Catalonia Bavaro

This is all inclusive for the masses. It reminded me of European mass tourism. Just to check in, we had to stand for an hour in line. They don't care. The drinks are horrible, the pool bar has always a line of people waiting to be served. The beer is cheap swill and so are the drinks. Pina Coladas that just don't taste right. The pizza shack is overcrowded with the feel of a feeding trough. The pool and beach snack bar doesn't let women enter in bikini tops. Of course it is empty. The buffet is huge. But lacks in taste. There are no star cooks in the kitchen. Aggressive hawkers have their stands in front of the single restaurant and you constantly hear "my friend..." This place certainly has its clientele, mostly Dominicans, but I left after a day. No porter service, I had to lug my suitcases out to the parking lot far away.

I urge anyone considering this hotel to read all reviews carefully — especially the low-rated ones — because they are 100% accurate. My review is long, but I want to share my full experience to help others avoid the disappointment my family and I went through. I stayed at Catalonia Bávaro Resort for 11 nights, and I spent nearly 4-5 days going back and forth to reception trying to change rooms and file complaints. We were moved three times before finally settling in due to dirty rooms, broken furniture, and terrible smells. The process was exhausting, and we were in constant communication with TUI trying to arrange a hotel change — something that should never happen on a holiday. If you don't speak Spanish, be prepared for serious communication issues. Most staff, including many at reception, speak little to no English, making even basic conversations extremely frustrating. The few who did speak English had very limited knowledge. I read previous reviews mentioning this, but I thought people might have been exaggerating — they weren't. The overall atmosphere of the hotel felt unwelcoming, and staff showed no care for guests unless you were tipping them. At the buffet, my fiancé and I had to wait long periods to be served. Several times, I asked different waiters for coffee or water, only to be completely ignored. After asking three or four times, we were finally served — but always with poor attitude. On one occasion, my fiancé asked a staff member a simple question, only to be dismissed with the response "No English" before walking away. It was rude and disrespectful. We experienced two power cuts during our stay. The first happened on my birthday and lasted about 40 minutes — the second lasted almost five hours. The entire resort was in pitch darkness, with no backup generators. There was no water, no electricity, and no communication. We couldn’t even shower and had to rely on our phone flashlights — something completely unacceptable for a resort of this size. Despite asking several times, I was never able to speak to a manager — it felt like they simply didn't care. Towards the end of our holiday, we noticed staff suddenly becoming overly friendly — which felt suspicious considering how we had been treated the whole time. Later, we discovered why. They began handing out QR codes to guests, pressuring them to leave five-star reviews while standing over them. The review form was in Spanish, and they would guide you on how to rate the hotel — not the staff — with full stars. This explains the false positive reviews online and is nothing more than manipulation. If you're thinking of upgrading to Deluxe or Privilege, don't waste your money — it's a scam. We paid extra for Privilege, only to be told by the staff that only Exclusive guests receive the services advertised on the website. The hotel's concierge team is only there to sell upgrades, not to genuinely help guests. This holiday was meant to be a special celebration, but it turned i

We went to this resort for the golf. Our friends 65th birthday. The guys said the golf was good Our room was not very nice. No hot water. Very small moldy shower. Pato door barely opened and our friends had cockroaches etc. It felt very old and moldy So, We changed our rooms the next morning for Prestige rooms at $300 extra for the week. Not very fair in my mind. They weren't gorgeous but were much cleaner and things worked. The pool was good and the beach was lovely but f you are at the beach you get bombarded with those trying to sell you something. It never stops. 80% of the staff speak no english and 80% of them were very unfriendly Those that were friendly were very nice. Our last day we called down for a buggy to take our things to the lobby. I had to call twice and no one came. I finally walked down myself to get someone to come. We made the most of it and had a good time But we wont go back