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About
4.5
#1 of 2 all-inclusives in Juan Dolio
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Value
See why so many travellers make Emotions by Hodelpa their all-inclusive resort of choice when visiting Juan Dolio. Providing an ideal mix of value, comfort and convenience, it offers a romantic setting with an array of amenities designed for travellers like you.
The rooms offer a flat screen TV, air conditioning, and a refrigerator, and getting online is possible, as free internet access is available, allowing you to rest and refresh with ease.
Emotions by Hodelpa features 24 hour front desk, room service, and a concierge. In addition, as a valued Emotions by Hodelpa guest, you can enjoy a pool and free breakfast that are available on-site. Guests arriving by vehicle have access to free parking.
During your visit, be sure to check out one of Juan Dolio's popular shrimp restaurants such as El Meson and Sal Marina Restaurant, all a short distance from Emotions by Hodelpa.
We’re sure you’ll enjoy your stay at Emotions by Hodelpa as you experience all of the things Juan Dolio has to offer.
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to Giata.
Emotions All Inclusive Juan Dolio, Ascend Hotel Collection
4,881 reviews
Getting there
Car recommended
Places to stay are graded on a 0-100 scale. The higher the grade, the easier it is for travellers to find restaurants and things to do within walking distance.
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The Emotions All Inclusive Juan Dolio, Ascend Hotel Collection, garners praise for its clean facilities and the friendliness of its staff, as noted by a number of guests. While situated in an area that offers a local vibe, some visitors have expressed concerns regarding the distance from the airport and unreliable local Sunwing representatives.
Opinions on value and amenities are mixed, with complaints about overpricing and inconsistent room service, yet the beach and food services have been commended. The lively atmosphere, featuring persistent loud music, has been a point of contention, impacting the tranquility of stays for several guests.
Location
Remote
Atmosphere
Rowdy
Rooms
Dated
Value
Pricey
Cleanliness
Meticulous
Service
Friendly
Amenities
Underwhelming
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My wife & I & two teenage girls stayed here for a week Jan 1-8 and we had a great time. We did not pay for 5 star and did not expect 5 star. Our room was ok; matress was not great; no complaints about cleaning staff. the buffets were great and a couple of the al a carte restaurants were good; don’t bother with mexican or asian ones. The beach was fine. The staff were mostly great. We saw in reviews that weekends are busy with local guests so we used hotel points to get a nice room in Santo Domingo Saturday night, which was a great way to break up the week; $60us each way by taxi; old city colonial zone is awesome. At the resort Our girls enjoyed bargaining with the beach vendors whom we found to be polite and not too pushy; if you are not interested and show respect they will kindly leave you alone. Their prices and a good deal if you take the time to negotiate. Likewise with vendors in Juan Dolio to the west of the resort; just walk a half mile or so and you will find some nice things available - we enjoyed Francesco. It is great if you want a smaller resort with fewer rowdy partiers and more reasonable beach entertainment (not too loud or annoying). We will definitely consider coming back.
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Date of stay: January 2020Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from emotionsjd, Guest Relations Manager at Emotions All Inclusive Juan Dolio, Ascend Hotel Collection
Responded Jan 31, 2020
Dear Mr. Aerchean, Thanks so much for your precious time and posting your experience with us, your comments help us to improve our services. it´s a pleasure for us to serve you. Regards. Emotions Customer Satisfaction.
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I am a little late in posting this; I was at the resort from January 25 to February 1/2020 however I figured it wasn't too late to voice my opinions. The resort was very nice. The grounds were lovely and the rooms were fine: clean and well attended to each day but the water tended to go from cold to scalding during our showers...nothing too serious, we just had to be careful . The ala cart restaurants were great but you need to line up early to get a reservation and you can only book for 2 days at a time. We tried each of them and the Mexican was our favorite so we went there twice. The buffets were ok but I strongly suggest you sit inside as you will get NO service if you sit in the open air areas. Seriously, we had to almost beg for coffee in the morning if we chose to sit outside but inside was perfectly fine. We travelled with a group of 18 and were put in buildings 9 & 10 which are at the very back of the resort and furthest from the beach but we had a beautiful large pool and a nice little bar just outside of our room so we were happy with our location. Luz (I think that was her name) at the bar was very friendly and never stopped. Rarely ever had to wait to get a drink. We booked through Transat and our rep, Speedy, was great. The beach area was a little too crowded for my liking so our group found a nice little spot on the other side of the roped off edge of the property which was perfect for us. There was a waitress that brought our drink orders right to us...she was fantastic. Again, not sure of her name but it was something like Amenetia (sp). We tipped well for the great service she provided. The one BIG negative I want to be sure and mention was that the area that our rooms were in were for the Bravo Club, which I believe is a Sunwing thing, and the head lady, Peppa I think her name was, was a tyrant. It seemed like her mission was to ruin everyone's vacation. She had no reason to be as miserable as she was. It made it very uncomfortable for everone. We did complain and were told by two of the staff that she was crazy and they had had many complaints about her. All in all we had great weather, good food and a lot of fun!!
