Dcislander

Multiple work trips during spring breaks over the past few years and it’s a circus. I could never quite figure out how college kids could afford the $700 base rooms, especially since they police the wrist bands. There are some tour operators that run big group trips. Lots stay at the Melia next door but Bahmar is packed (SLS is like sardines, Hyatt is busy and Rosewood less so). During SB you have to make dinner res well in advance and even then you may end up waiting for your table or being sat at the bar (which is usually walk in). Pool and beach chairs fill up super early.

Don’t want to paint a dystopian picture as most seem to have a great time… if that’s your scene .

dmgrayinva

Just completed a 6 night stay with a GOH certificate applied. Perks and highlights:

-Upgraded to ocean view with juliet balcony. My wife wanted a balcony with a table and chairs and they found a room if we were willing to wait.
-Complimentary beverages for 2 at Jazz Bar, T2 Cigar Bar, Regatta, and pool bars. Value of each drink not to exceed $25. One voucher per room per day. We actually used 2 vouchers one day and didn't notice any extra charges at check-out.
-Breakfast at Cafe Madeleine, Knosh, Palms Cafe or Regatta Buffet. $145 inclusive of VAT and service charge. We split this a few days between breakfast for 2 adults at Palms Cafe and breakfast to go from Cafe Madeleine for my daughter. The credit didn't have to be used all at once or at the same place.
-Late check-out. Only 1200, but I got the impression they would have given us more time.
-Rooms now include mini-fridge at no cost. Ours wasn't cold so we asked for a replacement. They sent another, but didn't remove the first. Sidenote...we asked for a wine opener and they brought another mini-fridge instead of a wine opener and they still didn't remove the broken mini-fridge. We spent 4 out of 6 days maneuvering around 2 extra mini-fridges on the floor.
-We got lucky with weather and I managed to spot a turtle while snorkeling by the pier the first 2 days. I also managed to snorkel around with some spotted rays about 20 yards out from shore, 30 yards from the pier. 2 one day and 4 the next.
-The hotel contacted me through WhatsApp upon arrival. This was our third visit and I don't recall them using WhatsApp in the past. Very quick to respond to messages, but took 2 days to get a wine opener.
-A huge chunk of the casino is under renovation. Signs posted say debuting in December 2024.

gumercindo

Sounds like you had a nice stay. Interesting comment on the mini fridge. We went in mid June and were told by the front desk that the mini fridges were $40, IIRC. We ended up getting one and then someone else told us it was going to be $60. We told them we were quoted $40 and they said "ok". Sounds like they're running some sort of scam with the fridges!

Dcislander

Just completed a stay at the Reserve and 2/3 the way through I came back from the office to a note that said they emptied out the minibar and if I needed anything to call. They didn't swap out my fridge, they only took everything out of the old one--the kind that just gets cool and has the weights to know when someone pulls out a $7 Coke. Not sure I'd trust it to keep milk at a low temp.

Charlie9

By everything is true I mean: If you have extensively reviewed this thread and other review sites, you know: It's a super nice place, everyone really likes it except the sky high prices and apathetic/incompetent service with egregious bill shenanigans can be anywhere from a dampener to a ruiner.

Booking

2 Rooms were booked on points for 6 nights for my family of 4 (2 parents, 2 teenage girls). I booked one myself (Globalist), my wife booked another with a GOH award. I applied a SUA to my room, which showed quickly in the app to a Grand Suite King. I then contacted my (bestest) concierge to have them link the reservations, request close rooms (or connecting ) AND add a microwave and mini-fridge to one room ($50 each for the stay....though now I think about it we weren't ever charged),

The shenanigans started right away. A cash deposit was charged to each of our rooms. Concierge was able to quickly rectify it (even my wife's non Globalist room) but just let me know to be on guard already.

There was a pre-arrival form and waiver, I cannot even remember what it consisted of. Can't believe it was every looked at by Hyatt.

