Presidential Suites Punta Cana — Hotel in Higüey

When we first arrived we got out of the taxi and were greeted with champagne. Check in was pretty easy and staff was very friendly. What I really enjoyed was a personal golf-cart tour of the resort. The rooms are divided by two, big, freeform pools. When you follow them you are lead to a beautiful beach. No chairs to be brought down - they have outdoor beds and canopy beds all along the beach. And enough that you don't have to fight for them. Or there are tons of space by the pool. No matter what you pretty much have a view of the beach anywhere you sit

We were upgraded in our room I guess because of lack of space. So we ended up with a beautiful pent house suite. We walked in and had a private staircase to our private rooftop with a bed and chairs. We had two bedrooms: a king bed/master and 2 queens/regular room. Two bathrooms and a living area and kitchen.

Food: Buffet changes every night: Dominican, American BBQ, Asian, etc. They typically have a salad bar and pasta at all times for picky eaters like my boyfriend. They have 3 resturants (4 if you include "carpe diem" which is a members only resturant in the lobby). The choices are Italian, Mexican or Japanese. Reservations can be somewhat tough to get so I reccomend (unlike us) booking them right when you get there - in the lobby. The resturant food was DELICIOUS. The Italian resturant is a couple of tablets outside of the buffet towards the beach. Japenese is across and we never got to the Mexican one. Buffet... was okay. Could use some work.

No snack area or gift shop which shocked me. Very clean and friendly staff. They have some guys who come in and set up tables and sell stuff. They can tell who you are when they first get there which was irritating since they HOUNDED us to buy things. My boyfriend pretty much bought me something just to shut them up. Later they asked if they could have his nike flip flops "because they're expensive here" I reported them to the lobby.

Our room was gorgeous. Pent house suite with a private roof with an outdoor bed, lounge chairs and tables, two bedrooms, two bathrooms and full living area and kitchen. Was wonderful! Sometimes when we got back from the beach we thought it smelled a little funny but went away after a day or two. They only complaint I had were that the bed and pillows were a little stiff. And also that our TV's were in spanish and could not be changed, our other TV could not be plugged in because the outlet was broken.

While on the beach staff was frequently refilling our drinks and bringing us food. There was a form of entertainment every night. We watched a circus show after dinner one of our last nights there which was great.

My only other complaint was that I didn't like being asked while on the beach to follow one of their workers to "recieve my free item" for booking through expedia/travelocity. We were brought to a VIP area where we were pretty much forced to sit through a presentation. At first we thought it was just a welcome thing - she had a map and explained pretty much every area in the domincan republic. Asked about our lives at home, and was super sweet and friendly. But then She started going on about all their locations and blah blah blah. My boyfriend and I are 23 and 25... the last thing we could afford is a time share. Even though she was friendly, she wouldn't take no for an answer. Finally an hour and a HALF went by and I straight up told her she was wasting her time. I felt like, just becase we're american they assumed we had money... or because we were young we'd be dumb enough to fall for it. That was honestly besides the shoe thing my only big complaint about the resort.

I do reccomend this resort to friend, family and travelers. But I 100% want to make it clear that although it is 'kid-friendly', it's a small resort more for relaxing than playing. They have a kids room for children to play in and a pool area for them but that's about it. Also not really a place for singles - the casino/sports bar is actually NOT part of the resort. More...

Let me start with the good about this Resort. The rooms were clean. The beds were comfortable. The beach was well maintained, and beach chairs were comfortable. The staff were always greeting people and friendly.

