Emotions by Hodelpa Juan Dolio - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

5249 reviews

• 

  I had a great time!

  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.

  May 15, 2025
• 

  Disappointing Stay – Definitely Not a 4-Star Hotel

  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.

  May 12, 2025
• 

  Meh

  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.

  May 03, 2025
• 

  Good experience

  Yuleidi nos ayudó mucho jugó con los niños nos hizo el ambiente. OMG very good experience with her. I love her because is the first time somebody plays with the kids and she expend time in the beach with them. She is very good in her job. 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰 and Susan she is good too.

  May 02, 2025
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  Todo muy bien

  I like the moments that we had here we come back again thank's for everething i like the food the discotec the people that you have here working they are confortable the meke our vacation like home and i feel good playing with yuleidi and manuel y enmanuel

  Apr 23, 2025