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Hotel Riu Palace Bavaro - UPDATED 2024 Prices, Reviews & Photos
The All Inclusive 24h Hotel Riu Palace Bavaro (under renovation until September 2024) is located on Arena Gorda beach, one of the most paradisiacal in Punta Cana. Get your Riu Class loyalty card to enjoy exclusive benefits and earn points. Riu Palace are the most sophisticated of all the RIU hotels, designed to make the guests feel like royalty. The location is ideal due to its proximity to El Cortecito (10 km), Higüey (40 km), and Airport Punta Cana (PUJ) (25 km) and invites you to explore the area. The hotel features 994 comfortable rooms and free WiFi. Relax in our spa get in shape in our gym. 6 pools, 2 with swim-up bar. Daytime and evening entertainment, discotheque. Do you like going to top parties on your holidays? #RiuParty is made for you! For foodies, live cooking stations at our main buffet and restaurants specializing in American, Asian, Italian, Mexican and Steakhouse cuisine; 6 bars. Discover our additional premium service: Elite Club by RIU
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to Giata.
Spent the last week at Riu Palace Bavaro. Our second time in the same general area in 6 months but 2 very different experiences. Nice enough hotel with well groomed grounds and great rooms. The staff were kind and helpful.
The beach is the draw and caters too numerous hotels along the Bavaro strip. We had never been to a Riu and was eager to check it out.
This hotel is not a 5 star and far from it, it's a 3 or 3.5 at best. None of the restaurants have bathrooms, if you need to go you will have to leave wherever you are eating to access one at the lobby or beach area. We never saw any access to hand sanitizer nor was it made available to diners as they entered any of the restaurants. We ended up getting very sick after eating at one of the restaurants and spent 3 days in bed. We had to visit our doctor once we returned to Canada. That in of itself should not happen at a self proclaimed 5 star resort!
The rooms were great but if you didn't need a chiropractor before your vacation you will need one upon your return after 7 days on their beds. The shows were terrible and consisted of the same group of dancers in different costumes every night. The had dancing shows every single night!!
We are not picky travellers and usually visit southern destinations twice a year. I wouldn't recommend this resort. Look at one of the others along the same beach that were offering their guests beach bars and beach bbq's like some other resorts!
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Date of stay: February 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from RiuHotelsandResorts, Online Reputation Manager at Hotel Riu Palace Bavaro
Responded Mar 16, 2017
Dear guest, Thank you for choosing RIU Hotels and Resorts once again for your vacation. We are very disappointed to find that this time your experience did not live up to what you usually expect from us. As a global brand, we strive to maintain consistent levels of quality in our hotels throughout the world. Firstly, we are pleased to hear that you were satisfied with our friendly and helpful staff. At RIU we take pride in our customer service as this is one of the key values of our company and staff is constantly trained to maintain optimal standards. Thank you as well for highlighting the design of our resort. On the other hand, we are sorry to hear that our entertainment team failed to live up to your expectations. Regarding the food, we can assure you that the health and safety of our guests is taken very seriously. We follow strict procedures while handling our food products in order to prevent and avoid any kind of alimentary risks or hazards. We would be delighted if you would honor us with another opportunity to convince you of our RIU service and quality. With our best wishes we remain, Hotel Riu Palace Bavaro Online Reputation Manager
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I was stuck at this hotel for two weeks food was aweful wifi even if you pay for it sucks very loud asked to be changed to a different hotel that we would pay extra and they came back to tell us and extra 3000 us to move us not very good place to be I will never return and true,y makes me rethink of Rui hotels I TrueType thought Rui had a better standard very disappointing resort Franklin was the nicest person working there he belongs in a better resort... the only other good thing was the rooms are clean
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Date of stay: February 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from RiuHotelsandResorts, Online Reputation Manager at Hotel Riu Palace Bavaro
Responded Mar 6, 2017
Dear guest, Thank you for taking the time to give us your feedback and for expressing your concerns. We are committed to provide excellent quality of our products and services to our guests. We regret to read that you have left our hotel with an opposite idea in your mind. We appreciate our guests’ comments since they help us improve our services. We will share your impressions with the corresponding department in order to make adjustments, if necessary. We hope you will choose to visit us again, and give us a chance to demonstrate the high standards of guest service that are typical at our resorts. With our best wishes we remain, Riu Naiboa Online Reputation Manager
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We just came back from a really nice 7 day vacation on Feb. 17, 2017. Despite we had 3 days of rain, which is so unusual for the Dominican, the staff really made sure we were taken care of. You could still sit at the pool under shelter or you could play games at the Sports Bar. We even did water aerobics in the rain! The drinks were plentiful and flowing. It is what you make it!
