Iberostar Selection Bavaro Suites

We spent 10 days at this hotel. I traveled with my friend, and when booking, we specifically requested a room with two separate beds. Unfortunately, this was not arranged initially, and we were only moved to a different room with twin beds on the fourth day. One of the biggest issues we encountered was the presence of giant cockroaches in the rooms. Additionally, the minibar is only restocked upon request, which was quite inconvenient. On the positive side, the hotel services are adequate. There are numerous restaurants and bars offering a wide variety of food and drinks, which was a great aspect of our stay. However, the staff’s English skills are quite limited, and they were not as friendly as we have experienced in similar hotels in other countries. Even when tipping, their reaction was indifferent, without any sign of appreciation. Due to the cockroach issue, I wouldn’t return to this hotel. After reading other reviews, it seems I am not the only guest who has had this problem.

Our flight home is delayed so I’m writing this review while still at the resort, soaking up every last glorious minute on the beach. Short version of the review - if you’re considering this resort, BOOK IT. Our trip was close to perfection and I’d have to really nitpick to find anything to complain about. This is our first visit to the DR but we have stayed at all inclusives in Jamaica, Cuba, St. Lucia and more…this is hands down our favourite! Beach is literally perfect, food is very, very good, staff are excellent, rooms are spacious and clean, property is super clean and beautifully maintained. Pools offer something for everyone from active and noisy to more peaceful. Lots of activities for young kids - great choice for families, but not over run with them. Longer version with more detail: ROOM We were in Building 49, easy walk to main pool, Coral section pool and main lobby. Large bathroom with large shower, two double beds, sunken sitting area with two couches, and m private outdoor terrace with a couch and convenient clothes drying rack. We made our mini bar restock requests in the app with no issues. Housekeeping did a good job every day. BEACH AND POOL We upgraded to use the Coral beach, pools and restaurants, but the main beach is really no different. Sugar soft golden sand, clear turquoise water, no rocks or shells. Plenty of loungers, palapas, and Bali beds. Only a few wisps of sargassum here and there, and a thin line on the sand at the high tide mark. The beach is raked and maintained beautifully, just like the rest of the resort. Main pool is very large and active. Always something going on from music to games, to aquafit. It’s right next to a large pirate ship themed splash pad for kids, and next to a lunch buffet, ice cream hit and great grill / snack bar, so perfect place for families. I believe it also has a swim up bar. I prefer more peaceful surroundings so used the Coral “quiet pool” which is located in a quiet area surrounded by rooms, and mainly the Coral infinity pool, which is directly on the beach. The infinity pool does host activities during the day like aquafit and salsa dance classes, so it’s not silent, but it’s not all day every day pounding music. Also worth noting that neither pool is adults only so of course there is the regular noise from children playing. If there is an adults only pool I didn’t find it, but nor did I look for it. FOOD AND DRINK El Faro is the beachside restaurant for the Coral level. It’s got a beach bar with fantastic bartenders, great range of premium liquor if that’s your thing, and excellent espresso in the morning. It serves a spectacular breakfast and lunch buffet with everything you could imagine, including two types of caviar! Daily lunch specials included a taco bar, paella, and tandoori chicken, but there’s a huge variety of options. Dinner is a small a la carte menu, and El Faro seems to be the only beachfront restaurant. We ate here twice. My daughter had a creamy pasta both nights. I had a very good vegetable risotto and a fine steakhouse quality steak. Above El Faro is a seafood restaurant for Coral Level called Salt & Soul, but we didn’t try it. The other two a la cartes we ate at were the Mexican and the French. Would rate the French as very good and the Mexican excellent, especially the guacamole prepared tableside. STAFF I have seen several comments about staff here being unfriendly or indifferent and that hasn’t been our experience at all. They range from a bit reserved, but professional, to very effusive and friendly, learning names and drink preferences. In particular the bartender at El Faro in the mornings and our waiter in the evenings were fantastic. We never had any trouble with language. Most speak English very well. The few who don’t speak enough to get by in combination with my few words of basic Spanish. If we had run into difficulties, well that’s what Google Translate is for. I don’t understand why people travel to a foreign country and get offended that locals don’t speak their language. I’ve never heard of someone from Germany or Sweden complaining that hotel staff in Boston or Toronto don’t speak German or Sweden. While many of the guests are from Canada and the US, with a few from Europe, the majority seemed to be from Central and South America. My advice: Book this resort and enjoy every second!

