We just returned home after a 1 week stay at the Hard Rock resort in Punta Cana. I felt I might be able to help anyone who is reading reviews and wondering what to do with reviews that seem to contradict each other. Even though I read positive things about the resort , some of the negative comments made me wonder if I was making a good choice. The important thing to remember is that, what some people find terribly troubling, others don't even notice. Having said that, here's my opinion. The room we had was the Caribbean. In building 7 second floor. It was beautifully appointed, and clean, great location for us, as we were close to the Ocean and the pools. The hotel lobby is a 10 minute walk from there, or you can take the tram, which runs all day and all night around the property. The pools have different atmospheres, ranging from party, to child friendly to relaxed adult. Our favorite was the Eden pool...(no problem with towels,by the way).The food was plentiful and ranged from typical all inclusive fare, to ( pretty good).....Here is where I might be a little "snobby". what you should know is I rarely think food is EXCELLENT! The spa ,However, was Excellent, clean, beautiful, and professional. The Gym was also very nice , with classes ranging from yoga, stretching, ect.... Plenty of entertainment in the hotel, A rock and roll club, a dance club, a karaoke bar and a pretty damn nice casino! The staff was always willing to help, and often, went out of their way to help. At one point , my wife and I were by the pool and a young staff member introduced herself as the pool concierge and asked me if we were enjoying ourselves, and if there was anything she could do to make us happier. I told her we were having a great time, and if I could change one thing I would have preferred a softer mattress. when I returned to my room I discovered they had placed a pillow top comforter on the mattress. Our room was attended to, and cleaned with out intrusion, and room service was prompt. remember, this is the carribean and things move at a more relaxed pace than the do in other places! The property is located where the surf is not as calm as some of the other resorts....,also it is a bit windy, like Aruba.again, personal preference applies. All in all, we had a very satisfying vacation and would go back.....hope that this helped....go and have fun!

We went to this resort thinking it was a Palace Resort & Hard Rock. The resort was going through transitioning from Palace to Hard Rock only, which I think affected the service. When we got there, our rooms were not ready and it took two hours for us to get a room. We sat in the lobby where it is very crowded and noisy. I felt like I was in Las Vegas. We had 19 people total with us and the resort was accomodating for our large group at meals. The computers were very slow, so it took us all day to book our excursions from the resort credits and the spa was completely booked up (book before you go).

The servers are hit or miss, some are AMAZING and some are terrible. It seems like the workers there mostly care about getting tips, if you do not tip they will not come back. If you want nice wine with dinner or champagne to your room plan on paying $40 or more dollars. Everywhere we ate had really good food, never had anything bad. The Zen restaurant is really fun & the people are great! Our maid was not the best, never had glasses or towels. I would have to call every day to get something for the room. On the plus side, the beds & pillows are extremely comfortable and the shower has double shower heads.

The pools and beaches are wonderful! The forecast said rain all week, but it only rained in the mornings & would clear up into a beautiful day.
Had a terrible experience at the Casino, if you want a drink keep playing the entire time or pay a lot for them. There is no oxygen being pumped into the Casino & it was very smokey.

We had our wedding at the resort and the planner was not organized and the language barrier did not help. Photographer was amazing and the photography department was very friendly and informative, the photos turned out perfect. We planned on getting legally married in the DR, but two days before we left the planner e-mailed me with the "final documents needed." It would have taken me a month to get these documents. I would recommend having a wedding somewhere else. My wedding planner also did not talk to me until two weeks before we left, I had been trying to contact her for six months prior and did not get any response.

Overall, we decided we will never go back to this resort. Loved Punta Cana and plan on going back but will be staying elsewhere.

My wife was on a business trip to the hotel for 4-5 days and then we had our kids join us. This was an ideal situation as we got to understand the lay of the land and all the great spots to visit before they got there. It also significantly benefitted us as the Hotel was gracious enough to upgrade us once the kids joined - we were treated like kings in our suite - we were very appreciative and still talk about it regularly.

This is one big resort, but easy to get around on foot or the trams roaming the property.

The beach was great - you could walk for miles before you decided to turn around and head back. The beach is fairly busy along the way, but a great walk with lots of people-watching to do.

There are lots of great restaurants - our family favourites were the pizza restaurant, Japanese and Brazilian. The ice cream shop was also a family favourite - rum and raisin was the best! My wife also loved the little coffee shop.

We made good use of the fitness facilities - and watched the entertainment show most nights - great job.

There were almost too many pools to choose from - quiet pools, loud pools, pools with hammocks, pools with palm trees shading them, with swim up bars, lazy river - we tried to explore a different one every day.

We also did a family excursion - and we would highly recommend it: We did the speedboats and snorkel/snuba trip through the vacation co' - the boats were great, snorkelling decent and the snuba was a very unique experience. (snuba is a combo snorkel and scuba activity where the air tanks float on the surface of the water and you breathe through tubes down below). They had chairs and a table on the ocean bottom and our family went down and sat around, danced a little and enjoyed the view and sensations. Great trip.

We've traveled quite a bit with the kids and this resort remains their very favourite. Tons of things to do, lots of places to eat, room service was a big hit, mini-golf, bicycles - all a big part of a great vacation.

I was rather apprehensive on the conversion to a Hard Rock. After staying at several of the Palace Resorts location in the Cancun area and having terrific service, i was afraid that the service would not be up to the same standards.

Happy to report that the service appeared to be nearly the same. I say "nearly" because there are some differences and a few problem areas.

Bar and Restaurant Staff: Very good service, friendly and nice. But unlike Cancun they are not lingering close at hand and give the size of the resort you might have to wait a few minutes longer on a drink. The place is huge with almost 1800 rooms and needless to say they were almost 100% capacity when we were there.

Food Quality: Food was good. We at at their Ipanema (which is Brazilian style), Toro is the steak place and both were great. Isla is a seafood (Caribbean style) and just be warned: It's all seafood but the food was very tasty. We also at at Zen which is the Asian style restaurant and we have a good meal there as well. But you might have to wait to get in as they only have a limited number of hibachi tables and they do try to get them "filled' (so have a cocktail and relax). There are also a Mexican, Italian, and Pizzeria and they all were great.

Housekeeping: This is one are that could be improved on. We were there a week and they missed cleaning our room 3 of the days. I had to call and request they send someone which they did but not right away.

Spa: Oh my, yes. That was "heaven" per my wife and I would agree.

Transportation: There is a "tram" that "circles" the resort so if you out by the beach and want to get back to the main lobby it's a short ride unless you want the exercise or are too drunk to walk :-)

We are not big on gambling but the casino looked good with various games of chance.

Save room for ice cream...nice ice cream shop in the main building.

Nightly shows: Ok, we have all seen the Michael Jackson show in Cancun. This one is better. And it's different. There was also a circus act, fashion show, and a "70's" boogie show. The only bad thing about the circus is that the kids have a hard time seeing the show because the event is held outside by Isla. So if you got kids get there early to get seats up front. Actually the resort should reserve them for kids (will have to send an email suggesting that now that I think of it).

There is a "members" pool and beach area. Semi enforced. I found that more true around the pool but not so much at the beach. Then again, they have a huge beach.

Beach: Rip tides are present so they sometimes restrict people to swim only in the life guard areas. But the sand is nice and water pleasant. No shells so easy on your piddies.

There are some tours. Try the "Moon Tracker" one. You will laugh and it's fun. Heard other good things about the "party boat" and the Dominican Experience.

We both liked the resort well enough that we are planning a return trip there for 2013. We are rating this 4 out of 5 due to the room service issue. Otherwise it would be 5 of 5.