Impressive Punta Cana

Confused by the polarized reviews for this resort? Here is my take on the Impressive Punta Cana : What the hotel does well, it embodies its namesake. However, there are key challenges that make the hotel's name sound like a parody of itself - a bit like the The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (see the 2011 movie). PROS: -Great water frontage / beach quality (relative to the resort size) - lots of chairs - lots of natural shade; -Buffet service near lobby is excellent (shout out to Eduardo for outstanding service); -The greenery is beautiful - a refreshing change from resorts that cut all natural vegetation and stick a few palm trees here and there. -Premium gives you access to better shading, a nice beach bar and select free water activities; -Smaller resort with a nice layout unlike newer/larger resorts that have narrow frontage and large sprawling buildings (no extensive walking or shuttles to the beach required here); -Guest services take complaints seriously and will attempt to resolve matters (my group was upgraded for free to Premium after bringing concerns below to their attention and asking for an upgrade). -Great gym set up with quality equipment (mostly); -Most of my staff interactions were very pleasant and professional. People do their best, even if some are visibly exhausted. -Small efforts to show gratitude and to speak Spanish helps build good rapport quickly. I found tourist were more likely to be rude and to lack patience. -Wait time to be placed in our rooms was the shortest in my life (albeit this experience wasn't shared by all guests). However, as noted below, the 3 rooms were clearly not ready; - If you are looking for a quieter resort (some music but no partying), not too many people, close to the downtown, this might be a good fit for you. CONS: -The staff will refer to "processes" that the hotel follows when receiving complaints. Assuming these exist, its clear that a room audit is completed before guests are brought to their rooms. This results in time wasted getting things sorted out (e.g. getting room safes fixed, getting appliances to work, more towels, etc.), which undermines first impressions. - Premium and VIP services are not consistent and overpriced for what they offer. Premium services gives you what most 4 star resorts provide at a basic level. - Basic rooms and services are not great. - Premium drinks aren't really that "premium", just a step above the cheap stuff. Premium wine selection is poor. - Room conditions (building 16 and 17) show the resort's age and require major repairs/upgrades to justify their price point (e.g. Old bathtubs, plugged / worn shower heads, dated colours / decoration, semi-functioning AC, door deadbolts that don't work well, old squeaky beds); - The hotel really struggles with food safety (E.g., temperature is not monitored / well-controlled, especially for beach side takeout). Three out 6 people in our party were sick with food poisoning over the span of 7 days. - Too much oil is used to cook everything and seasoning is hit/miss. -The food quality / dinning experience between the buffet and a la carte restaurants is negligible. Food is microwaved and the spaghetti tastes like something from a Heinz pasta can (Pasta Restaurant took 90 minutes to cook 4 spaghetti dishes and 1 salmon dish for a party of 5). - Most staff only speak Spanish. They really aim to please but communication barriers can create preventable problems. All employees who are likely to interact with guests should have translation software on their phones. -Photos taken by the resort (for / during guest excursions) lack pricing transparency. Someone wanted to sell me 1 digital picture on a memory stick for $10 USD. -There are lots of mosquitoes. I'm not sure if its because this just happens to be an active year or their cut back on spraying. TAKE HOME: This resort perhaps was and could be again Impressive. However, in its current state, it simply isn't. As noted in other reviews, you can get a better experience / price-value in other resorts.

Very Nice place. Beach bar bartendes Luz, Jenifer and Rosana are the Best, always smiling and ready to help

There are a lot of mixed reviews so we were a bit apprehensive about booking this hotel but we had a lovely time! We upgraded to silver premium (for $480) upon arrival which meant we had a silver wristband which got us access to the premium bars, pools and beach and we had a nicer room with an Ocean view, however it was mainly a view of the pool and you could only see the sea to the side. The hotel was very clean! It was the perfect place to enjoy the beach, pools and the weather so if you are looking for a nice holiday with good amenities I would recommend. However we weren’t very impressed with the food unfortunately, the buffets weren’t great and the restaurants were not much better, but I would say it’s food that could be expected of a 3/4 star all inclusive hotel. Some of the staff could be unhelpful and borderline rude. However, the fact that we do not speak Spanish may not have helped with this. I would say if you only speak English you will have a bit of trouble with speaking to a lot of the staff but you can definitely get by. There were also some very friendly and helpful staff so we had as many positive experiences as we did negative. It was the perfect sized resort with 4 pools and a large beach area. There were always lots of sunbeds to choose from and we never had a problem finding somewhere during the day. There was always a lot going on around the pool eg aqua aerobics, foam party etc and lots of activities. I would say the music around the pool could be slightly too loud however there were different pools or the beach to move to if we just wanted to relax. The entertainment in the evening was good enough however I think the hotel is missing a general social area, if you didn’t want to watch the entrainment in the rows of chairs, you’d have to sit in reception to socialise which was slightly annoying but wasn’t a problem. There wasn’t a ‘do not disturb’ sign which meant the maid knocked at 8:30am everyday and we had to ask her to come back later. Overall I would say we had a lovely time, we loved the beach and the pools and had a lovely relaxing stay. Good location and I would say a fair value for money!

Very nice resort. Good location, clean beaches (no sargassum) and friendly staff. Highlights: beach bar - Jennifer, Luz and Rosana, the best bartenders! Nice, always smiling and friendly. Do not go without meet them!!!!

We spent a week at the Impressive hotel and had an absolutely fantastic stay from beginning to end! The resort is beautiful, the atmosphere is relaxing, and the staff truly make the experience special. A special thank you to the animation team — Spaghetti, Chocolate, and Sugar — who were amazing throughout the entire week. They brought so much energy, positivity, and fun to every activity. Whether it was games, entertainment, or simply interacting with guests, they made everyone feel welcome and created such a great atmosphere around the resort. Their enthusiasm really made our vacation even more memorable. Thank you for such a wonderful week — we will definitely keep amazing memories of our stay!