Whala!Bayahibe - All Inclusive

Muy buen hotel

The Good -The pool area, when open, is absolutely stunning and amazing. -The cleanliness of our rooms was fabulous. -Staff, despite not being able to speak English or French, were very nice.  -Renovated rooms are nice. The Bad/ugly -ROOM : Upon arrival, we were given a partial ocean view. We returned to the front desk and were told that it was an oceanview and that we got an upgraded room. The smell of paint in this room was very strong. We were told that an oceanview room would cost exponentially more than what we paid. -We spoke to many people in the same building and they all paid for a gardenview room and got a free upgrade with the same view. They seem to arbitrarily give out rooms with no logic. -The manager kept telling us that they were in transition and we needed to be patient.  -We were luckier than another couple who arrived the next day. They paid for the oceanfront and got a gardenview.   -After 5 days and many conversations, we were given an oceanfront room on the fifth floor. I had to sign a waiver for this.  -After two nights of rain, this 5th floor room had water puddles on those two nights. This newly renovated room will probably need to be redone very soon as the wall where the water was coming in was already crumbling.   -In both rooms, the patio doors did NOT lock.  Thank goodness we were on high floors. -Bedsheets often had holes. -Incidentals :  We had to pay 3$ US a day to use the safe in the room and give a 20$ US deposit for towels.  -Kids : We were told once again by the deputy manager that they were in transition and we needed to be patient.  He said the kids would be gone by Tuesday of our first week. Those kids did, but there are condos on the property that are rented out so they had kids who used the same amenities as us. -Resort : is under construction. Our days were filled with sounds of jackhammers, saws, sanders, etc. They were heard around the pool and at dinner time in our room, from 9-6. -3 of the 4 pools were closed our second week. First couple of days due to high winds and because of a storm that filled them with sea****, they needed to be emptied.  After emptying them, they decided to fix and paint them.  The smell of strong epoxy was nauseating. -We only had one available pool that only had ladders to get in and out of, so anyone with disabilities was not able to use this pool.  -The resort is open to the public on weekends.  They arrive early and create line ups at the bar by the pool. -So after being down to one pool for the second week, we had kids and locals to share the one pool as well. -All the staff, including the ones at the front desk, have a very limited knowledge of English. -Food :  No mimosas. -Nothing good to say about the food. Same food at every meal, no themes or variety. Except for eggs in the morning, they do not cook anything fresh at the buffet unless they run out of something and you happen to get lucky to be there at that exact moment.  -You cannot ask them to cook fresh pr

Overall this resort was an enjoyable stay, but there’s SO much room for improvement still. Food: 2/5. No support for those with allergies or dietary requirements, and no information provided on dishes being served; very few options for vegetarians and vegans. Repetitive menus and all members of our party were ill on multiple occasions following meals at the buffet. Drinks: 2/5. Alcoholic drinks were very hit-and-miss and were made differently at the various bars or by different staff members (would recommend the lobby bar, however, the staff were particularly unfriendly here!). Would definitely avoid the wine unless you’re at the Italian restaurant, and avoid the gin from all bars. Room: 3/5. Limited attention to detail. Cleanliness left a lot to be desired. Things such as replenishing of towels / bath mats were inconsistent and for the entirety of our 12 day stay were given just 2 towels, despite being a party of 3. Water was not replaced in the fridge daily, however, there are many water points around the hotel grounds, so would advise bringing your own water container or buying one from the gift shop. Having said this, we were given everything that we asked for when we raised any queries with reception staff. The addition of a kettle and coffee station in the room would have make a huge difference, and even things like beers / Cola and Sprite etc. There’s a safety deposit box available in your room but it’s $3 per day, which seems a little unnecessary for an all inclusive resort. The balcony and shower flooded on many occasions, and our toilet leaked. It’s also worth pointing out that our balcony doors did not fully fit the door frame and didn’t lock - had we not been on the 5th floor, this may have posed a great security risk for us that we wouldn’t have been comfortable with. Partial sea view’ rooms are VERY partial sea view. Staff: 3/5 - some were friendly and went above and beyond, some really weren’t that friendly at all and made it very uncomfortable to ask for anything. We also found ourselves feeling uncomfortable around some male staff following inappropriate comments and harassment on occasion. Language is a definite barrier. Gym: The onsite gym is basic but is well kept and clean. Plenty of free weights and machines for everyone to use. It was never overly crowded and the staff seemed happy to help whenever asked. Helpful that there are bottles of water and towels available to use. A few areas of improvement: 1. The gym opens from 7:30am but I think it could do with being an hour earlier to avoid the heat and to have more time to go to breakfast (which also starts from 7:30am) 2. The indoor section of the gym (where the treadmills, bikes etc are) does not have air conditioning or any fans so it gets very stuffy in there. At very least, they could improve it by placing another big fan (of which they have two in the outdoor section) to help with air flow in there. Entertainment: 3/5 - certainly a quieter hotel. All enter

The location was great, it was at the end of a quiet area and the pools overlooking the water is unique (in a good way). There is a free bus that runs every 30 minutes to the public beach 5 minutes away if you want a beach experience. Bayahibe is a cute little town a 20 minute walk/7 minute drive away so if you like getting out of the resort it's a great location. I found the staff and overall energy of the resort kind of dismal - I like quiet and don't generally seek out the activities put on by the resort (i.e zumba/aquafit, etc.) but I like places that are lively and energetic and this resort wasn't that - they had daily activities scheduled but there was just to enthusiasm or excitement from the staff and that trickled into the guests so everyone just kind of kept to themselves and the overall vibe was just a little low. It was also understaffed so there was a lot of waiting around for drinks and staff weren't very engaging so more often than not, we had to interrupt conversations to ask for our drinks and we're not typically rude/forward people so this was a little uncomfortable. There was a music/dance party every night, it's not our thing so we didn't attend but other guests said the 'Retro Night' was really fun and we were happy that it was over at about 10:30 every night (which is a positive or negative depending on your vibe). We found it odd that the pool closed at I think 6pm (maybe 7 but very early in our opinion) and they were pretty strict about it so there were no evening/ late night dips. Our check in took over an hour for no apparent reason, there were 2 groups checking in before us who booked through something called 'O Club' and there was an O club rep with them but they took aaaaages to check them in. When it was finally our turn, the front desk agent didn't communicate anything about the resort to us other than try to charge $3 a day to rent the in-room safe (even though it was supposed to be included in our booking but we just didn't take it to avoid the hassle). But it was a long day and we were tired and hungry so we didn't object to a 'fast' check-in after waiting in line for the hour already. In the morning I went back and got the full run down like we needed a $10 cash deposit per towel to get the towel card (which is standard/expected), booking the a la carte restaurants and get a schedule for activities. Speaking of the O club rep above, he seemed to be energetic and concerned about his guest's experience so we saw their groups being attended to throughout our stay but he was very much only there for the O club people and we were not part of that so my comments about the lack of energy was the HM Alma staff and that is separate from the O club situation so maybe if you're booking through them (from France?) it might be a different experience if you want a staff experience. Now for the food - it was pretty terrible. The chefs working the omelette and pasta station seemed very inconvenienced if you ask

Our holiday was recommended by family who love the Dominican Republic. So all I had to do was pack and go. Pleasantly surprised when we arrived, the gardens and grounds are well kept and good for an after dinner stroll. We stayed all inclusive and the meals were fair, maybe they could introduce some new dishes to keep it exciting. You cannot possibly be hungry, there are snacks and food available all hours. The best thing about this time of year is you have the glorious weather but it’s still very quiet and there is no queuing.