IFA Villas Bavaro Resort and Spa - All Inclusive

Terrible food, bad drinks, good location and beach, would not recommend though.

ON CHECK IN THEY HAD MY RESERVATION FOR THE NEXT MONTH RATHER THAN THE MONTH I BOOKED IT FOR AND I EVEN CALLED ONE MONTH AHEAD TO CONFIRM AND IT WAS OK @ THAT TIME, BUT WHEN WE ARRIVED IT WAS FOR THE WRONG DATE. WE HAD TO WAIT 3 HOURS FOR A ROOM AND ALL THEY COULD SAY WAS THAT THEY OVER BOOKED ROOMS. LIKE IT WAS MY FAULT. WHEN WE FINALLY GOT OUR ROOM IT WAS SOMETHING OUT OF A SLEEZY HOTEL. THE ROOM WAS FILTHY, TV, REFRIGERATOR AND OUTLETS DIDNT WORK. THE ROOM WAS NOT EVEN ONE PERCENT CLOSE TO WHAT THEY ADVERTIZED. [...]

This was my 1st time in DR, the 2nd day there I got food poisoning, lost 10 lbs from the illness, the staff spoke no english, the cleaning crew do not change linen if they don't appear dirty to there eyes. Ate dinner @ Carib restaurant, waiter bought out a ceasar salad, and the plate the salad dressing sat on wasa covered with little bugs (no apologies from staff or management), @ the buffet birds pecked on the bread while you ate( didn't seem like a big issue to staff, they just took away the bread bird pecked on and kept moving). Not a variety of food for non-pork eaters. You have to constantly flag off flys while yout ate @ the buffet. Dining was timed & if not there during those hours, you just starved until next meal. During my illness buffet staff did not allow my friend to bring me fruit to the room. The beds were very hard &mattresses were old & stained badly. Taxi to the mall; which was about 5mins from resort was $16 round trip. The satff was not nice, the only staff that was front lobby area. Please do not got to this resort even if the price is right, 1st time out the US very bad experience (mainly due to the resort, be careful of the food you eat). And DO NOT DRINK OR BRUSH YOUR TEETH WITH THE FAUCET WATER. 1 good thing about this resort was the grounds & beach area was nice.

This was the worst Punta Cana resort I've been to in 30 trips to PC. Food was awful, and a la carte restaurants require reservations , Meals there worse than at buffet. Omelets at breakfast buffet were best thing we had to eat. We mostly ate at poolside pizza restaurant. Guests smoke in pool, restaurants, all public places. Hard to avoid inhaling their smoke. House wine was undrinkable. Most alcoholic drinks were watered down or sugared up. Staff was pleasant except for towel lady at big pool. Loudspeakers at poolside could break your eardrums. Rooms are clean but don't provide tissues or places to hang wet swimsuits.. Lamps near beds provide not enough light to read by. Would definitely not return.

staff was horrible. Always had an attitude and was not warm or inviting at all. I have traveled to many locations in the world and many in Punta Cana, by far the worst one. Wish i could give less than 1 star and I would. Oh and good luck eating at one of their restaurants that isnt buffet, have to make reservations by 8am that day. Who wakes up at 8am every morning on vacation to make dinner reservations? I hated this place actually!

After 1:00am there are NO night execept the disco / the furniture are in bad condition and old / the matress very hard / the food not good / the lobby doesn't have fan / air conditioning & bathrooms needer the theather and other restaurants except (one) all the bathrooms are located outside of the pools / they only have the cheapeast beear NO PRESIDENTE / no Lobsber or shrimps if you want to eat need to pay $40/ only the lawnscaping gardens are nice / they only things I like was the SPA SPECTACULAR and the prize are good. Don't waste your money on this Hotel

The staff is very friendly, helpfull and really 5 stars. There is a nice lounge, very relaxing for drinks and coffee. Other than that, the restaurants don't have air conditioning, and it's infested with mosquitoes, my husband was bitten so many dozens of times even with the expensive mosquito repelants. The main restaurant is ok, after 5 days, you get tired of the food. There is also a mexican restaurant, just don't go, not worth standing in line to get passes, "pesto pasta" was the closest to mexican food and it's boiled pasta with oil poured on it and nothing else. The pools are nice and beautiful, however the water level is kept too low, so be ready to share the water with tons dead bees and mosquitoes that never make it to the drains. The ocean in the month of September was full of algae the whole week we were there, that is not the resort's fault, just don't go in September. One thing that travelers may not know before arriving, is that the resort is small and it's in the shape of a sliver, so the ocean that belongs to the property is not bigger than at most 3 pools, which is marked with a rope, all around the small ocean space which is packed with people are docked boats. You always have the option to walk off into the nearest beach, but no chairs or free drinks will be available. The night show when I went, consisted of 2 or 3 men dressed as girls and dancing around and making fun of german tourists who didn't speak spanish. However, a friend went to the same resort before me and said the shows were funny and great, so it could be temporary? There was pool side entertainment everyday, and the staff was very nice and funny. The disco was closed the whole week we were there, instead, music was played at the beach bar with no ac and mosquitoes. Ifa Villas is marked as a 4 star resort, and it is at most 1.5 stars because of it's great staff. It is about 20 minutes from the airport.

I was so dissapointed! Food is discasting! No sea food, didn't taste right. My mother and I got food poisoned. The room didn't have clock,iron,even the simple paper tissure(kleenex).They never change bad linens . The front desk wasn't so helpful @ all. I can go on and on.... I am not the spoiled girl,I know the difference between good and no good resorts.I've traveled a lot. Another words, this place was so far away from four stars!!!!

First off people at check are no help at all. Very poor lack of information about hotel pretty much you have to figure out where everyhing is yourself and if you ask questions they seem to get upset. If you are looking for the beach it's good but that's pretty much it. You are sure to loose weight here as the food is not good at all no taste, very bland. I have gone to many other resorts and this one is definitely one that is off my list forever. Oh and also make sure you do not get sick or anything that you need medical attention because they will eat your credit card alive!

Let's start on a positive note. Very pretty, well kept grounds; clean rooms; beautiful beach. Okay then! The guests were about 85% Spanish/Hispanic: 5% French; 5% German and 5% other (including American). With this mix it seems that the resort does not need Americans and that's just how they made you feel. Very few of the staff had any grasp of English; the one English TV channel was the weather channel (for $8 a day you could get 5 more); American alcohol was limited and costs $7 a drink. Part of my problems were- I waited over 10 minutes for waitress service at the Cafe Dominicana bar while the waitress served other tables who had half full drinks; waited 5 minutes to get a restaurant reservation while the "Guest Relations" person answered phones and made calls; made three separate trips to reception to get cable service with more American channels. Overall I felt that they didn't need or want Americans. As for a list of things to watch - -No second buffet -Mexican restaurant was a buffet essentially serving tacos; other 2 reservation restaurants were GOOD -There are no washclothes -Typical European open bathroom area; not a problem but the shower was gigantic and the toilet area was about the size of a shoebox -Even the closest rooms to the beach were 200 to 300 yards away; could be up to a 15 minute walk -Food was average buffet style at best -Entertainment was terrible This is not a bad resort if you are Spanish speaking or want a vacation with nothing to do but rest and relax. I would not do this resort again or recommend it to my American friends