Emotions All Inclusive Puerto Plata, Ascend Hotel Collection



About
Looking for a place to stay in Puerto Plata? Then look no further than Emotions by Hodelpa Playa Dorada, a romantic hotel that brings the best of Puerto Plata to your doorstep.
Emotions by Hodelpa Playa Dorada offers guests an array of room amenities including a flat screen TV, air conditioning, and a refrigerator, and getting online is possible, as free wifi is available.
The hotel offers 24 hour front desk, a concierge, and room service, to make your visit even more pleasant. The property also features a pool and free breakfast. Guests arriving by vehicle have access to free parking.
Travellers looking to enjoy some poutine can head to Le Petit Francois. Otherwise, you may want to check out a seafood restaurant such as Le Petit Francois, Ristorante Passatore, or Big Lee's Beach Bar.
Puerto Plata is also home to Carmen Factory Gift Shop, a popular history museum that is not too far from Emotions by Hodelpa Playa Dorada.
We’re sure you’ll enjoy your stay at Emotions by Hodelpa Playa Dorada as you experience everything Puerto Plata has to offer.
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The room is a good size, we would have liked to have a table with a couple of chairs, very comfortable beds and pillows, a proper bathroom and a television with enough channels. They must maintain and clean the air conditioning since it gives off a musty smell.
The buffet is varied although they have the same thing almost every day. It's not high quality but it's not bad either. We didn't like the desserts and juices at all because they are not natural and have a very artificial flavor.
The restaurants at night are always full and if you want to go with children it must be before 9pm, since they are not allowed at later times. The young woman at reservations usually does her best to find a table for guests and look for alternatives.
We want to make a special mention for Willy, somelier-waiter at the Oak restaurant, who showed great knowledge about wines-cavas-champagne, he was polite, attentive, friendly and a great etcetera of good qualities that are difficult to find in personnel in the service sector today. in day.
It should be noted that the vast majority of employees are pleasant and attentive to guests.
In conclusion, it is a good option for its quality-price ratio. We will be back.




My only negative comment is in the adult section only people who pay for building 12 and 13 have access to adult pool (orange towel) but regular guests (blue towel) sneak in and staff do not come by to tell often them they are not allowed. There was at one pint 2children that were in pool. I payed more for adult section so it would be nice to have more staff to come and check more often as last weekend half of the guests had blue towels in adult pool, just not fair for people who paid more and have no place to use the long chairs.
Thank you Emotions. I have a really nice stay and did not want to leave :-)



