Hotel Riu Palace Bavaro

“Enjoy Paradise!”

Very nice resort. The staff is exceptionally nice and helpful. The room was very nice - I got the Jacuzzi Suite. Its a bit dark in there and many of the outlets didn't work well. Otherwise we absolutely loved our stay. The food at the buffet was so good! much better than any of the restaurant... more

Very nice resort. The staff is exceptionally nice and helpful. The room was very nice - I got the Jacuzzi Suite. Its a bit dark in there and many of the outlets didn't work well. Otherwise we absolutely loved our stay. The food at the buffet was so good! much better than any of the restaurants to be honest. I really enjoyed the VIP benefits and highly recommend the upgrade.

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“Beautiful Pools and Beach (but noisy rooms)”

I arrived at the Riu Palace Bavaro on April 9, 2024 in mid-afternoon. Staff was welcoming and my room was ready (room 0118). The room had a nice view of a garden and landscaped park and rest area with sand and cabanas. Unfortunately, it was near the main entrance hallway to this section of resort... more

I arrived at the Riu Palace Bavaro on April 9, 2024 in mid-afternoon. Staff was welcoming and my room was ready (room 0118). The room had a nice view of a garden and landscaped park and rest area with sand and cabanas. Unfortunately, it was near the main entrance hallway to this section of resort. I had asked for a quiet room at the front desk and mentioned that was a repeat customer but they failed to consider this. The Riu Bavaro now attracts more budget customers that seem to be noisier late at night. After day 4, I changed to a more quiet room (room 2022) which was supposed to be a nice upgrade. It had a higher view of the resort with mostly palm trees. I was on the 2nd floor but seemed to be on the 3rd floor because it was so high up. Unfortunately, early in the morning, noise was coming from below as staff rearranged many tables at the buffet restaurant situated on the ground floor. Both rooms were the same, fairly large but needed some refreshing. They were the same type of room as last year but there were more maintenance issues. The decor was attractive and there was a large water jet bath between the bedroom and the bathroom. The first room had a king size bed but in reality it was two double beds under a same bed spread. The second room had a real king size bed. Both rooms had a rest area and flat screen TVs that weren’t functioning properly as the image wasn’t stable (poor reception). Room service was perfect with rooms made up quickly after leaving in the morning and nice touches with a bed cover designs and flowers every day. The bar was always full with soft drinks, beer and other refreshments. Restaurants were good to fair. The main buffet restaurant was great at breakfast time. Tony was always there to offer great service in the morning. A la carte restaurants were not as good at night. The beach facing this resort was prefect as it full of palm tree and shade and it made the scenery incredible. There were many chairs available on the beach no matter what the time of the day. The pools chairs were more difficult to get though but arriving after breakfast and choosing one was no problem. Water was beautiful with turquoise color. There was some seaweed on some days but the amount was very small and varied from day to day. This Riu resort also had beautiful pools, a nice bar near one of the pools where service was friendly and fun activities where held at the end of the day. Some music was louder in mid-afternoon during the weekend as this hotel has changed to attract more party customers. I like the end of day activities near the pool but mid-day should be for relaxing more quietly. The hotel architecture was beautiful with a Spanish touch and the grounds were perfect. There was some construction nearby as the hotel is expanding, but that noise could not be heard from the hotel or the rooms. The hotel was closing for several months on May 1st. The entire vacation experience was really nice except for the quality of sleep on some noisy nights. Before, the hotel had an international mix of clients that where friendly. This is still the case but now Riu is attracting more budget customers. The trip went by quickly but many great pictures were taken. It was much fun. Last year I had reviewed the hotel and given it 5 out of 5. The review was in fact the hotel’s favorite review. This year, I am giving it 4 out of 5 because it was less relaxing. As last year, the staff was great.

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