Hodelpa Emotions Puerto Plata — Hotel in Puerto Plata

This all inclusive has a superior buffet restaurant and three very good a la Carte restaurants . The Mexican was our absolute favourite because of the soft tacos . My favourite was the shrimp which was so delectable and fresh . Junior will be remembered as the best waiter and greeter as well as sweet beautiful July . The waiters and waitresses switch around and work all of the restaurants including the Buffet . We experienced the wine bar with the marvellous Chemin who treated my friends and I like Queens . When you buy a bottle of wine - I chose 19 Crimes banished - delicious ; you are served delectable cheese , olives and garlic toast followed by whatever you want from any of the a la cart restaurants. We chose the beautiful salad from the Dominican restaurant because we were in love with the very unique light and flavourful dressing . We chose the main from the Mexican restaurant . Chemin went to each place and served the entire meal with the biggest smile you can imagine ! It was a delightful experience !!! We paid only for the wine !! Well worth it ! Another waiter we adored was Daniel . He was funny and so attentive . He is an A plus server as well ! You go without nothing . The ladies who looked after our room also went above and beyond . We had an excess of towels at all times - my friend has a thing about towels 😁😊Simply wonderful . The girls who work at the spa on the resort are also professionals. One of us had a facial and another reflexology . I cannot tell you how fabulous this was . An hour long relaxing session that was extremely beneficial for both of us . Up to the private rooftop infinity pool overlooking the resort and ocean . The furniture was made for comfort with cosy corners for those who sought privacy . We never used the public pools and jacuzzi because we had a swim out room and when we left our room we were steps away from the beach and Ocean . This was better than I could ever have imagined . The Ocean and salt air with a continuous strong wind is the best feeling ever !! The restaurant on the beach was great . Simple but the fried chicken was delicious! It behooves me to mention a few other staff members who are just excellent at what they do - Roberto who works the buffet and Romana . The girls who greet and seat you at the Buffet -so agreeable and always smiling !!! 🥰I must mention the coffee shop that serves every kind of coffee from expresso to caramel iced coffees smothered in whipped cream - and you can choose from a variety of pastries to go with it !!! The main gal who works there is so accommodating and sweet ! I highly recommend Emotions and pray they keep this incredible group of people !! We want to return for another two week trip . There is one complaint and it may matter to many people — they can’t make a proper drink . On two occasions my friend managed to get an okay Margarita but mostly she couldn’t drink them . We believe the alcohol is watered down and actually I understand as a family resort they might not want to encourage overindulgence but this whole scenario was pathetic . We bought a bottle of very good vodka at one of their Walmart like stores and made Caesars or vodka with club soda and real lime juice at our pool every afternoon instead . It’s worth a taxi ride to visit a couple of places where the locals shop . Your driver waits for you at every location . We bought coffee ,chocolate ,olives ,vanilla ,crackers ,coconut and snacks plus alcohol . The prices were great . I have said more than I intended but our experience was terrific and I like hearing what people have to say about their...

We just got back from 7 days here 1/23/24-1/29/24 and it was AWESOME!! The resort was beautiful, clean and safe. All the staff were very friendly and helpful. Their primary language is Spanish, but didn't have any issues communicating with anyone. Plus, I had Google translate as a back up. Never needed it! The drinks were delicious and as strong as you want them. The food was very good!! The dinner buffet also included 3 stations every night 1. Pasta 2. Pork chops/ chicken/ and/ or fish grilled fresh. 3. Different things.. roasted pork/ roasted chicken/ etc. Breakfast always had 2 omelet stations and a smoothie station. Our favorite night was chef's choice. The beach grill had hamburgers, hot dogs and ff everyday for lunch (so if you're not one to try new foods, you can always fill up there). There are also 4 restaurants, we only ate at the Italian one and it was really nice and great food. I truly loved the entire week!! Low was 70s (overnight), highs about 85. We left home with snow on the ground, so this was a great break! The beach is clean and wasn't ever overly crowded. Plenty of chairs, didn't pay attention to umbrellas because we were there for sun! Only downside is the constant people asking to sell you something, but everyone has to earn a living and they aren't pushy... just all day over and over. It's set up like a little town, with all the restaurants/ shops/ bars/ casino/ disco surrounding the pools. (We were at beach all day, every day so cannot review pools except to say they were clean, they have entertainment all day and there were a lot of umbrellas.) There was entertainment every night for both adults and kids. Some nights there were multiple shows. Dancing/ magic/karaoke and one we really found cool was a silent disco. Everyone was given headphones with 3 options, you can switch between the 3 as much as you want(rock, pop or Spanish). It was by the poolside bar and everyone was dancing and singing wth no music blaring. Was pretty great idea and they did the same for the kids the following night. They have batting cage/archery/ pickleball / beach and pool volleyball. The only 2 things that we felt we should mention for the resorts attention are: The buffet food was never hot and sometimes flat out cold. Eating cold fish is kinda gross. Except on the weekend, when everything was streaming hot. So maybe remind the kitchen staff to turn the heaters up every meal and have the chef remind them. The beach/ pool towel system doesn't really work. They give you 2 towels and tell you they will put 2 in your room everyday. Well, they only leave 2 clean ones if you leave 2 wet/ dirty ones. This is pretty hard to do when the cleaners were never in our rooms before noon and by then we were at the beach. It's not THAT big of a deal but nothing really dried out over night so it just would've been nice to get dry towels. Idk how this could be fixed except maybe giving double the towels to start. 🤷‍♀️ We cannot say enough about how much we enjoyed our stay at Emotions and would definitely recommend it to anyone. And we would definitely go back!!!! HUGE SHOUT OUT TO RAMONE at the pool bar!!! But no no no on...

Overall a Great Trip, but a Few Disappointments

We just returned from our stay at this resort and overall had a great time, though there were a few letdowns we wish we had known about beforehand.

We arrived on a Friday and caught the tail end of a pool foam party. The kids were thrilled and hoping to experience it again—but unfortunately, it only happens once a week on Fridays. Since we were leaving the following Friday afternoon, they missed out.

We chose this resort because of the variety of kid-friendly activities advertised. We traveled as a group of three adults and four children (ages 13, 12, and 9), and were especially looking forward to the teen club—which, sadly, doesn’t actually exist. That was a major disappointment.

On the plus side, because we went during the off-season, there was always plenty of space at the beach, pool, and buffet. However, the off-season also meant a limited experience when it came to dining. There were three à la carte restaurants: Dominican, Mexican, and Italian. We were most excited for the Mexican restaurant. When we met with Sebastian from Air Transat on Saturday, he gave us all the resort details. When we tried to book restaurants on Monday, we were told that all à la cartes are closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Big bummer. We were only able to book for Monday and Thursday, and the only one open those days was the Dominican restaurant. So we never got to try the Mexican or Italian spots.

Nightlife was minimal—again, likely due to the off-season. We were really looking forward to the silent disco on Thursday, our last night, and the kids were stoked—but it was canceled at the last minute, which was a letdown.

Despite all this, we did have a great time. The staff were amazing—especially Juan, who helped us with a seamless room switch when our AC wasn’t working properly. The safe in our new room never really worked, even after service, but it wasn’t a big issue for us.

Food was abundant and served warm, so no concerns about undercooked meals. That said, some items that should have been crispy (tempura crab or quesadillas) were soggy. We were surprised that there was no shrimp at any given meal. The beach was gorgeous, rooms were clean, although the bathrooms could use a bit of TLC (our sink was cracked).

One final tip: if you want to use the batting cages, soccer field, or archery, bring running shoes—they don’t tell you...