The Westin Puntacana Resort and Club

As someone who has traveled to 20+ countries, is a flight attendant, travels to Westin properties more often than not loves a balance of a good time and party, and loves wellness. SKIP THIS PLACE. Tbh I only came because of a wedding to friends and compared to so many other hotels here this just isn’t it. I’ll start with the pros; Beautiful location ( duh it’s a private beach and beautiful country) Yummy welcome drink ( just the welcome drink… ) Big pool Quiet Front desk people are the nicest Cons: •The food is over priced and nothing is exceptional let alone decent. The breakfast: I wanted to order just a normal plate and not do buffet as it looked basic and not very unique compared to other westins around the world. Server convinced me to get the buffet because coffee was included. Turns out it’s not included I ate a little of everything and nothing but the poached egg was good and the coffee was meh. • Service: Getting people to acknowledge me in certain areas, or get in a word inbetween their conversations with their friend or even put their phone down while they talk to me was harder than it should be. I had to tell them I’d wait for them to finish their call or text to get a towel, a drink so on. By the way I speak Spanish and obviously did it in a polite way never rude just simple saying I don’t wanna bother so I’ll just wait till your available. • “ safe private hotel taxi” I took their taxi/shuttle whatever it’s called to the city next door. They sold it as in being safer and easier because it’s private property and Ubers take a while and they could charge it to the room. I said great thanks and got in the car. Turns out a 10 minute ride ended up being $45 each way. And the hotel/owners town the taxi so it’s not like it was a private thing. Felt extremely taken adventurous of when I saw how much the uber would have been. • hotel recommendations Keep in mind, the people the own the land where the hotel is own every restaurant that’s near by and the recommendations they provide are less than honest. They want you to eat at their over priced underrated restaurants so that’s all they recommend. When you ask about other places they refer back to the hotels/ owners restaurants. Disservice to the community, to the culture, to the people. Overall, I’m pretty disappointed in this Westin. I usually love Westin’s in other countries way more than I like the ones in the states. This one is a unique exception in the worst way and I will not be coming back. Nor will I be recommending this place.

Beautiful resort, wonderful views, but could use some improvements with cleanliness specifically the floors in the room and outside hallways. Beds are comfortable, but you can hear doors slamming shut at all hours so it ruins your sleep. Service is lacking. We never had anyone actively come ask us if we needed anything, we always had to seek it out … even when sitting right next to the pool bar and reception area bar. When we did ask for things staff responded with lackluster service. The only people who were particularly friendly were the reception staff, and Pablo from guest services (I called four times before I arrived to ask multiple questions and he was always willing to talk me through it). Prices are inflated, there’s no free coffee or even fruity water in the lobby, and there’s not even a little shop to buy snacks. I don’t mind paying for good rooms, good food and drinks, and good service.

The resort is beautiful and very clean. We are having so much. La chola is so much fun and is an absolute joy. She encouraged us to get involved and have even more fun. We really enjoyed our meals at Braseria and Gourmet. We are looking forward to the Dominican party tonight to share in the Dominican culture.

The Westin Punta Cana is a nice beach hotel suitable for families and anyone who wants an expensive beach vacation where they don't often leave the premises. The rooms are comfortable and clean. The WiFi is solid. Cell coverage is good. The hotel is extremely isolated, and the surrounding areas are heavily gated and off-limits to Westin guests. For example, if you try to follow the advertised bike routes, guards will stop you from entering the other subdivisions like Tortuga Bay. Even taxi drivers have to check in and out when entering and exiting the area. Uber works well enough for short trips to restaurants or stores, and there are numerous tours you can find on this site that will pick you up and drive you to local sites and activities. Nonetheless if you like to explore more on your own, by all means rent a car. The beach and is lovely as is the pool. There was never an issue finding a chair and an umbrella, and overall it wasn't very crowded. For just lounging in the sun and water, it was as good as one could wish for. The hotel is flanked by two large as-yet undeveloped areas of jungle, which is nice for those who want to explore some nature without going too far. Minus the cenotes, it's just as nice as Ojos Indígenas down the road, and much cheaper and easier to explore. It was best on weekends when there was absolutely no one else on the dirt roads. There was some truck traffic and workers using the roads on weekdays, for what I'm not exactly sure since I didn't see active construction. My main complaint was the food, which was quite expensive (US hotel prices) but hit-and-miss. Nachos were cold. My one cheeseburger was mediocre at best. Breakfast was sometimes OK and sometimes not, mostly depending on who was cooking at the omelette station. (One of the chefs was good; one really didn't know how to make omelettes and routinely undercooked everything. The buffet eggs were about what one would expect from cafeteria food service that's prepared in bulk and left to sit around in a warming pan for an hour.) Actual Dominican cuisine was scarce, though good when available. The sancocho was excellent. But for a hotel that is so isolated from any non-hotel options and that charges as much as fine dining restaurants in major US cities, I expected a lot better. On average they didn't even come up to the culinary standards of an Applebees. Water was also a concern. I heard mixed things about whether the tap water was safe to drink. It was probably just fine, but I didn't risk it, even though the hotel was quite stingy with bottled water. Would I return? Probably not. It was a nice enough hotel, but a few days was more than enough to see there was to see, and there are better and cheaper options in Punta Cana. Perhaps if I went with family who just wanted to hang on the beach and at the pool. Otherwise it's not worth a second trip. And if I did, I'd definitely rent a car.