Moon Palace The Grand Punta Cana, the first Dominican Republic resort from Mexico-based The Palace Company, is reported to have begun welcoming guests on June 1, 2026. It is one of the largest all-inclusive resorts in the Caribbean by room count, with 2,171 rooms. For anyone choosing a Punta Cana stay, the size is the headline, and it changes what questions are worth asking.
What the company announced
The Palace Company announced the project on July 28, 2025, in a release carried by Hotel Online. At that point it described a resort scheduled for early 2026 with 2,171 rooms, 66 percent of them with direct ocean views, arranged in two 18-story towers. The investment was put at more than 1.5 billion US dollars. The company counted 19 restaurants, bars and nightclubs combined, and expected more than 5,000 daily visitors through the grand lobby.
Gibran Chapur, chief executive of The Palace Company, called the project a game-changer for hospitality in the Caribbean. The announcement did not describe pools, a water park, golf or the spa, so those details come from later trade coverage and should be confirmed with the resort.
Reported opening
The original schedule said early 2026. Later reporting from Caribbean Magazine gives June 1, 2026 as the date guests were first welcomed, and Caribbean Journal in late August 2026 describes the resort as open. Those are trade sources, not the operator’s own booking page, so check the resort directly for what is operating on your dates. Large new resorts often open in phases, with some restaurants, pools or wings coming online after the first guests arrive.
Environment and staff housing
The announcement put weight on its environmental claims. The company said about 228,000 square meters of natural vegetation would be preserved, including 400 meters of protected mangrove, with elevated walkways leading guests to the beach. It said it plans to run the resort on renewable energy from 2027. Those are statements of intent from the operator and are not independently verified here, and the 2027 date is a plan, not a current fact.
The company also described Ciudad Palace, a planned community with 1,800 apartments, initially housing 4,000 employees and eventually more than 12,000 residents. Staff housing at this scale matters to guests because staffing levels are one of the things that decide whether a very large resort feels well run.
What size means for a guest
A resort of more than two thousand rooms behaves differently from a few hundred. Walking distances are longer, restaurant demand is higher and queues at peak meal times are a real question. Our guide to how many pools a resort needs offers a way to think about capacity, and a la carte reservations at all-inclusive resorts explains why booking dinners ahead matters more at the biggest properties.
Ask the resort for the things operators often leave out: the exact number of pools and restaurants open on your dates, how a la carte dining is allocated, and which charges are not included. The company did not publish an airport transfer time in its announcement, so use our look at how far from the airport your resort should be and Bavaro against Arena Gorda to judge where along the coast it sits.
Questions to put to the resort before you book
- Which restaurants, pools and towers are open on your exact dates, and is any construction still under way nearby?
- How are a la carte dinners reserved, how far ahead, and is there a limit per stay?
- What is the room category you are booking, and which tower and floor does it fall in?
- Which services carry an extra charge, and is there any mandatory fee not shown in the quoted rate?
How it fits into Punta Cana’s 2026
The opening lands in a busy year for the area. Punta Cana airport opened its expanded Terminal B on June 30, 2026, and Hyatt has confirmed an adults-only Secrets resort at Macao Beach, while Marriott’s W brand entered the category with W Punta Cana. More capacity at the airport and on the coast is useful context if you are comparing options, including what is worth leaving a Punta Cana resort for.
What we cannot tell you
This post does not give rates, a verified transfer time or a verified list of what is included in the room price, because the operator’s announcement did not publish them. It also does not rate the resort, since no independent review has been verified here. Treat the figures above as the operator’s published claims, and confirm anything that affects your booking with the resort in writing. For how we handle claims we cannot verify, see how we verify.
Sources: Hotel Online, July 28, 2025; Caribbean Magazine; Caribbean Journal.