Bahia Principe Explore Esmeralda

We stayed at Bahia Principe Luxury Esmeralda for a 6-day family vacation, and overall, we had a wonderful experience at the resort. However, there were a few issues that I feel are important to mention, particularly regarding the flight package and some safety concerns at the resort. Our trip unfortunately started with a very disappointing and unexpected issue regarding the flight and accommodation package we booked. We booked our flight together with the hotel as a vacation package, but it was not made clear to us that our airline tickets were Basic Fare, which did not include checked luggage or even a carry-on — only one small personal item per passenger. For a family of four travelling internationally for six days, this was a very unpleasant surprise. We only discovered this when we arrived at the airport for our departure flight to Punta Cana. We had four carry-on bags and ended up paying approximately $500 CAD extra for baggage. This was a significant unexpected expense at the very beginning of our vacation. I strongly believe that the baggage restrictions and fare type should be clearly highlighted during the package booking process, so families know exactly what is and is not included before purchasing. Thankfully, once we arrived at Bahia Principe Luxury Esmeralda, our experience became much more positive. The staff throughout the resort were absolutely wonderful — friendly, welcoming, helpful, and always ready to assist. A special thank you to Luis and Alexa at the front desk for their kindness and assistance, and to Victor from Room Service for his excellent service. A big thank you also goes to the Entertainment Team. They brought so much energy and fun to the resort and helped create a great vacation atmosphere for families. Their activities and enthusiasm added a lot to our overall experience. We also truly appreciated the housekeeping team, all the bartenders, buffet staff, and the teams at the à la carte/fine-dining restaurants. I don't want to list too many individual names because I would hate to accidentally leave someone out. Everyone we interacted with was friendly, hardworking, and made our family feel welcome and comfortable. There are, however, some points regarding safety that I believe the resort needs to take seriously and improve. As a family resort, guest safety should always be a priority. We noticed some areas and situations during our stay that could potentially present safety concerns and would benefit from better attention, maintenance, or precautions. These points did not take away from the kindness of the staff, but I believe they should be addressed to help prevent accidents and provide families with a safer and more comfortable experience. Overall, we enjoyed our family stay at Bahia Principe Luxury Esmeralda and are very grateful to the wonderful staff who helped make our vacation memorable. My main recommendations would be to provide much clearer information about airline fare classes and baggage allowances when selling flight-and-hotel packages, and to give additional attention to safety measures throughout the resort. Regards, Mira Nicola

Extremely Disappointing and Misleading Booking Experience I booked our hotel stay including our flights directly through the Bahia Principe Explore Esmeralda website, trusting that the booking process would clearly explain the conditions and limitations of the flight tickets. During the booking process, I was shown a disclaimer stating that the airfare did not include checked baggage. I understood that and accepted it. What was NOT made clear to me was that the fare also did not include a carry-on bag and that we were only permitted a personal item. This became a major problem when we arrived at the airport. We were traveling for a six-day hotel stay, yet the airline ticket purchased through the hotel booking allowed only a small personal item. A normal carry-on suitcase was not included. This is a very significant restriction, especially for a family traveling for almost a week. The first time I became fully aware of this was at the airport, when we were already committed to the trip. At that point, we had no realistic alternative. We had to pay for the carry-on baggage at the airport, and the additional cost was almost CAD $500. That is an outrageous and completely unexpected additional expense. My issue is not simply that baggage costs extra. I understand that airlines have different fare categories and that checked baggage may not be included. My issue is that the booking process clearly disclosed the exclusion of checked baggage, but did not make the equally important exclusion of carry-on baggage clear enough for us to understand what we were actually purchasing. There is a huge difference between: - “Checked baggage is not included,” and - “You are allowed only a personal item and must pay separately for a standard carry-on.” A reasonable customer would expect that if checked luggage is excluded, they can at least bring a standard carry-on unless explicitly told otherwise. Instead, we discovered the restriction only when we reached the airport, when the decision was essentially no longer avoidable. This turned what was supposed to be a relaxing family vacation into an unnecessarily stressful and extremely expensive experience before we had even reached the hotel. Bahia Principe needs to take responsibility for how these flight restrictions are presented during the booking process. When customers purchase a combined hotel-and-flight package directly through your website, the hotel should make the baggage allowance unmistakably clear before payment, not leave customers to discover critical restrictions at the airport. I strongly recommend that anyone considering booking a flight-inclusive package through Bahia Principe carefully verify the airline, fare class, personal-item dimensions, carry-on allowance, checked baggage allowance, and all additional baggage costs directly with the airline before completing the purchase. In my case, what appeared to be a straightforward booking resulted in almost CAD $500 in unexpected baggage charges, along with considerable frustration for my family. I expected much better transparency from a major hotel brand. This experience seriously damaged my confidence in booking flight-inclusive packages through Bahia Principe, and I hope the hotel changes the way these restrictions are disclosed so other families do not have to learn about them at the airport, when it is already too late.

Our entire family loves going to the Bahia Principe Esmeralda. We have been many times and will continue to go back. The friendliness and helpfulness of the staff cannot be beat.

On July 27, 2026, at 11:30 PM, we booked a travel package for Bahia Principe Luxury Esmeralda via Expedia.ca. We acted under the impression that the "all-inclusive" designation included airfare; however, upon receiving the confirmation and noting the absence of passport verification, we identified the error immediately. Despite our efforts to rectify this, we have faced the following timeline of events: - Immediate Action: We initiated formal cancellation requests to both Expedia and the hotel within 45 minutes of the original booking. - Initial Refusal: On July 29, 2026, Expedia informed us that the hotel had refused to authorize a refund. - Lack of Accountability: For the following week, we attempted to escalate the matter with Expedia.ca, who deferred all responsibility to the resort. When we attempted to contact the resort directly, we were unable to reach anyone authorized to address the issue and were repeatedly redirected back to Expedia. While we acknowledge the existence of "non-refundable" policies, enforcing them under these specific circumstances is predatory. Refusing a cancellation made 88 days in advance—and within less than one hour of the transaction—is not a standard business practice. This rigidity results in a significant extraction of funds for a service that remains three months away, during which the hotel has suffered zero loss of inventory or opportunity cost. As of August 20, 2026, this situation has left us in a severe financial deficit of $2,109.31, having paid for a trip we cannot complete. This experience reflects poorly on the resort’s administration and its willingness to prioritize short-term profit over basic consumer fairness. It also highlights Expedia’s inadequate customer service and a troubling disregard for the spirit and intent of consumer protection principles.

It's located about 30 minutes from the airport. It's very welcoming, clean and everyone was super friendly. Wouldn't revisit though and it's because our stay was just okay, nothing that special. We didn't get our room until 3:30pm which was a bit annoying since the whole family had been up since 4am getting there. When we finally got the room we had 3 different people at 3 separate times knock on our door to welcome us. Very annoying when we were trying to take a nap before dinner. The restaurants were all just ok as well. The service was alright but each place was definitely lacking a manager or someone keeping everyone accountable. I'm a logistics manager so I can't help but see these things. With all of the restaurants pretty much empty each night we had to still wait in the front to be seated when we arrived, which was always just a few minutes before our reservation nothing crazy. still waited 6-7 minutes each reservation. The staff was nice but worked slow and always chatting amongst themselves. Didn't like being proposed a sales pitch either. We had someone walk up to us on the way to the beach on our third day telling us to put the kids into the kids club for 30-40 minutes so my wife and I can listen to a presentation. Terrible approach in my opinion. This place is just okay, nothing special. Next vacation we will definitely be going somewhere else and no, unfortunately I wouldn't bring up Bahia Principe to anyone I know looking for a destination to visit.