Grand Palladium Palace Resort Spa, a Registry Collectin Hotel — Hotel in Higüey

We have been back from our stay for a week now and find we are still missing it. Arriving at the resort was like stepping into a tropical oasis. The surroundings were beautiful and so well maintained. On check in, we found we had our own personal concierge, Cesar. He was a great port of call for the whole holiday; if we needed anything or wanted to book restaurants, we could just text him. We received a welcome gift of a fruit platter with a bottle of Dominican rum, a birthday cake for our youngest on her birthday, and also a chocolate platter when we were leaving.||We upgraded to a swim up suite and we were fortunate to have 2 rooms together. We had (in our opinion) some of the best rooms because we were garden side and right at the end where the pool is bigger. The pool was cleaned regularly and well maintained and we preferred it to the main pools as we could always escape to an air conditioned room when it got too hot. It was so peaceful and quiet and we could look to the end and see the weddings going on. The rooms were very central to the resort so everything was a short walk away. The rooms themselves were a bit dated and you can see where repairs have been made. Our patio door was off the runners and stiff to open, but eventually, maintenance did fix it. The power outlets aren't too powerful and devices took a long time to charge. I found the hairdryer in the room more than adequate but the one in the next room was different and not as good. One room received 2 dressing gowns and 2 pairs of slippers and the other only one dressing gown, but it does say you can ask for them if wanted. On reading previous reviews, we were prepared for the frosted glass window between the bathroom and the main room and had brought shower curtains - a must for our teens in the next room. However, we weren't prepared for the frosted glass bathroom door that didn't have a lock and just swings open.||We had one main cleaner who was brilliant and kept the room very clean and tidy and restocked the fridge with all the necessary drinks and some extras when we asked for them. She was very good at noticing what we used and made sure to give us extra of that in particular eg extra fanta instead of coke. We had a couple of cockroaches which we suspected were coming in through a gap under the sink as they seemed to crop up near/in the bathroom; and one magically disappeared under there. The other room didn't see any cockroaches at all but did have a little lizard friend pop up. The water pressure was good and the water was always hot. Say goodbye to tea on the plane as it's coffee all the way. There was a coffee maker in the room which you could just use to heat up the water for the herbal teas available, but the coffee itself was really nice. The bed is easily the best bed I have ever slept in; so comfortable and absolutely enormous. I had the best sleep ever and wish I knew what brand the mattress is so I can buy one!||We were disappointed to find that part of the resort was closed for refurbishment, meaning that some of the a la carte restaurants weren't open. However, this did mean that the resort was much quieter than anticipated. We found weekdays were fairly quiet, but weekends (Friday - Monday morning) were busy as people arrived for long weekends from the Americas. We ate mostly at Las Torres for breakfast and dinner (arrive early for the fresher food and avoid the queues on weekends) and Poseidon for lunch. You could order meats to be freshly cooked in front of you to how you liked and there was a wide variety of other foods available - mostly catering to an American audience though (the baked beans were a no no). We did find that main meals didn't have much temperature control and quiet a lot of it was cold. The dessert section was fab and there was always something new to try although the kids were disappointed about the lack of chocolate ice cream. We avoided La Behique after seeing the queues to get in one breakfast time. The a la carte restaurants we did go to (Italian and Steakhouse) were nice. The fresh pasta was much nicer than that of the buffets. One of the waiters at the Italian was such a lovely guy and went above and beyond for us as well.||We spent some evenings in the lobby bar of the Palace. There was one particular waitress who was brilliant and always remembered our drinks orders after the first visit. I can't remember her name, but she did have to work on her birthday. The drinks were good and they worked to a menu but you could also get things off the menu too. The younger of our kids loved getting the mocktails which makes everything feel more special. Coke, fanta etc are the American versions and not quite what we're used to but the coke zero was alright. Also, if you ask for lemonade, you will be given actual, flat lemonade (the frozen lemonade is very refreshing) so remember to ask for Sprite if you mean fizzy lemonade.||On excursions, there are many men and women who will try and get you to take up their excursions. We dutifully took the leaflets and then did our own research back at the room. We decided early on (after a very sweaty walk into the town) that excursions weren't for us; we would rather spend the day by the pool than be conned out of our cash to be miserable and sweaty. Book excursions online before you go, it's much cheaper and you can read the reviews. ||One thing to note, there was A LOT of seaweed. I have never seen so much of it. Apparently it was there for 2 weeks before our stay and it was there for the entirety of the 2 weeks we were there and didn't look like stopping when we were leaving. The one day of respite was after Hurricane Erin. They had so many workers out there trying to clear it, but mother nature cannot be helped. The more they cleared, the more it came, to the point where part of the beach was eroded away. Yes, the smell was awful, but not constant. Yes, we were disappointed to not be able to use the beach, but it's just one of those things. Even the locals were surprised at the sheer amount and how long it had lasted.||One thing to remember is, you are on Caribbean time. Service may not always be as fast as you want it, but it is hot, and the staff are working 12 hour shifts in the time you are spending by the pool. We tipped good staff well and we received excellent service the whole time we were there. There wasn't much of a language barrier, but it goes a long way to know a little bit of Spanish, even if it's just to say thank you.||Overall, a really relaxing and much needed holiday. I would certainly look at booking again once the swim up suites have been...

