JOIA Bavaro by Iberostar - Adults Only All Inclusive Resort

loved beach and pools; didn't like seaweed which was beyond your control. You should inform guests that the gym equipment is on both the 3d and 4th floors. I spent awhile trying to find the eliptical machine. Our concierge Darlyn was excellent. You should inform guests that entrance into the Dominican Republic requires an e-ticket which can be completed 2-3 days prior to flying to the DR

Great spa day and very nice pool area

I stayed here for 4 days with my boyfriend from Monday through Friday. We were impressed with the cleanliness of the resort and the service. As other reviews have mentioned, we felt that the food was below average for a ‘5-star resort.’ Additionally, the gym offered at the resort was subpar and would benefit from adding at least one treadmill or item of cardio equipment.

Good: - The hotel grounds are very pretty, especially at night. - The food was good, we especially liked the buffets. - The pool, swim-up bar, and cabanas were nice and relaxing. - Housekeeping was top-notch, came twice a day and left us "towel sculptures" with flowers No-so-good: - The beach was full of algae and there were no aquatic activities available other than paid excursions - The theater, main bar (inside the ship), and lagoon were all closed for renovations - The dinner buffet was only open 1 night - The evening entertainment was mostly just musicians - Our "butler service" was pretty mediocre (unable to make us dinner reservations, brought us wine without a bottle opener, etc.) Bad: Upon check-in, the hotel staff scheduled us for a "special welcome breakfast" and "free massage". The "special welcome breakfast" was actually the usual breakfast buffet but accompanied by a hotel salesperson who gave you some sales pitch over breakfast! Fortunately we suspected something like this was coming and asked if we could skip the "welcome breakfast". This made the hotel staff look at each other nervously, say "well we can't give you the free massage if you don't do this", but eventually let us go. Then the same hotel staff who was overly friendly at check-in wouldn't even say hi after that. This kind of devious sales BS at a supposed "all-inclusive" resort is unacceptable!

Employees were extremely friendly they would go out of the way to make you feel comfortable the place is beautiful the beach not so good lots of seaweed could not use the beach if there’s something negative to say is that the need more pool umbrellas and chair not enough

Didn't use the Spa. The pool, the wat it's setup, and the bar in it, are all amazing though.

The hotel is very well maintained and has a nice setup and a lot to offer. Super clean, nice rooms, great pools. Staff is very friendly. The downside, the beach was not swimmable and was empty because of the seaweed. Limited restaurant options as well. Saturday there were only 2 restaurants open at night minus the buffet and they were both fully booked. Nobody told us to book ahead of time when we arrived. Being that we drink a decent amount of alcohol and ate a lot the value for what we got between food, drink, service, amenities, etc was worth it. One really cool thing is that this hotel is part of a community of 5 and they have free transfers to their other properties that have a club, casino, drinks, etc all included. Club was fun.

Very great Hotel. I did not get a upgrade. Pool need som maintenance. Otherwise everything was in great condition

Overall a Good Stay, but Service Needs Improvement We spent six nights here on our first trip to the Caribbean and the D.R. The resort itself is great: modern fitness centre, clean beaches, good restaurant variety, plus a nice golf course and tennis courts (special thanks to Coach Jose). Housekeeping, spa staff, and bartender Tomas were consistently excellent. However, service was inconsistent. Only about 40% of staff were genuinely friendly, while others showed little hospitality, with eye-rolling more common than expected. Customer-service training is needed, especially for reception, restaurant, and Star Café teams. Specific Issues: • Concierge: Pushed us into a “10–15 min presentation” that turned out to be a 90-minute membership sales session, with misleading promises about free golf and spa services. • Rum Tasting: Interesting, but the rums were not as rare as suggested—better to buy at the airport. • Check-Out: Took 20 minutes to split a cellar bill, and the receptionist (Garcia) was openly dismissive despite our prior request to separate charges. Great facilities, but service quality needs significant improvement.

Quiet place. Rooms were large and clean. Had activities but you had to search for them. People reserved pool and beach chairs and although we were told no shows after two hours would have their stuff removed….never happened! I think we overtipped and often didn’t see same butler return. Breakfast was really good….omelettes not great. Lunches had issue with chicken and burgers being uncooked. Buffet was ok. Japanese was best dinner. Gourmet was not good

Food is not good. Very poor quality. Bathroom was dirty.

