Occidental Grand Punta Cana All-Inclusive, Punta Cana

The only thing good about this place was the beautiful beach!! Food was horrible, rooms were horrible, & we had to ask to have it cleaned after being here for 3 days with no maid in sight. You couldn't walk anywhere without being harassed about listening to their stupid timeshare presentation, the entertainment was ok at best (& only if you were drunk!!) We had a great bartender at the lobby, but we also tipped her very well. we had a group of 14 people & asked to have rooms close together. We were all on different floors & different ends of the building :( Seeing as we booked this trip 3 months ahead of time, i didn't think that would've been an issue. We made the best of it, but I would definitely NOT return to this hotel!!And one more thing, when we wanted to leave the resort to go to a decent restaurant up town, we talked to the guy at the front lobby to get us a cab & he was awesome - called us a cab, booked us a reservation & made arrangements for the cab to take us back after. While waiting at thefront of the lobby for the cab, the security guard asked if we were waiting for a cab, we said yes & he also called us a cab. So when our original cab showed up, there was a huge argument between the security guard & the front lobby guy about who's cab we were going in. Meanwhile, we sat there not knowing what to do because we were told by security guard that we weren't allowed to go with original cab. all because he wanted our tip. So we nearly missed our reservation & ended up eaitng a very late dinner :(((

worst place ever;arrived on sunday;took hot shower,never had hot water again,no ac until thursday,was told daily it worked fine,multiple power outages,roof leaks when raining.beach and pool beautiful-good luck getting a chair.worst liquor i've ever tasted,makes normal bottom shelf brands taste great-good thing local beer was good.service terrible at buffet,although all inclusive it was made clear tipping was expected-but tipping did not improve service.resort greatly understaffed except for time share sales people.distinct impression americans disliked by staff,although my spanish is poor,i could understand enough that staff talking bad about my wife and myself.worst money ever spent,might as well went camping in desert with a tent.DO NOT EVER GO HERE!

My husband and I checked in for our annual summer “tropical” vacay on 8/12/11 in bldg 24-311. Only after hours of pleading and becoming ill from the broken a/c in our 1st room we were moved to 25-215. Unfortunately, that moved cost me $650.00, I left my Iphone in the 1st room (broken a/c) trying to get out of there so quickly. I never use my phone on international trips due to expense, but, did check a text message from my mother, while, attempting to go to bed in the overheated room= I know the phone was in the bed-last place we were before room change. I returned to the housekeeper who was there cleaning a nearby room with her supervisor to advise them of my dilemma, since, whomever cleaned the room had the phone. They both said no, in a tone as if I was bothering them, I was polite they were almost rude. The 8am concierge at the 24 bldg further advised me that I would “not be lucky enough to get a phone back”. I take trips every 3 months and I have never been unlucky enough to have possessions lost or stolen. I then sought help from concierge, front desk, guest services, security and again no help. It’s sad my phone was not returned by housekeeping, it’s even sadder no apology, no incident report, nor a follow up call back out of 7 employees. After finally giving up after 2days of no customer service and not wanting to further ruin my husband’s birthday. We went out on the resort for drinks- all watered down. I have done all inclusive at Princess Resorts in Riviera Maya- the service, drinks and amenities are 100x better. Needless to say I will not return and will tell all I know about my experience as they ask in excitement “how was the Dominican?” False advertised all inclusive - horseback riding, we asked and guest services advised there was none. ATM broken, WIFI charge, in room safe charge, in room fridge warm, white towels almost brown, a dingy robe you would not want to put on, store on the resort charge $16.00 US dollars for a can of off insect repellent, spa services uses 1.00 store products for $65.00 facial. Romance package we upgraded to- was a job in itself. Advertised in room massage was not in room, romantic dinner we did not get because it’s only offered on Sat and Tues. Only plus was the beach (that’s nature) and pools. All else need intense overhaul at best starting with customer service! great place for locals i guess-thats mostly who was there

PRO'S: - Rooms are clean, even the bathroom is clean. Tip: Must leave a tip (about 50 pesos) for the cleaning personnel in order to get it neat. That should already be common knowledge. - Staff is friendly, sometimes a little too friendly. It depends if you entertain them as well or not. - Vicinity/Walkways, lobby's/hall's, beach, pool, and dining area very clean & well kept. - Entertainment is good; do not expect Broadway-like performance but they sure do know how to get your attention. - Drinks are good; we drank banana-mama's A LOT there! - Papaya's are of an abundance & they are very sweet! CONS: - Food is mediocre. They have good days & they have bad days depending on what they offer. Obviously you're not staying at a 5 star hotel so you get what you pay for. However learn to have an open mind and take note that it’s hard for them to please everyone. Word of advice, some their soup is already very salty so expect to water it down with a glass of water. - Everything they sell here is expensive (i.e. an 8oz bottled water can run you for $16, no joke! - English is not a second language so prepare to know a few words in order to get what you want right. - Insects do get into your room, so be prepared to see an occasional spider. No matter where you stay, as long as you have a door and window insects will find a way to crawl into the room. - The hotel does not accommodate enough beach chairs for everyone, so be prepared to lay out in the sand, this is most applicable during the morning and after lunch. If all else fails, there are empty chairs by the pool (sans the wave background noise) - Villa's does not have elevator access so if you have weak knee's or joints, request for a 1st floor room. TIPS: -Bring travel mugs/bottle containers - It's useful to refill for water & for other drinks (i.e. Presidente Beer or (banana mama's for the ladies). -If possible pay with Dominican peso, it's cheaper. - Learn basic Spanish if you go. Most of their employee's do not speak English. Be courteous when asking or communicating with them. You are after all visiting their country. Leave your pompous arrogant attitude where you came from & do not bring it while you're on vacation. - Buy souvenir’s (i.e. coffee's & mama juana's) at the resort, you can haggle the price better & it'll be much cheaper than those sold at the airport terminal. - Politely decline time share sales, they are very common and it is their hotel personnel’s job to interrupt you on your way around the hotel to persuade you that they have free hotel information and free guest welcome package for you. In other words (a few hours of your time away from the sun and surf into a timeshare 411 sessions). It's up to you. Choose wisely. - Be prepared to have your children exposed to semi-nude beach while out lying in the sun. Europeans are simply free spirited people, do not dislike them :o) - Lastly do not drink faucet Otherwise, have fun! Enjoy your trip. Be safe and expect to hear a lot of the "Cho-co-late" music played over and over again. It is a very popular song there!