We had a 2 bedroom suite on the third floor of building 17. Both bedrooms were spacious with private bathrooms. The balcony overlooked the ocean. Building 17 was the closest to the Elite private pool and cabanas. I'd say the location was probably the best on the resort. Our microwave was missing, and the kitchen faucet was loose, but we didn't care since Emotions is an all-inclusive resort, there was not much need for either. It was nicely air conditioned with separate controls for each bedroom and the living area.
Beach
The beach was very clean. The ocean is so clear and the breakers only about knee-high. One can walk left or right from the resort for a long way. To the right, there is a coral reef that can be explored with snorkel equipment, and we saw many fish. Snorkel equipment can be bought for about $25. There is a snack bar with burgers, French fries, fried chicken, pizza, salad and drinks right on the beach. The passion fruit mojitos are terrific.
Food
There is a wide variety of great food available at the Ergo buffet every day. Dinner is available at the buffet or you can book a reservation at one of the on-resort restaurants. There is a great little coffee shop with made-to-order coffee drinks and deserts too. Room service is available 24 hours a day.
Elite Collection
We had the Elite Collection package, which provided access to some special areas, like the beach pool. This pool has its own deck with umbrellas, beach chairs, cabanas, private bath room, and bar. We greatly enjoyed this area. Elite status also provides access to the Opus bar, where top-shelf liquor was included, and the Amora gourmet restaurant and lounge.
Safety
Emotions is in a community of resorts in Playa Dorada. The community had a gate at the entrance to the whole area. Because of that, the whole area seemed safe, and we left our belonging at the Elite pool for hours with no issues. There were vendors on the beach, but it appears that they have to have a permit, so there were only a few, so we weren't bombarded by people trying to sell us stuff.
The most: small, very clean resort. Beautiful beach and bay, rarely seaweed. We had a room with a swim-out (clean and modern, but small - not much storage - the air conditioning worked well but as it is aimed at the beds it is difficult to manage at night - good pressure in the shower and always hot water). Very good Italian restaurant with wonderful personalized service, especially thanks to Justino. Too bad it’s the only good restaurant.
Cons: service: only 2 bars during the day: one on the beach and one next to the central swimming pool. You often have to wait 10-15 minutes to get a drink, because there is no server. If we have a glass of wine, at the table, they only add 2 sips,
Only 3 restaurants: a Dominican (nothing good for us) - a Mexican (good but lousy service - wait of an hour between the starter and the main course). Italian is wonderful, but going there 7 times in 2 weeks becomes redundant.
The buffet is OK but almost always the same. They wait until the dishes are empty to fill them. The snack on the beach is always, always, always the same: we help ourselves to hamburgers and hot dogs which sit for hours on the dishes when they are not empty - frozen pizza - a little lettuce - bones of chicken cooked hard, with rarely meat afterwards. So you won't die of hunger, but except in Italian (and Mexican restaurants without service), you won't have any pleasure in eating.
So it depends on what matters to you. Lots of Quebecers we met seemed to appreciate the resort, but we found that it wasn't worth more than a 3.5*. If you want to go to this resort, get a swim-out room. This is a must because the central swimming pool is noisy, full of children and it is very hot. The Adult section pool is barely larger than our swim-out pool for 4 rooms, although there are around 90 people. The chairs on the beach don't have umbrellas, so they are tightly packed under the trees. You have to shoot one yourself in the sun.
A plus is Rosa Vasquez from customer service, who helped with our room change after foul odors appeared there, probably due to a dead rodent in the ceiling. The front desk employees are not friendly. They don't answer calls and if a Spaniard comes, they only have it for themselves. They stop talking to us to chat with the Spanish and other employees.

State of our room: Upon arriving at our room, we quickly discovered two lights were not functioning, two outlets didn't work, both drawers in the nightstands had no bottoms, the showerhead was completely broken, snapped off at the handle(which was not fixed until the next afternoon), no remote for the TV. Right off the bat my wife and I looked at each other and questioned how often the rooms were maintained.
Food: Mediocre at best. I get it, it's an "all-inclusive"(see first sentence) so the buffet style restaurant so we expected it to have its ups and downs over the course of a week. But this was terrible, all four of us at one point or another became sick from the food and each from a different thing. Most of the meat was completely undercooked. The saving grace for us was the pizza and French fries. The Mexican restaurant on resort was also really nice, probably the best food there. Great atmosphere there.
Bars/Drinks: As mentioned, alot of drinks were +. There were no blenders at either of the two bars so getting a proper margarita/daquiri/dirty monkey or anything frozen was impossible. Bartenders were friendly enough, just not alot of variety
Housekeeping: Aside from being inconsistent in their arrivals(One day 7:45 am, next day not at all, day after 2:00pm), they did a wonderful job and were always friendly.
Pools were alright, fairly clean for the most part. They did water aerobic stuff twice a day with some funky music and the people leading the exercises were friendly and enthusiastic and seemed to enjoy leading the figurative charge. Pool area just got too loud more often than not, just in the sense of the music probably because it was a courtyard style, so the sound echoed through everywhere. Beach access was easy, and they were kept clean of kelp/seaweed. Strong undertow though, be careful!
If you're really budgeting and don't have any expectations then this resort is probably for you. If you've been to other all inclusive, I wouldn't recommend this because it was a massive step down from most in terms of quality and what you get from it. But due to the state of the room, the lack of true all-inclusiveness I don't think this will be a resort we return to.
The pool bar and the beach bar sometimes only has one person working it and the lines are crazy.
No self serve water stations, you will have to line up in the crazy lines.
Public washrooms run out of toilet paper, hand towels and soap. Stall doors are broken, both at the beach and at the pool. Again not enough staff to deal with the issues.
The interior of the rooms have all been updates and looks great. the exterior of the building are in an extreme need of repair.
The beach is clean but still has cups and items from the day before still at 10am. Again due to lack of staff. They provide cans for the smokers so they don't have to leave their butts everywhere in the sand which is great. and I see most smokers returning the cans to the holder they made for them when not in use. Awesome!!
For the price I think this hotel is good, but if it rains there isn't enough spots to stay dry. We were there during that major rain that flooded everything and they did everything to contain the water but there was just too much rain. Good job!! but you need places for people to go so they can stay dry.