TL;DR|We found the Grand Palladium to be a nice resort, with nice rooms (comfy beds, bathrooms need an update though), good food (buffets with great selection, a la carte restaurants are varied and i think all of us liked our meals), nice pools (sometimes too loud, but chill in the morning), great sports possibilities. ||Generally, staff was excellent, the ladies and gentlemen on the reception always friendly and competent, sometimes restaurant staff could be a bit friendlier, but I think they might be a bit overworked in some cases, especially since some buffet workers also work shifts in a-la-carte restaurants. ||One of the resort hotels is being remodeled, causing a number of facilities/restaurants not to be available. Check what is available at your travel date and what not, and also what is available to the package you pay for.||Rooms (4 out of 5, bathroom only 2.5 out of 5):|We stayed in the Palace hotel, in Loft Suites, which when sharing the room with a child is a very good solution, as it gives some privacy to both, the adult and the child staying in the upstairs sofa bed, while still being able to communicate easily (without shouting), if needed.||Rooms were clean, made up daily, minibar restocked on a daily basis with drinks sufficiently for three (no snacks, which would have been nice), main bed was comfortable and very big. Plugs supporting European standard chargers.||Bathroom was a bit of a letdown, it's where the hotel showed its age a bit. No walk-in showers unfortunately, and the design of the tub/shower combo isn't very convenient. They provide a basic wooden step to enter the bathtub, because the walls tub are very high. Also the tub had quite a number of smaller scratches on the surface showing its wear. Water in Punta Cana must be very heavy on lime content, you could see dried lime marks on the bathtub across the board. Also, whoever had the idea that bathrooms should be separated from the main room by semi-transparent dividers should be prohibited from interior design for family hotels forever. Gels and other consumables in the typical refillable containers which is great for the environment, but not very convenient (we were able to take them out of their holders though, which then worked well for us).||TVs are great, wide range of channels, very nice for the moments where you want to escape the sun or just need a bit of rest time from all the sunbathing and eating.||Restaurants (4/5)|As mentioned by various other travelers, one of the resort areas was closed down due to remodeling work, which limited the number of restaurants while we were there. In the current setup, you are still able to chose between a couple of buffet style restaurants. I found the food selection very large, so even if it was mostly the same every day, you could still vary your meals throughout a one week stay. Quality and taste of the food were, in my opinion, quite good. Some of the in-the-moment prepared meal items were actually excellent.||Service in the buffet restaurants was generally good. They were usually very busy, which makes the occasional blunder (waiting for drinks/coffee, mixed up orders) something to expect, even though in the moment it can boil your blood a bit. A good time to work on your Inner Zen.||We were able to book in all 5 a la carte restaurants available to us (we couldn't access the TRS ones, having stayed in the Palace), and generally the food was enjoyable. Serving sizes in some cases too big for us, especially for our youngest one who has graduated beyond kid's meals but doesn't manage to eat an adult sized serving.||When it comes to a la carte restaurant staff, it was a bit hit and miss. We had great and not-so-great waiters. The latter might have to do with the fact that we were usually the last table in their shift, so I won't hold it against (all of) them.||Pools (4 out of 5)|Ok, so, if you like a quiet time at the pool, reading or listening to your own music at a healthy volume level over headphones, the two main pools we were at (the main ones of the Punta Cana and the Palace) are not recommended after 11am. Music was usually loud and blasting once animators' activities started, and the choice of music was mostly very modern (heavily leaning on latin beats of all kind, in line with the location of course).||We did not try the adult pool, as we couldn't take our pre-teen child with us, and there was a third, smaller pool next to the American/Italian restaurant we didn't try either.||Sports (5 out of 5)|The sports complex is impressive, and maybe one of the highlights of the Gran Palladium. Tennis, Padel, Pickleball, Beach Volleyball, Soccer Fields, Basketball Courts are all there and in top condition. There is an 18 hole minigolf course that is a bit "different" from what I know as minigolf courses in terms of design, and the playability is maybe not the best either, but it still was fun. I made use of the gym as well, it has very good equipment for cardio, plenty of machines for all muscle areas, and there's a free-weight section, wich isn't my thing so didn't actually spend any time there. One of the best airconditioned areas in the whole site, so worth going ;) We did not make use of the Spa, all treatments are charged extra, or our package at least didn't include any free ones.||Others:|* Sargassum is real. It's not pleasant and makes the beach and swimming in the sea a not-so-nice experience. If you plan to visit anytime between May and probably October, read up on it, understand why it's there and that the hotels can do very little about it. For a pristine Dominican Republic beach, visit Saona.|* The beaches around there are public. Meaning you find the typical vendors there as well. |* If you should choose to stay at any of the Gran Palladium hotels in this resort, check if the remodeling of the Bavaro has completed. If it hasn't, be aware that this means not all of the resort infrastructure (pools, restaurants) will be available. Consider this when comparing value and prices.|* Also, as mentioned before, TRS facilities and areas are exclusive to TRS guests, as might be some of the new Bavaro ones. Important to know before booking what you can access...

