks and stuff in water, so be mindful of that if you only want a pristine beach, but it was very clean and no seaweed like Mexico or Punta Cana. Food is ok, nothing to write  [... read more]home about, but overall we had a truly wonderful time and will be going back!

Beautiful on the outside

We had a great time but was disappointed because we were lead to believe it was better then it was when looking at reviews(it is 3☆ not a 4+). Our fridge was broken, bathroom window was broken, found 2 live cockroaches in our room. Food was edible but not the greatest, and very repetitive. In order to get in the a la carts you hade to get to the lobby 50 mins before registering opened at 9. They had 1 buffet and 1 alacart restaurants that rotated between Italian and stake but was out of stake  [... read more]the day we got into the restaurant. Staff were great and beach was amazing. The resort is running at half probably due to covid but was constantly cleaned. Overall if advertised as 3 star I would be saying its amazing.

Deplorable conditions & horrendous accomodations

The stay was absolutely atrocious! That facility is a public health hazard, somehow ranked as a 4-star resort & spa. It is actually a 1.5 star (I'm being generous here) dump...it is literally one more wild bird or stray cat away from a disease outbreak. There are birds in the dining hall eating desserts off the buffet. There are stray cats coming up to tables begging for food. The rooms are in disrepair (please see attached photos). We had scammers trying to approach us by reception, requesting  [... read more]to see our Canadian ID and credit card to enter a raffle. We also had a power failure that lasted a few hours (clearly there were no back-up generators). Rooms were not retrofitted for wifi. Wifi was only available by reception (which was shotty at best). Linens were discoloured and nothing matched. Questioning sanitations practices was a daily occurrence. Customer service was severely lacking. We never once met our Sunwing representative. We were literally left to fend for ourselves to figure things out. Playa Bachata is known among the locals as one of the worst hotels in Puerto Plata. Very unprofessional. We had to leave and pay an extra $1000 to stay elsewhere at a facility that actually was safe & clean. And when we were trying to leave Playa Bachata to go to better accomodations they gave us such a hard time (check-out took almost 45 mins with them giving us a hard time) and tried to get us to sign a legally binding form in Spanish. We had to request to see the English version of the form. We refused to sign either form as it would try to absolve the hotel of all responsibilities. We left the hotel because it was subpar and unclean. Horrible experience. Please see photos of what I have described.

Sub par at best

The word resort is used loosely. Most staff can't speak english. Barely any orientation on arrival.The only wifi they had was in the lobby none at the rooms which were sub par. Bathrooms were outdated, cracked and old. Door to roombalcony was broken so we couldn't go on it. The gardener mowed the lawn for what seemed like all day. It was near impossible to sleep in. Hotel staff were inappropriate and animals picked at the bland sub par food put out on the buffet. They had only a slight tweak to [... read more] dinner for covid but this place doesn't deserve the 4 star rating it has. At checkout the reception couldn't even give a statement as print option was non existent. By the weekend the events at pool were SO loud, we wouldn't have slept if we didn't check out. We moved to Gran Ventana as a result and that deserves 4 star. Locals who found out we were at Playabachata all agreed it was bad and no place for tourists.

Great Resort

The food was great. We got the rooms we requested. Looks like they painted. Small resort but I liked that. No long walks to the pool,bar ,Lobyor ocean. Only real down side is no. Coffee maker or microwave in the room. This resort is kept very clean.

A very average to below average resort.

I will start with the positives. The beach area is well-maintained and is very nice. The grounds of the resort is also very well-kept. The rooms are antiquity and needs to be renovated. I had to change my room because the first room that I got had wooden boards planked up in the window, the bathtub was all stained, and there was a hole in the wall lamp. The hotel was nice enough to upgrade me to a "renovated" room, without any additional charge. The room was ok. The furniture were all out [... read more]dated, there was a huge hole at the wall beside my fridge (and I was afraid of vermin or other things coming in), the safe was old and rusty, the mattress was a bit lumpy and low, and there were holes in the room curtain. But, believe me it was a massive improvement over my first room. The room was very large, and housekeeping did a good job of cleaning. The food was also not that great. The drinks were mostly sweet and too syrupy, and the food tended to be salty, with not a lot of variety. The pool area was a lot smaller than advertised (I only went to the beach). Service at this hotel was sub-par.