Transportation

We chose Sandra's transportation for the round trip from the airport. I liked the idea of having a set price, AND building in a grocery store/liquor store stop. Vehicle was...ok...I honestly would not have likely been phased, but many of the other vehicles arriving at GH Baha Mar looked FANCY. Driver was nice and informative. Grocery store was very adequate, though we inadvertently got some already moldy cheese, which tracks with my observation that store wide the refrigeration looked iffy.

Check-in

They shuttled us into the East tower for check-in, though the West I later learned was open for check in. Thanks the Gods we happened to roll up into the Globalist line without anyone in front of us. Check in took soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo long. I realize two rooms, linked, etc was a little abnormal, but....Some guy behind me, without a shirt on, became visibly upset at the wait and started barking out. Not appropriate, but understandable. One room was ready at 2:45 pm, the second one at 3:45 PM.

A second helper from the back came out with envelopes to explain our Globalists and GOH benefits. $100 a day (written out explicitly on our welcome letters in blue ink, in contrast to a previously reported $140 even for the week after we stayed. Because we had 1 adult, 1 child per room?) good at Regatta buffet, Cafe Madeleine, or...Nosh? Something else that might be vegan. Buffet DOES come out to $110 for 2 adults (Important: adults = over 11 years old) but it was all wiped clean.
As also previously reported, 1 drink ticket a day, per room, good for 2 drinks each ticket at specified locations (Jazz Bar, T2 cigar bar, pool bars - NOT water park).

We reminded at check in about the mini-fridge and microwave.... but they didn't arrive. At 6pm we called and inquired (we had cold foods needing a fridge) and they said "should almost be there!" which really felt like the squeaky wheel was now getting grease. A visibly exhausted worker lugged the two into our room. Fridge got down to 34 degrees Fahrenheit.



The Rooms:

Well, for our specific situation, we hit “the lottery”. Not only were we in the West Tower, but at the end of a hallway. He had an entry door that led into a tiny (like, really really tiny) entry room with doors to 2 separate rooms: both were ours. We were connected without really being connected. We could even dead bolt that outer door and leave our two inner doors unlocked. Beyond pleased, as we wanted the space (and breakfasts) of 2 rooms, but the girls are still only teenagers.

As warned, there is a stocked mini-bar and a sensor laden snack area we did not touch (unless you look at our bill, more on that later. I found the decorations fairly minimal and cold, lots of uninterrupted white/gray coloring. Grand Suite had a living room area, an extra TV (Chromecast, Netflix and Amazon Prime worked okay-ish; WIFI spotty). Bathrooms large. It had 2 balconies, one quite big. Larger one overlooked the main entrance and the shooting fountains. The other one was the waterpark, with a healthy dose of the parking lot. I never fully figured out the complicated light switch situation.

AC was awesome! We had two separate thermostats in the Suite, and it certainly got cold to my liking. Plenty of storage space.



The Grounds

Immaculate and beautiful. I didn’t realize this whole Baha Mar thing was only opened in 2017, it is definitely new feeling. Besides Hyatt pools, there is a bird sanctuary (free, I think?), a water sanctuary (with variable priced activities), Flamingos that put on a daily parade, a large dock, some large “board” games (battleship, connect-4). Presenting as high end (and with the Casino I guess?) there is a lot of shopping, much of which is HIGH end (fashion, watches, jewelry). There is a “essentials” store or two for meds, drinks, chips, etc.

The Food

As stated, we did a grocery store run for much of our non-breakfast meals.

For breakfast, we did Regatta buffet twice and Café Madeleine 4 times. We loved the buffet, wide variety with unique items. It was busy, once was a line to get in, but nothing outrageous.

For the Café, we went with a mind to get extra food on our $100 each room to help supplement lunch. This was very easy to do. Good selection of pastries, bagels, coffee items, some kitchen made entrees. There are even some “other items” on a shelf, like chips, liquor, wine, rum cake, that can be purchased during the breakfast hours that will fit into your $100. Honestly, 2 people for $100, we never really came too close to maxing out that daily allowance.

