Ifa Villas Bavaro

My wife and I travel often; this was my first trip to the Dominican Republic. I've never felt the need to complain about holiday travel but this is truly a first. There were three major concerns/complaints by most non-Dominincans who stayed here; us included. First you were made to feel that you were "unwelcome" at the villa. Hotel lobby and restaurant staff made you feel as though you were a nuisance when querying them. Secondly, many people, including my wife, said that the alcohol drinks were "watered down" or non-existant (I don't drink alcohol). And, finally, the food was horrendous. I've never experienced such tepid, bland and truly unpalatable food before. I wouldn't serve it to a Taliban prisoner. The day we arrived there, my wife and I both discussed the possibility of flying back to Canada the following day - I wish we had of. It was alleged by some of the locals that the terrible service may be the result of the hotel closing down in about a month for majojr renovations (i.e. locals out of work). Regardless, what was meant to be a nice, relaxing holiday for my wife, proved to be the worst vacation we've ever taken. [Details]

The hotel was the cheapest available in Punta Cana. Over all for me it was not worth the money. The resort was clean and people are friendly, but the service is poor. The food was very good, but the pools are not big and not really deep and the biggest problem is, there is no where any shade, no sun umbrellas, no trees, nothing. You get roasted in the sun. The only shade available is on the pool bar. The beach is clean and nice but you cant swim in the ocean because off all the boats direct in front off you and it smells badly like diesel everywhere. For to get a free drink on the beach you have to go very far and you need to know where to get it, otherwise you have to pay for every drink or snack on the beach. The room was nice and clean but the AC is very loud. The shower was clean but the first day we had no warm water. We had no orientation from the agency. If you go out off the resort, be prepared to see a very poor and dirty country. Garbage everywhere on the streets, sometime burning dumps aside the road. The entertainment in the evening was not worth to stay up. You had to book a special restaurant you would like to go for the same day only. Reservations for a day ahead or a special day was not possible, so you had to wait in line at 6.30 am for to book a restaurant for the same evening at 7.30 in the morning. Wifi was almost not available, or you had to pay extra. The service at the cafe was very slow, until you gave a good tip. Over all, not recommended. We did a lot off excursions, the were expensive but nice, not really save but an adventure, negative was only that you get bugged a lot to buy stuff and you get pushed to hurry. Would i like to go back to the resort? Not really! [Details]

Overall its not a bad resort, but if you are looking for all the bells and whistles.. this is not the place, and the staff is not the friendliest.. especially at the one bar called Pikalo .. but its nice for a getaway, but you are no where near the beach, you need to take a shuttle there or take a 10-15 min walk. [Details]

We stayed for a week during Valentines, arriving late at night. We were grateful for the pizzeria being open, the pizza was very good. Our room was spacious and modern and clean it was in 3000 block near the main pool. The pools were clean, some small trees for shade - but there were no umbrellas. It was difficult to get a chair unless you claimed a chair very early in the morning. The beach was gorgeous, it would have been nice to be right on the beach but they provided shuttles. The beach buffet food was much better than the main buffet. We ate at 2 of the a la carte restaurants, but had to wait in line early in the morning to book it. There is no Italian restaurant, and no steak restaurant. Our best excursion was Saona Island, it was breathtaking and the boat ride there and back was fun. Most of the staff was friendly and courteous. The evening entertainment show was excellent. This resort although not huge was decorated nicely with a Dominican flair. Your vacation is what you make of it, keep a positive attitude and enjoy the experience. The new development part they are building is close to the beach, and we are curious to see how it turns out. [Details]

Food was repetitive and very limited in variety, entertainment was same every night, very poor included bringing up 10 people from audience to either dance or drink beer competitively, boring!!! Had to line up for over half hour every morning to book a special restaurant, which were not special, the first restaurant refused to serve wine with dinner unless you purchased a bottle!!!!! Wine was supposed to bepart of the all inclusive? Room fridge stocked with water only, no other items as advertised, we received two bars of soap, shampoo dispenser in the shower area, body wash dispenser was not nice- smelled like tooth paste, shower water poured out of stall all over bathroom floor, very dangerous, Staff in general had an attitude,they would ignore you as you stood at the bar to get a drink or ask a question, many were on cell phones while you stood there- no matter how long the line up was, you were not greeted with open genuine caring, the free wifi in the Theatre was sporadic most days. Otherwise charge $10 per day for wifi- did not enjoy this site at all- this was my 5th visit to the Dominican so expected more from this site for sure [Details]

Just got back from one week at this resort. Had an excellent time! The beach was especially beautiful! Lots of shady spots under the palm trees. Stayed in a Superior room which was great! Loved the location of our room. Very close to everything. For the price we paid it was an excellent vacation! Definitely not a 5 star experience but if you are looking for a less expensive vacation this resort was a great option. [Details]

