the space not too crowded

the butler and mini bar was very hit and miss which was a shame

Weather, beach, no bugs, no kids, clean, safe/secure, lots of attentive staff, all inclusive, pools, cabanas, ducks and koi. Transport to the airport was on time, but not free. Spa (overpriced) and fitness center (free). Lots of fruit.

Food options were disappointing. We are vegan. There were very limited options for us to eat. Not even one item on the room service menu either. We spoke with staff multiple times about this, but they couldn’t get it right. A couple of times they served us meat or dairy and they thought that was OK for us to eat. Each and every dinner of our eight day stay was very stressful as the staff didn’t seem to know we were coming despite our daily dinner reservations and promises that they’d be ready for us. It was always a spectacle and we didn't appreciate it. We came to dread dinner time. It was an awful experience. While the other guests were getting gourmet meals, we were supposed to be impressed with vegan mac and cheese! Thanks to the buffet, we did not go hungry, but even that was limited to cereal, salad bar, rice and beans, buns, and occasionally French fries. They did have an amazing amount of fresh fruit, but that did not balance out the poor eating experience we had here. Aside from the food, it was often very loud at the resort. Unsolicited beach vendors would bug us multiple times per day. Staff did nothing to discourage this. There was also no non-smoking section and there were a ton of smokers. We had to keep moving around to avoid smoke, but could never find a spot that was peaceful. A guest repeatedly exposed himself at the pool, changing into his bathing suit in public several times each day. The management was dismissive of us and we were gaslighted. No one ever said simply "I'm sorry."

Location and hospitality! Great vibe

I put in and paid for a water-view room and received a lake-view. I spoke with the butler and the front reception and was told it was a request not a guarantee - none of those rooms were available and had 2 beds when I purchased a room with a king.

Buffet catering and location

In general, the hotel is certainly not bad, but it is not worth the money that is asked for it. The price of accommodation is overpriced by 2 times. The high rating of the hotel is created by direct bribery of unsatisfied visitors. I booked through Booking.com for Christmas and New Year 4 rooms for my family for $32,000. When we checked in, it turned out that the hotel was overbooked and we were given only 3 rooms. The Check-in employee repeated all the time: you should have been booked on the hotel website, and not on Booking.com. No manager above the duty clerk showed up to resolve the situation. In the end, they placed one family member in a nearby hotel. It turned out that this hotel is no worse than the "Iberostar Grand Bavaro Hotel", and maybe even better. The most interesting thing is that this hotel is 2 times cheaper!!! However, our holiday was spoiled as movement between hotels and communication between family members was reatricted and difficult, especially for visiting the buffet and restaurants on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. In addition, the front desk clerk refused to refund the $4,000 difference in the price of the hotel. But the most interesting thing happened on the day of our departure. - My room didn't open and I went to reception to ask what was wrong? At the reception, someone approached me and offered to step aside and talk. He did not introduce himself and did not have a name tag. He immediately asked me not to write a negative review on Booking.com and offered money (by hand, as he said). That is, to take me by surprise, he turned off my key card and caught me at the reception where I came to ask for help. Despite the fact that I was not ready for this conversation, I decisively refused the money he offered. It became clear exactly how the rating of this hotel is created. Unfortunately, I did not manage to find out the name of this guy with big glasses and a very unpleasant voice.

Extremely clean and well maintained. Not too big to navigate. Great layout. On the Ocean,nice pool.

no

Armando was great! He made all dreams and wishes came true and made my vocation excellent. The sea was clean, wavy and warm! I will come back next year! Thanks!

The staff was excellent, The Butler's Salvador and Justo were great as well as the entire staff at all the restaurants and spa. Very courteous

I did not like the way our reservation was handled through Booking. I reserved two rooms for four people, Booking made a mistake and had the reservation for two people. As a result of this I had to pay an additional $3400.00 dollars on the spot on 6/24/22 for a total of almost 10K. Can you imagine if I had not had the money to pay for this! My family and I would proberly have been asked to leave the premise's. The check in process was very stressful for both my family and I. The check out process did not fair out any better. On 06/30/22 at 7AM we went to check out, Upon arriving at the front desk we were informed that the computer system was down and that the check out process had to be done manually. That was the first problem. an additional problem was that I had a reservation to an activity called the escape room. The person at the front desk named Gary did not want to waive the fee for the escape room. I advised Gary that we did not do the activity because the escape room was closed when we arrived. Despite the following named individual's Angel and the Transporter that confirmed that the facilty was closed the day before , Gary did not want to waive the fee. Gary was on the phone with someone and I could hear Gary telling the person on the other end that Iberostar would not absorb the cost of the Escape Room. Angel and the gentleman that drove us to the facility told Gary that the place was indeed closed. Gary still wanted to place a hold on my credit card until he could verify that the place was closed with the Escape Room Staff whom were not in the office at 7AM. Keep in mind that I had a flight to catch to get back to the states. I was detained for 30 minutes. This was a horrible experience and I will never use Booking for any future vacation plans. And regarding any future visits to Grand Bavaro Iberostar I am not sure that I will vacation there in the future.

Everything was amazing from check-in, food, on-site activities.