We had a wonderful time. While the language barrier can be difficult, we always felt like family. We have stayed here 7 times. The only disappointment was that the superbowl party was not on the beach like in past years. We love the outdoor party. Iberostar has a great beach and a nice amount of shade.

Our flight was delayed getting to Punta Cana therefore we arrived in the dark on Saturday night around 10:30. We checked in, got our luggage in a golf cart and were driven over 5 minutes to our room, at the very far end of the resort. Once inside the room, the air conditioning wasn’t working, no hot water, balcony and side windows were left open and the front door wouldn’t lock properly. We called front desk and the concierge talked us through possible solutions. We went to the front desk the next morning to request a room change as we were just too far away from the lobby, beach and pool. My husband and I are in our 70’s with knee operations and we just couldn’t manage the walk nor find the lobby without a map. The day manager Ernesto more or less listened to our issues and offered us a room closer to lobby and restaurant at a price of $700 US to upgrade. We said no way and asked for him to please find us another room at no cost. We were with Air Transat Vacations and he informed us that their customers were put in the rooms at the end of the resort. He finally found us a room and we changed rooms in the afternoon so a total waste of day 1. Once settled, we got our bearings to the amenities. This resort is huge and even though we were closer to the buffet restaurant, the walk to the pool was still a good 10 minutes away and the beach a 15 walk. However Restaurants were good, Japanese excellent, beach beautiful, pool alright but filtration system not working properly, entertainment alright. We found the staff’s lack of English was a real problem and used Google translator often, even at the bar and restaurants. We’ve been to Punta Cana several times but never going back to this chain as the language problem poses a huge barrier.

Hello, We just returned from a 7 day trip to Iberostar Selection. I would like to give a quick opinion on this resort. I have stayed at many Punta Cana resorts in the past. Most recent being, Majestic Colonial and Barcelo, adult side. I would say that this Iberostar was by far my favourite. Check in and Layout. Check in was quick, Lobby was beautiful. The Layout of the Lobby, Theatre, gift store and main buffet and restaurants all by close to the Lobby was awesome. Rooms: We had a basic room with 2 queen beds. Some have commented on seeing cockroaches, I did not see any. The room was bright and clean and I found the bed and pillows quite comfortable. Beer and soft drinks in the fridge. Air conditioning worked well and so did the shower. No bathtub. Even though it wasn't the best location as I didn't book a better location, it was still a quick 5 min walk to the Lobby, pool and beach. They give you bracelets that work as the room key which is amazing as you never have to worry about losing your key or forgetting it in the room. Pool and Beach: I found the pool area great. A swim up bar and another bar right beside the pool on the other side. Also right next to a lunch buffet which was quite convenient. I think you could always find a couple of chairs at the pool and almost all had an umbrella or hut over them. So shade was not an issue. The beach was beautiful and had lots of chairs as well. Entertainment in the Lobby: Although I enjoyed myself, I did not find this resort to have the best entertainment. Some dancers were ok, a circus type show that was set up outside the theatre with just a trapeze bar. It was ok. A few nights , it was just audience participation silly shows. They were good for a laugh. No Michael Jackson shows or anything like that. A beach party, We didn't stay long. It was very hard to understand what was being said but still ok. The children's entertainment looked like fun. Food: I found the food to be MUCH better than the two previous resorts I mentioned above. The buffets were quite good in my opinion. You may not like everything, but you definitely will find something you like. The selection is huge. The desert selection was great, I loved the cakes with whip cream. The buffet at the beach was pretty good too. My daughter enjoyed the taco station. They also have a grill hut outside the poolside buffet. In the buffet, I would usually have chicken, mashed potatoes, rice and salads for lunch. One day there was stewed pork in a gravy. It was tender and tasted awesome ! A la Cartes: We attended the Italian, Steakhouse and Mexican. They were pretty good but at the Italian, I ordered a chicken parm like dish, but didn't really like it. Their Caesar salad was good though. My daughter did not have that hard of a time getting reservations. She went to the concierge on the first night we got there. Staff: I see a lot of reviews saying the staff is not nice. I honestly did not encounter that with any of them. Maybe a couple of them did not beam with happiness to see you, but I certainly did not find any of them rude. I found a lot of them to be quite nice. There is a really nice lady that works as the hostess in the buffet in the morning. Always happy and helpful. Overall, I really enjoyed this resort. Out of the 6-8 resorts I have been to in Punta Cana, this is definitely my favourite. We usually go to different resorts each year because we have never really found one that we felt was worth going to again. Not that we didn't like it, but they just didn't stand out. This one, we are definitely considering going to again.