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Date of stay: January 2020
Rooms
Location
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from emotionsjd, Guest Relations Manager at Emotions All Inclusive Juan Dolio, Ascend Hotel Collection
Responded Feb 29, 2020
Dear stansmomma, We want to thank you for taking a minute of your time and expressing about your experience with us, we are glad that you enjoyed the facilities, activities and services in general, we are sorry to hear about the buffet services and at bravo club area, we are working to improve our services, We hope you will be back soon!! Greetings, Emotions Customer Satisfaction
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We especially loved Angela, our housekeeper in the #9 housing units. She was friendly, helpful and went totally out of her way to help us in any way possible. She was FANTASTIC! The resort has OK buffet restaurants and good reservation restaurants. Around the pools they need to create a separate outdoor patio smoking area so everyone doesn't need to inhale everyone else's smoke. The family also appreciated that the coffee shop opens at 8:00 am vice 9:00 am as it did the year before, and don't leave any of your luggage on the floor - there are cockroaches (like all Caribbean resorts) but they're small and don't climb very well, so keeping all your stuff off the floor will take care of that problem.
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Date of stay: December 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from emotionsjd, Guest Relations Manager at Emotions All Inclusive Juan Dolio, Ascend Hotel Collection
Responded Jan 27, 2020
Dear terrywong101, Thank you for choosing Emotions and rate us 4/5. We are glad to know you liked your housekeeper Angela and our customer services. Thank you for your suggestions and for noticing the changes we have made to be better for you. We are looking forward to see you soon! Warm regards, Emotions Customer Satisfaction Management
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We were 5 couples with reservations for two nights. The resort is beautiful and very very clean. My low score is because I did not get a room until 5:00. When I did get a room it had no towels, no working safe, no working outlet next to bed and no working controller for air conditioner. We called maintenance and they hung up on us. We went to front desk and while they did say they would send towels to the room they didn’t seem to care there was an issue. At 9:00 when we returned to the room maintenance showed up to fix safe. The sage had a bad panel so could not be repaired. We asked him to call maintenance about the A/C controller and outlet. He did and people came. We were ultimately given a new remote for A/C. At 11:00 we asked other man working on outlet to come back next day so we could go to bed. He did and it was fixed Food: because we were checked in to rooms so late we could not make restaurant reservations for our first night. We went to buffet! OMG, food was horrible as was the wine.
We did find the breakfast and lunch buffets were more to our liking. There is a very good salad bar. We did dine in Amici, the Italian restaurant our second night. Several of us ordered wine but could not drink it, very poor quality. The food, though not hot was delicious. The Tuscan soup was excellent. We would not return to this facility.
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Date of stay: January 2020Trip type: Travelled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from emotionsjd, Guest Relations Manager at Emotions All Inclusive Juan Dolio, Ascend Hotel Collection
Responded Jan 30, 2020
Dear kimv56, Thank you for choosing us. We are glad that you enjoyed our Amici Restaurant, especially the Tuscan soup. We apologize for the inconvenience you had when receiving your room. We appreciate that you have shared your experience, we will be working on improvements to provide you with an exceptional service in your next stay at the facilities. Cordial greetings, Emotions Customer Satisfaction Management
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We enjoyed our vacation at Emotions, as the weather was super hot and we enjoyed our company. The resort grounds were beautiful and the beach was perfect. The employees for the most part were hard working and pleasant. Guerimo Pena from the beach buffet was always a smiling face who works incredibly hard keeping the food available. Only 1 pool available to us, as we were not part of an upgrade, and this was the activity pool which was usually quite busy. Towels were an issue, as sometimes your room was cleaned, but towels were taken and not replaced. A la cartes were really good, while the buffets lacked at times, especially supper hour. A safe place for families. Overall, we’d rate this resort 3.5
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Date of stay: December 2019Trip type: Travelled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from emotionsjd, Guest Relations Manager at Emotions All Inclusive Juan Dolio, Ascend Hotel Collection
Responded Jan 28, 2020
Dear AngelaA1974, Thank you for choosing us as you Christmas vacation destination. We are glad to read you enjoyed our weather, beautiful grounds, beach, friendly staff and a la carts restaurants. We are sorry for the inconvenience you had during your stay with the towel replacements, we have made the adjustments so, situations like this do not happen again. We look forward to a next visit from you! Best wishes, Emotions Customer Satisfaction Management
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Emotions was everything I needed for my solo vacation weekend and more. The location right on a large, clean private beach was incredible, with food/drinks/snacks/entertainment available right there. Although the rooms weren't in perfect condition, the rest of the facilities and the friendliness and accommodation from the staff more than compensated for it. Everyone went out of their way to make me feel comfortable, and remembered my name. Food was great, with a ton of variety and multiple restaurants, and the drinks were amazing too. I loved the coffee shop right by the pool, and the drink and snack bar right on the beach. Will definitely return on my next trip!
