Awesome resort

Playa Bachata resort is a great resort because of the cleanliness of rooms and grounds. Food is delicious. Variety of different food daily. Lot’s of activity daily. Pools and beach are great. Staff very friendly and helpful

Ok

Grounds and beach was great.. pool ok, no swim up bar.. Service and staff were friendly.. Entertainment crew were good and the evening shows were entertaining.. Buffet were repetitive, mostly the same food every night..

Disappointing!

This was my 4th visit to this resort. My first visit was ~18 - 20 years ago, when this resort first opened as part of the RIU chain. It was great at first, but with every visit over the years, the resort kept going downhill. My most recent stay (this will be my last) at Playabachatta was disappointing. The bad... The check-in process was way too long. The room smelled of humidity (probably moldy too). The bathroom showed signs of age (cracked tiles, dripping taps, loose handles, etc.). TV re [... read more]mote did not work. The food selection at the buffet restaurants for breakfast, lunch and dinner was very limited. Several times had to wait for clean plates. Food stations were sloppy. Waiters are not attentive (take too long to setup table, bring drinks, etc.). Twice the bars ran out of beer. The buffet restaurants were a major disappointment. The a-la-cart restaurant was worse. Our reservation was for the 2nd seating (forgot the exact time). When we arrived, the restaurant was not ready. The waiters were still cleaning up from the 1st seating. We had to look at the dirty tables and floors for 20 minutes before it was all cleaned up. The waiter who took our order was a bit rude when taking our order for food. The waiter who asked what we wanted to drink forgot to bring them. The food itself was horrible. We ordered "steak" medium-rare. The steak was half steamed and then lightly seared. It was chewy and had no taste. Really, really bad!!! The "nightly entertainment" was not nightly. When there was a show (45 minutes of it)- it was amature and unimpressive. The good... the beach was good.

Honest Truth of our 1st Family Vacation

The hotel was dated but very nice, it was well kept, clean, bright and very scenic. The staff were friendly and polite but it got annoying when they would keep pushing you too visit the Senator hotel so they can pitch their Timeshares on to you. The buffet had a good selection to choice and very clean. The superior Garden view room was our choice and we were please with the size and cleanliness of it. The bathroom windows do not open and there was no fan in the bathroom which cause it to be very [... read more] musty. We had three encounters of unwelcome cockroaches. Entertainment could use much improvement along with the range of the provided WiFi in the hotel. The beach is what we came for and was the highlight of our stay it was AMAZING! My family really needed this vacation so we give this trip a 8/10.

Plata bachatta

The layout is nice , the beach , a lot of place to walk on the resort , to swim or play volleyball. The service at the lobby is not efficient. We ask for extra pillows at the beginning, at the end of our stay still no pillows.Ask to change money not enough currencies. The food at the buffet was ok . Only 2 restaurants sharing the same space, Italien and steak house. We’re there during new year , animation was good . The room I give 4/10 Old , the water in the shower was a joke Overal [... read more]l 5/10

Not for Coffee Lovers

The hotel was nice, the rooms were comfortable and everything worked. The grounds were immaculate. The staff was very friendly to us foreign tourists, but not so friendly to the local guests who stayed over the weekend. This made me feel a bit uncomfortable because I feel that a resort is not a place to make these kind of class distinctions --a guest is a guest. I usually travel to Cuba so this was my first trip to the Dominican Republic. At first I was impressed and jokingly called it "Cuba V [... read more]IP". I changed my mind when I tried to get a decent cup of cappuccino. It was not to be had. They had ''vending machine'' coffee where the cappuccino is from an instant mix. (In comparison, every Cuban 2 star hotel has an Italian coffee machine and they know how to use it.) Another twist in this tale is that there was a special coffee shop at the Senator hotel, just a few steps from my room. But here class distinction came into play again. Although both hotels, we were told, belong to the same company, we were not entitled to the same coffee. As a red-band guest from Playa Bachata, I could get an espresso, but for a cappuccino I would need a different color band from the Senator. At first I was willing to accept that and said that I would gladly pay for the coffee, but they would not accept money. To uncover this mystery you need to understand that there is a company called Ultimate Leisure Club that wants to sell you a membership which then makes you a VIP and a cappuccino would then be one of the benefits. I went to their presentation, but they weren't happy with me because I didn't hand over my credit card which would have been ''necessary'' to receive the free gift. I declined the gift. The apartments they showed us were impressive but obviously over my budget. We also had an ominous feeling that we were the only real prospects there and that the other potential prospects were employees who were play acting. Of course I can't prove that but my queasy stomach warned me to watch out.