Our first impression of the reception area didn't give us that welcoming, glad you're here feeling! The people at the reception desk were not the friendliest. We stayed in both the villas and the upgraded rooms. The villas are small but have been upgraded. The superior rooms are more spacious but need some TLC. Cleanliness is important at this resort. Food is ok. Always long line ups in the morning to make reservations for the a la carte restaurants. Unlimited a la carte, which is good. Pools are both very nice, one quiet one and one with activities. If you didn't get up early to put your towels on chairs, you didn't get a spot at the pools. At the beach, lots of chairs and lots of space. But the beach has a lot of seaweed. There is a language barrier with most of the servers, maids. It's a large property and the villas are far from the beach but there is transportation available at all times. But if you don't like to walk, this is not a place for you. We had a bad experience in Cuba last year so this was a much much better vacation. Our rep from the airline was very helpful and friendly. [Details]

This hotel was not good. The reception was slow and the guy who checked us in did not give us bracelets and only one card for the pool towel..The room was very basic and the soap and towels were not changed regularly. [Details]

overall - I won't go back. [Details]

We had an amazing holiday. The entertainment shows were spectacular, really awesome! One of the best beach area at the resort. Great activities to choose from. The food and service were great well beyond expectations. We had so much fun. [Details]

Great hotel, service is excellent! [Details]

Check in took 2 hours.
The safe didn't work properly.
The food was borderline edible. Both my boyfriend and I got sick on our last day. Something I ate made me very sick and in turn made me severely dehydrated. I was unable to walk and needed to be sent by wheelchair to the La Romana Airport Medical office where I was then treated (for free). The beach was gorgeous! All staff, besides the front desk, were very friendly and helpful. Pools were beautiful. Drinks were not watered down. [Details]

** Three stars, this is not a four star resort. **
The Superior rooms look like the newest rooms in the resort and are very nice. Except they are far away from everything. It is a 12 minute walk (on cobble stone pathway)to the main reception area and then another 7 minutes to the beach. Cobble stones pathways are slippery when wet and not recommended for people who have mobility or back issues. There are golf carts going back and forth but you may not want to spend your vacation waiting for these. [Details]

We had a great time at this resort. There are lots to do. The rooms were clean, the staff are friendly and very helpful. We would recommend this resort to our friends. [Details]

I love IFA & would recommend this resort to everyone. I've been here 6 times & every time I leave I miss it before I board the plane home.. IFA is definetely my 2nd home... the staff is super friendly & entertaining...beautiful beach with games to play morning & afternoon & aqua fitness..also at the pool even more games & there are dancing lessons..in the evening there are great shows every night in the theatre & entertainment in the disco each night...and the best part is you will have the best time at an affordable price!!! [Details]

Beach is beautiful. Air conditioner work about one day out of the 7 that we were there. Maintenance tried to fix but no luck.Long wait for drinks , could use more bar staff.Only one kind of beer and it was not the best. Nightly entertainment was great , but could have more variety other then just dancing. Rooms were clean and food was okay. Did not like the way you made reservations for a la cart as if you were not there an hour before it opened , no guarantee on what you got. True that the room had a mini fridge , but I thought it might have been stocked daily with beer and pop , but only water. [Details]

We had nothing but great service, the beach was absolutely gorgeous.The hotel was beautiful with lovely grounds.You could eat as many times in the a la cartes as youwanted.The food was very impresiive.Stayed 14 days and lacked nothing!Would definately recommend [Details]

put it simple:
food - hit or miss like all buffets in all-inclusive's
rooms- The BED IS HORRIBLE its that hard that i box spring feels softer. and bring your own pillow
Beach- WONDERFUL - lot of people reserving chairs with towels never to sit in them (but that happens everywhere)
pools- lots of them and very clean

BIGGEST COMPLAINT
(if i was prepared it would have been ok)

This resort is HUGE some of the rooms- the villas are so far away -well some of them. to walk from our room to the beach
it would take about 15 mins or longer
now there is golf carts that ran every
15 mins or so.

we normally travel in a group this time of year, and if the group wanted to book this resort and the price was around the same i Would go again but just for me and my husband i don't think that we would book again. [Details]

No hot water for two days, was not allowed to have the air conditioner running when not it your room to save hydro??... Entertainment was horrible.. Same thing every night.. Example: bingo, dice game very boring, no excitement, knew what was going to happen before it happened.. 1 choice of beer.. No presidente??? Very little entertament during the day. Was givin 1 room key for both of us??? Long walk to the beach?? Sea weed in and out of the water, very poorly kept, not impressed at all been to several beaches in punta Cana this was the worst one yet!! Not recommended due to the entertament and the beach there is alot better then this one :-( [Details]

