El Hoyo Hotels, Punta Cana

"Reservé en Serenade Resort and Spa por error, ya que mi esposa y yo íbamos a otro país, y tuvimos que hacer un cambio de un día para otro. Desde la recepción, la comida en los distintos restaurantes, el SPA, las piscinas, playa, habitaciones, hasta el todo el personal… todo fue una experiencia extraordinaria. Altamente recomendable para familias, parejas o si piensas viajar solo. De seguro repetiremos esta hermosa experiencia."

"A great property where you can tailor your experience. Each night we could walk around and there was always a lot going on, with different parties/activities and different vibes depending on what you want. I was very satisfied with the food options, from the main buffet breakfast to privilege lounge dinner service. Drinks are good quality too. The lagoon was perfect for swimming, soft sand & gentle waves. The main beach is too rocky & rough to swim but the lagoon makes up for it. We never had problems finding chairs on the beach, and the el beso pool was a great option during the daytime too. Staff were all awesome and added to the overall experience. Minor drawback in the standard junior suites, ours smelled a bit damp upon arrival, and we didn’t feel the bathtub was clean enough to use if we had wanted to do so. The bed was comfortable, the room and balcony are very spacious. We will likely return in the future, in upgraded room."

"The toilet was not clean the shower can be scrubbed better in the corners and surfaces "

"We just got back from a week at this Barcelo, and ultimately upgraded our stay mid week to the premium package so have opinions on two different types of stays. Pro: the family rooms are great for traveling with young kids. It was truly two separate bedrooms with a small entry area and separate bathroom. I didn’t love that the bathroom door was a heavy piece of glass that you had to slide, but otherwise this room worked well. It was right next to the waterpark area for kids, which I appreciated the hours of- 10am to 6pm, so it was always quiet during bedtime and early morning. The resort itself is not overly huge and is very walkable. I found the majority of staff to be very friendly and the people working at the restaurants especially so. The food was pretty good, we were only able to eat at one actual restaurant (steakhouse) and that was very nice. The buffet was decent, although I do wish the hours were a bit earlier for families (dinner is not until 6:30). You can eat at the sports bar buffet before the main buffet opens, but it’s not many options. They had boats available to use for free and the beach is very beautiful. My husband, daughter and I all get very sick on the trip and we were careful about drinking the water so I don’t know if it was from the ice. When we called room service from the original room at 6am to try and get more milk for our inconsolable toddler, they would not bring us anything until 8 AM. "

"Very dim lighting, and dark design. Low energy. Room has no privacy for family. Glass shower and glass toilet room, open concept at the room entrance. AC was too strong and no fan option to keep a breeze. Drawer was broken, and closet creeked with poor hangers. Food quality is sub par at all the restaurants and buffet such as no seasoning (simple as salt & pepper) food was never hot. Found them giving minors alcohol drinks, multiple occasions. Resort should offer more fans to circulate the air for a breeze in waiting areas, and walking paths. Hospitality was top notch and we enjoyed the service. Really pushy individual sales for excursions that should be limited to one location for people to visit if interested and not be hounded on the beach, lowering the quality of the beach experience."

"I think the resort is extremely overpriced. It's a massive property and a lot of the hospitality feel is lost as a result. Most of the workers do not make you feel welcome -- some do, but it's very hit or miss. I've experienced much better service at other resorts that are half the price. They don't even smile here. The rooms need to be updated, and many of the fixtures in my room were broken or work (i.e. toilet seat and tissue holder). There was also a lot of rust. The food at La Isla was the best on property -- the breakfast at The Market was very lackluster, cold, bad quality. It was also next to impossible to get a dinner reservation at the nicer restaurants, even trying to book a few days out. The shuttles ran consistently, but the place is not very walkable. They need better signage, it's very easy to get lost. The pool was ok, and there is an adults only pool if you don't want to be around kids all day. The golf course was in good shape, but overpriced compared to quality places like Punta Espada and PGA 4. They did have decent rental clubs, but you had to rent for $70 USD. Overall, I don't recommend this place. For what you're paying a night, it's simply not worth it. "

"Everything was perfect. The only thing I was disappointed with was not being able to swim later in the evening 😔"

"Would absolutely return again! The property was absolutely stunning, felt so clean and comfortable the whole time. The staff were all so nice and did their best even with many circumstances of language barriers. There were some things we had to navigate ourselves as we did not know originally that there was an app that can provide the activity calendars. So that’s something to be aware of! We absolutely loved all of the options for food, the buffets were great and the individual restaurants for reservations are amazing!!"

"I was very disappointed with the current state of the facilities. The water quality was poor, and bird droppings were visible throughout the area. To make matters worse, the ice cream has noticeably declined in quality compared to last year—even my daughter didn't want to finish hers."