BookIt.com Verified Traveler Michelle Dlos from Holmdel, Nj

"I came home yesterday with my boyfriend from the Occidental Grande in Punta Cana. It was going to be a short 4 day 3 night trip before I start a new job this Monday. When we arrived at the resort, the desk did not give any direction on restaurants or what to do about eating considering we had traveled from New Jersey all morning. They said 'oh this restaurant is only open til 4 sorry' (because at this point it was already 4). I am Dominican and have traveled to Punta Cana a hand full of time and I have never been greeted this way. We had to figure things on our own. From the minute we arrived men dressed in khakis from the hotel hassled us to 'talk' with them to try to get us to sign up for the 'exclusive club'. We get to our room and the TV was old and was in and out of black and white, when we tried to shower and put the hot water on it trickled down with no pressure, the tub was rusted and a broken shampoo container and an empty conditioner container, the door to our batheroom did not shut all the way. The next day we decided to sleep in so we put the Do Not Disturb sign out but I guess the maid did not realize it and decided to keep pounding on our door...twice. Then to make a dinner reservation you had to go to the front desk, and since we had only 2 more nights we thought we'd be 'garanteed' reservations since it says on their website you would be garanteed for 5 nights or less 2 reservations. Well this was not the case. After waiting in line for 20 minutes, they told me they were all booked for the night and that they only had one reservation left for the next day so we had to take it. The only way to get the guys to stop hassling us we had to sit in their 'meeting' and right after we saw him cross our room number off the list and from then on we were not hassled. Needless to say DONT STAY HERE! Thank good for the weather and beaches because this could have been worse."

Report as Inappropriate

"When we arrived to our room it smelled SO bad, and the bathroom had bugs all over it. After several phone calls they gave us a different room. It was not great,but it was better. The staff was rude and very pushey. The food, if you could call it that was awful. ANd to top it all off when we got back home someone at the hotel pulled a scam and used our credit card number in another country. Needless to say we will NEVER return. If you like cigarette smoke all over you ALL the time, and terriable music, and bad food then this is the place for youl It is nothing like the pictures"

Report as Inappropriate

"the rooms and bathrooms were not what was expected,needs lots of improvement,leaking faucets,roaches in one of our romms,dirty linen on bed.Meals weregood"

Report as Inappropriate

"excelente muy buenas atenciones un personal de mucha calidad y el hotel bonito,limpio y la comida excelente....me encanto:: excellent very good care of high quality staff and nice hotel, clean and excellent food .... I loved"

Report as Inappropriate

"I LOVE IT REALLY NICE RESORT, STAFF SUPER FRIENDLYS, AND THE BEST SERVICE EVER.......BEST THING WAS SOME OF THE BARTENDERS"

Report as Inappropriate

"Where should we start? When we arrived to Occidental Hotel in Punta Cana we were walked to Bavaro Princess Hotel next door. What a start...... Thank God Bavaro Princess is 5 star hotel VS Occidental Hotel that its only 4 stars. We`ve asked Front Desk Agents and Managers at both hotels, to make sure, that we are walked for the entire time - which was 7 days and was told YES! That was not the story 3 days later when Bavaro Princess Hotel tried to walk was back to Occidental Hotel......after beeing called to the Front Desk 2 times and after talking to Occidental Hotel we were extended for ONLY 2 days???????!!!!!! and were told to speak to Occidental Hotel next day. Next day did not go well either, apparently we were told by Occidental Hotel that everything wil be taken care of and guess what....next morning we were locked out of our hotel room at Bavaro Princess again and we sat in the lobby for 35 minutes after two General Managers of both hotels were deciding where we have to stay......after all that we end up staying at Bavaro Princess hotel because there was noooooooo way we were packing!

Terrible experience!

Lets talk about food - what a dissaster and tasted worse than cafeteria food.

Regarding Rooms - all suites @ Bavaro Princess but had old smell to them and there was no water pressure - was very hard to take a shower after loooong days at the beach......

We will never recommend Occidental Hotel and Bavaro Princess Hotel.



Our Stay was very close to stay from Hell!"