The grounds are lovely, with peacocks and flamingoes and many lovely pools. Restaurants, cafes and bars (even a jacuzzi bar with multiple jaccuzzis around a circular bar!) are scattered throughout the long and narrow estate. Spas, gym and late-night disco are all nice. However, despite our villa room's lovely setting we found it small, dark, cramped and lacking in the amenities one would expect in a resort of this calibre. For example, instead of individual bottles, the shampoo, soap and conditioner were dispensed from a push-button unit in the shower (and the shampoo and conditioner seemed identical!). Also, we were irritated that we were told that wi-fi was a steep price per 30 minutes and only found out from a fellow guest four days into our trip that it could be bought by the week. Even at that, it seems to me most good resorts offer wi-fi as an inclusion. We were also annoyed that the safe was an extra charge and being of an old-fashioned variety, required that we carry the key with us!
Being long and narrow, the resort takes about 20 minutes to walk the length of, but there are trolley carts that will pick you up and ferry you from one end to the other. We found staff extremely friendly and helpful. The food was fine at the buffet, but the a la carte restaurants were a disappointment as the food was not as good as in the buffet. Use bug spray if you eat in the Italian restaurant as the mosquitos are vicious! [Details]

I'll try to keep this short.
ROOM
We originally got a villa and quickly upgraded to a superior room because the villa looked really run down and was in serious need of repair. This was a wise decision because the superior room was beautiful, in good shape and in a much better location.
When we upgraded, they asked us if we wanted to be in a quiet area or more of a party area, near the beach, etc. We said quiet but centrally located. They gave us room 4538 and it was perfect.

FOOD
The food was great. The fruit was surprisingly really fresh and tasty. There was a lot to choose from at the buffet. Everything was cooked well and they were always refilling trays (in the buffet) when it would get low.

STAFF
The staff did a great job. Servers never rush you to leave the buffets/restaurants, they quickly refill your water/wine/coffee.
Whenever we had a question or problem, the staff at the front desk were happy and able to help.
The entertainment team always had TONS of energy and they were funny.
Rooms were cleaned well and we were given lots of water.

BEACH
The beach is beautiful but the swimming area is small. If you go outside the resorts area, you are hounded by people trying to sell you stuff (will get to that in a minute). There are a lot of boat traffic, so it's a little noisy.

MERCHANTS
If you walk down the beach (off the resort property), you WILL be approached by people trying to sell you stuff. They will say things like, "Hi, how are you?", "Hi, where are you from?", etc. Being polite (and not used to this), I would always reply and I would have a hard time getting them to leave me alone. I find it a bit rude by you have to promptly say, "no thank you." and keep walking. If you answer their initial question or say anything else to them, you're trapped.

Twice during our stay, there was a little market set up at the resort. They sold art, crafts, jewellery, etc. Just like the people on the beach, you have to say, "No thanks" and keep walking.

Overall, I had an awesome stay. We never had any stomach issues, the food/drinks were awesome, staff were amazing and once I learned how to deal with merchants (which has nothing to do with the resort), everything was great. [Details]

We had no problems with this resort, great beach, but they could use more shade on the beach. 3 pools, one with activities one quite and small one with free wifi. Could always find some thing good to eat, the pizza hut was the best. [Details]

Hotel clealiness was exceptional. Spraying in the evenings on the grounds for mosquitoe preventation. Excellent gym facilities to work out in. Rooms were great not insects seen all week. Breaches cleaned of seaweed daily very clean beach washrooms and beach restaurant the food was excellent..actually the food was excellent at the main pool area as well.
This hotel beat staying at the RIU NNaiboa. [Details]

Truly an amazing hotel. 2 minutes walk to the beach and they provide an on ground buggy/bus that allows you travel around the resort with walking. And drinks are always made to perfection. I'm definitely coming back next year!! [Details]

The resort was kept very clean. There are some suggestions I would give to this resort.
- the biggest one was the resort ran depth way and it was around a 14 minute walk to the beach from our room which was in the 1100 series of the villas section. the troley system didn't run as often as it could.
- i would say the rooms were old and needed updating....i.e. new beds; more festive; kleenex; beer along with water in the fridges..lol.
- more bathrooms at the beach bar/restaurant
- would have preferred prepaid internet card that could be depleted based on time used
- would have liked to see all the bars have blenders for slushy drinks
-the lounge chairs were bolted down at the pools and there were not enough of them to access
-toilets plug continuously...they didn't tell us not to put toilet paper in the toilet but rather in the garbage can beside the toilet.
-hit the resort at a bad time...it was 95% non-english speaking guests

BUT THE SUN SHONE EVERY DAY AND THAT'S WHAT MAKES IT WORTH IT!!!!! [Details]