Balmy temperatures, plenty of activities, and all-inclusive dining combine to make three adjacent Iberostar properties a popular destination for incentive groups.
Set on a sprawling palm grove on the Dominican Republic's southeast coast, the three-property complex is 13 miles from Punta Cana International Airport, with several charter companies and American Airlines providing service from the United States. The hotels include the 346-room Iberostar Dominicana, the 347-room Iberostar Punta Cana, and the 592-suite Iberostar Bavaro. The complex includes a variety of open-air buffet and ethnic restaurants, a modest (but expanding) spa and fitness center, an assortment of pools, and a prime white sand beach on the Caribbean.
The resorts, three of 13 operated in the Caribbean by the Spanish-based Iberostar, draw mostly leisure guests who favor the all-inclusive format. All tropical drinks, meals, snacks, and nonmotorized water sports are included in the room rate package.
General Electric and other corporate groups that have booked at the resort tend to be on the small side, no larger than about 200 people. Incentive groups can take advantage of the resort's scuba diving facility, windsurfing, horseback riding, and other water sports; organize private dinners or a dine-around at the Japanese, Mexican, Mediterranean, Italian, and Brazilian restaurants; or play golf at the nearby Punta Cana Beach Resort's P.B. Dye-designed, oceanfront 18-hole golf course.
Rooms are spacious and comfortably furnished with marble bathrooms, individual air-conditioning controls, satellite television, mini-refrigerators, safes, and direct-dial telephones.
The three Iberostar properties attract an international mix of guests. About 40 percent hail from North America — a proportion that has grown in the last few years — and 20 percent from Latin America. Since the resort tends to pack in leisure guests during the summer and winter, groups are most likely to be welcome during the shoulder months of October or May. Five meeting rooms can accommodate up to 500 guests.
The resort also includes a sports bar, a disco built around portions of a vintage DC-6 jet, and nightly entertainment in an open-air showroom. www.iberostar.com