1st time in Dom Republic

Rooms a little outdated, very slow internet, available in the lobby area only, more a la carte restaurant would have been nice Very nice people, friendly. Lots of employees spoke English Buffet food was good More snacks, Only pizza was available in between for snack

Paid a good price for our stay

Resort was nice. Price we paid was a good deal. Price went up by 2.5x by the time we left. Our price was a deal anyone who paid the 2.5x price not so much. Beach is beautiful, 2 pools one too crowded and noisy one quieter during the week but busy and crowded on the weekend. Lots of broken chairs on the beach and by the pools, might as well get rid of them there are lots of loungers around. Room was fine, bed was comfortable and ac worked good, maid service was good. Food at the buffet was good,  [... read more]tasty and a variety. We had issues with our safe that never did get fixed unfortunately. I think the only reason I wouldn’t go back is that the hosts really try to pressure you to go to the resort next door to try it out, have breakfast, they just want to convince you to buy into the time share. No thank you.

Disappointed

The beach was fantastic. The rest is a bit disappointing. This more a 3 star rather than a 4 star. The beds were comfortable but the rooms need renovations. The restaurant food was ok, but no wow factor. Disappointed that we had to stand in line to book a specialty restaurant the day of and there was nothing special about it. Also, due to the Sunwing problem upon checkout, there was no rep. to talk to. The front desk called him but he never answered. Tried to check with Sunwing app but could not [... read more] get through.

Ash at Trip central could not have been more accommodating..did everything and more for me ..the choice I MADE! I regret!

As a tourist..we are pushed aside at meal times for locals..arriving ships at Port.... It seemed like they had our money... now .....screw you!.. I watched people ignore us in lineups...and watched the staff serve them as if we didn't exist... I heard this always from tourists I finally lost it with a local woman who pushed herself in front of all of us.. at dinner time....spoilt my vacation..happened everyday!!!! I WAS TOLD ON MY LAST DAY OF STEAK HOUSE AND ITALIAN..BY A TOURIST!!! Also..wi [... read more]fi was in Lobby only which is impossible anyway because the music blasting at pool made it impossible t o speak to anyone...absolutely nothing in rooms as far as wifi... If you don't leave cash in room..forget about soft drinks in fridge...if you want a great experience in Puerta Plata..dont go there..grab a tent..fishing rod. AND .camp !... Or go to Playa Dorado.. Vh Grand Vantenna..5 star..like eating at Keg for all meals and people and staff recognize YOU! HEY..im Intitled to an opinion.that was only my experience! Only Front desk ..wonderful.. Bar staff wonderful But do yourself a favour..spend another 1000.00 each if you come this far...up grade to Senator next door..cus there is no way people could be that rude there.!....I think...,,?...keep in mind owned by same company!

Good value

It was clean, bed comfortable. Needs some updates. A absolutely no servers at pool nor bars. Had to get your own drinks. Buffet selection limited however tasted good. Buffet room very understaffed. A la carte not worth the time. Pestered a lot by reps regarding timesharea for Senator resort.

Terrible

Ground were well maintained. Food was way to salty and plain. Services was very poor. Plastic Cups were being washed and reused. Never seen this in any resort before. I would not recommend this resort to anyone.

