on June 24, 2008We stayed at the Grand Oasis Punta Cana in room 8700 in May for a week. We were originally given rooms 5210 and 5212 when we arrived but because the paint was peeling off of the walls and both refrigerators were not working we were switched to another room. The other issue was that we were given these rooms and when we double checked our paperwork we noticed that we were supposed to have a 3 bedroom apartment (which is why we got room 8700). You would think that they would have just given us the right room from the start but that didn't happen.
The 8700 room was not ready for anyone to stay there. There was a towel soaking up the leak in the closet from a broken air conditioner which means that some worker knew that there was a leak.
This place has some upgraded rooms which are pictured on their site but be wary of the bait and switch. When you get to the resort you will find that if you want to stay in these rooms the guys at the front desk will ask you to pay an additional $50 per person per night to stay in these rooms. Most couples I saw paid it because the standard rooms were in such bad conditions. On a 2 week vacation that is another $1400...unthinkable.
The electricity went out in the resort on our last day and we were told that the entire area was having problems but when I went to the Sunscape hotel next door the electricity was working there.
Restaurants
The food was absolutely horrible and there were many fruit flies in the Windows Restaurant and other restaurants as well. Usually when there are this many flies around there is definitely a cleanliness problem.
Bars
Extremely slow service at the bars...very strange considering how many bars they have
Beach and Pools
This is probably the only good thing about the place...many activities at the pool and activity staff seemed to be the only ones working.
Grounds
Not so impressive...have been to a ton of other places and this place was not as well manicured as the rest and the only animals they have are roaches, flies and mosquitoes.
Staff
One of the vacation club employees tried to sell me marijuana. The hotel replied that the vacation club members are not part of their staff. That is pretty ridiculous.
One of the cooks in the Windows Restaurant tried to sell me a necklace. Which means that he would have left his area where he was cooking to get a necklace and try to make some money. What is going on at this place???
The workers at your Spa are extremely lazy and do not want to work either. I visited your spa 4 times over the span of 3 hours in hopes of getting a spa treatment and was turned away several times and told that there was no one available to help. When they did find a person to help her that person said that she was too tired to do anything. It was one excuse after another excuse to not work.
Departure and Check Out
I decided to cut my vacation short and leave a week early but since I prepaid they needed to have a copy of my credit card to refund me the additional week. The week after I got back my bank called me up and told me that someone tried to use my card in Miami. This is the only place where I used this card because I paid for the next hotel with another card. Please be careful.
Conclusion
My biggest concern was the vulgar language being used by workers of all levels at your resort. Since I understand Spanish I was able to figure out exactly what they were saying but having to listen to that kind of language is offensive and shouldn't be tolerated.
I feel as though we were under unsafe and unlivable conditions for the majority of our trip. Most of the workers at this resort are also very lazy and seem to just be hanging out socializing as opposed to doing their best to make their client's stay as good as could be.
I have never had a worse vacation and given the reduced amount of time provided for vacation in the United States it is a greater loss for us to have gone to your resort than just financial.
I would never go back to this resort or any of its affiliated resorts even for free.
