Iberostar Bahia - All Inclusive

If you are looking for a great scenario and nature, but ordinary hotel and service, Iberostar Bahia is your choice. This is our 5th time in a Iberostar Hotel. After 3 experiences in the Grand category in the Caribbean, both Iberostars in Brazil (Selection Praia do Forte and Bahia) are huge disappointments. Disregarding the differences expected due to price range, the gap is just too big to justify loyalty from clients. We have even stopped going to the Grand, since it is falling behind to other luxury hotel groups in Europe. The good aspects of these hotels lay almost entirely on the privileged location, with white sand beach, countless palm trees, turtles saving program, mild waves and great weather. The extensive structure, despite needing renovations, is still impressive, with gardens, lakes, pools, restaurants, bar and a new gym. The employees seem to do their best, but the hotel is understaffed and they are under-trained. I would also like to highlight two employees that were extremely sympathetic and efficient: Sérgio, from the beach chair/umbrellas, and Marco, from the lobby bar. There are, however, many negative points, listed below: - The service is, overall, helpless. There is a clear lack of staff in all areas, specially in the lobby bar and pool bar. It takes an incredible amount of time to order something. They are also under-trained and sometimes don't know how to deal with situations. - Due to their turtle-saving program, the pool and bar closes at 18h. However, barmen stop serving drinks at 17h45 and remove everything as fast as they can. As a client I expect to be served until the correct time. - Horrible nightclub scene and music selection. There is no variety, only with "Axé" or "Reggaeton" all night. The club is completely empty due to horrible flashlights and music. - There is literally NO information in english. The hotel is leaned towards Brazilians and Spanish speakers, giving even more emphasis to the latter. The TV has no original sounds, so no movies in English. - Low higiene standards in the beach buffet. Flies are all around and food is not protected. - No local food is offered, despite being in Bahia. There are french fries but no moqueca. - There is no variety at all at the buffet restaurants. The buffet is the same every single day for lunch, and almost the same for dinner, with minor modifications. The quality is average, with severe lack of staff and many items being unavailable after they were consumed the first time. - The à la carte restaurants serve mostly the same food of the buffet, with different presentations. The Mediterranean restaurant has a buffet selection for entrees and desserts, which are the same of the main buffet, and the main courses are mediocre, at best. The Japanese restaurant has terrible sushi and literally no vegetarian option for the grill/teppanyaki, except for grilled vegetables, which everyone already gets. The french restaurant is the least worst, but it still lacks flavors and the preparation is weak. - There is no information of allergenics in food, specially in restaurant menus. I had an unpleasant surprise of having a vegetables rice probably cooked in seafood stock in the Mediterranean restaurant that caused me allergies. I don't have severe reactions, but someone more sensitive could have gone to the hospital. - On the same subject, I had to ask over and over again to employees about what was used in each preparation. The hotel is not vegetarian friendly nor are the employees trained for this matter. - Some areas of the hotel are unbearably hot, specially the lobby bar. It was impossible to enjoy being there. The lobby could also use some live music at night, there is a piano and people don't know what to do. In every other Iberostar we have been, there was piano playing in the lobby and people loved it. - There is lack of items everywhere in the hotel. From coconut water in the restaurants to spirits in bars, from cookies in the buffet or cheese in the restaurant. The logistics of the hotel is poor at best. Despite not going back again to neither of these hotels, I hope this feedback can help other voyagers and specially the management, in order to try to recover a bit of the chain glorious past.

The best hotel my family and I had been to so far. Impecable hospitality and structure. All of our request were promptly and kindly granted, and the staff were efficient and organized. They know exactly what they are doing and how to make their customers fully satisfied. We’ll come back!

Let me be clear upfront: IberoStar Bahia may be a good value for money choice, but you’d better set your expectations. It is a huge resort with great pools, good facilities overall, spacious rooms, different restaurants and a friendly staff. Overall the hotel still looks like new (some toilets doors needed repair, but a minor point). The trade off comes mainly when we are talking about quality of food served. It is a all-inclusive resort and they manage costs down by sacrificing quality you would expect from a luxury resort. Food is not bad, but never great. You can expect to find plenty of options and abundant food all day long. But they do not know how to make a great risotto, shrimps are tiny, desserts are very basic and poor and even a local dish called vatapa is badly prepared. Drinks are basic as well and wine...Well if you like wine you’d better bring yours or skip it. Bad wines are served everywhere and sparkling wine is so sweet you wish you had not taste it. The resort is built around its pools, not really embracing the beautiful beach in front, which is a shame. It is true they have a star prestige paid club which offers better drinks and better sea views, but your food will still be mediocre. And be prepared to walk a lot. At the end you get used to it, but you end the day walking 5 to 6 miles per day. All buildings have only staircase (no lifts), so if you are bringing old people or babies and strollers I would recommend ground floor ( a tip they do not give you). Having said all that I paid around r$1100/ day. Not a bargain. But in the same period Tivoli Praia do Forte offered much better services for 50% more. So luxury and service comes with much higher price. Setting well your expectations you can be happy at Ibero. But definitely they should hide one of their stars. It is not a 5star hotel by any angle and they would be more transparent telling us that from a start.

We visited for nine nights after going to Rio and then to Iguassu Falls. We travelled from the UK and it was the last part of a two week trip. Firstly it is worth being aware there is not unlimited access to the a la carte restaurants, however out of nine nights we ate at them or a special dinner for seven. We requested reservations when we had used our allocation and wherever possible they went out of their way to accommodate them. The hotel is extremely well maintained and very clean, there are multiple pools to choose from and different bars and spaces in which to relax. The beach is wide and sandy and suitable for walking on but not ideal for swimming. The bar had live music every evening which was lovely but a conference attended towards the endnote of our stay and it could become somewhat rowdy, but this was more the timing of our stay than something I would expect to be a regular occurrence. As European, English speaking visitors, there was a language barrier but everyone worked their hardest to try and work around it and we rapidly picked up some essential Portuguese such as how to order beer and wine! We are a couple who travel a lot, having been to Mauritius, the Seychelles and the Maldives among many other destinations in the last few years and we don’t tend to repeat our visits to places however we are already planning on when to come back as despite a few tiny niggles it’s been a magical stay. We also want to specifically mention Marcus Daniel who is part of the reception team who speaks multiple languages and went to special efforts to make sure we had the perfect dinner in the presidential suite and had been happy with our stay.

We have chosen this hotel based on its 4.5 stars average reviews, but unfortunately I don’t think it deserves more than 2 stars (poor). So let me try to explain that: . At first, the hotel seemed to be overbooked. Its structure is not prepared to attend all the guests with a reasonable quality. . The room we got has a strong musty smell. I think that most rooms have this issue. For people who cares about pure air to sleep this is a strong reason to not choose this hotel. . The gastronomy is not compatible with a 4.5 stars hotel. Even the thematic restaurants do not reach a satisfactory degree. The breakfast is ok, but the main lunch buffet is poor. The main restaurant desserts are good. The Japanese restaurant’s sushi is terrible. The Mediterranean and French ones are very week too. . On the swimming pools, there was something like a “towel war”, everyday. At 7am almost all the pool chairs are already taken by towels, with no people, but just their ghosts. So if you do not fight this war you will never take a chair to sit. The ghosts always have the preference to them, and the hotel does nothing about it. . The best hotel attraction are the night shows. The actors and dancers are great. Unfortunately it is not enough to make this hotel a good place to enjoy your vacations.