Hotel review for Hotel Grand Palladium Bavaro Resort & Spa

Hotel

The Hotel is just gorgeous. We could not imagine any better. So many people were doing their very best to make us feel comfortable. Still some of the staff, like stated here before, were really moody. Considering their income, no wonder. The thing which bothered me most was the big hotels taking the advantage of these people paying too little and not educating them properly. The maids for instance did not know five words of english and sometimes you need to communicate, really. Well next time we will be better prepared with our Spanish! The biggest problem was when my husbands 50th birthdaygift, iPod was stolen from the room (inside the closed drawer) the lobby reception personnel were not interested at all. They told it´s not their problem and told if he were to make a notice to the police he should do it by himself. Even the police was surprised about that. So please be wiser than us and keep ALL your valuables in the safe. The one who got in came with the key card.

Location

Location is simply a paradise. We normally do a lot of excursions when we travel, but in this hotel it´s absolutely not necessary. You can have everything there. On the beach it´s easy to find a more quiet corner if you like to, but animation they have there is the best and it´s entertaining to watch at even if you are not interested in participating.

Service

The staff was mainly friendly. Some of the waiters and the whole reception personnel were really rude and unable to communicate. When the doorframes fell down, remote controller didn´t work etc. a phone call did not ave any affect at all, we had to walk to the lobby to get things fixed in 24 hours.
Check in was super fast and we got great rooms. The Kids Club ladies were wonderful but as they spoke only spanish we didn´t dare to leave our kids there though they are accustomed to deal with foreign people. In general I would really expect the management to teach basic english for this wonderful staff. The animation and sport staff is a real crown jewel for this Grand Palladium. Really friendly, genuine people working all day long to create a good spirit and cozy athmosphere.

Gastronomy

Whole family enjoyed the food a lot. There was something for all, every day. The one who got the long awaited permission to avoid fresh fruits and vegetables was the one who did not get any stomach issues at all. Drinks were all great, we never got a headache and there was enough kiosks on the beach to fill the need.

Sport & Entertainment

This is absolutely the strongest area of this hotel. We can not praise them enough!

Room

We had two junior suites for five persons ans really enjoyed ourselves. The maid does wad she does do you tip or not, so you can as well tip in the end, if you like to. We did not manage to get the refill to minibar everyday even if we tried to. In Palace supermarket they sell Coke and Fanta 2$ , so we carried some amounts back to our room.

Tips and recommendations

I suggest that you really take everythig you might need with you as the asortment in local shops or in the hotel is really small- Nivea sp30 34$ to begin with, and no toys for kids. Well we did find two small toy cars in Plaza Bavaro, about 10 cm size with Punta Cana sticker on them : they asked 40 $ of one. Use the hotel train, for my youngest it was great fun every day. The music you hear in the train you can buy in the beach bars or hotel shop.