We decide to book our excursion on one of the rainy days...not knowing it would be raining, but, the Segway tour through Punta Cana was amazing. We drove out of the rain into sunshine and spent four hours of touring. Stopped at the original Punta Cana hotel/resort, now since closed in 2013. The guide, Miguel, gave us a brief history of Punta Cana. You would be amazed who owns it! Spent 1/2 hour on a beautiful white sand turquoise water beach. The pictures looked like we were in Bora Bora! Stopped by a petting zoo, stepped into an Iquana pen, took a tour around the Punta Cana golf course and the final stop was the beautiful natural aqua fir that we were allowed to swim in. Excellenta!
The Hotel itself is quite chic and well maintained. It boasts beautiful white open air spaces. Birds sings when you awake and amazing sunrises!
The buffet is really good for all meals. Our favorite waitress was Alexandria! She made sure we had a table and was her service is next to none. The quality and presentation is unrivaled. The Ala Carte restaurants are hit and miss. Most dishes are very good.
The Entertainment Staff, Sexy Coco Chanel, Flow, Henry (Gorilla), Bella & Mirana at the hotel are all very nice, welcoming but very professional. They always making sure you are having a good time. Daytime activities can be found on the beach and in the pool. The night time entertainment is very good. There was a Michael Jackson impersonator that you would swear was him! Excellent. I did find that the entertainment was a little loud if you were not attending the nights festivities, however, it only ran until 11:30 at night.
The front desk staff is very accommodating and pleasant. Reasonable requests are responded too as quickly as possible.However, we did report our fridge was not working and they never did replace it or fix it. Myself with medications, I had to use our friends fridge in the adjacent room and it was a bit of a pain.
Our cleaning lady, Elsa, is wonderful and always made sure we had enough of everything in the room. The hotel and beach are kept clean.
The stretch of beach will take you approximately 1 hour to walk in line of sight, however, you can keep walking around the tips. Its wonderful! The is a shanty market at one end and a beautiful mountain range at the other.
There is a market, pool, disco also, The market adjacent to the hotel is excellent for souvenirs and not overly priced.
Make sure you do at least one excursion. I recommend either the Segway tour, the Soana Island tour or the Party boat.
And make sure you get a few shots in of Mamajuana ;)
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Date of stay: February 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I stayed from Sunday 2/12 - 2/19..... we arrived at 1ish, and our rooms were not ready (this was expected as check out time is 11am) we were told to grab lunch and explore the resort! It's not a large result but at first glance it's beautiful, the beach was nice and the pool was not very big but a good size! It seem like it was going to be a great week! I have to say I read all the reviews and thought "phew I'm not picky, I don't need to be waited on, it can't be THAT bad!" I will break it down..... The food is good, BUT every meal is literally the same! Breakfast was always the guessing game, was the bacon going to be crispy or not! But don't worry we knew there would be eggs, pancakes, carrots and pastries ( the same everyday)! The coffee was horrible, I love Santa Domingo coffee but I don't know what tar they were serving, but it sure wasn't coffee! Lunch/dinner..... everyday was the same options of food, don't get me wrong it was good food but for 6 days.... the soup did change though! Fries, pizza, pasta, pork, fish and beef tenderloin( which was amazing during lunch only) A la cart..... We tried the Italian one first, the service was disorganized! We arrive, and we're sat in the corner, we were told to get the buffet, but the guy at the buffet said we had to order at the table.... so we sat down and waited, and waited and waited NOTHING! So we asked the people beside us how they got served and they helped us and said "this must be your first night!" I didn't think anything of it..... food finally came the food was good BUT I felt like I was eating a salt lick! The next night was Steak house night, I was scared..... to my surprise by far 100 times better.... food was awesome, service was awesome..... we left happy! This is how they work, appetizers and desert is buffet, they take your order after your appetizers are gone! That night we left $5 US they deserved it!! When we went back a third night the service was 100 times better then the previous amazing steak night, that $5 went a long way!!
