My husband and I are currently staying here. It is so beautiful! The rooms are very clean, property is clean, service is amazing the people go out of there way to help you. Everyone is polite. The food is pretty good (I'm not into sea food). The people who work here are very hard working people and if you treat them right they will do the same to you. The entertainment is fun, the beach is beautiful, the pools are wonderful, and always filled! Please don't let these negative comments or insidents mislead you from coming here. We have met some very rude, ungrateful people vacationing here so they may be the people with the negative comments. If you are going for the beautiful beach, poolside, fun activities, great drinks, clean areas and great service this is a great place=)

Our stay at Hotel Riu Palace Bavaro was absolutely less than pleasant; it was horrible. The people here are scam artists and disrespectful. This was our honeymoon trip and we were treated like scum.
Our third day there, we had a 'run in' with the front desk. We had simply asked to exchange some money, and in response we were told that we are stupid and uneducated. When it was brought to the manager’s attention, specifically Neils Alossery, he accused us of being liars and defended the staff members who were clearly in the wrong. He then shooed us out of his office as we were told to 'be gone.' We have never been treated with such disrespect. Needless to say, we immediately returned to our room, packed our bags, moved to another hotel for the night, and got the next flight home in the morning; cutting our honeymoon trip 4 days short. We unfortunately missed out on the dolphin excursion & stingray excursion we had planned for the following 2 days.
Another issue with staff and the front desk was the phone. We had to call numerous times before we'd get an answer and sometimes just had to give up. When we did reach someone, we did not receive what we'd asked for - a simple requests for new batteries for the safe & more bottled water. I am thankful we did not have an emergency in our room; their lack of attentiveness to the phone and their customers was horrible.
We stayed in the VIP area. The pool water was freezing, it was 80 degrees out and the water was still not bearable. The pool boys in that area were very friendly and attentive, and we tipped them well for that.
The food at the restaurants, particularly the Italian restaurant (which didn't even hardly serve Italian food) was disgusting. The meat was undercooked and not even edible. We left as soon as the main course arrived and went to the buffet. The buffet was surprisingly not too bad, there was a large variety of fresh food at every meal and every day they offered something different. I will give this place credit for that.
The rooms felt very clean but were only mediocre in the "VIP" area; they look like a typical hotel room. We had higher expectations given they call it a 'villa with a private Jacuzzi.' The Jacuzzi was a bathtub on a cement porch open for everyone to see you as they walked by. It was also impossible to get the water warm enough to sit in. It was far from anything "VIP" we did not receive anything more than the people staying in a regular room other than a different colored wristband. The only difference was a private pool with cement chairs in the pool and a swim up bar that was hardly occupied. Nothing special.
This entire experience completely turned us off to the Dominican Republic. We had the option of staying the rest of our trip at another hotel but we felt this place, as a whole, was not worth spending another dime on.
We will never be returning to Punta Cana or the Dominican Republic, for that matter. We were disgusted in the way we were treated and will never be staying at another Riu, no matter where we are.

We are at the Rui Palace Bavaro right now, heve been for 4 days. I just had to leave a comment now.Don't believe the negative comments, these people must be professional whinners, nothing would make them happy. This is a moderatly priced, all inclusive resort and you get a lot of bang for your buck! All of the staff we have encountered are hard workers, always smiling and always helpful.Yes language can be a problem, but we managed to communicate and we do not speak spanish. This place is brand new and spotless, I am not sure where someone gets the musty smell. One lady was upset about the decor of the lobby, all I can say is WTH, is she going to live in the lobby. The buffet is very good, yes it is buffet and it may get old after a few days, but it is still good. If you want an american hamburger or hot dog-stay home, this is Dominca not New York city. We eat at the Japanese rest. and thought it was quite good, for the gentleman that said it made him sick for a day, my question would be how much did he drink that day?

So for all of you reading the negatives, don't worry, you will love it. Some people should not be allowed to leave comments as they can never be made happy. We were worried last week after reading this crap, but all fears were gone in our first hour after we arrived.

I was going to give the Riu Bavaro 4 stars. The grounds are spotless and beautiful, immaculate. The Staff for the most part are great. The wait staff could be a bit better, but the pool, bar, and lobby staff are all great!

A lot of people are angry that they don't speak much English, that probably is more on the travelers than the workers. Many of us had superior educational opportunities, and you are traveling to a spanish speaking country. Many of them understand simple english questions, many do well with really bad spanish like my wife and I speak. I'm not sure what kind of conversation some of these people are trying to have? A tip would be to download Google Translate to your smart phone, it will translate for you and will even speak it back in Spanish, this works well. All lobby staff do very well with English. Bottom line is they do their best.

The Beach is awesome, best that I have been to. A nice cool breeze all day so you don't overheat. Pools are great, swim up bars are fun and mixed drinks are best there. If you like things a bit quieter, upgrade to the Villas, it's not much more money, but you a much quieter area and a little move privacy.

The only problem with this place is the food. My fist bit of advice is don't eat at Geisha. I did and I was sick for a day and a half after, totally unacceptable. Steak house is just ok, you can score a better meal at Outback Steakhouse for $9.99 (location is awesome though, oceanfront). Buffet is OK, lots of choices, i would agree with others who have said it is better than the restaurants. Breakfast buffet is OK, everything you would expect and probably the best done meal of all. Lunch buffet is most disappointing. I would prefer a large grill, with big burgers, hot dogs and chicken sandwiches, and some other offerings (it looks like Iberostar offers something like this.) Instead the lunch buffet is a confusing offering of a lot of things that are not good. I had a better burger from Wendy's when I got back States Side. This is the overall problem. They try to do way too much, but as a result, don't do any of it all that well. There are some good things to eat, but it really needs to get a lot better. If you like Red Wine, get ready to be disappointed, it's very bad there.

Entertainment is kind of strange, but in a way makes it fun to watch, the area is all open air with covered and uncovered seating, so who really cares, just drink and enjoy, it's better than being in the US in the winter.

In the end, the food is not why we went. Everything else there is great. I had a great time even with the food poisoning, but that did take my 4 star rating down to 3. If you are going I am sure you will enjoy it.