"**Important: We booked a Privilege room, so some of the facilities and dining options mentioned below were included specifically as part of the Privilege package.**
Overall, we had a very enjoyable stay at H10 Playa Esmeralda. The food, friendly staff and beautiful surroundings were the main highlights. The main drawbacks were the poor quality of the fruit-based drinks, particularly for anyone sensitive to artificial sweeteners, and the persistently high humidity in the bedrooms.
The buffet food was good and varied, while the Privilege restaurant and Italian restaurant, both included with Privilege, were excellent. The quality of the food was one of the best parts of the holiday and a genuine reason we would return. The Privilege breakfast was particularly enjoyable, with a quiet and calm atmosphere overlooking the pool.
The staff were genuinely friendly and happy, which made the hotel feel welcoming and comfortable. This was a major positive compared with some Caribbean resorts, where staff can seem under considerable pressure.
Our room was spacious, well organised and had a wonderful view. The beds were extremely comfortable.
The pools were excellent, and the indoor pool was particularly useful for avoiding the strongest midday sun. There was nearly always a breeze around the outdoor pools, making the temperature very comfortable. A new dedicated Privilege pool was due to open within days of our departure. It looked peaceful and had an excellent view.
The hotel grounds were beautiful and spotlessly maintained. The outdoor terrace at the Blue Bar had incredible views, comfortable chairs and sofas, and was a lovely place to relax.
The public beach is only a very short walk from the hotel, with fine sand and crystal-clear blue water. Two sunbeds and a parasol cost €15 for the day, with toilets and showers available. It never felt overcrowded, and even larger beaches can be reached within around 20 minutes on foot.
There were, however, a few drawbacks.
The air conditioning was not particularly powerful, and this is an issue affecting all rooms because the entire hotel uses the same centrally water-cooled system rather than individual compressor-based air conditioning. It could keep our room at around 22°C to 23°C, but it did not reduce the humidity. During our stay, the humidity in the room remained at 75% or above, which became uncomfortable at night. On some mornings, the room was warmer than outside despite the air conditioning running at full power.
The system is designed for a dry climate, so this may be a problem throughout the hotel during humid weather, particularly for anyone sensitive to heat or humidity at night. There is little the hotel can do about this because it is a limitation of the system’s design.
The curtains were thick and blocked most daylight, but they were not completely blackout. Some light from the hotel’s outdoor lighting entered the room at night. Anyone particularly sensitive to light may wish to bring a portable blackout covering or an eye mask.
The biggest disappointment was the fruit-based drinks. Apart from the genuine orange juice served at the Privilege breakfast and tomato juice, the breakfast drinks and fruit-based cocktails were made from highly processed syrup blends containing added sugars and artificial sweeteners.
They were extremely sweet and had a noticeable sweetener aftertaste. This significantly restricted the cocktail selection for anyone sensitive to artificial sweeteners. Standard all-inclusive guests had no access to genuine fruit juice at breakfast, which felt out of keeping with the otherwise high standard of the food.
Despite these issues, H10 Playa Esmeralda is a beautiful, peaceful and exceptionally clean hotel with excellent food, comfortable rooms and genuinely welcoming staff. Better-quality fruit drinks and effective humidity control would make it outstanding."