Bars/entertainment..... I am a white, non Spanish speaking female.... the lady bartenders went to the Spanish people and the men first (even when I was there first), once or twice it can happen but regularly is not acceptable! The guys were awesome Sammy and Bautista were great, happy friendly, looked like they enjoyed their jobs! And were great with everyone regardless! I stayed in room 421 it was above the lobby bar, and OMG it was so loud, and I get people are there to have fun but people were out at the bar hooting and yelling and having a great time till 530 am..... I GET IT! But the hotel should really look at the logistics! The bar above the pool is a better option rather then underneath half of the hotel keeping us up! The pool entertainers tried hard, they have the same repetitive daily routine and music..... CHANGE IT UP! Also thank god someone had phone speakers as there wasn't music half the day!! They need music
Room.... they were rooms, not much but most people are not spending most of their time in there rooms!! All I can say is the beds are horrible. They don't give "blankets" they give 2 thin sheets it gets cold at night with the ac on our options were simple, freeze or turn off the AC! Traveling 101.... lock up your stuff, or don't get your room cleaned! Simple, you loose anything it's your own fault!
Service.... At the start of the week there pretty much was no service! You don't get sat or served drinks, they are pretty much just bus boys/girls! Which is fine once they figure out that you tip... it goes from night to day with your service!! I totally understand, BUT it should be they are great to get tipped then go above and beyond because they earned the money! Pool bar, there is NO swim up bar which makes less pee in the pool (might be why it's cold) but you literally have to climb a flight of stairs to get a drink.... why not have staff serving around the pool!! That would go a long way! And they would make lots of money!
Pool..... OMG it's cold, but refreshing!
This was my personal experience but I can say there were a lot of issues from other travellers but I did not experience them first hand so I will not discuss!
This was my first experience at a RIU and I have to say it would be very unlikely I would ever go back to a RIU after this!! If I could give any advice to this hotel, it would be change is needed.... this resort has so much potential it's just BORING! I would spend the extra money and go to the grand Bahia Punta Cana a few resorts over!
Happy traveling!!
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Date of stay: February 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from RiuHotelsandResorts, Online Reputation Manager at Hotel Riu Palace Bavaro
Responded Mar 1, 2017
Dear guest, Thank you very much for your candid review of your recent stay at our hotel. Your feedback is extremely valuable to us, as we strive to improve with each and every stay. We would like to thank you for bringing up your satisfaction regarding our nice beach location. We appreciate your feedback and would like to thank you for your kind words about Sammy and Bautista. It is with great pleasure that I will pass on your compliments to them! We appreciate your positive comments about the quality of the food. It is important to inform you that we do check daily our food offer in our main buffet where we provide a wide selection of dishes catering for all tastes. We regret to read you were not satisfied with the room amenities and as well as with the service of the pool bar. We will share your impressions with the corresponding department in order to make adjustments, if necessary. Again, thank you very much for your valuable feedback – we would be more than happy to welcome you again soon in one of our hotels. With very kind regards, Hotel Riu Naiboa Online Reputation Manager
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My wife, and 4 year old daughter truly enjoyed our trip to Punta Cana. The reviews from friends and family told of better food and service than in Puerto Plata and we were not disappointed.
The beaches were pristine- fine white sand and turquoise blue water; the pools were not over crowded and someone was always ready to take an order for drinks. Note that if it rains. They will run out of towels.
The buffet at the MonteCristo was excellent! There was a good variety, including local fare like plantains and rice and beans (doesn't sound exotic, but fantastic flavours). Breakfast covered a lot of ground, including fresh fruit and smoothies. The deserts were varied and there were special efforts made; for example, Valentine's Day they had a chocolate fountain and thematic deserts. One night they had a cotton candy machine, which kids love!
What is an all inclusive without booze, you ask? The drinks flow! There are bottle of liquor set up with joggers and a full assortment of soft drinks to go with. maids were good at keep beers stocked in the fridge (especially when you tip). The buffet at the beach- the Tiano- has 2 beers tap which are always available too!
The other 4 restaurants were just okay for me- set menu and service was just so so. They seem to love air conditioning and the room was chilly! My family preferred to go to the buffet.
I will say that the Miami Vice colours of the lobby threw me for a curve. Pinks and purples and a lot of grandiose space... It is supposed to be one of the two higher end examples of the adjoining RIU resorts. So we walked along the beach to see the other properties and the Palace Punta Cana was much nicer in my opinion- colonial style with ceiling fans and long fountains all the way to the beach! Gorgeous! Meanwhile, we spoke to guest there who were disappointed with the night time entertainment. They saw live bands one night, but not much else. The Bavaro entertainment was excellent!!