Extremely low quality meet. Roaches all over

Staff were amazing. Didn't like the seaweed on the beach and had a bad experience in the Japanese restaurant with coackroaches visible on floor and table area.

The room had a strong smell of mold

The hotel in all the areas was super clean, excellent service and all the staff was super friendly. EVERYTHING was included, this was my second time and definitely will be a third one. AAA .

Amazing grounds and breathtaking views. Rooms are just as beautiful as the landscaping, maintenance and housekeeping were a plenty keeping things clean and tidy. Most of the staff were very friendly and helpful, some a bit inexperienced. Requests for simple items took some time to receive or were forgotten. Nothing horrendous or superior just adequate service. Swim out room was very convenient and a pleasure to have especially on a on and off rainy day, but placement near the access road was a bit noisy. Always an activity to keep busy with during the day or evening, and overall well worth the cost for an all inclusive vacation.

Immaculate, well maintained property. Excellent service by all staff especially our butler Armando and the pool bar staff (Tobias and others). Excellent food!

The staff was friendly. The rooms, restaurants and hotel in general was super clean. The food was very good at the buffets and specialized restaurants. I stayed at Bavaro beach hotels almost every year for the last 10 years and so far, this was the best.

Staff was top notch, always cheerful and eager to help. Food options were excellent and always seem to be fresh and plentiful. Pool & beach areas were super clean and easy to navigate, plenty of space, we never didn't have a spot to tan. A fabulous place to vacation, already planning a future trip.

PRAIA: Estive no hotel na primeira semana de julho/25 e foi impossível entrar no mar. Muito muito muito sargaço… em uma quantidade que eu nunca havia visto antes. Eram montanhas e montanhas de sargaço, que impediam o acesso ao mar e até mesmo a permanência na praia, por conta do odor fétido. A água estava horrível, marrom. O hotel passava o dia tentando retirar o sargaço que se acumulava na areia, mas era impossível, mesmo usando tratores… O volume era descomunal. Diante disso, para entrar no mar, tivemos que fazer um passeio até a Ilha Saona. RESTAURANTES: a comida é variada e saborosa; os restaurantes são, em geral, ótimos. Os melhores são o francês e o dominicano. Tive um contratempo durante o almoço no Bella Vista: ao pegar a sobremesa no Buffet, me deparei com um grande RATO correndo no chão. Obviamente, me assustei, gritei… e os funcionários do hotel foram, inicialmente, extremamente solícitos. Ofereceram-me um upgrade de acomodação, como forma de reparação pelo transtorno. Todavia, no dia seguinte, quando fui cobrar o upgrade, disseram que eu tinha entendido errado… e que a tal compensação seria apenas uma decoração romântica com champanhe no meu próprio quarto. ATENDIMENTO: de um modo geral, os atendentes são atenciosos e educados. Entretanto, se você não estiver disposto a dar gorjeta em dólar a absolutamente cada bebida pedida ou a cada serviço solicitado, saiba que será tratado de forma diferenciada… e ficará sempre em segundo plano. PISCINA: existe a “máfia” d

The property was visually beautiful. The beach was loaded with seaweed, not their fault. The rooms are dated.

The resort is beautiful, great food and amenities for the money you spend. Room service was awesome. Will be back for sure!

Amazing hotel in every way! Swim out suites are amazing, the service is superb, everything was perfect! I will come back for sure!

The room key system was excellent. It’s worn on the wrist, so there’s no need to carry it around. The staff are all very friendly, and the food was very good.

Service overall was good, our Butler Danilo was very attentive and very kind. Most of staff was great, with a couple of exceptions that while they don’t outweight the kindness if the rest ot the crew, really left a bad impression. Facility was beautiful although rooms felt a bit outdated and it would have been nice to see the outside canals next to the boat filled with water (renovation work is being done currently). Food was great, and drinks were good. Beach was full of seaweed, which was a bummer.

Picked a Swim Out w Butler. Everything nice until the morning when we found out we were next to the loading ramp, had to move due to unbearable noise. The app for texting the butler is worthless had to use wassap w them. Butler svc adds no value, you can do what they do for you, all they do is relay everything to others and do not get things done faster (1 buttler per floor). Now, the rooms were nice, facilities clean, quiet, no kids, no regueton. Shows were nice and staff was friendly. Food and drinks were good. I would recommend it for a peaceful retreat. 4 nights was enough. Must go to Coco Bongo in the Gold Members section (eat before)

Pro: rooms, beautiful resort, clean Cons:food is average, entertainment is repetitive. Same songs every night. Shows were mostly good though, above average.

