Emotions by Hodelpa Juan Dolio

Great hidden spot. On the weekends it is very popular with locals with the main pools being very busy, but during the week it was quiet. We had a room with a swim up pool and loved it. The beach was clean and easy to walk out into the ocean. We saw a bunch of fish, dogs, cats and geckos. The staff were all friendly and willing to help if needed. Only person we could of cared less for is the guy trying to sell their vacation travel club, he was really rude and honestly it isn't worth the "90 minute" (it was over 2 hours) seminar for what you get, I'd skip it if I was to go again. The sellers on the beach for the most part leave if you tell them no, some keep trying but most are very friendly. The food was really good at the a la cartes were amazingly good. Italian was my favorite. The buffet was good, you could usually find something you like. The drinks were great and made strong. If you choose to go here pack lots of sunscreen, you'll need it!

At best we would give this hotel is a 3-star rating.|If you think travelling here during the off season is a good idea, think again. The hotel was flooded with people (specifically locals and maybe a handful of visitors). |The room was great, however we had to move (almost twice) due to water leaks - the first was from the toilet in the room above us, while the second came from the pipes under our sink, which no one ever came by to fix.|The pools were great, but they were enjoyed briefly due to construction (we understand it needs to happen everywhere, but we didn't plan to breathe in dust for an entire morning).|The food was decent - the buffet had variety, and the only good restaurant was the Italian one. |Only one person worked the front desk, which made checking-in and out, or asking any questions take a very long time.|The snack bar was not open 24/7 like they tell you when you first arrive.|You could almost never get bottled water. We would ask Housekeeping to send 6-8 bottles daily to our room in the morning. Bottled water was not offered at the bars, front desk, or the buffet.|Our TV didn't work work 48 hours (being on vacation we would never watch TV, however one of us got sick, so we figured while lying in bed the TV would be nice to have on).|It is a far from the airport (about a 2 hours).|We couldn't order room service, which was strange since we were willing to pay for it.|We are glad we travelled, but this destination is one we will more than likely never return to.

My first time at this hotel - but not the location (Juan Dolio). At first glance, the hotel is really nice; however, my personal experience was not. I arrived pretty late at the room due to airport check at customs (it seemed that there may have been at least two other flights arriving at the same time). Although there was a looooong wait, my transportation waited patiently - much appreciated! Once at the hotel, my first room was clean, but there was water leaking from the bathroom ceiling. It took many attempts for me to finally get someone to deal with this issue. Because it was Mother's Day on the Sunday and the hotel was quite busy, I was not able to get a non-leaky room until after 5 pm (originally I was told to come back at 12 pm). The second room was not a leaky room, BUT the A/C was not working correctly. By then, I just had to make the best of the trip as I was only there for a couple more days - and the last thing I wanted was to deal with any more room issues. All this room drama does not reflect the kindness and the absolute great service from the staff - not at all. Everyone was super nice and very eager to help.

For context, I stayed one week at this resort, as a solo female traveller from Canada, the very last week of April.||Pros:|- Overall, the whole staff is very welcoming and helpful. The breakfast crew in particular was super nice, Juan is the waiter I interacted with the most and from the first day he remembered how I liked my coffee and that I liked to start with a big glass of cold water, which he always made sure to bring to me every subsequent day. The animation staff was very nice too, special mention to Yuleidi and Susan for the stretching and aerobic sessions on the beach.|- My room was always very clean and the bed was extremely comfortable.|- I had booked an upgraded Essentia Swim Up room, which means that my room was in building number 1, the only building close to the beach, which was really nice and convenient (and also away from the noise of the main area). This also gave me access to a members only pool and jacuzzi decked area very close to the beach, with better quality chairs and big sunbeds. That spot was very nice and I spent a lot of time there, enjoying being at the same time very close to the ocean but not directly on the beach.|- The gym is good, it has a whole lot of different machines, the only thing missing for me was a squat rack and a couple of barbells, but all in all, it has pretty much everything you need to train cardio and strength.|- During my whole stay the resort was at least half empty. There were a bit more people on the Saturday and Sunday but even then, you couldn't say it was much of a crowd. Given that I was taking this vacation to disconnect and relax, I really enjoyed that.||Neutral:|- The beach itself is ok but not mindblowing. The swimming area is pretty small, there's a lot of seaweed and all around the resort there's construction or half abandonned spaces, so although I took many walks along the shore, I can't say the scenery was great.|- The "Elite" salespeople will jump on you the minute you arrive and try to corner you into attending their presentation to sell you their scam timeshare. Since I had already gone through that at a previous DR resort, I knew what it was so I started by politely declining and when they became more insisting, I had to be a little bit firmer and tell them I knew the salespitch and I had no intention of wasting 3 hours of my time listening to it since I had no intention of buying anything. After that they pretty much ignored me for the rest of the week.|- Rooms are a bit worn down and in need of some renovation|- The coffee shop is nice and has good coffee based drinks but most of their pastries are horribly stale (exception being the mini muffins and the cookies).||Cons:|- The food. Honestly, this is not worthy of a 4 star resort. Not that it was terrible, but it wasn't good either.|The breakfast buffet was ok, mostly because of the on-demand omelet station, but most of the food on the buffet was barely warm, the bread and pastries felt stale, choice of cereal was super limited and for several days it seemed impossible to get simple plain yogurt. On top of that, except for the Saturday and Sunday, the outside dining area was cordonned off and everyone was forced to eat inside, even though the outside tables were all set.|The a la carte restaurants were ok-ish, food quality was a bit better, especially at the Dominican and Mexican restaurants, but food portions were pretty small and as many reviews point out, out of the 4 a la carte restaurants, only one or two are open each night and you have to fight with the damn app to get a reservation the day before.|The beach snack bar was probably the most disappointing of all, basically just burgers, hot dogs and nachos, not a single healthy-ish option, not even fruits. Also, as someone who didn't plan to just get hammered by drinking alcohol all day, I would have appreciated having some nicer options for non alcoholic drinks.|- As I mentioned, I had booked an Essentia Swim Up room, which meant I had a semi-private pool just outside my room (shared only with the other rooms on my floor, so maybe 8 or 10 I'd say). The problem is that pool is in the shade pretty much all day, so the water is cold and you can't even enjoy the privacy and calm to suntan, because there is no sun there. As much I as I feel the upgrade to Essentia was worth the money, the additional Swim Up option clearly wasn't.|- The person in charge of selling extra tour/activity packages (I can't remember his name) was extremely rude, pushy and scammed me on the exchange rate (all the prices are shown in USD, but I had converted CADs to Dominican Pesos before travelling and was paying everything in the local currency).|- The hotel is an hour and a half away from the Punta Cana airport by car. I think it's much closer to the La Romana airport, but if you're arriving in Punta Cana, be prepared for a long trip in and out.|- Finally, as a woman travelling on her own, it was really uncomfortable being constantly hit on by some of the male staff. I never felt threatened or unsafe, but it was really tiring having the conversation over and over again about how "yes, I have a husband (which I don't, but it was the easiest way to get out of it) and yes I am faithful to him and no I'm not interested in doing anything with you".||All in all, I did have a mostly pleasant stay, but the overall quality of the resort is clearly not on par with a 4 stars hotel. If I come back to the DR, I don't think I'll come back to this specific hotel.

