Horrible! Unsafe! Dirty! Scary!

Peter Aug 15, 2009

I do not know where to begin; I want to let everyone know I never complain about anything! Never! I am only writing this to ... hope that the people who read this will never make the horrible decision I made with my wife by booking this hotel. As soon as we got to the hotel we realized that we made a mistake in their lobby which was not air conditioned. But the real story begins with us meeting someone in the lobby 6 minutes after arriving who was leaving the hotel. She told us about what had happened on her 7 night stay and she was happy to be going home. All I could think was OMG the nightmares are true. She not only had her money stolen, along with her passports, but this was all done in her room, inside the SAFE! I read this before I left on a trip commenting site and could not believe this could be true. Supposedly this happens a few times a week and no one does anything about it. We realized things were strange when we got to our rooms and there was no one in sight. After walking a long time with no bell boy to bring our luggage to the room we finally arrived to a security guard outside our room (we thought this to be the room that was just robbed). He did not speak a word of English; he was trying to get the door working and was not successful. After about a half hour or so he got the door working and we were able to enter. From a distance it looked gorgeous, spacious, and marble; but when you got close it was gross. The floors were dirty, the shower had mold, there was sand in the bathroom stall, and the sheets OMG the sheets had bodily fluids on them. I was horrified. All I could think was God why did we choose this place! Then I tried to leave the room to go complain and realized when I walked out that the door did not lock. It closed and opened with no key. Then I immediately checked the balcony and it was the same. The room had no doors that locked; there wasn't even a bolt to lock the door. I called to ask for someone to fix the lock, but after 30 minutes no one came, so I went to the front desk. They told me I never called but they would send someone immediately, so I went back to the room. Immediately in Grand Oasis Bavaro means about 1 hour and a half later. Again I thought let me just ask for another room to solve the problem with locks and the sheets quickly. When arriving at the front desk I was met with the ultimate attitude and I was speaking so nicely about everything. The receptionist told me they could fix the lock and there was no other room available in my building. If we wanted to transfer to the main part of the hotel it would be a down grade that they probably would not be able to do it. I felt powerless so I called America and had our parents' three-way a conversation to a travel agent to book us elsewhere. We stayed at DREAMS Punta Cana and it was a palace compared to where we were. It was amazing and everyone spoke English. We had to pay an additional $1400, but it was worth every penny. Don't think I have money like this to spend I am a teacher, but this was well worth it rather then ruining our vacation. The point is please do not stay at this hotel and remember this message if you think about doing it because I promise all of these things will come true. Oh and one last thing at Grand Oasis: we were attacked by shop peddlers trying to sell goods in the middle of the resort (uncontrollably, you would say no and that meant nothing.) Grand Oasis Bavaro is on the Grand Oasis Punta Cana complex so it is about 1 mile to walk to food, drinks, and entertainment and back.

a lot to improve

Vanessa Jul 5, 2009

Elaborating some of the comments above:They took 3 hours to check us in, from 2-5pm. No rooms ready and we all know that ... rooms must be ready at 3. Very disorganised staff, lack/ hiding information was very annoying. We have signed and paid $21 for the safe to be activated. It took them 2 days to send someone to set it! Two days, no personnel available they said.Beverages such as water and beer never replaced. Room fridge always empty. When we complained, usually around 6 or 7pm, when returned from the beach, reception would say "tomorrow, tomorrow".We asked for a taxi to go to Bavaro. We waited at Reception for 40 min. No taxi ever showed. Receptionist didn't care and claimed to have called taxi company twice. The point is that there are no taxis available at a 5 star hotel at any time of the day.Private Airport transfer was booked but driver asked me for a "favour" to take two more people who did not pay for the service.All alcoholic drinks are watered. Beer is light and cold. [...] was the man behind the bar. Tips well deserved.Towels are never replaced at cleaning. What I discovered after a couple of days is that towels are returned from laundry after 4pm. However, if you call at anytime, instead of informing the customer of the above, they claim they're sending the towels and keep you waiting forever. Towels were dirty one day.No sockets worked properly in a deluxe room, in the new building. We stayed at 15106, btw. They must have a cut off point. Hairdryer didn't work, phones barely charged, however the big problem was not to be able to charge your camera batteries! Unacceptable.Shops very expensive.Customer service desk at Punta Cana reception was sad. They don't know what they say. All little info provided was inaccurate. No internet service....