Overall, average. Not exceptional. Rooms small, air conditioning in spa didn’t work. Food was good not amazing. Many things closed on nights they should have been open. Robert my butler was not attentive. Didn’t do any of the things advertised as butler services.

Our two butlers Armando and Houston were wonderful. There was valuable information. we did not receive such as what happens if we mistakenly left our safe open and don’t use the tapwater to brush your teeth lol. We really did have attentive service from the butlers and overall from the staff. It was excellent. The food was adequate, but not spectacular. It says something when the best thing at the resort, food, wise, was the ice cream in the buffet and the welcome drink We had problems with our jetted tub and had to request repairs three times. Also, be aware that the shades that come down to protect your privacy. Do nothing when it’s night time and you have lights on in the bathroom. You’re actually giving a show to anyone nearby Would I come here again? Yes, as everyone was friendly, but I would probably choose another resort for issues like having more restaurants open every night and fewer issues with some of the basics. May I say a big thank you to Armando for the birthday banner, champagne, cake, and big huge smile to help me celebrate my day. He went above and beyond!

The place overall is very nice. They take pride in maintaining the grounds and property. You have to keep in mind the salty air will corrode some items around the property. But the staff was painting, cleaning and landscaping the entire time we were here. It’s a very beautiful place and we would return. The service was amazing also. The staff was very helpful, happy, and accommodating. We had a swim out suite and was a great choice, especially during the seaweed season. It was also cool in the first floor versus some of the higher floors. Our butlers Reynaldo and Cofe were great! Super responsive and helped my husband planned many surprises for my birthday. We planned to make sure we tried the Buffett for breakfast and some lunches but a different restaurant for dinner every night. The food was really good and the service nothing but excellent. We visited the coral lab and the garden (zona ecológica) and got to see some peacocks and the plants there. Also used the tennis court and the attendant was super nice! The landscape was also beautiful and well kept. We 100% recommend if you want great service and amenities. It is also calm and peaceful since it is adults only.

Everything here is amazing. Food is pretty good for an all inclusive. Staff is super friendly. Only complaint is they try to get you a “Free couples massage” but they didn’t tell me they were taking us to the golf course office to give us a 90 minute sales pitch for a timeshare. Manager dismissed us very quickly when we told him we were not aware or interested. The concierge wanted a commission, simple as that. Everything else was great so we overlooked it but beware!

Good: - The hotel grounds are very pretty, especially at night. - The food was good, we especially liked the buffets. - The pool, swim-up bar, and cabanas were nice and relaxing. - Housekeeping was top-notch, came twice a day and left us "towel sculptures" with flowers No-so-good: - The beach was full of algae and there were no aquatic activities available other than paid excursions - The theater, main bar (inside the ship), and lagoon were all closed for renovations - The dinner buffet was only open 1 night - The evening entertainment was mostly just musicians - Our "butler service" was pretty mediocre (unable to make us dinner reservations, brought us wine without a bottle opener, etc.) Bad: Upon check-in, the hotel staff scheduled us for a "special welcome breakfast" and "free massage". The "special welcome breakfast" was actually the usual breakfast buffet but accompanied by a hotel salesperson who gave you some sales pitch over breakfast! Fortunately we suspected something like this was coming and asked if we could skip the "welcome breakfast". This made the hotel staff look at each other nervously, say "well we can't give you the free massage if you don't do this", but eventually let us go. Then the same hotel staff who was overly friendly at check-in wouldn't even say hi after that. This kind of devious sales BS at a supposed "all-inclusive" resort is unacceptable!