We had 2 dinners out that we booked well ahead of time: Sugar Factory and Carna, the steakhouse. I won’t go into detail on Sugar Factory, it is enough of a chain, google it and you know what to expect. Carna is an “everything is true” moment: Twice the cost you would normally expect from a place like this back home ($90+ filet mignon), and even then probably not the Top 3 steakhouse in your large metropolitan hometown. I think what surprised me the most were the sides: So small (for $20 each). I felt like there was 4 bites per side. Service was fine, though we had a long wait for the check. I will say our waiter did bring our daughter, turning 16 next week, a chocolate mini cake and serenaded her (softly, unobtrusively) a Happy Birthday song.

The People

It is a family crowd but it seemed like a very classy group. Felt like the type of people who can afford the cash rates.

The Pools

Going to be honest, we did not sample the wide variety of pool areas, we mainly stuck to a family pool with a minor “dive cliff” and a enclosure area that is walled off with an aquarium. As has been stated elsewhere and in reviews, there are many close in chairs, day beds, and cabanas for sale that sit quite empty. Fortunately, we never had trouble getting a pair of chairs for our family of four. Now, one big caveat, our kids are older and on swimming teams; we didn’t feel the need to be line of sight at all times.

We used a majority of our free drink coupons at the pool pars. Never had any problems, though we did seem to be on a “lower tier” when we were only getting free drinks. It may have seemed like a waste, but we did get a virgin drink for the kids too (2 rooms, 4 free drinks a day).



The Waterpark

I think the caveat I should throw in here is this: I haven’t been to a legit water park in 25 years. So, to me, this was amazing! The kids loved it to. So much variety in slides: Big fast scary, small “racing” slides, two person rafts, 5 person rafts, wave pool, flow rider and lazy river. There was a whole small child section we did not go to, but it looked amazing as well (the best part was it looked extensive yet enclosed, so you could hang out at the front in a chair and oversee everything.

My youngest, 12 year old girl loved and excelled at the Flow Rider (google it). It did have a line that lasted a while, but also a weird setup: You had to first “train” on the novice side and prove your worth before the other side. Only problem is this left the “experienced” side without much business. Or, in the case of my daughter, she got to do it over and over and over and over since no one else had yet “qualified” for that side for the day. A small tweak: give a band so someone can qualify one day and have it be good for the remainder of the trip. Or just make both sides open to novice and experienced.

Is late July low season? Because the lines for rides were so minimal, and getting a chair was never close to being a problem. The cabanas, and their huge price tags, were of course not filled – but they were MORE filled than the Hyatt pool cabanas/day beds/reserved chairs.

Excursions

We did snorkeling with Stuart’s Cove, who picked us up and dropped us off. This included a stop with the Caribbean reef sharks. Fun!

Check out

I goofed, I admit it. All charges from my wife’s GOH room were supposed to be transferred to my room. In the beginning it seemed like it was working. So I didn’t look at her room charges. I used the app to check out of my room, not hers.



So, when we were flying home, my wife got the checkout email with a bill for $1500.

The charges appear to be 3 categories:

1. Daily "accommodation" charge, which I wonder if this is the amount Hyatt is supposed to pay the resort for a points booking? It was about $176 a day

2. Mini bar charges - the story as old as time. We didn't touch the mini bar. We didn't breath on the mini bar. We got our own mini fridge and microwave and stopped at a grocery store. Should be zero mini bar charges. I triple checked with everyone, though I didn't really need to because my kids know better.

3. Cafe Madeleine charges for gratuity at breakfast, on top of the auto-service charge, because my is a softie.



I quickly engaged my Hyatt Globalist concierge who got all the charges removed, including the Café ones that shouldn’t have been. Yay! Still, and I know our situation was unique, but this placed just has such a bad reputation for erroneous bill charges.

gumercindo

Sounds like you had a nice time - we did as well and I agree, the water park is terrific.

Interesting note about the $100 breakfast credit. I can't imagine your teens had anything to do with it. We were 4 in a room (2 adults) and got $145 credits. Something to monitor b/c $45 per night is nothing to sneeze at!