Secrets Playa Esmeralda Resort & SPA

We recently stayed at Secrets Playa Esmeralda Resort & Spa in the Preferred Section (room 7329), and overall had a wonderful experience. The resort itself is absolutely gorgeous. The pools are fantastic, the beach is truly spectacular, and the drinks were always flowing. Service throughout the resort was excellent and really made our stay enjoyable. A special shoutout to our housekeeping attendant, Juana, who was fabulous, thorough, and consistently went above and beyond. Our butler, Jesus, was also amazing. He checked in with us daily, was very attentive, and made sure all our needs were taken care of. The only area where the resort fell short was the food. Unfortunately, it was quite inconsistent, often hit or miss. We experienced dishes that were cold, overcooked, overly salted, or not as described on the menu. This was a bit disappointing, especially compared to the otherwise high standards of the resort. That said, we truly enjoyed our stay and would absolutely consider returning, especially once improvements are made to the overall food quality.

Excellent service, beautiful resort. Our personal butler DEIFRY was the best, accommodating all 5 of us with special service and availability. We celebrated a birthday and she helped make that very special!

To start the only reason I didn't give 5 stars, is Hyatt messed up my booking and the hotel did not have my room available upon arrival. Although it was not an ideal start. I have to give credit to one of the managers Mr. Montero, he found a room for the first night and got things sorted the next day for the rest of the trip. I highly recommend booking a preferred room. The rooms are not really different but the additional amenities and service make a difference. Especially the fact you are appointed a butler. Juan Carlos is the best, very responsive. Additional details: Room (Prefered partial ocean view): Modern, spacious and great AC. Food: overall good food, with a wide variety of options. Favorite was the lamb chops at the French restaurant. Entertainment: At night there are a variety of options. Shows, Piano bar and sports bar/after hours club. However, I would have liked more entertainment at the pool and music at the Preferred pool. Service: We had a mix of great service and ok service. Some of the stand outs for great service; Juan Carlos of course, Christian that worked the coffee shop, Kevin a bartender at the pool and a few others I wished I remembered there names. Location: Beach is great, a very secluded and natural beach is in close walking distance. However, the resort is 1hr and 30 mins from Punta Cana. So I don't recommend if you want to spend time in the city.

This was our second stay at this resort and unless things change it will be our last! The good things about this resort are the people that work very hard and try to please. The food was good but nothing we ordered was a stand out! Mildred should be moved back to the Preferred pool where she was an outstanding bartender! Our butler Simon is where this resort really shines! No request went unfulfilled! The huge problem with this resort is the Secrets Preferred guests are charged a premium price but everyone from Dreams and Secrets non Preferred took advantage of the perks without paying the higher price! We have stayed at 17 different Secrets and none of them didn’t have signage or guards near the beach to keep other guests out! The least they could do around the pool is ask for a room number! Im sure someone will say you are in paradise why let it bother you but my answer to that is when I can’t find a lounger or they run out of top shelf liquor by noon and it takes 40 minutes for the one waiter to bring me a drink and it’s a two hour wait to get seated and get your food that’s a problem!

I will start by saying our butler, Simon, was exceptional! He reserved our loungers, dinners, and when we tripped a breaker in our room, had someone there in ten minutes to fix it. Really, he needs to be running the place! And he is soooo nice too! We returned here with vouchers from the delayed opening. We stayed here in July, during the soft opening, but the preferred areas were not open. However, Stephanie promised us a room in building 7 upon return, but that did not happen. We were in a non preferred room (our vouchers said preferred). Stephanie refused to come and talk to us, sent her "assistant" who basically lied to us. Not cool! Food and drinks are hit and miss. Generally good, but nothing really exceptional. A lot of drink mistakes, but remedied. They need to bring Mildred back to the preferred bar and send Kelvin elsewhere. Quite a few people from Dreams eating in Secrets restaurants, making things crowded. Without Simon's help we would have had long waits for dinner, even at 6:30. Refrigerator and snack restocking was hit or miss, mostly miss. If it hadn't been for Simon physically bringing Corona to the room, we would have had nothing most days. The biggest issue, ugh, is they let anyone into the preferred pool and indoor bar area. Secrets non preferred, dreams preferred and non preferred. Literally everyone. The joke about pay Dreams prices, enjoy Secrets preferred, is really true. The Secrets preferred pool was so crowded everyday with people that should not be there. No one EVER checked our room number. One person taking drink orders who was so overworked. Sometimes could not belly up to the pool bar due to all the people. Running out of premium liquor by noon. Until they get this sorted out, we will not return. Overall, we enjoyed ourselves, but this is not Secrets preferred quality. Without Simon, I'm not sure we would have enjoyed ourselves.