Our check in took over 2 hours

Overall a Good Stay, but Service Needs Improvement We spent six nights here on our first trip to the Caribbean and the D.R. The resort itself is great: modern fitness centre, clean beaches, good restaurant variety, plus a nice golf course and tennis courts (special thanks to Coach Jose). Housekeeping, spa staff, and bartender Tomas were consistently excellent. However, service was inconsistent. Only about 40% of staff were genuinely friendly, while others showed little hospitality, with eye-rolling more common than expected. Customer-service training is needed, especially for reception, restaurant, and Star Café teams. Specific Issues: • Concierge: Pushed us into a “10–15 min presentation” that turned out to be a 90-minute membership sales session, with misleading promises about free golf and spa services. • Rum Tasting: Interesting, but the rums were not as rare as suggested—better to buy at the airport. • Check-Out: Took 20 minutes to split a cellar bill, and the receptionist (Garcia) was openly dismissive despite our prior request to separate charges. Great facilities, but service quality needs significant improvement.

Immaculate, well maintained property. Excellent service by all staff especially our butler Armando and the pool bar staff (Tobias and others). Excellent food!

Hotel was okay, not sure I would consider a 5 star hotel. I got the butler tier room and it was not worth it. There are too many rooms for one butler. All they can do is book one restaurant, which is the Japanese for hibachi, otherwise you are on your own. I would not consider a butler service. The staff is kind of sort of friendly but not too much. The felt as sometimes they hardly smile at all. The room service does not have a good variety. The restaurants are okay, some are good. Again, not sure I would call this hotel a 5 star, I frankly think I paid too much expecting something more exclusive.

Gorgeous resort! Staff went ABOVE AND BEYOND!!

Check-in was unpleasant. Although the post check in time was 3:00pm, we were there at 12 noon time. Then until 3:00pm, we still couldn't get into the room. While waiting, the concierges tried hard to sell stuff. Room services are convenient. Bottle waters were not easy to get but need several phone calls. Help desk wasn't available all the time. Buffet is good. Dinner restaurants were not good.

Most beautiful grounds. Excellent facility amazing rooms and beaches and pools and service. Concierge is overbearing and pushy, not your typical concierge who helps you with things to see— these concierges try to sell not help — stay away. It seems there only purpose is to get you to breakfast to sell “timeshare.” After refusing we were hassled continually. Staff was amazing, but the timeshare push after you’ve spent so much was a thorn and one major err of the property.

The place overall is very nice. They take pride in maintaining the grounds and property. You have to keep in mind the salty air will corrode some items around the property. But the staff was painting, cleaning and landscaping the entire time we were here. It’s a very beautiful place and we would return. The service was amazing also. The staff was very helpful, happy, and accommodating. We had a swim out suite and was a great choice, especially during the seaweed season. It was also cool in the first floor versus some of the higher floors. Our butlers Reynaldo and Cofe were great! Super responsive and helped my husband planned many surprises for my birthday. We planned to make sure we tried the Buffett for breakfast and some lunches but a different restaurant for dinner every night. The food was really good and the service nothing but excellent. We visited the coral lab and the garden (zona ecológica) and got to see some peacocks and the plants there. Also used the tennis court and the attendant was super nice! The landscape was also beautiful and well kept. We 100% recommend if you want great service and amenities. It is also calm and peaceful since it is adults only.

This a beach hotel, but beach is plenty of sargasso. Around 1.5 mts. Rotten with a terrible smell. I understand that is something out of the control of the staff of the hotel. But to accumulate that amout the hotel didn't clean the beach for days. I called before reserve asking for the sargasso problem. The person that answer said was just a little, false it is a huge problem that the hotel dont try to solve. We paid for a beach hotel, this a hotel with no beach.

The staff were great - friendly and attentive. The property was beautiful. The beach was wonderful with easy access into the water on soft sand. No shells or rocks. A beach walkers dream.

Nice beach and pool area

Loved that the property was compact and easily walkable to the pools, ocean and restaurants. Staff are wonderful, kind and helpful. Special thanks to our butler, Armando, who ensured that entitled we needed was provided for. Restaurants and choice of food was excellent. Would definitely return!

The best ever! Everything is perfect! My only complaint is the beach, in June has a lot of seaweeds but is not the hotel’s fault , they tried to clean everything but it was too much.

The hotel is very well maintained and has a nice setup and a lot to offer. Super clean, nice rooms, great pools. Staff is very friendly. The downside, the beach was not swimmable and was empty because of the seaweed. Limited restaurant options as well. Saturday there were only 2 restaurants open at night minus the buffet and they were both fully booked. Nobody told us to book ahead of time when we arrived. Being that we drink a decent amount of alcohol and ate a lot the value for what we got between food, drink, service, amenities, etc was worth it. One really cool thing is that this hotel is part of a community of 5 and they have free transfers to their other properties that have a club, casino, drinks, etc all included. Club was fun.