Honest review of grand palladium resort spa…. So arrived just after 17.30 to be welcomed by a very polite man called Robert! So whatever you do if you decide to visit this hotel bypass Robert and his team they all wear green shirts by the way, unless you want to invest into This hotel as they make out there taking you on a special breakfast as a welcome gift! Which we did till I stopped them while eating breakfast and asking what the hell was going on here as we had kids and they don’t want to be sat doing this, so we ended it and started our actually trip lol.. btw $10000 to sign up for lowest package if anyone’s interested on what they’re trying to sell.! First impressions of the hotel all good well kept gardens and lobby. Checking was quick and was whisked round to our room on a golf buggy which there’s a fair few buggy’s knocking about if you need them to get u too and from restaurants or whatever but most stuff is within walking distance tho. Room: nothing like the pictures on any website, nice size but very dated not what I expect for a a 5star hotel! Fair few things wrong in here, sinks loose toilet upstairs loose one step upstairs broken plug sockets loose glass balcony upstairs loose, curtains don’t close fully and little holes in curtains, flakey paint outside on balcony too, downstairs toilet broke 3-4 times, can’t fault them as fixed quickly. Room bar stocked daily coke Fanta water ect coffee machine and too flat screen tvs. Our cleaner was nice and always did a decent job. Beds and pillows wasn’t they best woke up most morning unable to walk! The air conditioning wasn’t the best either red hot all night so sleep was poor. A good few pools to choose from as you can use the other hotels on site and was all decent with swim up bars and plenty of beds so was no need to rush down at 6am for best ones, we had breakfast and still got same beds at 9-9.30 every morning. Pool Wasn’t cleaned very often or of it was but they didn’t do a great job inside and outside of the pool. The pool waiters was good tho especially Michael happy and chatty coming to serve us all the time never had to go to bar. Beach was beautiful loved it but they get a lot of seaweed but this hotel do keep on top of it with a guy on his tractor cleaning it from 6am onwards. There’s some shops on the beach but be aware them who own them are very annoying trying to drag u in and rob you if they can! but cheaper suncream than the hotel shop which is total extortion as it’s like £30 a bottle in there even yr crisps was like 2 bags for $20! There’s a good few restaurants and al a carte ones too which we booked a block every week at the lobby. Every restaurant we ate in was really nice japenese, Mexican , steak house, Italian all good, the buffet restaurant as lots of choice but pretty repetitive after a few times eating in there. We found a burger truck which was ok for lunch in the Hemingway bar. And also the food seemed better at the buffet in the other hotels Punta cana resort and that’s where the kids pool is with coupe of little slides and pirate ship and kids club is ere too. Kids entertainment isn’t the best they had kids party right down sports centre which seemed silly why not in hotel lobby where everyone can sit and have drink, adults entertainment wasn’t family oriented was pretty poor as well, night times where pretty limited as some things didnt start while 9.30 which when you’ve kids is late, we was back in room before 10pm. Most staff are excellent tho and there are a few that stand out and we all loved interacting with and they was the girls at piacere coffee shop in lobby always laughing and having a joke and then they was francel in lobby and Michael down pool and Guan in buffet restaurant all very friendly loved our kids made you feel welcome and McKenzie who was the excursion guy he’ll sort u out and he’s down the pool not in the lobby top bloke. Defo try glass bottom boat as that was decent for a few hours. I wouldn’t agree with tui that this is 5 star more like a 4 star. Hope this...