Apple Vacations/Punta Cana/Barcelo Bavaro All Inclusive Hotel

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Apple Vacations

Attn: Mrs. Carol Stuart – Manager

7 Campus Blvd.

Newtown, PA

19073

Dear Apple Vacations, (Mrs. Carol Stuart – Manager).

I traveled with my family via Apple Vacations to Punta Cana, D.R. - on June 17, 2006. I am writing to you today to let you know how very disappointed I was with the overall lack of quality I experienced with Apple Vacations and the Barcello Bravaro Premium hotel. Most importantly, I am writing to let you know that the vast majority of those traveling with us became very ill at some point or another during the course of our one week stay. I myself had rather severe stomach pains and Diarrhea for 3 days during the trip. I am still hearing from other members of our party that they are still sick, more than one week after our return from Punta Cana.

Because of the number of those who became or are still ill, may I recommend that you alert the US Department of Health in the event that a warning should be issued. (I believe over 25 people in our extended party became sick and at least 2 received shots or were put on an IV for treatment due to the severity of the illness incurred while at this hotel in Punta Cana. (This is a very serious matter and should be escalated for further review without delay). I have numerous concerns about the very poor quality of this hotel, its services and Apple Vacations in general, so rather than write a long story, I will list the areas where both Apple Vacations and Barcello Bavaro Premium hotel dramatically failed to meet minimum expectations. Here then is why Apple Vacations and Hotel Barcello Bavaro Premium were so very disappointing:

SERVICE & HEALTH COMMENTS:

1. I became sick for 3 days during the course of the vacation. I was sick and unable to enjoy many activities from June 19-21st, 2006.

2. The service at the pool bar was terrible! When I went to order a drink, there was no order to those being served. It was my experience that if one was not a Spanish speaker, one was served last or ignored completely.

3. The pool bar was unsanitary. (I asked for a Mojito drink and the bar waitress used the bottom of a filthy hot sauce bottle to crush the mint inside the cup). (No care to keep things clean whatsoever).

4. Smiles and customer greetings were far and few between at the pool bar. Mostly I received a blank stare when it was finally my turn to be served.

5. The pool had tremendous residue on the bottom of the pool due to the number of those bringing food and drink into the pool. There were not enough pool cleaners to keep this pool clean, not because there couldn't be, but because the hotel was lackluster in it's overall attention to cleanliness.

6. The pool-side tables were filthy and sticky from not having been cleaned the day before. When I politely asked for a rag to clean the tables myself so we could put our towels on them, I was greeted by a very rude stare from a bar waitress at the pool-side bar. She ignored me completely and went on to conduct a recreational conversation in Spanish, focusing on her leisure rather than her job. (I found this to be the norm at this hotel by the way).

7. There was no pool-side service - one had to wait in the disorganized bar line for service.

8. One of the families traveling with us in room number 3091 had a sick child - same sickness the rest of us had. They made several calls to the hotel manager and housekeeping during the afternoon and early evening to have a housekeeper come to change the sheets a bring fresh towels. No one came until I volunteered to go downstairs and escalate the situation. I spoke to a blank stared uncaring man named "Yoneddy" at reception. He said "You can just go to guest services". He also said - in this very large hotel of hundreds of guests - that there was no manager staffed during the evening. Nice touch Barcello! I went to guest services and insisted the person there page the housekeeper and have her come to the room. Finally, 20 minutes later at 10:00pm at night, the housekeeper came upstairs dragging her feet like we were her burden. No Care, no sense of urgency, NO service whatsoever. Makes you feel just great when you have had a sick child throwing up all day long!

9. Almost every time I ordered a drink in one of the restaurants, I had to ask again, sometimes 3 times, since the drink order was either forgotten or completely misunderstood. I ordered a Margarita one night and was brought 6 ounces of warm rum instead. I often asked for a Coke and one was never brought. By the end of the vacation, I made it routine to ask 2 or 3 servers at the same time for a Coke, knowing most of them would forget my order.

10. The floors in the hallways, stairs, the restaurants and throughout the facility were dangerously slippery, greasy and caused me to slip numerous times. In a tropical indoor-outdoor facility, it is vital that the floors be clean and able to deal with water from the ocean and pool. For some reason, a very cheap - non-porous/no-grip tile was used throughout the facility. Everyone was slipping and sliding. What is their lack of thinking on this one??