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Date of stay: January 2020
Value
Location
Service
Room Tip:Adults-only rooms have balcony with view of pool, but can be loud at night because near the...
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from emotionsjd, Guest Relations Manager at Emotions All Inclusive Juan Dolio, Ascend Hotel Collection
Responded Jan 30, 2020
Dear Solotraveler3930, Thanks for sharing your experience with us, we will be looking forward to your visit once again. Regards, Emotions Customer Satisfaction.
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We traveled as a couple along with 3 other couples and 3 single males for a week. Like any resorts it has its pros and cons but for us the pros outweighed the cons. We were in a swim up room which included the use of the main pool and another pool by the beach. One thing about this resort is there are too many different groups/levels which results in many areas being restricted. VIP group, Bravo group (only ones able to use pool with yellow chairs) and the adults only pool. It becomes confusing that there are so many levels and many areas you can't access if you have a regular room (the others we traveled with did). An example is if you have a regular room you can only access one of the four pools. Seems a little over kill on the up graded packages. Services was average but met out needs. More of a language barrier than you will see in Cuba. Bar was only stocked with the basics so no fun shots, just rum, vodka etc. Male members of the staff will hit on females, calling them beautiful, hot, sexy etc. Venders on the beach and set up on the resorts are very aggressive and relentless. You truly just have to ignore them or say no thank you and they will move on. They had an odd rule of not allowing drinks in the pool, you weren't even allowed to sit on the side with your legs with a plastic cup in hand. We found this really odd, as we had never experienced this down south before. Rooms were nice, in good condition and clean. Cleaning ladies were very nice and room was always cleaned in a timely manner. Wifi worked but was slow, enough to check in on things back home which was fine with us. The resort is very small, short walk to the beaches, pools, bars, buffet. Beach and pool were both not crowded which is very important for us. Most days we weren't up until 8:30-9am and had no issues getting a chair in the shade. Food was good, always able to find something to eat. The animation team was a lot of fun and definitely made our trip more fun/memorable. The MJ show was great. We definitely would stay here again.
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Date of stay: January 2020
Value
Location
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from emotionsjd, Guest Relations Manager at Emotions All Inclusive Juan Dolio, Ascend Hotel Collection
Responded Feb 10, 2020
Dear noraweatherbee, Thanks so much for your precious time and posting your experience with us, your comments help us to improve our services. it´s a pleasure for us to serve you, we are sorry to hear about the males of our staff hitting on females we work on this in order to avoid this kind of situations. Regards. Emotions Customer Satisfaction.
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We went to Republic Dominican for the first time, i am spanish speaking and know the culture and the people of the Caribbean as much, as a good traveller around the world, we both know the best and the odd of a hotel. I chose Emotions for the location near Santo Domingo, which it was further than thought.. Anyways, over all the hotel is a small resort well located with a beautiful beach, rooms are clean but updated and infested with mosquitos everywhere you go, the personnel is very attentive and gracious but it lacks of professionality, including the reception staff, concierge and even the food and beverage manager. The rooms are located in 8 different building blocks surrounded by very well kept gardens and ponds but the noise day and night it is unbearable, they have two entertainment groups, one call Bravo, arrogant, unfriendly and noise people and the local, also unfriendly, fake and noisy, the music is so loud everywhere that you can not relax at all. The worse part of this hotel is the so call Buffet and Restaurants a la carte... what a joke!! The cooks were masks under their noses, and they stick their fingers into the soup pot to make sure is hot, they have no class whatsoever and the food is horrible, we both got sick with contaminated food, perfect place to loose weight, and by the way, they have no idea about food and beverage , the barman serves wine in a cognac glass and bears in a white wine glass, a real disaster. The hotel lacks of profetional training to its employees and reflects on the customers. My advice, avoid this hotel unless you are a party guy who only wants to have fun.