The staff was wonderful and the food was great lots to choose from.. I 've been to this resort several times and 4 times in the last year.. on my first visit i met the most wonderful people from london, russia and canada and we have stayed in contact ever since..the club mangu which is on the property is great you met local and guest from surrounding hotels.. the beach is beautiful.... took pictures which are postcard worthy... the rooms was clean and very well kepted.. There was 4 adults and 3 children on my first visit and we were all sad to leave.....I really dont understand why people state this was a bad hotel maybe they just snobs...

I recently stayed at the Occidental Grand with my boyfriend and we had a few complaints. Our main problem was the food. The food at the buffet was either cold or unappetizing. We walked to the store next to the hotel and lived off bags of chips ($7 each) and candy bars because we couldn`t get ourselves to eat the buffet food. Also, our travel agent never informed us you had to make a reservation days before if you wanted to eat at the other restaurants. We only could get 2 reservations for the entire week. I would recommend the Mexican restaurant if you can book a reservation. Also, the pizza and taco stand are open late and were surprisingly decent. Our other complaint was the nightlife. We were told there are 6 bars in the hotel. They all close at 6pm except for the lobby bar. You can tell it is boring at the hotel when everyone is playing cards in the lobby area. The service at the lobby bar was excellent. Make friends with the bartenders and they will treat you will. Our hotel room smelled a little musty, but it was bearable. Our maid did a decent job at cleaning the room, except they would come at odd hours of the day and night. If you want to buy a safe it`s an additional $25. The pools were kept clean throughout the day and were refreshing to swim in. The beach was absolutely beautiful and by far the best part of the hotel. It can be rather annoying when you’re trying to relax and are men walking up and down the beach harassing you to buy things. Ignore them. If you do travel to this resort we recommend trying an excursion. We went on the Reef Explorer excursion for under $90 and it was the highlight of our trip. We traveled to a floating island for 3-4 hours where food was included and got to snorkel with nerf sharks and stingrays. You can also kayak and receive a 15 minute massage on the island. Despite our complaints we did have a great time together. It`s a beautiful island and we made the best out of it. If we were to travel back to Punta Cana we would definitely not be staying at this hotel. I would rather stay at a hotel where the staff can understand English and the food was appetizing enough to eat. Also, most people are not informed of this, but when you get off the plane there is a $10 entrance fee for Punta Cana.

The whole place was filthy mold everywhere not one of the water fountains worked the Staff is very rude only speak english when they think you're buying a timeshare from them they laugh at you and talk about you in spanish as you are walking away from them very disrespectful towards woman. I was hoping for a quiet relaxing vacation wih my fiance what I got was 3 days at the hotel front desk bugged by the concierge every time we walked by to uy timeshares in the middle of the resort they turn it into a street corner with vendors trying to grab your fiance's hand to pull her out of your arms to see the junk that they are selling DON'T GET SCREWED LIKE I DID BY GOING TO THIS DUMP THEY CALL A RESORT

nothing good about this hole. save your money and time.

My trip started out by having a spider infested room. I was then switched to another room which was a down grade. After I presented to them that my room was a down grade they then moved me to another room that the bath tub flooded the bathroom every time I showered. I accepted this due to this was the best room I had had on this trip. In one of the rooms the coffee pot flooded all over my room, the closet doors and the dressers were broken and hanging by hinges. When going to plug in the iron I found out that the outlet was pushed in 4" and when my husband tried to plug it in was shocked and thrown back about 2'. All in all the stay was decent only because the entertainment was great and the people were wonderful. The maids did keep the place very clean, the beach was very clean, but the food was awful!!!!!!! I will never go back to this resort but would definitely go back to Punta Cana and would recommend going to a Spanish or American owned resort.

The service was horrible!!!! The resort was dirty and the staff were not helpful.. They said they had nine restaurants but only three were open. I got sick after everytime I ate a meal at this resort. The food areas were dirty and so were the people serving it. The doctor at the resort was sooo busy, so busy was unable to see me.. We recently got a refund for our trip because I was soo unhappy and the resort is not what it seemed. All the Occidentals should just close down, because they are NOT WORTH THE MONEY!!!!