Puerto Plata is much harder work than Blackbeards or Sosua. The main advantage is for those who prefer semi-putas or non-putas. You will need reasonable Spanish and, for non-putas, other advantages as well.
You write about being near "the action", but one of the reasons Pto Pta is harder work is that "the action" is scattered across a city centre twice the area of Sosua (El Batey and
Los Charamicos together), so by definition any one hotel can only be near some of the possible locations.
If you want near the Malecon, there are Lomar and Puerto Plata Beach Resort (both actually on the Malecon), and Portofino and Kevin (5 and 10 minutes walk from the Malecon respectively). All are Dominican style places, reasonably priced. How "good" they are, I wouldn't know, but sensible mongers I know have stayed in each of them and survived. But my recommendation would be to pay a bit more and stay at Field of Dreams. Then the hotel stay would become an enjoyable part of your holiday instead of just somewhere to hunker down at night. Also you would have gringo support and advice in case of problems.
Now you might object that Field of Dreams is two miles outside the city proper. But be aware that it is as cheap and quick to get to most points in the city from FoD as it is from any other point within the city. I know because I live very near the Malecon. There are no guagua or publico routes there so I have to take a motoconcho to get anywhere. I could catch a publico from Field of Dreams for the same price (25 pesos) and for many destinations it would be cheaper and quicker from FoD. The other advantage of staying at FoD is that you are only a dollar and 25 minutes from Sosua if Pto Pta isn't working out for you.
I commend you for giving Pto Pta a try, but don't bother if you don't know reasonable Spanish otherwise you will be limited to whorebars and you would have a much bigger choice of full-time putas in Sosua. The other point is that you have to be comfortable riding motoconchos to get around Pto Pta. Doing everything by private taxi would soon cancel your savings on a "reasonable" hotel.
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