Great beach

The service is second to none. The property is pristine, the beach is flawless (seaweed removed every day), and the drinks are high-end, but it's truly the staff that made this trip one that we'll never forget.

This property was less crowded and had he nicest beach area around the area. Definitely recommend.

Great Hotel and Service, but Disappointing Beach The hotel itself was excellent. The property was well maintained, the staff provided outstanding service, and overall the resort experience was very enjoyable. The only downside was the beach. During my stay, there were massive amounts of seaweed washed up along the shore, which made the ocean unusable for the entire trip. While I understand this is a natural occurrence and not the hotel’s fault, I do feel guests should be advised upon arrival so expectations are clear. If the beach is not a priority for your visit, this resort is a wonderful choice. However, if ocean swimming is important, I recommend checking on seaweed conditions beforehand.

Extremely low quality meet. Roaches all over

Staff were amazing. Didn't like the seaweed on the beach and had a bad experience in the Japanese restaurant with coackroaches visible on floor and table area.

Dining reservations were difficult to make and the food was subpar. After 9

For the money the food experience was not good. We ended up eating the buffet multiple nights and canceling dinner reservations. Lack of choices, temperature of those dishes when you got them, and NOTHING had any flavor. Trip was amazing minus the food.

Limited dining with not a lot of options.

Excellent facilities, room, cleanliness, pool and jacuzzi. Above average entertainment. Beach and sea was full of seaweed. Created allergic reaction to my wife, up to five days after trip. Ok breakfast and lunch options. Terrible quality and very small quantity dinner. Asked several guests with repeat experience- all agreed and mentioned long-term food quality erosion.

This property was amazing. Our 1st time to visit and loved every bit of our stay. The food is excellent and has a thursday night seafood buffett which was off the hook. The drinks were good at the pool area but top shelf at the lobby bar. Staff was amazing as well.

Quiet place. Rooms were large and clean. Had activities but you had to search for them. People reserved pool and beach chairs and although we were told no shows after two hours would have their stuff removed….never happened! I think we overtipped and often didn’t see same butler return. Breakfast was really good….omelettes not great. Lunches had issue with chicken and burgers being uncooked. Buffet was ok. Japanese was best dinner. Gourmet was not good

PRAIA: Estive no hotel na primeira semana de julho/25 e foi impossível entrar no mar. Muito muito muito sargaço… em uma quantidade que eu nunca havia visto antes. Eram montanhas e montanhas de sargaço, que impediam o acesso ao mar e até mesmo a permanência na praia, por conta do odor fétido. A água estava horrível, marrom. O hotel passava o dia tentando retirar o sargaço que se acumulava na areia, mas era impossível, mesmo usando tratores… O volume era descomunal. Diante disso, para entrar no mar, tivemos que fazer um passeio até a Ilha Saona. RESTAURANTES: a comida é variada e saborosa; os restaurantes são, em geral, ótimos. Os melhores são o francês e o dominicano. Tive um contratempo durante o almoço no Bella Vista: ao pegar a sobremesa no Buffet, me deparei com um grande RATO correndo no chão. Obviamente, me assustei, gritei… e os funcionários do hotel foram, inicialmente, extremamente solícitos. Ofereceram-me um upgrade de acomodação, como forma de reparação pelo transtorno. Todavia, no dia seguinte, quando fui cobrar o upgrade, disseram que eu tinha entendido errado… e que a tal compensação seria apenas uma decoração romântica com champanhe no meu próprio quarto. ATENDIMENTO: de um modo geral, os atendentes são atenciosos e educados. Entretanto, se você não estiver disposto a dar gorjeta em dólar a absolutamente cada bebida pedida ou a cada serviço solicitado, saiba que será tratado de forma diferenciada… e ficará sempre em segundo plano. PISCINA: existe a “máfia” d

This was my third time staying at an Iberostar resort, my second at Grand Bavaro. A spectacular trip was greatly undermined by extremely disappointing, mediocre to poor food at the fine dining restaurants. In a word it was terrible. We ended up eating at the buffet. I have always enjoyed and recommend Iberostar but this last experience will have me looking elsewhere. I really hate to say this.