Impressive Premium Punta Cana

We came to the Impressive Premium Punta Cana, a 5-star hotel in the Dominican Republic that, on paper, has good reviews on sites like Booking, Tripadvisor or Expedia.

It has an average rating on the internet of around an 8 and it usually shows up with pretty competitive prices compared with other all-inclusive resorts in Punta Cana.

So we decided to come and book for 3 nights to try it from the inside and tell you what it’s really like.

Because seeing pretty photos, reading general reviews and finding a good price is one thing, and actually living the hotel is something very different: sleeping in its rooms, trying its restaurants, using the pools, going to the beach, seeing how the Premium works, what the service is like and whether it’s really worth it compared with other Punta Cana resorts.

So in this review we’re going to tell you everything good, everything bad and whether we’d recommend the Impressive Premium Punta Cana.

The moment you walk in, the hotel gives you that typical Caribbean resort feeling.

You have a big lobby, high ceilings, tropical decoration, background music, bars near reception and a pretty nice first impression.

Visually, the hotel goes down well.

It’s a big resort, with palm trees, greenery, gardens, two-storey room blocks, pools, bars and a pretty large beach.

It isn’t a hotel where you arrive and say: “ugh, this is old or neglected”.

On the contrary, the first feeling is good.

That said, the check-in wasn’t so positive.

We arrived pretty late, around 11 at night, and even so, being practically the only ones there, the process was pretty slow.

On top of that, we didn’t feel they explained properly how the Premium part worked.

And this matters because inside the resort you have two categories: the normal one and the Impressive Premium, which is a higher category with access to more exclusive areas.

Since they didn’t explain it properly, we had to work things out as we went, asking more than usual and checking the app.

It wasn’t a disaster, but in a hotel like this, and even more when you’re paying Premium, you expect them to explain properly from the start which areas you can use, where to have breakfast, which restaurants to book and what advantages you have.

Another thing that happened to us the moment we arrived was with the golf cart for taking the suitcases.

We had to wait quite a while. About 10 minutes. Which after 8 hours of flying and almost 3 in a taxi, because we came from Santo Domingo airport, feel eternal.

And the problem isn’t the waiting itself. The problem is that they tell you “it’s coming”.

And of course, “it’s coming” can mean thirty seconds, five minutes or ten.

In cases like this, I’d rather they told me the truth: “it’s going to take about 10 minutes because it’s dropping off other guests”.

That way you sit down in the lobby, order a Coca-Cola, rest and wait calmly.

But if they tell you “it’s coming”, you end up standing in the middle of the arrivals area thinking it’s going to show up at any second.

We saw this kind of thing several times at the hotel: it isn’t bad intentions, but there’s a lack of communication and some carelessness.

The resort is pretty big and follows the typical style of a lot of Punta Cana resorts.

It has two-storey room blocks, gardens, palm trees, lots of green areas, several pools, bars spread around the hotel and a very wide beach.

It isn’t an extremely modern or luxury resort, but it’s nice and pleasant.

The gardens are pretty well looked after and something I like a lot is that they fumigate so it isn’t full of mosquitoes.

In general, it’s a comfortable hotel for spending several days without moving around too much.

You have a beach, pools, bars, restaurants, activities, a gym, a mini club, play areas and different atmospheres.

One of the most important things about this hotel is understanding the difference between the standard category and the Premium category.

The Premium area gives you access to quieter pools, exclusive restaurants or cafés, more private areas on the beach, quieter bars and some advantages in the service.

You also get access to specific restaurants like the Olive, quieter breakfasts and some areas where there are fewer people.

The good thing is that, at least when we booked, the price difference between the standard room and the Premium one wasn’t much.

I think it was about €20 or €30 more per night. We paid €180 a night. Because if you follow us, you’ll know that the vast majority of hotels we pay for ourselves, to give more transparency to our work.

So as I was saying, for €20–30 more, choosing the Premium is very much worth it.

Because it isn’t like other hotels where moving up to the higher category can cost you almost double.

We stayed in a Premium room.

The room is pretty big, around 50 square metres approximately, and it has a maximum capacity of 4 people.

They gave us two Queen Size beds, a sofa bed, a terrace, a large bathroom, a minibar and plenty of space.

The room, in general, is very good on size.

