When you pay several thousand dollars for a vacation, you expect to relax, unwind and enjoy yourself -- you don't expect to get the sales pitch every few seconds.
Be warned! If you go to this resort, you will be HOUNDED by salesmen trying to get you to attend their PRIVILEGE CLUB timeshare/private resort sales meetings. Me and my partner attended the meeting, after being promised a free helicopter ride for attending a 'one hour seminar' on the "Privilege Club". We attended, primarily to shut them up but also because we were told that we didn't have to sign up, and it would be 'low pressure' and there was 'no obligation to buy'.
Our room was then deluged with phone calls, confirming that we would be showing up, confirmations of our appointment times left on our beds, and other materials left in our room.
When we showed up, we were given the rockstar treatment, doors held open for us, a little flag with our country on it, and were plied with booze. What was described as a seminar was actually a one-on-one sales pitch with a very nice woman who used every Dominican sales/pressure/guilt trip in the book to plunk down, at that very moment, $21,000 to this company. When asked to see a copy of the contract or some time to research, we were told this was a 'limited time offer' and we could not have any time. When we said "no thank you," the nice saleswoman was replaced with a large, intimidating bald man with tattooed hands and gold glasses asking why we were wasting their time. When we demanded to leave, a third man (who was obviously American or Canadian) came over to once again convince us to give him $21,000 for this 'wonderful deal'. When we said no the third time we were ushered out (no one holding the door for us, the door slammed in my partner's face), we were given a bottle of rum, some honey and a cigar, and then ignored as we trudged up the stairs, no helicopter ride was in our future.
Even though we endured the 'seminar', the salesman kept hounding us every time we passed through the lobby, it got so bad that we ended up avoiding going anywhere near the lobby for the remainder of our trip.
The staff were very friendly, our room was well stocked with towels and cleaned, but others in our party hardly got service and had to borrow towels from us. The buffet restaurants were good, but the a la carte restaurants sucked with pretentious food and bad service. The grounds were beautifully kept, and the pool and beach were great. The concierge was helpful, and the shuttle buses were on time and never had an issue. One of the members of our party was wheelchair bound, and she seemed to get great service (the resort was also accessible for the most part, except for some issues with the pool)
The Privilege Club stuff was ridiculous, and is why I would never return to another Bahia Principe resort. Having the option to buy into their private property stuff is fine, but making a high pressure and intimidating sales pitch as part of the resort experience is low rent, cheap and not worth my money.
- Also Known As:
- Gran Bahia Principe Esmeralda Hotel Punta Cana
- Gran Bahia Principe Esmeralda Hotel
Phone Number:
Region:
Caribbean >
Dominican Republic >
La Altagracia Province >
Punta Cana
Amenities:
Fitness Center
Free High-Speed Internet
Restaurant
Room Service
Swimming Pool
#3 Top resorts Hotels in Punta Cana
#4 Luxury Hotels in Punta Cana
#7 Family Hotels in Punta Cana
#15 Romantic Hotels in Punta Cana
Price Range:
$$$
Hotel Class:4 star (4*)
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