Be Live Experience Hamaca Garden: Not so impress

We stayed at the hamaca garden be live experience for a week. We were kind of disappointed with the hotel. It is worn out. The personal was not so friendly and kind of didn't really care to help. I have to say that the food was good and the rooms were clean. I have no complaints on that. But the photos on the site are a little too pretty. The white of the walls isn't so sharp anymore. A lot of cracks , the pools have a lot of potentiel but the rocks are falling a part. We didn't swim in the ocea [... read more]n once and didn't have the chance to be at the beach too crowded and the sea smelled bad. Plus on the right side of the resort what you don't see on the pictures, there is a big industrial factory of some kind. Not so relaxing and breathtaking. Plus the nice restaurant that you see on wooden beams flotting on top of the water well it's not technically part of the hotel so you have to pay to go there and they have there nice beach with comfy chairs the ones you see on the pictures. The beach is very small and the sand is dirty. Plus the garden view rooms are on the other side of the road not connected to the main hotel and there was a lot of construction right behind are rooms. Not fun to wake up by construction pounding on vacation at 7ham ... our air conditioning leaked on all of my clothes in the wardrobe and the toilet was blocked when we got there. So over all pretty expensive for what we had. Really disappointed!

Be Live Experience Hamaca Suites: Good if you keep your expectations in check

I was very disappointed when we arrived to find out there is a new side and an old side both with garden and pool sides. We were put on the older side, which as we heard later was not so bad. The rooms aren't great on either side, but keeping in mind you aren't paying to stay in your hotel room, the resort outside of the rooms was nice. The beach sucks but the entertainment was ok and most of the staff are awesome.

Essentia by Emotions: Uneven experience....

We've just returned from a week away at Emotions by Hodelpa. We'd decided to upgrade to the Essentia VIP accommodations which offered massage and tour bonuses...as well as beach front rooms. Everything was in place for a perfect vacation... Unfortunately, we found the service to be uneven and the facilities not always kept as clean as they should've been. We became especially frustrated at the number of staff that were more attentive to their personal devices than to the hotel guests. We of [... read more]ten found ourselves waiting for cutlery or coffee in the morning while they texted or talked on their phones just out of plain sight. This resort would benefit greatly from one or two quality control supervisors walking the property each day....

Essentia by Emotions: Nice Resort

The resort is nice, the beach is huge. The service is excellent. The food is okay, you could always find something to eat but it was the same thing everyday. Juan Dolio is very remote so it was hard to find any half day tours. There are many abandoned buildings, resorts and condos in the area. No shopping at all unless you wanted to travel to Santa Domingo.

Essentia by Emotions: Not Worth The Money

We stayed at the Essentia Section VIP. The rooms have 2 beds in them not sure why. Lots of kids on the VIP side. Bathrooms have 2 sinks no space for your personal items. Beach buffet staff don't give you water or silverware they just ignore you. The food is ok. The place is understaffed and running on cheap budget and it shows. VIP pool small.

Essentia by Emotions: Frendly plus

This resort was clean, and the food was excellent. There was a huge variety in the buffet restaurants. The staff was more then friendly, and although they were short staffed some of the time, there was very little waiting time. The rooms were nicely kept, and clean. The beach was kept clean of seaweed, and went on forever.

Be Live Experience Hamaca Suites: Very impressed

After reading reviews about this resort was somewhat concerned. Only have good things to say about this place. Staff are always welcoming and happy to make your stay enjoyable. Place is very clean. food is great and weather was good. A+++ in my book. And Michelle at trip central was extremely helpful. Thanks again!