Loved the place. The beach is beautiful, drinks are good and food is not bad. Activities are great, of the animation department, Susan, Juleidy and Emmanuel were the best dance instructors 🙏. |Love the place and I will com back. |And the price was not bad at all.

I have no idea where these good reviews are coming from, but clearly this isn’t a 4-star hotel. At best, it’s a bad 3-star – and that’s being generous.||Let’s start with the atmosphere: the place felt like a ghost hotel. There was barely any animation or entertainment, which made the stay incredibly dull. If you're expecting vibrant all-inclusive fun, this isn’t it.||The food? Genuinely awful. Repetitive, bland, and poorly prepared. I often found uncooked meat, stale bread, and old croissants and cakes that had clearly been reused day after day. Desserts were unimaginative and always the same – boring and forgettable. Fruits were extremely limited: melon, papaya, and pineapple were all they ever had. The snack bar was even worse – it barely had anything available during weekdays, and when it did, the food was low quality and far from fresh. Fries weren’t even properly made. Things slightly improved over the weekend when locals checked in, but the bar was still set very low.||The coffee – awful. One of the worst I’ve had at any resort. And speaking of coffee, there’s no in-room kettle, and not even a self-serve station with water, tea, or coffee anywhere outside of meal times. Completely unacceptable for an "all-inclusive" experience.||The pool was dirty and cloudy I didn’t dare use it once. It looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in days. Meanwhile, the nicest facilities (the beachfront pool, Jacuzzi, and stylish bar you see in the hotel photos) are only for VIP members. Regular guests are strictly forbidden from using them. That felt misleading and very disappointing.||There’s only one buffet restaurant and just one à la carte dinner allowed per day – if you’re lucky enough to book it. I never managed to get a reservation, which made dining even more frustrating.||Service throughout the hotel was slow and unenthusiastic. Staff often seemed unhappy or uninterested. When I reported that the fridge in my room (which I needed for medication) was broken, I had to go to reception three separate times to get it fixed.||Lastly, the location itself isn’t great. There’s not much going on in the area, no decent shops, no atmosphere. It felt isolated and boring – not a place I’d ever return to.||In short, this was a hugely disappointing stay. I absolutely do not recommend Emotions All Inclusive Juan Dolio. There are far better options out there for your money and your time.

Overall an OK place to stay with lots of beach area and plenty of recliners. My main reason for the poor rating is the room condition. 1) bathroom ceiling had a small drip leak at checkin that was never fixed. 2) toilet did not work on check in 3) housekeeper (or someone) left an open beer in my room 4) water stopped working on the day I was leaving. 5) water was not warm Overall this is kinda a lipstick on a pig scenario. My building needed a renovation. The bed itself was comfy and the AC worked well (but was very dirty and could see the mold in it). The buffet was average food everything tastes similar eventually. They at least try to switch things up. Ice cream is a bit icy. Overall, the service from the people is good and it's only a few min walk across the street to the beach. Pools looked nice but didn't use!

The air conditioning in our room was broken the whole week were there. Promises to fix it were not followed through with by the staff. The bedding, closet and chest of drawers were all damp. Our clothing became damp and smelled musty. The bathroom had a constant leak from the ceiling. We got horribly sick as did our friends. Mold perhaps? We do not recommend this resort.