Grand Oasis Bavaro

Mix May 13, 2009

Would recommend to a friend!

This was our first trip to an all inclusive resort.Communication was most difficult.Staff spoke and understood minimal ... English. Information package written in Spanish- no one able to interpret. Very few guests our own age[60]- feel resort is for forty and under crowd especially nightly entertainment.Drinks very inconsistent Recommend banana mama. Otherwise very peaceful and serene.Aqua restaurant is excellent. Buffet generally good individual salads not labeled.

Fabulous Anniversary Getaway

ArRo May 8, 2009

Would recommend to a friend!

We chose from over multiple hotels. We made the right choice to celebrate our anniversary. The experience from the ... beginning was very pleasant. The staff was nice and helpful at all times. There were many choices with food and we like the fact that we can go to either restaurants on the premises. I would recommend that they definetly upgrade their fitness center. This was a beautiful location and they were very organize.

Very Friendly Staff

Benjamin Nov 24, 2008

Would recommend to a friend!

Our stay was very comfortable, everything was really good. ...

decent value

john Mar 3, 2008

Hotel was very nice and well maintained however the poor service almost entirely ruined my experience.The phone in my room ... did not work and the front desk never resolved the problem as promised; I didn't have a room phone the entire time I stayed.Also the food was well below average. It was so terrible that it ruined my experience to some degree. On a brighter note, most of the staff were very helpful and traveling throughout dominican republic was very enjoyable..

Great vacational destination

Min Mar 2, 2008

Would recommend to a friend!

Grand Oasis Bavaro is Jacuzzi Suite room building. Bavaro Suite is newest building and still some parts are under ... construction. Thus, if you want to stay at newer jucuzzi room, pick the Bavaro suite. My room was right in front of swimming pool, I could jump in from my balcony :-) Foods are great! There are 3 A la carte restaurant and they almost ready to open 4th one - Japanese Restauran. The main restaurant is buffet restaurant Windows. Even though it's a buffet, they change the theme every they, so you won't tired of it. There's another buffet for breakfast and lunch which is located in front of beach, so you can enjoy the nice view when you are eating. All the a la carte restaurants were awesome too. Every room has a mini bar- basically beer, water, and pops, it's free and chamber maid fill it up everyday! They have main pool, adult pool with jacuzzi, and plus several more, and they have scheduled many group activities at the main pool and other activity area- beach volleyball, water soccer, water volleyball, beach soccer, dance lesson, aquarobic, aerobic, etc. They also provide water sports equipments such as kayak/ canoe, snorkel, wind surf, etc., and you can take a lesson in the morning. When you check in, front clerk give you a card to rent a towel. Also, They have 2 tennis course, so you can play there, they provide rackets and balls as well. They have a theatre and play a movie for kids every evening, and also shows. So, if you schedule well, you can have so much fun and one week feel too short to enjoy all the things. About night life, most people are drinking outside, but there are two bars at the 2nd floor of the lobby- piano bar and disco bar. 3 or 4 nights of week piano bar has karaoki night, and disco bar is more likely for young people. One bar near the beach open til 6 a.m., and there's a snack bar right beside operate until 6 a.m., too. You don't need to worry about money at all except for souvenirs, or motorized water sports. There are shopping center at the hotel but it's quiet pricey. You can check out the stores right infront of hotel, or wait until the market vendors come to hotel. Water's safe, but quite a lot of mosquitos so be prepared, the hotel's vert secured- no stealing at all, nobody bugs you to sell somethingm, but there are people who try to sell vacation package from hotel. It's excellent hotel with nice and clean rooms. Staffs are mostly friendly, some of them speak very little english so it would be good to know some basic words. Fianally, this hotel doesn't provide airport pick-up service, but you can see lots of people are waiting for you at the airport. You just tell them the name of the hotel and ask the price. DON'T FORGET!!! You can negotiate the price!!! You may get half price of they mentioned at the beginning! You can bargain everythin over there! So don't pay full price especially when you buy souvenirs. Excellent place to enjoy and Relax, and good for familes, friends, and couples. I'm definitely going back next year!