Grand Hyatt Baha Mar

Enjoyed ourselves! The place & people are beautiful but be prepared for "Surprises"! $150+ each day for tips (do they reach the employees?), resort fee, VAT & city/state surcharges. Then every item you'll order be prepared for a significant upcharge. I'd sooner pay more per day without all the upcharges.

Avoid this hotel at all cost Stayed at their highest suite category at their “Reserve” section Despite several requests to have the suite cleaned it was not cleaned 3 out of 5 nights . Requested 3 shirts to be pressed and to be returned by the next business day by a specified time as listed and this did not occur , Their Concierges at their Reserve Lounge were incredibly rude , disinterested,and incompetent. The restaurants are mediocre at best, with prices exceeding Michelin starred restaurants. My friendly advice : Don’t stay here .

Our experience at Baha Mar was very uneven. I brought the whole family (6 adults and 1 infant) as well as a couple of friends for a week of R&R to this resort. We have been to the Bahamas several times before, but have previously stayed at The Cove Atlantis or at The One and Only (now the Four Seasons). As a point of reference, the Baha Mar resort consists of 3 separate hotels (SLS, Grand Hyatt, and Rosewood). It markets itself as a 5-star, luxury resort. We had booked 4 ocean-view rooms with balconies at the Grand Hyatt. First impressions count. The car transfer that I had arranged for at the airport had some sort of mix-up. Not a major issue, but it was irritating that nobody from Baha Mar appeared to know what was going on. When we did arrive at the hotel, your first view of the resort is the casino. Not what I would want for my Caribbean vacation, but that is where the reception area for the Grand Hyatt is located. It felt like we were checking in at a Las Vegas casino hotel rather than somewhere in the Bahamas. The welcome by the Front Desk representative was far from warm and friendly. She was very professional, but certainly lacked any sort of charm. Again, not a great first impression. Our rooms were very nice, on the smaller size, but comfortable. Bedding was great, and the bathrooms were spacious with a nice bathtub in addition to a large shower. The one odd thing (for us at least) was that the toilet was enclosed in glass, including a glass door. May not be ideal for those of us who value privacy in those moments. Caution when using the minibar: they operate on sensors, and ANY touch triggers a ‘purchase’. The resort overall is massive, and the hotel layout is dominated by the largest casino in the Caribbean. For those who like gaming, you will find most table games, tons of slot machines, as well as a nice sports book. Shopping is limited to mainly high-end stores like Chanel, Gucci, etc. that are situated throughout the main floor as well as the lower lobby. The resort does not have the kind smaller boutiques that we prefer to shop in. The grounds of the resort were great and well maintained. Baha Mar has also done a nice job in creating a beach area and cove that is sheltered from surf. As a result, the ocean waters are very calm and conducive to swimming. The beach itself was somewhat crowded with lots of beach chairs and daybeds, but one could argue that it is better to have too many of those than not enough. We were disappointed by the pools, in particular the Fortune pool where we had rented a cabana. Those areas were very crowded, and simply not exceptional. Nice enough, but not 5-star resort quality. I personally did not visit the water park, but the rest of my family did, and very much enjoyed that activity. Our dining experiences ranged from the exceptional to the average. There are very limited options for breakfast, and those options offered very standard fare. Dinners on the other hand were outstanding, with a wide variety of truly terrific establishments on-site. We ate at 5 different restaurants during our stay, and all meals were simply delicious. A major note of caution though as it pertains to dining: meals are VERY expensive. Our dinner for 8 at Carna (their steakhouse) cost just under $400 PER PERSON. That was without any high-end wine. At the other restaurants we averaged $200-$250 per person for 3-course meals. Cocktails throughout the resort start at about $20 each. Aside from a pizzeria and a noodle shop, there are few low-priced options for dinner. Service: based on our experience, overall service at Baha Mar grades out at a B-. Again, the standards for a 5-star resort should be high. Our previous experiences in The Bahamas were exceptional, and that simply was not the case on this trip. Some examples: • As mentioned, the Front Desk staff should be more welcoming and friendly. Don’t just check us in, check us in with a smile. • Housekeeping should make up our rooms every day, and not require me to contact them at 5 pm to get fresh towels. The minibar should be checked and refilled consistently, something that did not occur for the whole time we were there. • Two members of the casino staff were down-right rude to me, which is completely unacceptable. As far as I am concerned, the casino is not a separate entity from the hotel, and this directly reflects on the resort overall. • Service at the Regatta breakfast buffet was slow and many of our servers had an air of indifference about them. Cost: as previously mentioned, everything at Baha Mar is expensive. For our part, that was not a surprise, as I had heard this was the case. But, a note of caution: Between VAT, service charges, daily resort fees, and other taxes, you will end up paying almost 50% more for your room than the ‘list price’. Baha Mar management will claim that those charges are out of their control, but requiring a 15% service charge on ALL charges as well as $69 daily resort fees are decisions on their part, not government-imposed taxes. Overall, the single biggest negative that we would offer up about our trip relates to Value. It just was NOT there. When we vacation, we are prepared to pay for high-end accommodations and exceptional service. In fact, we seek it out to make memories that last a lifetime. That was not our experience at Baha Mar. Our collective sentiment was that we stayed at a nice hotel, with decent service, and a good range of activities. We did not feel special or that we had a luxurious, exceptional experience. Add to that my extremely negative experience with one of their casinos staff, and we will not be returning to Baha Mar.