A great deal

This was our first trip since the very beginning of the pandemic, January 2020. We booked the trip for just over one thousand dollars and noticed that the prices for the same trip started to increase almost the next day with the lifting of covid restrictions, The resort is laid out nicely as in not cramped. The lodgings are quite attractive from the outside and the rooms are clean and spacious. Each room has a good sized veranda complete with a folding towel rack. There is one large buffet style [... read more] restaurant and a smaller burger and fries type spot during the day that does double duty as a reservation only steak house or Italian restaurant in the evening. One large pool, several large bars with short wait times, not much in the way of entertainment and several shops selling the regular tourist type stuff. The beach is very nice with tall palm trees providing plenty of shade instead of the usual small umbrellas that usually line beaches. The food is plentiful but does tend to repeat the menu a bit. Service staff are friendly and efficient. One annoying item, during the weekend, it seems like a lot of locals show up and some of them are great at butting into the food lines. Annoying. There is an extra cost Japanese style restaurant that we found tasty and entertaining, for 25$ US. Final ratings, resort-4 stars, food-3.5, rooms-4, staff-4, entertainment-1, distance from airport-4.

Good

The hotel was all good and had good service. I was a bit disappointed because many things in the room were falling apart. The main pool isn’t super nice but it’s all right. Overall, it’s an okay hotel and the best part is having access to the entertainment on the 5 star hotel next door. For the same price I can have a better hotel in Cuba so If I am going to Dominican Republic I would not come back here. The staff were very good however and did their best to help you. Food was definitely  [... read more]not good.

Getting back in business

This resort Playabatchata resort is in my opinion a realistic 3.5star at the present time but it could reach 4 when maintenance completed . It has its “bigger brother “ resort : Senator which is bigger and more upscaled, omaybe a 5star one. For Playabatchata i would take it in order: 1. Beach : very nice, fine golden sand, lots of coconut trees that makes it very scenic, lots of chairs and the sea gets deeper not far from the beach. Also is very closed to the rest of attractions like po [... read more]ols, restaurants and rooms. 2. Accommodations Here is definitely an area of improvement because after pandemic rooms need maintenance. We changed rooms because : exhaust fan in bathroom was not working, the AC was not working, the bathroom had calking with lots of brown spots. I have to be grateful though to Paula who addressed our concerns and changed our room on the spot. Also disappointing not to have the treatment station for water in the rooms, so tap water was not drinkable. Had to replenish the water bottles in the fridge ourselves everyday. Food/ restaurants: Overall OK Nothing too fancy but enough options one can find smtgh to like: fish, pork beef always available freshly grilled, they bbq even right on the beach. Obviously people there put an effort to please. There i could see technical imperfection too, like the exhaust fans for kitchen hoods were not working, cooks were always sweating on the cooktops. Staff: Very very friendly and doing their best to please Overall status of the resort: I could great effort in bringing everything back to speed: they were repairing, painting, drywalling between the tourists, I don’t blame them much about that. I would be a bit concerned about the safety of the workers as they were working with not much equipment or protection while on the job. Pool: Outdated as style, clorine was applied manually but the “animacion” was keeping the spirits up in the area. Again, great effort by the staff there. I woul have loved to see some batchata lessons there but there were not.

Definitely not 4*!

The hotel is VERY dated. The rooms need some serious updates, and bug control. We had a massive cockroach, like the size of a mouse in one of our rooms, the other room was on ground level and the floor was just covered in bugs. There are no coffee makers, hair dryers, or anything you'd expect with a 4* hotel. The restaurants are very limited in food options, reminded me of Cuban buffet. The pool is like something out of the 60s. The pretty pictures shown are actually from the hotel next  [... read more]door (we did end up upgrading to go over there). The staff is fantastic. The guys at the bar by the pool were super friendly and and fast. There is no swim up bar! The weekend, the hotel is packed with locals, which nice for culture, they were quite rude, loud and disrespectful of anyone trying to enjoy their vacation. The

