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| Riu Palace Bavaro in Punta Cana. |
On a recent visit to the Dominican Republic, Travel Agent visited two all-inclusive RIU Hotels & Resorts properties that are expected to take the RIU Punta Cana Complex to the next level. Here’s what you need to know about the new $80 million Riu Palace Bavaro and the newly renovated Riu Palace Macao.
The New Riu Palace Bavaro
Riu Palace Bavaro, which officially opened toward the end of 2011, is situated in the RIU Punta Cana Complex. The hotel has 610 rooms distributed between the main building and the luxurious villas. We stayed in room #3047, a Junior Suite with a king bed, flat-screen TV, and a spacious balcony with partial views of the ocean and swimming pool. One of the coolest features here, however, is the open bathtub. Guests can watch TV or even enjoy partial ocean views while taking a bath.
The best room, however, was #2119, a Jacuzzi Suite. It comes with a separate living room area, a huge flat-screen TV, and a balcony big enough to fit at least 10 people. The main selling point here, as the name implies, is the Jacuzzi on the balcony.
The gastronomic offer from the new hotel presents a vast selection of tastes in its main buffet restaurant Montecristo and the choice of four specialty restaurants. There is the modern Krystal, the Japanese restaurant, Geisha, the Italian restaurant, La Bambola, and the grill steakhouse, Taino. The hotel is also home to five bars, including the Sports Bar, which is open 24 hours, and the coffee shop, Capuchino.
The hotel has four swimming pools, two of which have an integrated Jacuzzi, a children’s pool with a mini-club, night and day entertainment program, spa, gym, casino, and a convention center of 12,916 square feet, which will be able to accommodate roughly 1,000 people.
The evolution of the hotel chain in the Dominican Republic has been consistent, satisfying customer demand and demonstrating a strong commitment to the country, which has been reflected by the last year’s renovation of the Riu Bambu, the refurbishment of the modern Riu Naiboa, the opening of the Riu Palace Bavaro, the renovation of the Riu Palace Macao, and the merge of the ClubHotel Riu Mambo and ClubHotel Riu Merengue in Puerto Plata.
RIU’s First Adults-Only Resort in the Americas
After an investment of $14 million, the Riu Palace Macao reopened on August 4 with a new decorative style along with new restaurants and services. As of the beginning of the coming winter season, the Riu Palace Macao will be RIU’s first adults-only hotel in the Americas.
This represents a totally new concept for RIU in its Punta Cana complex, situated on Playa Arena Gorda, where they now have five hotels: the recently opened Riu Palace Bavaro, the recently reopened Riu Palace Macao, the elegant Riu Palace Punta Cana, and the redesigned Riu Bambu and Riu Naiboa family hotels.
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| Garden View room at Riiu Palace Macao |
The Riu Palace Macao maintains its colonial-style facade, but its interior design has been modernized in line with the new style that is being implemented by RIU throughout its hotels.
The 364 rooms have been completely renovated with new furniture, decor, linen and drapes, flat-screen TVs, showers instead of baths, and hydromassage baths available in the suites. The rooms are bright and spacious, with predominantly white decor, and incorporating daring touches of colors such as fuchsia.
The lobby has a café called Capuchino, a new Italian restaurant, Volare, and the steak house, Pancho. There is also El Patio buffet; the Japanese restaurant, Kabuki; and the Krystal fusion restaurant.
The pool and garden areas have been totally remodeled. As the hotel is designed to appeal to a mature age group, the former “Kids Zone” has been removed to make way for a new pool and swim-up bar, adjacent to the redesigned central swimming pool.
The La Boheme lounge bar has been renovated, as well as the hotel’s indoor theater situated next to the lobby. Clients can also enjoy the newly added Dreams Casino.
Agents should reach out to Larissa Morias ([email protected], 809-732-6816), sales manager, Punta Cana, with any queries.