If you come as a couple, you’re very comfortable. And if you come with kids, you also have enough space not to feel cramped.

The terrace is pleasant and the room has quiet air conditioning, which works pretty well.

You also have a minibar, with basic things like water, Coca-Cola and beers. It isn’t a spectacular minibar, but it does the job.

And although we didn’t see them at first, there were also bathrobes and slippers put away in the wardrobe.

The bed is a point with some nuance.

For me, personally, the mattress felt too soft.

For one person it can be fine, because you sink in a bit and you can sleep comfortably.

But if two people sleep in the same bed, that sinking can make the experience not so comfortable, especially if one of you doesn’t like soft beds.

So if you come as a couple and you like firm mattresses, keep it in mind.

The pillows that come with the room didn’t convince me much either. They’re big, hard and for me they aren’t comfortable.

But there’s an important positive point here: they have a pillow menu.

You can ask for different types at no cost, including memory foam options and even pregnancy pillows.

We asked for different pillows and the last night we slept a lot better.

So the bed has its ups and downs: the mattress may not suit everyone, but the pillow menu helps a lot.

The bathroom is large and aesthetically it’s very good.

It has two sinks and an enormous shower with two rainfall shower heads, which is very comfortable both for couples and for families.

Visually, it’s a bathroom that fits a Premium room well.

But it has a problem: the water.

It took us quite a while to adjust the shower temperature, and sometimes the flow and the temperature weren’t as stable as they should be.

In a hotel that wants to position itself as 5-star premium, this should not happen.

It isn’t that the bathroom is bad. In fact, the space and the design are very good.

But the water flow and temperature bring the score down a bit.

The hotel beach is wide.

It has loads of sun loungers, a lot of natural shade and a beach bar that opens longer hours than other bars in the resort.

There are also volleyball nets, portable goals for playing football and plenty of space.

The beach, in general, is nice and comfortable to combine with the pools.

That said, we came in sargassum season, and you notice it.

The hotel cleans the beach in the mornings with machinery, and you can see they make the effort. But inside the water there’s still sargassum, and over the course of the day more of it piles up.

This isn’t exclusively the hotel’s fault. It’s something that happens in a lot of areas of Punta Cana and it depends on the season. Nature is like that, and you have to adapt. At the end of the day it’s seaweed, not waste or weird stuff.

Apart from that, the beach has positive points: it’s big, quiet, there are lots of free sun loungers and it doesn’t get deep too quickly.

The hotel has several pools.

The main one is a lake-style pool, very big and with a lot of greenery around it.

The problem with having so much greenery is that during the day leaves, grass and dirt fall into the water.

They clean it in the mornings, but as the day goes on some areas don’t look as clean as they should.

There’s also a livelier pool near the beach, where they do activities like aqua gym, foam parties and games with music.

All the pools have bars nearby or swim-up bars, so you can order a drink without having to go too far.

On top of that, a lot of the pools have entry ramps, which makes them more accessible for kids, people with reduced mobility or people who don’t want to get in down a ladder.

Most of them don’t get too deep. In a lot of areas the water comes up to your waist or your chest, so they’re pretty comfortable and safe pools for relaxing.

The Premium area has two pools.

One is livelier, with music, a DJ, entertainment, activities, aqua volleyball and a more social atmosphere.

The other one is quieter, without loud music, designed for relaxing, swimming and resting.

This area also has a pool for babies or small children, a bar nearby and easy access to the Premium beach.

For me, I liked the quiet Premium pool for the atmosphere, but not for the cleanliness.

I’m not talking about the odd leaf. I mean hairs, drowned insects and dirt that was building up.

And that, from my point of view, should not happen.

It would be enough to have someone going over the surface of the water during the day.

It isn’t something serious, but it’s a detail that brings down the feeling of quality quite a lot.

The Impressive Premium Punta Cana is a family hotel, but I wouldn’t say it’s one of the best resorts in Punta Cana to come to with kids.

It has a mini club, a playground, a games room, activities, ping pong tables, giant chess, cinema with tents at night and foam parties.

It also has a pool or two for small children and areas where the water is shallow.

But it doesn’t have a water park, big slides or very strong facilities for kids.

So yes, you can come with kids.

But if your main priority is your children having a huge amount of things to do, there are probably better resorts.

I see it more as a quiet family resort, not as a resort designed mainly for kids.