Spend your money elsewhere

Beautifully promoted on trip central and the photos do the outdoor amenities justice- except for the cabanas on the beach that are reserved for VIPs at the resort next door. We had very noisy construction in the lobby during our entire stay. It was loud and we had to take different detours daily to reach the buffet. The food was good, though! Also no pool bar or beach bar as promoted in package inclusions. We were also surprised to find that there is no discotheque as promoted. We really enjoyed [... read more] our time in Dominican Republic and our Transat representative Alexandra was amazing. We had so much fun on our excursions. Covid testing on the property was convenient and cheap ($20USD). Honestly, no complaints there considering we’re still in a pandemic. One final note I’d like to make is that they are newly owned by Senator Hotels instead of Riu (as they stated) and they are incredibly pushy in promoting the Senator hotel right next to Playabachata. The concierge are nice, but the offers they’re trying to talk you into are expensive and they’re insistent. We were offered breakfast and a tour of their suites and accepted due to persistence and curiosity about the food. We were advised we would have a 90 minutes tour, to which we agreed. Afterwards, we were presented with membership options for Ultimate Leisure Club that are at minimum thousands of dollars. They did a raffle while we were there (as they said they do weekly) and we won an expenses paid week-long trip to their facilities in premium accommodations. They took down my email but I highly doubt I’ll be hearing from them. Overall, a disappointing hotel experience, but the country is beautiful, the people are friendly, and the weather is fantastic.

Playa Bachata February 24 to March 3 2022

Our stay at Playa Bachata puerto plata. This is an average resort. Nothing real special, nothing really bad. The buffet is almost always the same but there is much choice. If staying for a week you can find something new and tasty each meal. The shows in the evening were ok. Very simple nothing to big. Only one pool was open. It was ok. A bit of wear but daily activities going on pool side. The beach is ok but if you vacation for the beach this place is not for you. We always found lounge [... read more]rs but alot of them were broken. There was alot of local people at this resort which I enjoy however it seems that the bartenders cater to the locals and the rum is not of great quality for the Dominican. Our house keeper was so nice. She didn't speak much English but she was grateful and took care of us. We went on 3 excursions, all were good. There is no covid protocol. The resort says there is but only employees wear masks. That was ok with me. Our sunwing rep gave us false information about our covid test. It wound up that we had to get our test on a different day then what he stated. Im going to chalk that up to the rules just changing. We did have one bad thing happen. Our toilet overflowed the second night covering our whole floor even the bedroom. Bad plumbing I believe as other reviews speak of the same thing. They say it is your fault you used to much toilet paper. No I didn't. The mess was cleaned and we were given a new room. There are liquor dispensers in room as advertised but no liquor to go in them so don't expect it. We paid 775 each for the week all inclusive and I believe I got my moneys worth. Nothing fancy but ok.

Beautiful beach

The grounds are beautiful, right on the beach dotted with palm trees. Plenty of lounge chairs but alot are broken and need to be replaced. The staff are friendly. The food is typical - Very over-cooked meat, beans, pasta, fish, potatoes, salads…. Not a lot of variety day after day, but there was always lots of food. The steak restaurant wasn’t good at all. By the end of the week I didnt wanna eat anything more. Aside from the food, our room had good air conditioning & ample hot water, but  [... read more]our toilet wouldnt flush 90% of the time. You’re not allowed to flush paper down the toilets but they dont give you a bag to put the paper in - just a plastic trash can… youre brought bottled water, sprite and coke daily to the room. we didnt go on any excursions as we found them much too expensive. Covid protocols were in place - masks must be worn in the buffet restaurant and stores and on buses and in taxis. Since the reception is open-air there were no protocols. Social distancing didn’t exist here. There was not enough seating in the lobby area. When it rains or if its really hot or you want to use wifi theres nowhere to sit in the lobby. The only place you can get wifi is at reception, Tropical Avenue or at the Senator resort next door. Rosario went above and beyond to make us feel special in the buffet. I didnt like that theres people that approach you to come to a ‘free breakfast’ at the Senator hotel next door. They claim its definitely not a timeshare theyre wanting you to buy into, but with a 25 year commitment, I wouldnt call it anything else. Their marketing approach needs to change for this immensely. All in all I had a relaxing week, no major issues, didnt go hungry and had opportunities to do things if I wanted to.