Good until weekend chaos arrived

We arrived on a tuesday with sunwing for a 2 week holiday. We were thrilled with our room location, the long quiet beach with many shady areas and the food in general. It was a quiet resort and not crowded but had many different nationalities mingling together. But our first weekend was a dominican holiday weekend so a 3 day holiday. I watched the buses arrive and could not believe my eyes. We had over 1500 extra persons from saturday to monday. The resort was in complete chaos and so over [... read more]whelmed. The pool, bars and eating places were wall to wall dominicans. Don't get me wrong I love dominicans but there were way too many extra people. The next weekend over 500 extra visitors.....again chaos, noise etc. This time our room block had people slamming doors, banging on doors and talking loudly till 2 AM. I opened my door to see what was going on and security was there trying to calm people down and get them in their rooms....did I mention I like quiet and to sleep at night? Now to be honest the resort was trying to accommodate it's international guests with earlier meal times etc etc but it was not a pleasant experience to be so over-run with so many. I would not return if this issue is not dealt with and I need to say I am used to carribean resorts inviting local guests into their resorts on weekend during low season. I usually enjoy having interaction with locals but this was so over the top. When I did complain to sunwing and management about the situations their "we are sorry" was just not enough. It really does grieve me to leave this feedback when we did enjoy the resort the rest of the time (non weekend). BUT I must be honest as I expect that from everyone who writes here about their experiences.

Playabachata Review

At first, we thought we were going somewhere pretty nice. After being in the hotel and the grounds we saw it wasn't that great. We even saw 3 cockroaches in our room. I wouldn't recommend this resort.

Beautiful resort

Very scenic resort, landscaping exceptional awesome beach, excellent food, friendly staff very clean lacking good evening entertainment no shopping area small gift shop good view of cruise ships leaving Maimon bay rooms clean and spacious all round I give this resort 8 out of 10

Amazing Resort

The Hotel Great , the Rooms was always Clean , the Food just OK , not the best , Pool Excellent, the Beach is just Ok , but we love the Hotel and the staff was great at Lobby or in the Restaurants, the Bar Great , but the Drinks we Not Happy, no International drinks at alll only Domestic, but is Ok !

Good Experiece

When we first arrived and were assigned our room we were very dissatisfied but when we went to the front desk the next day we were given an option of two rooms. This second room was definitely an upgrade. The only con was the small showering area. We had no problems with the food. We found it to have a good variety. There were two options in case of the buffet as well as two options with the ala cart both were satisfactory. Pool area was well maintained but the pool itself needed closer monitori [... read more]ng with debris. There was a pool maintenance person clearing debris out of pool but he could not keep up. Also it is not a heated pool. The service of bartenders was satisfactory. The serving personnel in the buffets and ala cart restaurants were excellent. No complaints. The cleaning personnel to our room was exceptional. Only wish I had asked and kept track of their names. But Lydia from the buffet restaurant really sticks out in my mind. She was awesome. We stayed in the PlayaBachata Resort.

Love this place

Have been many times, always friendly and completely stress free. Beach is wonderful ,staff always available and helpful. Would really like ten day vacations to be offered. The two story villas are charming , painted in beautiful colours and surrounded by pretty well cared for gardens.The rooms are adequate but need a little modernizing ,even a couple of pictures would brighten the space.Lots of choices at meal times ,nicely presented. Staff in the dining room very at [... read more]tentive and kind. This place offers a perfect example of classic Caribbean hospitality and environment .

Very good resort.

Very good resort and grate grounds,beach everything clean. Good food in general some improvement and variety requires. Senator resort is a big improvement .The mature trees on the beach are wonderful is a grate place and spacious you don't have to fight for space.

Excellent resort, very happy about our experience ! We will go back !!