11. One day, one of the families traveling with us spotted a significant trail of blood on the stairs up to our hotel room. Although it was reported to a staff member at the pool, the blood stains - very noticeable - were not cleaned for 1.5 days. (Serious Health Hazard here).

12. No Bar soap in the room for the 1st 4 days of our stay. (Room #3092).

13. Towels were old, grayed out and ragged - very low quality old towels in the room.

14. The beds were the most uncomfortable of any hotel I have ever stayed in.

15. When I observed the bed sheets being changed, the filthy bed mattress - which was heavily stained from years of prior guests - almost made me sick. (This is COMPLETELY unacceptable and unsanitary).

16. I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IS MEANT BY THE "5 Apple Rating" at this hotel. I stayed at a Holiday INN Roadside Express in Lexington KY on June 16, 2006. That hotel was much cleaner, nicer and in better condition then the 5 Apple Barcello Premium. If I had to give the Barcello Premium hotel a rating, I would rate it as a 1-2 star hotel - with many areas that still failed to meet 2 Star expectations.

17. Every night pounding music was aimed at our hotel rooms until nearly midnight. They need to move the large music disco away from the hotel rooms. (You would think this is common sense, but I rarely observed common sense in use at this hotel).

FOOD AND RESTAURANT COMMENTS AT BARCELLO BAVARO PREMIUM:

1. Overall, the food at every meal - at every restaurant - ranged from very disappointing to terrible. Imagine being held captive in a hotel for a week, knowing that one meal would be worse than the next. In all fairness, we had a couple of "okay" meals in the Mexican restaurant and at the breakfast buffet, but let's face it: It's pretty hard to mess up breakfast and a Mexican buffet.

2. The main Buffet restaurant in the Premium Hotel often smelled like canned cat food to me. (The same kind I serve my cat). Sorry, but that's what the dozens of hot chaffing dishes came to smell like to me. Yes, it was appalling, but that is the absolute God's truth on this point. Perhaps it was due to the many types of fish they were serving.

3. The Pizza in the restaurants tasted like a stale .99 Cent frozen pizza. Absolutely terrible.

4. Birds routinely flew into the buffet area and freely dined on the food - stood on the food! - undeterred by the staff who observed them. (The staff could not be bothered to whew them away. I guess this is the Barcello Premium model).

5. One night I was served a slab of bone and fat so appalling, that a fork and knife would not even penetrate the meat. The waitress did not care so I escalated to the manager. He did replace it with a much better meal. It makes one wonder if there is such lack of care and attention to the food, what else is overlooked in the kitchen and food prep areas?

6. Often times, one of the many families traveling with us would sit down before us, though they were often times served 1/2 hour after we had finished out meal. The same situation occurred with our table (vise-versa). (This happened in the Seafood, Steak and Mexican restaurants).

7. The juices tasted like a powdered sugar concentrate - probably the worse glass of so called "Orange Juice" I have ever had was at the Barcello Premium buffet. It tasted like Karo sugar syrup with a splash of Orange Fanta soda - yuch!

8. Cheese baskets at the buffets were left out in the open for hours. They became dark and yellowed with flies all over them. The cheeses were not refrigerated and this was extremely unsanitary.

9. The floors in the restaurants and buffet areas were very slippery and greasy - very unsanitary, very dangerous.

10. Several members of our party ordered Lobster in the Seafood restaurant on June 19th. The Lobster arrived in the following condition: Undercooked, the center was rotted, it was burned on the edges.

11. Every Dessert served or offered at the buffet bar was terrible - either no flavor or spoiled-cheese tasting. How hard is it to make a tasty dessert????

12. The food at this hotel was nothing less than disgusting. I have documented numerous other examples. Please call or email me if you would like me to elaborate and provide numerous, additional specific ,examples.

1. There was no discernible difference between the The Premium hotel and the other less expensive facilities we visited at the Bavaro Complex. In fact, I observed that the other complexes were more freshly painted, better landscaped and the rooms were just as nice if not better - when the doors were left open. The other facilities were also much more quite. The food was certainly not any better at the Premium Resort. As I mentioned, the Premium Hotel service was Extremely Poor. Why then the higher price at Premium?? It was not worth the money that was spent, let alone additional money for the “Premium amenities”.

Beaches:

1. The beach area was heavily scented by gas fumes since so many resort speedboats were in use. This at times was sickening. There appeared to be no control on the number of speedboats being rented out by Bavaro. (Money first, hotel guest comfort last).

2. The children's play area fort had no wall on the upper level. If a child had fallen off, they could have been severely injured.

I