During the day there are activities, music, games, foam parties, aqua gym and entertainment programmes.

Some of them are good and they give the resort some atmosphere.

But we also saw some activities that were pretty weak.

For example, in a yoga class, they let an 8-year-old girl run the whole class because she wanted to be a yoga teacher when she grows up. We understand it would have made her happy and that it can be a sweet thing, but if there are guests waiting for a yoga class, the logical thing would be for the girl to take part as an assistant, not to run the whole activity.

That way the little girl goes away happy because at 8 years old she has been an assistant in a class at a resort, and the guests go away happy because they have had a full class.

In the end it turned more into a PE stretching class than a yoga activity.

It isn’t something serious, but it shows the lack of communication I mentioned at the start of the video.

The gym surprised us in a good way.

It isn’t perfectly maintained, but it’s pretty complete.

It has machines, enough equipment and you can train practically every muscle group.

For an all-inclusive resort, it’s pretty good.

There’s also a games area with pool, ping pong, PlayStation, basketball games and other options to keep you entertained.

The mini club and the playground are fine, although they aren’t the strongest ones we’ve seen.

Let’s go now with the food.

And here there are a lot of ups and downs.

If you’re Premium, you can have breakfast in the main buffet or in more exclusive areas.

The main buffet has a huge amount of variety. There are pastries, savoury products, fruit, smoothies made on the spot, cheeses, vegetables, salads and lots of options.

But being the main buffet, there are a lot more people and more noise.

The Diamond café, on the other hand, exclusive to Premium, has less variety but it’s a lot quieter.

Personally I liked it more for that reason: there isn’t so much noise, there’s no shouting and you can have breakfast more calmly.

It has salmon, scrambled eggs, boiled eggs, sweet and savoury pastries, churros, breads and a live cooking station for fried eggs or omelettes with fillings.

We liked the pastries because you can tell they make them there. It isn’t fine patisserie, but it’s freshly made and that makes a difference.

On top of that, being Premium you also have an à-la-carte breakfast with sea views.

This was one of the most positive points.

You have a small buffet to make yourself some starters, and then à-la-carte dishes like eggs Benedict, keto toast, mueslis and seasonal fruit.

It’s the kind of breakfast you could find at a good brunch place in your city.

It’s quiet, pleasant and with good dishes.

Our recommendation: if you choose Premium, make the most of this breakfast.

Lunch was one of the parts that disappointed us most.

The buffet has variety, but I missed a clear live cooking section with grilled meats and fish.

There are a lot of things, but if you want something simple like a beef steak, well-made grilled chicken or freshly made fish, it isn’t always easy to find.

We also tried the à-la-carte Mexican restaurant for lunch, and we found it pretty weak.

I’d give it a 5 out of 10 being generous.

Very basic, not much flavour and, honestly, I wouldn’t go back.

It was one of those restaurants where you come out thinking you’d have eaten better at the buffet.

Dinner at the buffet felt similar to lunch to us.

Fine, but without standing out much.

Where we did have better experiences was in some of the à-la-carte restaurants.

The Olive restaurant, exclusive to Premium, we liked quite a lot.

The food was tasty, the portions were good and the concept is a Mediterranean mix with Greek, Spanish and French touches.

They bring you starters, you choose a starter, a main course and a dessert.

We found the dessert a bit weaker, but the rest of the meal was very good.

We also tried the Japanese/teppanyaki restaurant, and we liked it.

It’s an entertaining show, the food was tasty and the sauces were well made.

The show could have been a bit better because the hotplate went out on them a little and we missed part of the fire, but as a food and entertainment experience, it’s pretty good.

The resort has a lot of bars spread around the whole complex: pool bars, a beach bar, cafés, a sports bar, a pub, a nightclub and other spots to order drinks.

In general, it’s a pretty complete resort in that sense.

The all-inclusive is fine, but I wouldn’t say it’s spectacular.

It isn’t an all-inclusive like the one at the Iberostar Waves Málaga, where you’d find ice cream cones, waffles and details that made you feel everything really was included and looked after.

Here it’s a more typical Caribbean resort all-inclusive.

You have drinks, cocktails, restaurants, snacks and a decent amount on offer, but there’s nothing that makes you say: “wow, this really stands out”.

At some bars there can be queues at peak times.