Be Live Experience Hamaca Suites: Some Good, Some Bad

OK: Lets break this down: Food: We thought the food was great as was the all of the dining staff. We were there for two weeks and never tired of it. Great variety, great deserts, chap who serves the eggs in the morning is an artist. Beach: I’m thinking - Chair Wars. Too many people for such a small beach. Oh and don’t think just because you left your towel and belonging on your char they are safe… certain guests didn’t seem to hesitate to toss your stuff and claim your chair. (Ne [... read more]ver a Canadian of course).But the beach was nice, maybe too calm and shallow for all likes. The water was clear. Pools: They should buy a skimmer and put it in the pool over night. Either that or catch all the birds flying around and put tiny diapers on them. In spite of the poo and the drowning bugs it was an enjoyable pool. Entertainment and animation: Tough job at the best of times, but not an area I was too concerned with. (sorry) Let’s say it wasn’t bad. Bar staff: Excellent. 10/10 Rooms: Well, we were in the older building with a garden view. The room had issues which could have been easily and very inexpensively repaired, and it’s obvious that their service staff are in dire need of training and/or resources. For the amount of time we spent in the room, and the price we paid, we can live with it. Internet: Forget about it. Every dollar spent is a dollar wasted, and forget about the ‘free’ internet. It’s only available near the beach, and when I say available I mean only theoretically. Walk up to the corner, of the main street, pay the lady at the corner $5(US) and get a G4 SIM card with 500MB, (more if you want ) if that is an option for you. This is one of the sore spots that if I let it, could have ruined my vacation. There is NO excuse for bad internet in 2017. And for some of us, staying connected is the only thing that make vacationing possible. Service(Front) Desk personnel. Fire the whole bunch of them. As I would give the kitchen staff a 10/10 I would give these people 1/10. They must be related to the owners. Fortunately after check in, you can forget about them (if you’re lucky)

Essentia by Emotions: Afew issues that can be resolved

My husband and I just returned afew days ago from a two week stay at the Essentia Club Section.We had booked a swin out room for the two weeks. We arrived about 1.30pm to check in. Rooms were not ready yet. Finally, at 5.pm we were told our room was ready but there was no swim out room available. They put us in a room on the Essentia side. There was some issues with the room so we asked to be moved to another room. The following day still no swin out room,so they moved us again to a garden view  [... read more]room until a swin out room was available. Customer service rep told us the resort was full and rooms were overbooked. Not sure how that happened as the resort should know how many rooms they have, and how many guests will be arriving. Finally, at the end of our first week our swim out room was available. Not sure if this is a transat or a resort problem or both. There needs to be more communication between the resort and transat to solve the over booking problem. Over all, the resort was nice Rooms were clean and modern decor,comfortable and spacious.Fridge,safe,coffee maker,house coat in room.Hot water and AC was good. Staff was friendly and helpful( short staff at the buffets, they were owerwhelmed with a full resort they could not keep up with adequate service. Beach was nice,cleaned daily Private pool(Essentia guests ( would be better if the pool was adult only) Problem with guests that sat in the V.I.P. section that did not pay for the service Buffets, snack bar and al la carts average. If you are thinking about booking this resort I would recommend staying on the Essentia Club side. Great location for everything. This is not the best trip ever,so dont know if we would return to this resort. We would give this resort a 3.5*

Be Live Experience Hamaca Suites: Horror

2 stars only very bad place not wort the money bad food .rooms in the garden site only 1 star .you need to pay for towel 20 us dolars.No room in the swimming pools site after 7 am nnnnnnnnbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb bbbbbbbbbb b

Be Live Experience Hamaca Suites: What you get not what you see!

Hello..just returned from our first holiday together at the Be live Garden in Bocha Chia ..here we go...one thing I will say is particular staff on the beach side of the hotel were amazing and helped to make many of our disappointments better..Ty RAPHEAL AND ELVIS ESPECIALLY for going above and beyond you guys rock!! Food at hotel was surprisingly good ESPECIALLY the Italian restaurant yummy!! Now our disappointments were plentiful..there was no games room with pool table or darts etc as advert [... read more]ised and We are advid players of both 😞. All the beautiful pictures that depicted the resort amenities were of the Vip areas only and were not included for our access..in addition the hotel does not advertise the set up of the hotels properly meaning the buffet is on the garden side and is accessed by guests from all 3 hotels which are a distance between one another and this makes for overcrowded space when wanting to eat.. The snack bar would close and was said to be 24hours maybe Dominicans 24hour clock is broke !!!! How about some beer in our room fridge as promised daily but NO had to buy our own.. Fortunately our room amenities all worked and We were fine with our room however many guests who paid for suites or upgrades had many non working facilities in their rooms just be aware..over all great trip with the man I love but I have never been to a resort where there was so many false promises and the gift tables that were set up daily were in the only passage to get from the front of resort to our room and We were constantly bombarded to purchase every time we passed sooooo annoying..thanks for listening we will not return ..Crystal and Dave.

