Playa Esmeralda, on the Dominican Republic's largely undeveloped northeastern coast, was chosen precisely because it hadn't yet been claimed by the all-inclusive machine — and the central design challenge facing Zemi Miches All-Inclusive Resort, part of Hilton's Curio Collection, was how to deliver the scale that brand demands without flattening the landscape that makes the location worth visiting. The answer arrived in the form of low-rise terracotta-toned blocks arranged across a dense palm grove, their rooflines kept deliberately below the canopy, solar panels laid flat across the tops so they read as infrastructure rather than imposition. A curving arc building closest to the beach pulls the massing into a crescent that frames the grounds rather than dominating them. Inside, two distinct interior registers run through the property. The villa-category rooms carry exposed timber roof trusses, woven rattan headboards in a herringbone pattern, and ochre cushioning against pale stone floors — warm, craft-forward, and clearly in conversation with regional material traditions. The tower rooms shift register: textured sculptural concrete relief panels replace the woven surfaces, leather-wrapped headboards in burnt sienna anchor the beds, and floor-to-ceiling glazing frames the Caribbean directly. The lagoon pool complex, with its fire-pit islands set within illuminated water, gives the exterior its most theatrical gesture — circular banquette seating surrounded by water, a device borrowed more from Bali than the Caribbean, translated here into teak decking and low-slung upholstery that softens the drama just enough.

1hr 30min drive from Punta Cana airport (PUJ); 1hr 45min from La Romana airport (LRM)

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