Report as Inappropriate

"We were aware before we arrived that we were staying at a 3 star resort, not a 5 star so we werent' expecting the Ritz. However, we were pleasantly suprised by the appearance and cleanliness of this hotel. The hotel was a little dated, but spotless, everywhere inside and out. Our room was very nice, we only had a few small issues. The doorknob on the bathroom door was broken off, so you couldn't completely close the door or you would be locked in, and it rained at night so our roof leaked. The leak was small and over by the sliding glass doors so it didn't affect our room, we just put a towel down to absorb the water. Check in was a nightmare. We waited 4 hours in the lobby for our room to be ready. The front desk staff kept telling us a 1/2 hour, and when we went back, they would say another 1/2 hour. The food was good at the buffet, excellent mexican food. We made a reservation for the steak house one night for dinner only to find that there was no difference in food, just that you were being served. Our dinner was the same as the food at the buffet. The bar was very limited with it's variety in alcohol, they had a drink menu that you could order from but could not do special drinks and they only had one brand of beer. The beaches were beautiful and clean, as were the pools. We booked our excursions in advance with VIP through bookit.com and it was a flawless experience. During our stay, we were constantly approached by staff trying to get us to sign up for the 'Welcome Orientation', which was actually a time share push. They were relentless and bothered us the whole 6 days. I actually had to get rude with them and tell them that I was on vacation and did not want to be bothered by them again! We didn't fall for it, but a couple that we met did and they ended up in a presentation for over 3 hours. There were also a few weird power outages during our stay, this happened 3 times during the week where there was no power for about a 1/2 hour each. Overall, we had a great experience and would definately return to this hotel. The only negatives were the check in and the time share pushers. My advice would be to arrive after the 3pm check in time so you wont have to wait hours for you room, and to be firm right away with the time-share folks!"

Report as Inappropriate

"Check in was fast and efficient. We were escorted to our room quickly. Our room key did not work and in 2 minutes he was back with a new key. Our room was large, not over the top but absolutely fine. The meals were very good! They were not 5 star meals but I was satisfied at every meal. i had to pay for wifi but then you often have to pay at hotels in the states. The pool and grounds were beautiful and well maintained. The beach was absolutely perfect! Plenty of chairs and activities for everyone. We had a fantastic trip and would certainly return to this resort. We did a couple of snorkel trips and a fishing excursion and all were good. The locals do try hard to get you to buy their wares and there are plenty of small shops up and down the beach to where you can shop without getting a taxi."

Report as Inappropriate

"Resort was beautiful!!! The landscaping was well kept and the scenery was just what you'd want for a DR vaca. The food was great and the entertainment was fair. The experience would have been better if staff wasn't bothersome and unfriendly when you didn't want to buy something. When we arrived, the room that we had booked was not available. We were stuck in a room that was far less than what we had paid for for 2 nights. We were made to feel like a burdon when we asked for the room that we had booked many months before. Overall, the resort was absolutely perfect, but the staff were very unpleasant. I would recommed the resort to friends or family if not for the terrible coustomer service."

Report as Inappropriate

"We stayed there between the 17th and 29th. I had very high expecations for this place and that I cannot deny, but this was far away from what I had hoped for. Please take note that this is all written from personal experience

The food- It was sufficient(breakfast,lunch), the kind of food you would expect. Dinner at their special restaurants were not at all like even a regular restaurant in quality or taste.What they would call a steak-house, I would call a burger joint judging from every time i ate there. The fact that you have to go up every day to make reservation is even more ridiculous when it says 'all inclusive', not 'if you get lucky to get a place'. Also, I was told that BOTH lunch and dinner were a la carte, but apparently it was only dinner.Again, disapointment

The service - all the people in the restaurants were in general very kind but the people sitting by the guest service desks and some people by the check in/out section lack the ability to treat their customers the right way by far. I guess one can't expect much at places like this.

The beach- To say that it is overcrowded would be a understatement, packed at all times, although the beach was very beautiful and the ocean was amazing. Have to say that they could clean it up better to get rid of the sea weed.

The bars- They made decent carribean style drinks but dont get your hopes up, it is not the get what you wish for experience. The barmen were very friendly and funny.

Last but not least, there was an offer to transfer because of a overbooking situation, with compensation as a reward. It was said that you stay 3 nights at a equally good resort. Unfortunately, we took the offer and ended up having 3 terrible nights at another resort that was not at all as good. Imagine that considedring what I have written above.

Best wishes, and better luck next time.
"

Report as Inappropriate

"Wow I have to say it is NOT worth the time to even consider traveling to stay at this resort !!
BOOKIT should not endorse these resorts,they are really bad for the business.
There was so much wrong that even the very good doesn't compare to these horrendous conditions!
Lets start with the rooms,
Very out dated, musty and moldy,Sheets had stains and as well did the mattresses,no beer or water in the fridge at this all inclusive resort on most days of my vacation even after a generous tip to motivate the staff.