Emotions by Hodelpa Juan Dolio: Beautiful Resort

Our arrival at the resort was late but the gentleman at the reception desk was friendly and happy to greet us. We had another gentleman help us to our room and show us where everything was located. As I said, it was late so we just got a nice cold beer out of the mini fridge and sat on our veranda overlooking the beautiful color changing pool. The next day we got up early and went down to breakfast at the beach restaurant where we were delighted to find a large assortment of breakfast foo [... read more]ds as well as a large variety of fruit and a cook preparing omelets and eggs however you liked. After breakfast we walked down and stuck our feet in the Caribbean. It was very warm and the beautiful blue water along with the soft sandy beach made us want to come back and enjoy the gorgeous beach. If you want to get a beach chair you should arrive early because they fill up fast on sunshiny mornings. We then took a walk around the resort to check things out. We located the a la cart restaurants, another buffet style restaurant, a climbing wall, tennis courts, an oversize chess board and a target range to shoot a bow and arrow. We also noticed that there was a daycare as well. We don't have children so we didn't go inside. There are also two very friendly flamingo's that love to be fed a little piece of bread and don't mind if you take their picture. Our hotel room was quite large with a king sized bed, a mini fridge, an umbrella that I am happy to say we didn't need, a flat screen TV with many channels (some were in English), a safe, a large wardrobe and a dresser. The bathroom was very large and the shower was large enough for us to both shower in together with plenty of room to spare. It contained a shower head at both ends so there was no wrestling for the water. We had a nice veranda with 2 chairs and a small table that we sat at quite often contemplating what we were going to do next. There was entertainment nightly but we aren't much for large crowds and noise. Our room was overlooking the area where the entertainment was being held and it was very loud. We are early risers, so the music caused us to have a hard time sleeping. My suggestion would be to ask for a room overlooking the garden if this is something that you want to avoid. We stayed in the adults only part of the resort and it had it's own private pool that was very quiet with it's own beach chairs and security gate. The a la cart restaurants were all very nice and quite tasty. We enjoyed the Italian one first, the Dominican one a couple of nights later and the Mexican one last. The Mexican restaurant was very popular so it filled up fast. You had to get in and make your reservations the day before and first thing in the morning. The buffet style restaurants were also very good. We enjoyed the variety and the convenience for all three daily meals. The resort is located in an area that had a few small shops. If you are willing to go off the resort and have a walk, you can get better prices than you will find from the vendors on the beach and we found them to be all very friendly and helpful. The resort had a photographer that took pictures in a variety of poses with her two beautiful parrots. She did an excellent job and we had a very hard time deciding on which pictures we wanted to purchase. The Nexus employee helped us decide which excursion we wanted. He explained everything they had to offer in perfect English. We decided on a full day trip into Santa Domingo that we enjoyed completely. The history of the city is amazing and the old city is breathtaking. Our guide could speak several languages and did an excellent job of explaining everything. All of the staff were very friendly and helpful and did everything possible to make us have an excellent vacation. The bars were open early and stayed open late so you always had beer and mixed drinks available throughout the day to keep you refreshed. All in all we found this resort to be one of the best ones we've stayed in so far.

Be Live Experience Hamaca Suites: Resort had issues

Wasn't surprised by issues because read reviews. It is an older dated resort, Broken fridge and phone that were not addressed when reported but neither had an effect on our stay. Check in was far from smooth & went back 3 times before got our room but we ate and checked out the resort etc. during the delay. We were in room by shortly after 4 so not a huge delay. Just expect it and make the best of it. They do not ask if you prefer 1 or 2 beds they just assign you a room. Wanted 1 but got 2 & tal [... read more]ked to others next day who had 4 people and got 1 bed but they switched with family they travelled with. Our room was dated but clean. We went for the beach etc. and had a good time. Resort beach was small and could be crowded but kept clean and there is a few miles of beach to walk(public and other resorts) on 1 side of resort. The food was good. The buffet was crowded, would recommend getting drinks on a table to save it before getting food. Other restaurants we ate at were good as well. Allowed 4 with 7 night stay which is good but book them all as soon as you can for best time selections. You can have an enjoyable stay. It was a cheap vacation and with the room being clean, good food and drinks included it was a good deal. Excursions are a great price in this area. A lot cheaper than in Punta Cana. If you plan on spending a lot of time in room or being treated like royalty stay else where but if looking for cheap break from snow then Be Live Hamaca will be ok

Be Live Experience Hamaca Suites: Boca Chica - Be Live

Food was so good! Wine, beer served at lunch and dinner, wow! There was a track that runs around the accommodation unit buildings that was so great to walk and exercise and so safe too! Rooms not well kept, sometimes cold to warm water in showers, hair dryer did not work. We didn't like the room, they changed it for us day after. I can't complain because they did as you asked. Room not important to me as we were there for 7 hours only for sleeping purposes. Entertainment spec [... read more]tacular! From singers and musicians just after the dinner hour, to full entertainment at 9:45 p.m. then going to the casino for more entertainment and then going to the Disco dancing all night. Wow! I would love to go back!