Now the bad, and I have a few things. If you choose to come to this Resort, know that at every turn you will be asked to purchase more things and spend more money before you even set foot on the beach. The first morning that I tried to go on to the beach, I was stopped by a Lifestyle Vacation Club representative. This representative told me that their guides were going to show me around the resort to let me know all the things that my stay included. However, after some time of waiting around, and not so subtle sales pitch small talk, it was clear that I was being approached to purchase a vacation club VIP timeshare like membership. I was annoyed about this because that's not why I was interested in coming to this Resort in the first place. I just wanted to go to the beach, yet I was spending about an hour telling people why I was not interested in getting a VIP membership to their vacation club. Also, the day of my spa treatment, the masseuse told me that I needed to get more massage therapy and that she could offer me a discount. I let her know that I didn't have the money for that. So, as I was preparing to go into the sauna and hot tub, she asked me how much I had paid for the initial massage and then continued to ask me to purchase another therapy session. I had to repeat myself again to let her know that I didn't have the money for that. I should not have had to deal with that after spending money already on one treatment to be constantly asked by the staff to spend more money. The second issue. I purchased an early morning Excursion that was to last six hours in the city. The Excursion started before the resort restaurant opened. The representative who sold me the excursion told me that I should be able to get a to-go plate the day before in order to eat something before getting on the bus to go into the city. However, when I approached the manager of the restaurant I was told that I couldn't get a to-go plate because guests aren't allowed to take food to go. I explained to him that I just wanted to get a little bit of breakfast to have for the day of my Excursion so I wouldn't be hungry on the bus. The manager continued to tell me no, although a representative with the resort excursions said that this had been done before. This just made no sense to me. It wasn't like I was asking to take food out everyday. I asked for one to-go plate so that I wouldn't be hungry on my Excursion. I had to go to the manager of the resort, who in turn sent an email to the restaurant manager to tell him it was okay for me to get a to-go plate. I'm still flabbergasted that after paying so much money on this trip, I had to jump through hoops just to get one to go plate. There is NO WIFI in your room. You have to leave your room, go to the lobby, restaurant, or beach areas to use the WiFi. This was ridiculous especially seeing that I had some work to do on this trip. I can get WiFi in a room in a motel that costs much less than what I paid for this trip. One night in the resort restaurant, they served fried chicken. When I cut into the chicken, there was still blood inside. It had not been cooked well enough. I told one of the servers and his response was, "Oh, do you want me to take it back?" I told him, "Yes. You could kill someone like this with salmonella poisoning." The server took the plate away, and I returned to the buffet to check another piece of chicken, it also has blood in it and wasn't cooked well. Why, after a guest has told the staff that the chicken is raw, that the staff member would not inform the manager so that the chicken can be removed from the buffet? This makes no sense to me and is a health issue. Lastly, I would not choose this Resort again when coming to the Dominican Republic. This was a lesson in learning what I DON'T want...

I booked the Presidential Suites on June 6, 2017, making one reservation on Expedia and another on my travel website RTX Voyages. We arrived in Punta Cana on Friday June 30, 2017 in the pouring rain and took a taxi to the resort. When we arrived the front of the hotel look like a war zone, totally under construction. We reluctantly went inside to check in and we were greeted with a glass of champagne, so I started to feel a little more at ease. When we presented the two different reservations for two, one bedroom apartments, we were told that they were over booked and they put us in another taxi and was sent to one of their sister hotels from Lifestyles resorts. When we arrived at the Be Live Collection in Punta Cana, we were just dropped off and told to go to the check in desk with no new paperwork in hand (which leave me to believe they do this often). The check in process was like a zoo. The first bad sign was the lady next to me complaining about her family not getting a room with enough beds. Next it was our turn and they gave us room on the third floor, when one of the people we were traveling with is handicapped and there was no elevator in the building assigned. Next, they give us two room downstairs and we went to check them out and they were designed for family stays and very out dated. There were three beds like a college dorm with a sofa and bathroom. The other was identical, except it was a mini suite. The handicapped traveler with us decided to stay since she had the larger room and could not climb the stairs (however, this was nothing like the one bedroom apartment that we booked at the Presidential Suites). I went back to the front desk, because the tiny room with the three beds was not what my husband and I wanted. I were given the run around for several minutes and I finally just broke down mentally and emotionally from the long day of travel and the very disappointing arrival and transfer process. He finally told me he didn’t have any more room, but he walked me back to what appeared to be a much nice room with 1 king bed facing the pool. It was still on the second floor with no elevator, but I decided to take it. By the time my husband and I both took a shower the water was all the way to the front door. Who in the hell makes a shower with nothing to keep the water contained. So we call the front desk and they send two ladies down to clean the floor and a guy to check the air. I also had to request another sheet, since they do not put two sheets on the beds, which is totally puzzling to me. By the grace of God we survived the first night and I went back to request a room number three. The guy seemed very puzzled as to why I would want to change after he had given me this wonderful room. The next room, new building (3rd floor No elevator) with the view of the back of the Burger restaurant, two beds, a shower tub combination, not really that cool but I took it since he said he had nothing else. Workers were noisy all night rolling carts and dropping pots. Nevertheless, the next morning I went to guest relations and reported all of my complaints and they really don’t seem to care, they just offered us a bottle of champagne at diner and sent one to our room. But in my mind this does not make up for a horrible vacation. I could go on-and-on about the hot restaurants and other unpleasant experiences, but I hope you read enough to heed my warning. I seriously regret, not going back to our normal location. The Jewel Dunn River Beach Resort in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. We always have a blast and hate to leave, but we wanted to change it up this year. What a costly mistake. By the way, when I finally made it back to lovely Clearwater, Florida, neither one of the companies RTX Voyages or Expedia really did anything to fix what happened except promise to call the Presidential Suites, Punta Cana and Expedia placed a $50 dollar coupon in my account for future purchases. Amanda D.,...