Iberostar Selection Bavaro Suites - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

13769 reviews

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  Great Resort but not quite five star

  stayed here Jan 8-15th for a family vacation. This was our fourth time to the DR but first to this Iberostar location. We booked through our travel agent and planned on having an ocean view room, but were surprised not to when we checked in. Pros: -beautiful, well-maintained grounds -stunning beach that was consistently clear of seaweed. - kind and hardworking staff - well-maintained pool area Cons: - language barrier: a few of the staff spoke good English, and I felt like this resort was meant for Spanish-speaking guests. - saw one of the waitresses at the main buffet taking shots with a group of visitors. - Our room was comfortable but dated - The A/C did not work very well in the room -Our hotel room lost power on three separate occasions. Each time I called the front desk, I was told they were sending a technician up, but no one came. The lights came back on their own, though. - Our concierge tried to get us to go to a special breakfast at the Coral section. He was not up front about the fact that the breakfast was for a sales pitch for their vacation club. If I hadn't been suspicious and asked, we would have lost precious vacation time sitting through a sales pitch. After this, we never heard from the concierge again. - The App was completely useless when it came to booking restaurants. I had to go to guest services and book through them. - The buffet food was better than the restaurant food. The Mexican restaurant was appalling. Bland food and no decent guacamole. The margarita was good, though. - The drinks were watered down and bland. -stained pool towels. - The smoking in public areas was terrible as well. Especially since there were children in the area. My conclusion is that if you want to stay on this property, it's better to pay a little more for the higher-end sections. Or go to one of the higher-end resorts on Bavaro Beach.

  Jan 20, 2026
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  Lovely stay with minimal issues

  First time in the DR. Stayed here from January 11-18, 2026. We booked last minute to come with another couple. Upgraded to Oceanfront room at check in, $80 USD/$105 CAD per night. (First 3 days were in Building 31, Room 1311 then were in Building 29, Room 1291 for rest of stay) PROS - Beach absolutely beautiful - Lots of Dining options. Food was very good no matter where. Our favourites were the Steak House and The Japanese. Reservations needed for these plus needed at Italian. - Rooms are large, clean - Grounds lovely and very well maintained - Oceanfront rooms are awesome but pricey CONS - Most of the staff did not speak English very well, if at all. Very difficult to communicate what your needs are. - Getting roped into the "Membership" meeting. Do not do it unless you have lots of money and want to waste 3+ hours of your day. We received free messages so it was sort of worth it. Be warned if you don't do this "meeting", Concierge will pretend getting you into the restaurants that need reservations very difficult. PUSH them to get you in. Don't give up. Our Concierge Jean, was a newbie (only worked for 2 weeks) and he got us into the Japanese after saying he couldn't because I kept bugging him. Try the APP as well to book but Concierge or Guest Services is your best option. - Our first room (Building 31, Room 1311) was a disaster. The toilet didn't flush, the shower flooded and the sink leaked. Maintenance came 3 times in 2 days then my husband finally had enough and had us moved. Then they gave us the run around when it was time to move rooms. No communication. Took all day. Had to go to reception twice to get it done. Overall, very nice resort. Our issues were minimal in the grand scheme of things and dealt with accordingly with only a bit of attitude. The resort was a bit large for us but we had a lovely stay and enjoyed ourselves.

  Jan 19, 2026
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  Rats infected hotel

  We’ve been to Iberostar selection 3 times at different locations (Mexico, Dominican Republic, etc). This time we went with a group of 12 family members. Long story short, there were rats in 3 of the rooms of our group. We have been moved to different rooms (villas 51, 52, 53) at 1.30am when the rat appeared. Even in one of the new rooms, my kids found rat excrement and needed to be relocated once again, unbelievable! Guest services offered us a dinner at the Coral restaurant and massages, trying to “compensate” the bad moment. We have pics of the rats excrements and the chats with guest services, apologizing and recognizing the problem . We will never go back to a Iberostar. And we are debating whether to move ahead with a litigation and legal action.

  Jan 18, 2026
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  Great Day at Iberostar, Even with the Rain

  I had an amazing day at Iberostar! I visited with a day pass and really enjoyed my time. Even though it rained a lot that day, I still got to try the food, which was very good. When the rain slowed down later, I pretty much had the pool to myself. It was still a great day, and there was plenty to do even with the rain. All the staff was very friendly as well! Highly recommend.

