I stayed at the barcelo bavaro palace from 6-07-08 to 06-14-08. I took this trip with my two sisters. I have to say I wanted to leave after the first night.
Never in my life have I been treated so terrrible. I was made to feel like an outsider for being an american. The staff at the hotel were extremely rude if you do not speak spanish. They made comments like " Americans and no familia". I was with my family.
The staff ignored you and pretty much pretended you were not there. No help at all. We attended a show at the tropicalismo. were not waited on at all. I had to get up leave the show and go get bottled water from the bar in the lobby. All other latin americans were served no problem. I paid the same amount of money as they did.
The beach was the nicest part of the whole trip. The hotel itself smelled of mold. The food was so so. But then again we ordered and we were brought some thing totally different. The buffet was disgusting, birds and bugs everywhere. Right on the buffet tables.I was sick almost my entire trip. I lost 5 lbs.
Our room had three people in it, we only had two of everything. towels, coffee mugs, etc, It was as if the staff was put out to bring us one more towel.
Our apple vacation rep at the hotelwas not helpful with this issue either. He gladly took our money for excursions but that was about it. If I had known, I would have called apple to request to move to another place. Apple should take this hotel off their website.
One other big issue was the maid staff would leave our sliding glass doors unlocked after they cleaned, We had it locked and the pin in the bolt. We were missing items. I almost wanted to not have my room clean so they did not come in.
Tips to future travelers: Do not stay here if you are american. They make you feel terribly unwanted.

Just returned from dominican republic, The beaches were great and a couple of tours were good.
I would not stay at the barcelo bavaro palace ever again. The rooms are smelly ( bring candles) and alot of mosquito's in rooms and tiny ants. They say the crime rate is low there but I think it is because they dont get caught . We caught a cleaning person going thru our drawers. we also have missing items.
our apple representive booked us this trip, but failed to tell us that no one spoke very good english and it was mostly spanish and latin american resort. We felt discriminated against. everytime we turned around people were making comments like " americanas" and other rude remarks.
The all inclusive trips say gratuties included but if you dont tip the people ignore you. This trip has made me not want to leave our great country .
our buffets -also shared with the birds. The birds just take a seat right at the buffet and peck at eat the cheese and meats.
all the bread and rolls always stale.
the staff mostly never smiles they all look so tired .
I would do alot of reserch before your trip, and ask your rep. how many other americans are going to same hotel. Out of the entire plane we were the only ones going to this hotel . I knew this was a bad sign.
bad taste in mouth.............

I just returned from the Barelo Palace 2 days ago. Here is a justified reason not to return. Let me also preface that we have been traveling our whole lives, for a month or two at a time to different countries growing up so we are open to mostly everything cultural. Here is my review:
The resort: Was clean and everyday we noticed that the beach itself was raked by staff and well managed. Pool was clean, although one day we noticed a mother taking a dirty diaper off her child and bathing him in the public pool itself. Full blown washing if you know what I mean.
Rooms: Our room was pleasant, large in size, mopped daily and cleaned. We left additional tips even, to appreciate the service.
Food: Here's where there's a problem. There were a large assortment of foods available. We tried everything but when it came to dairy products, soft serve, yogurts, milk, dessert cakes DON'T EAT IT. I had terrible stomach "issues" for those weak of heart for 7 days in a row once I arrived there. My boyfriend is currently laying in bed with a 101 fever and sure to visit a doctor this week because he is fatigued and plagued with wrenching stomach cramps and diarrhea. Again, if you have traveled to Europe or other countries and have been fine as we have, this will be the one place to be cautious. They are very careful with the ice and drinks, however, dairy products do follow different guidelines. Please bear this in mind. Open buffet also means "OPEN". Birds in food, several flies cultivating the hot dishes while man "fans them away". All they would have to do to maintain sanitary conditions would be to cover the food!
Social atmosphere/ front desk: Snobby and don't like Americans. Our biggest issue was what another reader mentioned below. If you are NOT Spanish, you won't be eagerly served here. Staff will snicker at you, give you attitude, and not be helpful. I was later told to stay at the Iberostar because Barcelo was a "Spanish Resort". Fair enough, but I had to wait in line while everyone got served and was completely ignored at lunch. I finally spoke up, and wasn't even looked in the eye as the person answered me, pretending I wasn't there. Understand that I wasn't boasting being American, I speak a little Spanish among other languages and managed to use it when ordering! I have followed this same feature when traveling, in order to respect the culture we are experiencing.**Their behavior was VERY surprising for a tourist-reliant hotel.** Perhaps they weren't happy. We are in our mid 20's; there was absolutely nothing to do unless you knew the language and were in a tourist group. We were in bed at 10 every night. If you are looking for a relaxing vacation to only sit on the beach and not move, that's fine, it is beautiful for sure. But, to make for an exciting vacation filled with stories to bring home and good times, this WILL NOT be it. I certainly won't return.
BTW, we did do excursions and met other people that way, who did mention the very aspects I write about.

We returned from Barcelo Bavaro, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic on 5/20/08.

On 6/1/08 I got a call from my credit card company when fraudulant charges started appearing for gas in both Texas and Florida gas stations (we live in PA).

I still have possession of the cards, they were either on my person or in the room safe during our trip and I only used them on the Barcelo Bavaro hotel grounds.

The hotel required us to scan the card at check in (which is standard) so hard to avoid.

BEWARE!!! Take travelers checks and cash only. The small inconvenience getting them is much less than the process I now have to go through to get the charges removed and disruption of all my existing accounts.