We also saw that the snack bar has opening hours that could be better thought out. For example, if you’re near the lobby or the sports bar and you fancy something to eat before a certain time, you may have to walk quite a way to another area of the resort.

It isn’t critical, but these are details that would improve the experience a lot.

A positive point for Premium guests is the room service.

For Premium it’s included at no cost. For non-Premium guests, it costs around 10 dollars per service.

You can order simple things like burgers, nachos, salads, fruit and basic dishes.

It isn’t a huge menu, but it comes in handy if you’re in the room, if you don’t feel like moving or if you want to eat somewhere quieter.

It’s a good extra of the Premium.

The staff was a mix of ups and downs.

I’d say most of the workers are friendly.

There are nice people in housekeeping, the bars, the restaurants and different areas of the resort.

But we also found a percentage of people who were pretty rude or not much help.

It isn’t something that ruins your holiday, but you do notice it.

Some workers seem lost, others don’t explain things properly and others are too curt.

It also happened to us with a waitress at the Olive restaurant and at the Premium breakfast, who kept getting things wrong and seemed to put the blame on you.

This kind of detail should not happen at a hotel that wants to sell itself as Premium.

In short: the staff does the job, but it doesn’t stand out. And at a 5-star resort, the service should be a notch above.

Let’s go with the scores point by point.

• Cleanliness — 9.5. The room was very good, everything pretty clean and well looked after.
• Bed and pillows — 7.5. The bed is soft and can be uncomfortable for two people. The pillow menu improves the experience a lot.
• Bathroom — 7.5. It’s large and nice, but the water flow and temperature weren’t at the level of a 5-star.
• Room size — 9.0. The Premium room is big, comfortable and works well both for a couple and for families.
• Breakfast — 7.5. Between the main buffet and the Premium area it’s fine, but not everything stands out.
• Premium à-la-carte breakfast — 8.5. Very quiet, with sea views and pretty tasty brunch-style dishes.
• Buffet lunch — 7.0. Fine, but it’s missing better options of grilled meats and fish.
• Mexican restaurant — 5.0. Very weak. We wouldn’t go back.
• Buffet dinner — 7.0. Along the same lines as lunch. Fine, but without standing out.
• À-la-carte dinner restaurants — 8.5. We liked the Olive and the teppanyaki quite a lot more than the buffet.
• All-inclusive — 7.5. Fine, but without any particularly memorable details.
• Pools — 8.5. Big, accessible and nice, although some should be cleaned better during the day.
• Facilities for adults — 8.0. Good gym, bars, pools, beach, sports bar and relaxation areas.
• Facilities for kids — 7.5. It has a mini club, games and activities, but no water park and no big slides.
• Staff — 6.0. Does the job, but doesn’t stand out. There are friendly people, but also staff who are curt, lost or not much help.
• Beach — 8.0. Wide, nice and with lots of sun loungers, although the sargassum affects the experience at this time of year.

The average score comes out at approximately a 7.5.

The answer is: it depends a lot on the price.

If you find the Impressive Premium Punta Cana at a price that’s a fair bit lower than other, better-level resorts, it can be an interesting option.

The hotel is nice, the Premium room is big, the beach is wide, the pools are good, you have several restaurants, a good gym and the price difference with the Premium area is usually not enormous.

But if the price gets close to that of other hotels like Meliá Punta Cana Beach, Hyatt Zilara, Wyndham Alltra or other resorts that are at a higher level, we’d choose those options first.

The Impressive Premium doesn’t seem like a bad hotel to us.

But it doesn’t seem like a clear 8 to us either, if you compare it with other Punta Cana resorts.

It has good points, but also several weak points: irregular service, some weak restaurants, pools that could be cleaner, an all-inclusive that’s fine but not memorable, and a Premium experience that’s good, but not spectacular.

So our summary would be this:

If you find it at a very good price, it can be worth it.

If it’s at the same price as better resorts, we’d choose another option.

And you’ll see this much better in our Punta Cana guide, where we’re comparing all the resorts we visit, with recommended prices, strong points, weak points and what type of traveller each hotel suits.

Now we’re going to check out of this hotel and head to the next one: RIU Bambú.

We already stayed at the RIU Palace Bávaro and we loved it, so now we’re going to try the RIU Bambú, which is also 5-star, but in a slightly lower category.