Emotions by Hodelpa Juan Dolio: Nice resort

Very nice resort, clean. Service at the bar and pool area was very good. The front desk however, they didnt speak any english, gave us the wrong room facing a parking lot and we had to go back 5 times to get the one king bed that we paid for. The excuse was "there are more double rooms" to which we responded thats great but we paid for a king bed. Beach was amazing and great food.

Emotions by Hodelpa Juan Dolio: Had an Incredible time!!!

Soo beautiful, had great food, friendly staff and lots to do. We stayed for 8 days and still didn't get around to trying everything. It's got ping pong, basketball, pool, rock climbing, archery, tennis, local golf course, life size chess and even a disco club at night and a ton more. Ended up staying an extra night! Won't be disappointed.

Emotions by Hodelpa Juan Dolio: nice resort and beach; unfriendly staff

My boyfriend and I stayed at this resort for 7 nights from January 6th-13th, 2017. In all we had a great time, but there were some kinks and mishaps that could have made our trip less enjoyable if we chose to let them. (I'll elaborate more later). Firstly, I'll start with the positives. The resort was very nice, obviously new designed. It had a very modern feel with wood and stone accents everywhere. The restaurants were nice, the buffets were enclosed in rooms that had to be entered and exi [... read more]ted by automatic sliding doors (no bugs flying around the food!) which I thought was a smart touch. The coffee shop was cute, they seemed to had a lot of different types of coffees and flavoured syrups but since there wasn't a menu we stuck with getting lattes and frozen coffees. The snack bar always had fresh burgers and hot dogs on the grill, and the french fries and pizza were usually fresh and hot. The beach was very nice, beautiful water and plenty of beach chairs so we didn't have to search long for one. They seemed to have many games to play during the game, but they were closer to the resort side of the beach, so if you didn't want to be bothered by the speakers you could move closer to the water and you wouldn't really notice it. Now for the negatives...The staff weren't very helpful or friendly, and the front desk really didn't seem to care about our needs/problems. For example, our first night there we got in late so the only food we could eat was from the snack bar. This would've been fine, we aren't picky, until the group of dancers from the entertainment show butted to the front of the line (there were about 5 people in front of us waiting for burgers) and got served their burgers right away before any of us who were staying at the resort. We decided to let it go, but for the rest of the trip there seemed to be a preference for the spanish speaking couples and families over us (we are a young couple from Canada). In the mornings we were only offered coffee or water from the waiters/waitresses in all maybe 3 times (keep in mind there was 7 mornings), the same happened during lunch and dinners (I'd often have to wave them over for water, and we were only offered house wine once). I've been to many other resorts, and I've never had to constantly wave over a waiter to be poured a glass of water. It is not like we didn't tip either, we'd leave a tip for our waiters and bartenders that would serve us kindly and especially the bartender if we asked for a more 'complicated' drink (such as a strawberry margarita where they would use the blender). I just got the impression that the staff didn't really want to cater to us, and I am not trying to sound like I am high maintenance, but I do expect a minimum amount of catering to when I am at an all-inclusive resort. To elaborate on the front desk, the first night we were there we noticed we couldn't change the temperature on the air conditioner. We called the front desk and they said there was a remote that went with it, and I told them there wasn't a remote in the room. They said they'd send the maintenance man over to help us. 30 minutes later the man showed up, and only spoke spanish. This was okay since I can speak a bit, so I (badly) explained to him that we didn't have a remote. He tried connected to the air conditioner with what seemed to be a universal remote, but nothing worked. He called the front desk and spoke to them, but I couldn't understand what he was saying. He then left with the impression of coming back, but never did. We waited for an hour for him to never show (this was at 1 am the night we arrived, so we were tired from travelling and didn't want to wait longer). The next day we went to the front desk on our way to the beach to complain again, and they took our room number and said they'd send someone to fix it. Once again nothing was fixed when we returned to our room that afternoon. We tried to call the front desk and noticed that the phone wasn't working (no dial tone) even though it was plugged in. We decided we'd get ready for dinner (shower) and go to the front desk on the way to the buffet. After my shower, I stepped out from the shower to find the bathroom completely flooded with water. As I stepped out of the bathroom I realized that the water had not only flooded the bathroom, but also the first half of our room (the water ran all the way to halfway under the double bed closest to the front door). It shocked me so much because while I was in the shower (it's a walk in shower so it isn't in a tub) the water hadn't accumulated at my feet, which means that it would partly run down the drain but the majority would leave under the glass door. Since our phone was broken, we had to walk to the front desk to tell them our room had flooded and that we wanted to change rooms (flooding shower, broken phone, and missing air conditioning remote were enough reasons for us to want a new one). They told us they would send someone over to check and then would see if they could accommodate us. We went back to our flooded room and decided to take initiative and push most of the water out by the front door with the towels we had. About 30 minutes later I heard a maid and maintenance man outside of our door talking and then beginning to sweep away the water from in front of our door. I am still not sure if those are the people the front desk sent, but since they never knocked on the door (I had to open it to talk to them) I assume they weren't sent. They moved the rest of the water out of our room and we went for dinner. We came back to a mostly dry floor and decided to deal with it in the morning. The next morning we went back to the front desk, and they explained that some of their rooms had been made improperly and the shower floors don't slope towards the drain (meaning they know they have flooding showers and still put people in those rooms). They also told us that we cannot change the temperature in our room (which is strange to not say the first time we asked? Why send a man to our room if the remote apparently doesn't exist). We then realized that they weren't willing to accommodate us, and we didn't want to fight them for a better room. We had wasted too much energy and time into it as it was, and we wanted to focus on our trip and the beach instead of our room. In the end, we found a way to inhibit the room from being flooded (the bathroom still would fill with water, but we'd close the door and stuff the bottom with a towel). The temperature in the room was tolerable, and we didn't use the phone since we never tried calling the front desk again. We focused on our time together, and the positives of the resort and had an amazing vacation in the end. I realized that I wrote a lot longer paragraph about the negatives of the resort, but keep in mind this was only our experience. Maybe you will be put in a room that doesn't flood and that has an air conditioning remote, and maybe the staff will treat you better than us. I realize that maybe since we are a young couple (both 19 years old), the staff might have not taken us seriously and maybe treated us unkindly because they didn't expect tips from us? These are only my assumptions and I could be wrong. For what we paid, ($1100) the trip was worth it to us. The food was good, the drinks were good, the resort was modern and nice, and the beach was amazing.

