Just returned from 5 days at Barcelo Premium in Puerto Plata. Some changes being made in the hotel and some still needed. Overall they are doing a great job. The rooms are old but immaculate. The toilet did not work when we tried it but was fixed within a half hour. The furnishings, curtains, bedspreads, etc. are old but clean. They are slowly changing them. The staff is incredible. They all have graduated from charm school. It does not matter if it is the security guard, janitor, housekeeper, pool cleaner, waiter, front desk, everyone is most helpful and SMILES. They all seem as if they want to work there and have you enjoy yourself. The food is excellent. We travel a great deal and this hotel does a really top level job of feeding everyone. We did four of the specialty restaurants, Asian, Mexican, Italian and Sea Food, each better than the other. The main buffet was quite good for breakfast and lunch though during the days the outdoor buffets at the pool and the beach were more interesting and less formal. The airconditioning in the rooms needs to be improved but the hot water is the hottest I have ever found in a hotel. The pools are sparkling clean as are the halls and the grounds. This is a large hotel, over 500 rooms, but one does not feel it. There is plenty of room, enough towels for the pools and the beach, enough chairs for both places, though they do allow for people to put towels on the chaises to reserve them. This is a practice reserved for lower level resorts and should not be allowed. Parking is somewhat of a problem as the two places they have are small and are filled quickly, especially on the weekend. But there is another large area away from the hotel and a bus that will transport you back and forth. Highly recommend this hotel even we are not big fans of all inclusives. Excellent value and when the rest of the rooms are redone, this will be even better.

I thought I would write this, as like many after reading previous reviews I travelled with much trepidation on to what we would actually find. We travelled through Thomas Cook and I have to say the flight was brilliant so much leg room. We arrived around 6pm there was only about 14 for our hotel so the check in time was minimal and efficient and was helped by an employer handing out cold non alcoholic cocktails. After being transported to our room, we found it to be on the second floor,(although the travel agent being advised that with mobility problems ground floor accommodation was a necessity) We were transported back to the reception, "dont worry be happy" was their remark and we were transferred to a ground floor room.
Yes the room was tired and old fashioned but was extremely clean and yes there was a knack to flushing the toilet but it was workable and to be honest in relativity to the time we actually spent there, it was no big issue.
We ate at all the a la carte restaurants, bar the sea food one (that by choice) after some confusion over the time of being able to book and inconsistancies in whether you were allowed to book in advance or not, we have to say the eating experience was positive in all of them, We would especially recommend the oriental and the brazillian the food was delicious. We did see people walk out when the appertisers arrived, admittedly somethings were not expected but the opportunity to try new things makes the unexpected that little exciting and having your meal served off swords... need I say more. The buffet restaurant offered such a choice as well as freshly fried eggs, omelettes were available made to your specification and were delicious, the amount of fruit and real smoothies that was available was mouth watering and the breads delicious. Throughout the lunch and dinner menu pasta and sauce with your own ingredients was prepared for you and this was just so good. They tried hard to accomodate the western palate and ok the mash was slightly dodgy but it was dominican republic mash and to them it was pretty good!
We were there from 28th April through 11 May, and we thought it was particularly quiet, noticed more by only a half of the dining room being in use, the brits were definitely in the minority there were groups of canadians, at one point a group of maybe 20 US service men and yes things got a little noisy and boisterous in the pool(USA v Canada!) but only of people enjoying themselves and I did see one young man made to apologise for his behaviour by his officer! At the weekends the hotel is used by the locals, they can be very noisy and I say this because one of the locals we went on a trip said it, that they come, and eat and waste alot, like children in a candy store, just because they can, they were rude to the bar people, the reception and just barged in front of us, this is there way? however, we took the advice of our rep and booked the ala carte meals over the weekend.
We were in building 11 and I thought we would have been disturbed by the noise from the stage however this was not a problem, some guests from the disco on the beach, seemed to like to come in with a whoop whoop but a roll over onto a different side and slumber commenced!
Everywhere, everyday there was constant cleaning going on.
Our only gripe would be when we did have a problem, with a telephone card and phone charges the reception suddenly could not understand english, and the dont worry be happy attitude changed to being very abrupt so be wary of using the travel agents prepaid card and hotel charges.

This was our second time in the Dominican our first visit was in June 2007 and we loved our stay at the Blue Bay (next door). The resort (playa) is fine but the hotel (Barcelo) wasn't the best.

I'll start by saying the hotel was really busy, it was spring break for the Canadians and Americans. It was also St Patricks day and Easter.

The reception staff weren't the friendliest and didn't seem to be too bothered with your problems. We had to be moved rooms. Our first was a bit iffy. There was an eletrical socket hanging from the wall exposing wires, this was behind our bed and a rushing water noise would sound every 40 seconds this came from the toilet. We were moved due to First Choice rules, something to do with guests and the 3rd floor. The second room was more or less the same decor minus the problems.