  Jan 17, 2026
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  Lucky 13 - another great visit!

  This was our 13th visit to the Iberostar Selection Bavaro. To be honest, our visit over new year 2023/24 wasn’t very good, and we didn’t go back again until this year. So many improvements have happened, making it more like the resort we fell in love with in 2012! The (totally!) new entertainment team is top notch. All day, every day, they worked tirelessly to keep us all having fun. Aside from the usual things they do every day, they put on a few amazing parties: the beach party, which was huge, beautiful, and obviously a ton of extra work. And on NYE, there were two great parties going on simultaneously, again a huge amount of work. Big extra thanks to Lilo, Carlos, Bubaloo, Honey, and El Nino – you made our vacation amazing!! Two people who have been there from our very visit trip here are Jocelyn and Virginia – both work the beach buffet and the theater at night. We LOVE them, and seeing them again this year made the trip extra special for us. Two of the hardest working people you’ll ever meet, and SO nice! Also in the lobby bar you will find a very talented pianist who plays each night beautifully! The evening shows were good. We’ve travelled all over the Caribbean and NO one else puts on shows like this resort. Our recent trip to La Romana is a joke in comparison (so bad we didn’t stay through a single show). It would be great if they could bring in a few more shows so it’s not quite so repetitive week over week, but a huge improvement over a couple of years ago, and much closer to the days when Pantera ran the team (he is a legend, the GOAT!). Bring back “On the Rock” show!! If you’re there, check out either of the Circus shows – you will be amazed at what is happening 10 feet in front of you! And the magic show was really good! The food was great. Yes, it’s resort food at the buffets. They are cooking for 100s of people. But compared to resorts like Dreams La Romana (where it was often inedible – see my review of that), we ate great! So much variety and for so many cultures, everything so fresh, and high quality. Each day you see numerous executive chefs walking between restaurants and checking the products - very professional. Thank you to Mario in the main buffet for his great service to us, he made us feel welcome and special every day. The Christmas Eve and NYE buffets were decadent! So much seafood! My only complaint here would be the other guests – is it really necessary to touch the food in the trays instead of using the tongs? Is it necessary to eat while you are filling your plate, dropping your crumbs from your mouth into the food? A little etiquette and hygiene would go a long way, and I think when people say they got sick at the resort it’s because of the other guests, not the kitchen. The restaurants were really good! La Coupole was probably our favorite. But the Mediterranean and steak house were also good. The Japanese is fun, and it was good, but not great. It’s exactly what you expect it to be. We didn't visit the Mexican or Italian. We had a few massages in the spa. It was great to see Cleo again, and as always she gave us wonderful treatments. She’s a must-see if you go! Prices for an 80 minute deep tissue were fair. We really didn’t need much from the front desk or the concierge, but our check in and check out was fast and friendly. Our housekeepers did a nice job of keeping both of our rooms stocked and clean. That’s saying a lot, because the rooms we were in are really starting to show their wear and tear. That’s one thing I think they need to address asap is room updates and maintenance. Ours was kind of shabby, paint peeling, cushions and walls on the patio stained. We don’t spend much time in the room, so it wasn’t a huge issue. If you enjoy a good jogging/walking path, this is the resort for you! The four Iberostar resorts are connect to each other and the main road by a clean, beautifully landscaped and paved path that is fully gated within the resort, limited traffic, and great views of the golf course. No other resort compares in this! Overall, the care to the landscape and environment of the entire resort is stellar. Kudos to the sustainability leadership at Iberostar. What they are doing to preserve the environment, reduce waste, and protect the ocean is wonderful. Thank you! Lastly, I’ll touch on the language “barriers”. The official language of the DR is Spanish. If you want to hear and speak only English, stay in the U.S. But the staff at the resort do an amazing job of speaking enough English to help you and interact with you. Not to mention they all speak a little French, German, Portuguese … So live a little, expand your horizons, chill out, or open up the google translate app if you really need to ask something complicated. I don’t speak Spanish, but had no issues whatsoever, and never have at this resort. See you in 11 months and 3 weeks!

  Jan 06, 2026