The hôtel is very clean, there is always someone cleaning, washing the floors...everywhere, in every corner, and the toilets, washrooms were kept cleaned at all time. Staff is welcoming and friendly. The beach is extra clean, a little wavy but very nice and warm and lots of chairs. We spent everyday laying in the sun. The buildings are very well maintained, very clean. I requested a room on the second floor, we had our own balcony, and lots of wind during the night as we were able to leave the [... read more] door open. We had a lock for the safe, which was appreciated, my wife had a hair dryer and we had a large closet.. Our bedroom had a bar, and it was always full of liquor, pop and water. The food was very good, lots of choices every meal, everyday. The A la Carte was not impressive, I went to different resorts before, and the A la Carte was a step higher in quality than the buffet, but not there;... we prefered the buffet. I am not a smoker so i thought it was hard to find a place where there was no smoke....

Lovely resort

We loved the grounds , very close to the beach from rooms and buildings. They left so many palm trees, so it's very pretty and you can have sun and shade everywhere. We liked the smaller more intimate style of the buildings. Everything was clean and comfortable. Not the most updated but lot's of charm. Staff was friendly and very efficient. Highly recommend this resort.

Amazing beach and views!

Grounds are easy to navigate, wonderful path for walking day or night. Rooms are dry, clean and no problems with water pressure! Food was great! Variety of seating areas with relaxing atmosphere and pleasant music. Disco for younger crowd and lots of sport activities if desired. We only hangout on the beach, but observed wonderful spirit around all swimming pools!

Amazing resort!

Wonderful place to spend vacation! The beach is awesome, palm trees are everywhere -- it's paradise! Very very clean. Staff is welcoming and friendly. Food is good, freshly squeezed juice every morning! Highly recommended!

Decent resort

Lack of variety in dining areas food in steakhouse very bland. Beach was nice and so were bars. The staff here were very nice and served quickly. The food in the buffets was overal “okay” however the food choices stayed practically the exact same throughout the week. Wifi was only available in the lobby was “okay” to very slow depending on the amount of people in the lobby as everybody wanted wifi. A good addition might be making wifi available throughout the entire resort seeing as how  [... read more]so many people require it.

The worst resort ever

Good afternoon, i booked 6 tickets to Dominican republic for my self and 5 of my family witch 2 of them coming from Lebanon to go for 7 days vacation in Puerto plata playabachata resort, it turned to a disaster after we checked in and we were ready to leave the resort the second day and come back to Canada. the pools were disgusting dirty, the oil, hair, bugs... were floating on top of the water, the beach chairs were all broken no entertainment at all, the entertainment members come just to [... read more] take some drinks from us without even asking... i remember Emanuel he comes and drink the beer and always asks us to bring him more.... we were expected sea food but we barely saw it lol ... only 1 kind of fish that they served the whole week,,,, the tomato was ruined all the time, the bread was hard like a rock, meat is hard can't shew it .... employees will ask you for the tip before they serve and if you don't tip them you will get half a glass of water. we are 6 people we payed 6000$ in tickets plus 120$ on our departure and over 100$ each for tips after we took off from our work to go on vacation and enjoy our time but we couldn't swim or eat good... spend the vacation in a room where we had to hear noise from the construction people that weak us up at 6,30 AM everyday, and everywhere you walk on the resort they were painting and paint smell was very strong... i complained to the reception in the main lobby over 5 times every day about the pool but no luck, i went to the sunwings representative to file a complaint or even to ask her if we can return back to Canada sooner but she barely speaks English. on top of that we lost the water for over 12 hours we couldn't shower or even brush our teeth... rooms were dirty, the sealing were stained yellow, bugs everywhere, we had to wait for the rooms cleaners till 3 or 4 PM to ask for water to drink, and change our towels... we saw some Canadians on the resort next to us THE SENATORS they were very happy with the rooms, service, food and pools... we asked at the reception if we can move there and we pay extra if we have to they refused to talk about it with us the sunwings rep and the rep at the front desk in the lobby. finally all what i can say it was not a vacation, it was a disaster for the whole family... definitely we wont go back to that resort and wont recommend it to anyone. i am asking to file a complaint on my behalf t get a full refund from what we paid. thank you

New/old Playa Bachata

Finished two week, fifth visit. New owner has brought some good and bad changes. Good: very nice water facing gym. Nice coffee/pastry shop, ice cream parlor, pizza shop (all included). Bad: no beer in room fridge. Every second day water delivery (four days twice), food variety seemed limited and repetitive, late check in had one person to handle bus load of guests. One buffet was renovated and had more motivated staff and a more pleasant experience. Overall we are experienced travelers and ca [... read more]n find the good in all situations. The weather was great and the room was what we asked for. In the end we had a good visit and may return again, if the price is right.