Grounds for the most part well kept but always solicited from grounds staff for coco nuts expecting a tip, while plastic cups littered the bush line.
Being a Canadian Master electrician with 20yrs in the field i can tell you i seen many electrical hazards all over,open pits,accent walk way lighting all dug up with poor connections all exposed for contact in bare feet wearing a wet bathing suit,or your kids playing on the grass.(WOW)
The beach was very busy with solicitors all calling you a friend or family, cheapy cheapy price for you,everything from cigars to jewellery, what ever they had ,fake trips/excursions,,just endless and relentless!
Very nice beach .
We were offered a hotel relocate because of a problem with their system double booking( and as it turns out all the time).
Being aware of the inconvenience to our vacation we still decided to move thinking we were getting an up grade to the Bavaro Princess which is just a dive!!! Beatles or cockroaches i don't know but 'huge ugly bugs' in the words of my girlfriend running around the room,there was more mold and a continuously damp suite because of very poor ventilation.
The Move was very poorly executed to the dismay of most who agreed to take the same offer and i would not recommend this to anyone .
The move back was just as painfully stressful.
The Bavaro have their septic backup at the main lobby and workers wearing rubber boots and gloves cleaned the human fiecies while the public walked by in shorts and sandles.
Again the beach was busy but nice.
Once we were back at the occidental we checked in and i swear they had no idea we were even back at the hotel, no maid service,no beach towels.
The concierge at the entrance to each housing complex wants you to book your welcome package to get your free gift ,but really want to sell you a time shares to the occidental resorts,so you never get away from being hassled for your money anywhere on the resort.
I met people all week that had the same problems we did .
the food wasn't bad ,the staff is nice but no value here for a relaxing vacation.








"

Report as Inappropriate

"I am torn about returning because it was such a great price for a vacation.

I do have two complaints regarding the resort. WE HAD ABSOLUTELY NO HOT OR EVEN WARM WATER....absolutley NONE. And when we asked for it to be repaired, they NEVER showed up, so we took cold showers for 4 days, which was EXTREMELY disappointing. We asked to be relocated to another room because not only was the water cold but our tub was also falling apart, BUT we were refused a room change. Also, every day we left the room we made sure the air conditioner was set to the lowest possible point & EVERY DAY we came back to the air conditioner being turned to heat by the maid after being in the hot sun every day coming back to an EXTREMELY hot room which was also VERY disappointing. I actually spoke to the individutaly that lodged next door and they also complained to guest services about the water being cold & on the last day as we were leavnig for check out, the repair man was there to fix their water issues, which was pretty much pointless. The same couple also had the issue with the heat being turned on, so we weren't the only ones experiencing these issues. The saving grace for this vacation was one particular vendor that we became great friends with a photo vender. He single handedly was the reedeming factor for our overall disappointing stay @ the Occidental Grand Resort. In the future, we will most likely choose to stay elsewhere because we will be back to Punta Cana."

Report as Inappropriate

"Overall is was nice but certain things were not."

Report as Inappropriate

"I could not have asked for a more perfect honeymoon!"

Report as Inappropriate

"Excellent value and a great place to relax with friends."

Report as Inappropriate

" The hotel had positives like the night live.I love the shows ,the dancers and the music either at the lobby or at the beach on saturday.The food was very good,normal buffet food,but the restaurant food was not good at all.The beach is incredible georgeous.The biggest problem the hotel has is the facilities ,they are big time deteriorated.The rooms,the lobby floor,the air condition of the room,the bath. The hotel need a whole make over for the facilities.The experience was good but the facilities were on the way.
Also the disco the hotel have I did not like it because it was for locals and guest to be used and the atmosphere was ugly!!!! not recommended it was not save "

Report as Inappropriate

"We were a little disappointed about our stay. Occidental was lacking sports, music to get guests dancing or thrilled to be there and was quite boring at night. We expected a little more energy in the morning but realized it was as quiet as the night time. This resort is nice looking and good for people who want a less luxury and lively stay! Staff members are very nice and ready to help you. This resort is suitable for just a individuals who like a more quiet, less activities and relaxing 2 day stay the most. 3 stars rated "

Report as Inappropriate

"Occidental Grand Punta Cana was a wonderful resort!! Their food was was great and their night shows were terrific! It was the best Caribbean resort i have ever been to!!! I wish I could come here everyday and live here but too bad for me I don't have the money. Well their food was the best, the waiters were nice and friendly, every restaurant was the best. They gave out every thing you would like!!! If you had to pick the Gran Bahia Pricipe or here i would definitely pick here. The best place a person can stay, but the only thing i didn't like was that the entertainment ( I mean television ) was awful. "

Report as Inappropriate