Trova hotel a 5 stelle a Lowlands

This was my first time leading a group to a Sonesta resort. I brought a group of 21 adults. Almost all of my other all-inclusive resort experience has been with Iberostar organizing almost 10 group visits to 3 different Iberostar resorts and 2 visits to Rui resorts. Let’s start with the good/great. The location of Ocean Point is absolutely beautiful and really the most beautiful location of a resort I have been to. Stunning views and an amazing location. Having the airport right next door is convenient for obvious ground transportation reasons but having that additional beach attraction with the planes landing and taking off is really cool. The service staff we interacted with at the restaurants and bars were truly exceptional and some of the most friendly and engaging staff I have encountered, including the Baha Mar and Four Seasons. A shout out to Shingai, Jennifer and 'Mr Smiley' at Azul and Cheryl at the Point Pool - they were exceptional!. The Sonesta restaurant staff was very accommodating with our larger group and always got us good seating times for our entire group to be together for dinners and did so every time without concern or trouble. The food at the restaurants was amazing – never had a bad meal. We had two folks with dietary restrictions and every restaurant handled their restrictions perfectly. The restaurants and food were amazing. Now the not so good. The deck service at the Ocean Point pools was non-existent. You could always get up and go to the respective bars at each pool to get a drink, but they never had anyone away from the bar providing service, taking orders, delivering drinks etc. It was very much self-service – if you want a drink, you were going to have to get it yourself. The main pool for the Maho was under construction and the Maho guests were all in the one pool with a swim up bar so it was constantly packed. We didn’t even use that pool it was so crowded and only used the two pools at Ocean Point. The bar that services the Edge/Azul Pool had terrible service and as a result, we only spent one afternoon at that pool. It was a bit of a walk to the bar from the pool and there was typically no staff at the bar when you got there – you had to wait to be noticed and get service. The bartenders at the Point Pool were super friendly, but there was no lounge or table service there either. We ended up spending most of our time at the Point pool because at least the bartender was there and friendly. Usually 5 star/luxury resorts have servers that provide pool deck service with great attention – that is not the case here. They have lots of live music at the Point Pool and the roof top bar, but it is all blaring loud – so loud, you really can’t have a conversation. It was ear piercing. The last day, as we made friends with the bartender at the point pool, she advised that artist to play at a reasonable level, which was much appreciated. The check in process was very clunky for our group and they do not provide a