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Date of stay: March 2022
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Room Tip:all rooms are noisy
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Rossanna Noyola, General Manager at Emotions All Inclusive Juan Dolio, Ascend Hotel Collection
Responded Mar 27, 2022
Dear videotrom, We really appreciate you have taken a minute of your value time in order to let us know about your experience while staying with us, your comments are very important to us because they help us to continue improving our services and facilities. we will manage the issue you mentioned about the lack of professionality of our staff as we have never had this type of situation or feedback on professionalism of our employees, On the other hand, it is important to know if you have ever approached us to report each of these issues and give us the opportunity to correct or verify it on the spot and change your general perception.Regards, Emotions Team
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I’m giving this hotel a 3 out of 5 because some of the things that happened to me . I Want to start from when I made the reservation, I choose 1 room, 1 adult + 1 child when I get my confirmation email I realized that it only said 1 room and 1 adult , not the child, immediately I called trip advisor to let them know that my child wasn’t in the confirmation... the Agent called the hotel staff and told them to add the child which supposedly they did and that I had to pay extra for adding the kid, because for some reason the rate changed.. I had a screenshot of the price for the 1 adult + 1 child, but ok I was willing to pay the difference.., I get to the hotel to check in and my child was never added to the reservation and they were charging me more than what I paid for myself because they claimed that the rate was higher.. I was furious. The receptionist didn’t try to help I was talking back and forth to him about the price and basically laughed in my face telling me that if I would had had the room my sister got,I would had to pay more money. We were a big group and everyone had different room and location. Obviously we didn’t fit all in one, I was last, and porter told me to walk because my room was very close which was true , but that was very disrespectful especially cus it was on a third floor. I had a family room it was nice clean, AC worked fine, beds were comfortable. I didn’t like the beach at all was really rough and full of seed weed but I don’t think that’s the hotel fault. The foods were good but some days the lunch and dinner were basically the same except the Dominican night. They have paper napkins and u get just 2 unless u ask for more . I was expecting cloth napkins. They need more staff in the restaurant cus u need to wait so long for your drinks and for the utensils. They need to do a better job with the restaurant staff some were kinda of rude but then it might just be to much for them The bathroom around the pool area were so disgusting smell so bad, they should have a cleaning person at least every hour to keep it clean. The bartenders were very friendly and quick. Now my favorite thing from the hotel is the entertainment.. from the aerobics in the pool and the kids game to the entertainment at night were just perfect I will them a 5 stars.. it was good for all ages, love the beach party, magic show, Dominican show 👌 I feel like the Hotel has the quality to do so much better they just need better management.
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Date of stay: December 2019Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from emotionsjd, Guest Relations Manager at Emotions All Inclusive Juan Dolio, Ascend Hotel Collection
Responded Jan 27, 2020
Dear 302gisetter, Thank you for choosing Emotions as your holiday destination. We are happy to read you enjoyed our cleanness rooms, entertainment and customer services. We always take in great consideration all the remarks made by our guests and your description of your last experience is very useful. We look forward to having you again with us, we are going to work on a few improvements around the different areas and will be more than happy to see you again! Best wishes, Emotions Customer Satisfaction Management
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This trip seemed to be on the rocks till Laikin Ng and Jose from Sunwing worked with us to remedy the problems. With her help the issues with the room were being solved. It seemed we were losing things in translation with the front desk. The Bell boy Hector help us getting in, moving rooms, and checking out. The room was cleaned every day and I would see them mopping every day. If Sunwing invites you to a BBQ, go the food was incredible and everything on that beach buffet was that tasty. The food items were not on the buffet. We did not spend any time at the pool all time was at the white sand beach. The service people made our trip. At Ola Lola the two Juan’s we great bartenders that Juan Antionio and Juan Gilberto. At the Buffet Ergo were we spent our breakfast and lunches Orlando, Domingo, and Manuel busted their butts and kept the coffee cup full, drinks on our table, and they attended to us excellently. The omelette station was great and he (did not wear name tag big guy in all black there every day) would remember our order. At lunch Adriano would make great pasta. All the a la carts were good but the one that stuck out the best was the Oregano Dominican restaurant the goat stew we had to go back for a second time. The Coffee shop was great too. I would not recommend this but I mentioned that I was not interested in coming back because of them (even though I will come back), they did not bug me at all after that. At the Beach, this is where it pays off to have the thermal cup, there was not beach service. But the drinks were still great from Ola Lola. Thank to all who made this trip so memorable.
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Date of stay: February 2020Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from emotionsjd, Guest Relations Manager at Emotions All Inclusive Juan Dolio, Ascend Hotel Collection
Responded Feb 25, 2020
Dear RaineilC, We want to thank you for taking a minute of your time and expressing about your experience with us, we are glad that you enjoyed our facilities and services in general. we will extend your mention to the animation, restaurants and bar management. We hope you will be back soon!! Greetings, Emotions Customer Satisfaction
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There are more places to choose from in the Juan Dolio area.
PRICE RANGE
C$211 - C$339 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
LOCATION
CaribbeanDominican RepublicSan Pedro de Macoris ProvinceJuan Dolio
NUMBER OF ROOMS
336
Prices are the average nightly price provided by our partners and may not include all taxes and fees. Taxes and fees that are shown are estimates only. Please see our partners for more details.
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Does Emotions All Inclusive Juan Dolio, Ascend Hotel Collection have airport transportation?
Yes, Emotions All Inclusive Juan Dolio, Ascend Hotel Collection offers airport transportation for guests. We recommend calling ahead to confirm details.