The rooms and hotel were very clean. The public areas were lovely. The rooms are very tierd and dated although they did have a CD player/radio alarm/MP3 socket.

The pool area is very small for the size of the hotel there are over 500 rooms and at a guess there are only 300 total sunbeds at the pool and beach. We saw guests placing towels on the beds at 4am. When we complained to reception about the lack of beds they told us to get up earlier!!

The food was very good. No complaints, the Oriental and Brazilian are superb. The main buffet area is nice but way too small for the size of the hotel.

The resturant and bar staff are run off their feet. There were only 5 barmen working, one at each bar this was for over 1000 thirsty guests. Wasn't fun.

This hotel is nice but could be better... give the rooms a face lift and hire more staff!!!

Don't be fooled, the Barcelo Puerto Plata Premium is definitely not a 4 star hotel - it is hardly even a 2 star. We usually go on vacation to Cuba but decided to see the Dominican for a change. Traveled with Air Transat out of Halifax. We stayed from April 9th to April 23rd, 2008.

Check in time: We traveled Air Transat Premium and check in was around the back of the regular check in desk. Not too speedy that is for sure as the whole plane load of travelers were also in line with us - a good two hours later we were checked in but since it was only 11 in the morning and the rooms aren't ready until 3 p.m..................! Long old wait when it is 80+ degrees and you are still dressed in your jeans. Then you have the pleasure of going to the front desk to line up once again in order to get the key for your safe. Very disorganized!

Beach: The beach is absolutely beautiful and as we love to walk several times a day it was great. We never had any problems finding chairs, although, in order to have umbrella shade you do have to be up early (like 6:30 a.m. or earlier) and mark your territory for the day with a towel. We love to walk early morning so that was no problem for us.

Hotel Room: The first room was at the back part of building 11 and smelled like a sewer - I couldn't imagine even staying one night in that room it smelled so bad. Once we complained they gave us another room at the back part of building 11 and the flush didn't work. Once again we went back to the front desk and they gave us a room looking out to the pool area and it was great. We had a few ants but since we always travel with bug spray they were not problem once I gave the room a good spray.

Food: Is definitely not good - we would have starved if we hadn't taken crackers, etc. with us. Breakfast isn't too bad as you can get an egg fried, although sometimes the burner was too hot and you end up with burnt fried egg - yuck. The bacon is raw but the guy on the grill with cook it more if you pick out a few pieces and ask him too. Fruit was not too bad most days and the bread is delicious. We went to all the a la carte dinners except for the Brazilian. The only one we enjoyed was the Oriental and it was very good. The hamburger in the snack bars is never cooked well enough and we both ended up with the back door trots for a few days and the french fries wouldn't be too bad if they would cook them a bit longer and crisp them up - nothing worse then a floppy fry! At least they have Heinz ketchup! Unfortunately, I don't think they know what mashed potato's are.

Air Transat Representative: We spoke with a rep by the name of Stephanie and she argued up and down that we were not entitled to snacks in our room (she was actually embarrassing as we were standing in the lobby at the time and her voice is pretty loud). We were told by our travel agent that snacks were provided before we even left on our trip. Funny thing, on about our seventh day (we stayed for two weeks), low and behold we started to have snacks left in our room (usually one bar and one bag of chips - for two people!). Perhaps it helped that we left a tip on our pillow every day!!! The small refrigerator worked well and every day we had two beer, two colas and two Sprite left.

Staff: We gave large tips and gifts to the staff on the front desk. The next day they ignore you and it is like they never saw you before in their life. Really weird! The people in Cuba are so friendly that we were shocked by the manner of people in Puerto Plata Barcelo. For the most part they are not very friendly people. Although, to be fair, the staff in the bar overlooking the pool (it turns into a Mexican restaurant in the evening) are really a nice bunch.

We arrived early on the 9th and had to wait for our room on the day of arrival. On the 23rd we were not flying out until 1115 at night so we asked about our room on first checking in and were told that for the price of $6 an hour we could keep the room but that we couldn't pay for it until the day before we were to leave (check out is at 1 p.m.). Well we get to the 22nd and are told to come back early the next morning (the 23rd) because the boss was too busy. When we go back on the 23rd we are told the boss is too busy again because she is in a meeting and can't see us. We ended up paying for a sub-standard room located in a building behind the main resort. We were not impressed with that little scenario. Pretty shabby treatment of their guests and as long as they practice this little money grabber they will never be able to call themselves a first class hotel. We complained to the Transat rep about this but there was nothing she could do. Guess we didn't complain loud enough though as we talked to a couple on the same flight as ours and she was vocal enough that they left them in their same room.

General appearance of Barcelo Puerto Plata: The grounds are beautiful and very, very clean. The staff are continuously cleaning something. No fault to find there.

We would never return to this resort and probably never again to the Dominican. We will stick to Cuba for our vacations. The Club Amigo Villas, Guardalavaca, Cuba should be a 5 star when compared to the Barcelo, Puerto Plata.