BelleVue Dominican Bay: Bellevue Dominican Bay Hotel review

Overall, all was fine. No real hot water in the showers though, hot water tap also very low pressure. Also the main pool is currently under renovation, so that was a downer somewhat. These were my only minor beefs during my stay there during Nov 6-13/2016.

Emotions by Hodelpa Juan Dolio: relaxing stay

We found the resort to be very relaxing. I did have an issue with housekeeping, which I spoke to them about (cleanliness and removing soiled plate and used glasses from the room) we were disappointed with the entertainment. There were only 4 entertainers but no shows during the week we were there, only music videos, and bingo (which does not belong at a resort). Otherwise an enjoyable stay.

Emotions by Hodelpa Juan Dolio: An enjoyable vacation

The resort is compact, very attractive with beautifully kept grounds. We found the serving staff very professional, courteous and friendly. My husband is from the Dominican and knew many of the staff having worked with them in the past. The front desk staff were excellent but failed to tell us our phone was not working, even when I advised them I had called them three times without an answer. Our maid on the first two days was very thorough and helpful. The rest of the time there were differ [... read more]ent maids who one evening failed to leave towels, so when we got back to the room around midnight my husband had to go down to get towel (again, no one answered the phone when I called). For the rest of the stay I had to advise the front desk to have the maids leave towels, clean the mirror in the bathroom (as it was spattered), as well clean the glass shower door, which was also spattered. My husband having worked at other resorts was surprised at the lack of cleanliness. The buffet was excellent with many good choices. We enjoyed the Dominican restaurant, the Italian restaurant and the lobster on the beach. The bar staff were excellent and attentive. I enjoyed the food served late night at the beach bar, well done! I would recommend the resort, but caution about the cleaning staff. Terry Albert and Santiago Diaz Terry Albert and Santiago Diaz