Starting with the room, which was wonderful and with stunning views of Playa Dorada.
The different pools are very well maintained and clean, as well as the beach area, which can be considered heavenly.
I was very impressed by the decoration of the different rooms and restaurants of the hotel, each of them with its own personality, making you feel in a different place when you enter each one of them.
The facilities and gardens are very well maintained.
The food, both in the buffet restaurant and in the different theme restaurants, is of very good quality, everything is delicious, both the local dishes and the international cuisine. I highlight the Spanish dinner in which we felt like we were in our own country.
Dinner on the beach... an unforgettable experience.
They have a wide variety of drinks and cocktails, always very cold and prepared instantly.
Good number of activities so that you never get bored in the hotel and a sensational entertainment team. The foam party at the main pool was super fun.
The hotel team goes out of its way to make the client feel comfortable at all times and enjoy the experience, highlighting the friendliness and good treatment of Mrs. Carmen, Mr. Pablo, Juana, Alba and Junior, always with a smile and concerned because everything was great.
In short, an unbeatable place to which I will surely return.

Beach towels were not readily available usually waiting until after 4 PM for clean towels.
No hair dryer in the room the attachment was on the wall without a hairdryer.
I do give credit for entertainment. They always try to get everyone involved and there was variety..
We have been here before wanted to give them the 2nd chance.. there will not be a next time .



I was very afraid of being disappointed with all the negative reviews I had read before leaving.
But it was a very nice vacation and no disappointment.
First of all we were in block #18 near the sea with a swim-out, the pool area was lined with plants and trees so very intimate.
The site is very clean, every day several employees work hard to clean everything on the site. I have never seen any leftover dishes on the floor or other waste.
It's a small site, you can quickly get around it.
The rooms are correct without more or less. The towels were changed every day and the fridge stocked daily too.
Points that could be improved, there could be more umbrellas on the beach since there is little shade and there is no beverage service at the beach or pool. You have to go to the bar.
There is a pool bar and one on the beach.
We ate very well, I always found something diverse. There is a pasta bar and grill in addition to the buffet.
We tried the a la carte Mexican restaurant yumm!! The coffees at the little café are excellent as well as the iced coffees also free.
There is a wine bar if you want to buy some and the prices are affordable around 20us a bottle of white wine. I found the free wine acceptable.
If you want to leave the hotel, a 5-minute walk away you will find the Petit François restaurant. There are many Quebecers living nearby and you can taste a very good poutine and mojito. On Tuesday there are draws in the afternoon, the atmosphere was fun.
The Mykasa sushi restaurant is also a few minutes' walk away but towards the golf course, a real delight!!
I am very satisfied with this hotel overall and I would recommend it at a fair price (We paid 1600 with swim out) 😉

"Adult section was nice, no problem getting drinks at pool bar, left you clean beach towels in room daily. Plus, left alcohol in the room. "Read full review
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