An important mention must be made about the Animation Team- they legitimately made our trip BETTER! The night time shows were spectacular- I am not a show lover per se!! They had a Michael Jackson cover artist, acrobats with incredible stints, and surprisingly good magician, a burlesque night. WILSON is the MC most nights and he really gets the crowd involved! He can cater to his public in 4 languages and let me say he delivers! The rest of the team- BEATA & MORENA, FLO & HENRY (aka Gorilla) engaged the crowd; they would invite people at random to be a part of the act or dance. It was tremendous to watch, let alone participate in the one night! My daughter insisted on going back every night! Amazingly, the crew would be poolside or at the beach the following morning to run activities (ie. Bingo, darts, volleyball, pool aerobics, etc.) Their energy really brought a fun feel to our week in the sun.. Even on the two days it rained.
One amazing thing is that Punta Cana is on the Atlantic. Rain on the Northeast does NOT mean rain on the south side. We accidentally booked an excursion on the second day of rain- a catamaran trip to Saona Island, which was very sunny and perfect in every way. It was worth the money and cheaper to book on the plane (Sunwing), as you save on the currency exchange (important for Canadians) and it is also at a discounted price!
A final couple points: the crowd is not young families (like the Macao?). Mind you, we did have access to waterslides on the compound. The Bavaro caters to an older crowd; there is a policy to discourage spring breakers from staying. In fact, there is also a great babysitting service, ie. Miniclub, so it doesn't exclude families either. The other point is that tipping is highly encouraged and you need US$- change is available at the bars or the front lobby. Just keep enough cash to pay for the airport exit tax of $20/ person on your way home (you'll need $10 entry tax in cash as well).
All in all a good trip! We even asked to stay longer- but the snow ticket for 3 plus two extra room nights was $2000!
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Date of stay: February 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Sensimar is the Riu Republica,you just get a different block,pool area and bar and an a la carte restaurant which was not very good,only went twice in three weeks. Would NOT go again. Very rowdy and noise lots of very drunk Americans and canadians there to get drunk and party for long weekends.
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Date of stay: January 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
The resort was first rate, from our arrival until our departure. The room, food and entertainment was great. Would definitely go there again. They serve Coors Light in 10 ounce cans which is unusual at resorts of this type. The buffet had lobster and filets one evening. All you could eat or want. The staff, Henry, Edwin, and TopKnot (nickname) worked hard all day and night to make sure we were having a wonderful vacation and we did.
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Date of stay: January 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We were originally booked at the RIU Palace and the accommodations were sub-par with mold issues in the rooms. The Apple Vacation staff was very helpful in relocating us to the RIU Bavaro which was much better. They ensured that we had a wonderful place to stay and the mold issues were not present in the rooms in the Bavaro location. Santos Santeliza from Amstar (Apple Vacations) was extremely helpful in finding us rooms at Bavaro. He remembered us from 4 years ago when we stayed at the Dreams resort. The one complaint about the Bavaro resort is that there were limited non-smoking areas. The rooms were very clean; however there was residue of previous smoking. Overall, the food was very good with many choices of different types of food.
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Date of stay: February 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Went with a party of 18 to celebrate my 50th birthday. Resort is Excellent, staff very friendly and outgoing. My wife planned a surprise birthday celebration while we were down there. It was awesome! Also, the nightly shows put on by the staff are outstanding. the grounds are extremely clean and excellently maintained, the pool and the beach areas are all very close within walking distance to the hotel. Would definitely go back!
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Date of stay: December 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
The resort was amazing! It was extremely large with all of the Riu hotels on the same compound. The shops outside of three hotels were an added benefit for shopping. My only real complaint was that there was no wait staff to bring food and beverage on the beach and no food at the pool area. The internet only worked for me at the pool which was frustrating!! The employees were all extremely nice. Be sure to bring cash for tips!!
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Date of stay: December 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Grand Junction, Colorado53 contributions18 helpful votes
It looks like it will be going on for a long time. They're putting up new buildings and only have some of the basic foundations installed. It is loud and goes till 9pmish the nights I was there. Lots of pounding and machines. Like I said, this is the entrance side of the hotel, not the beach side, where it is concentrated. I asked to be moved to a different room and they were very cooperative.
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