"Having just returned from a 4-night stay at the hotel from 26th–31st August, we unfortunately left feeling very disappointed.
We regularly stay in 5-star hotels across Europe, and whilst the location here is absolutely stunning and the hotel itself has potential, in our experience it simply does not meet the standards I would expect from a 5-star hotel. The biggest issue was the consistently poor service.
Our private airport transfer arrived as a coach, albeit with just us on board, which was disappointing. We appreciate that circumstances can change, although our return transfer was in a private luxury people carrier, so the contrast was noticeable.
On arrival at around 13:30, we were told our room would be ready at 15:00 and were asked for our contact number so we could be called. We left our luggage in reception and went for lunch. At 15:48 we returned, having received no call, only to discover our luggage was still exactly where we had left it. We were then told the hotel does not call guests when rooms are ready. We were assured our cases would be taken to the room, but after waiting around 40 minutes and making two calls to reception, they were still in reception. We eventually had to collect them ourselves.
The room itself was fine, although quite small for two medium suitcases. More concerning was the shower. On first use, the wall-mounted toiletry holder containing three heavy bottles came away from the wall and narrowly missed my foot. We reported it the following morning and maintenance repaired it. Unfortunately, the replacement individual holders then also fell from the wall before we had even switched the shower on, again narrowly missing our feet. This was reported again that evening, but nobody returned to fix them.
Service throughout the hotel was consistently disappointing. On our first evening there was an ABBA tribute band, but initially there were no staff available outside to take drinks orders. On another evening, we tried to have a drink before dinner at Cape Nao. After eventually finding a member of staff, my partner received his drink, but my Sangria still hadn't arrived 30 minutes after ordering. There were only a handful of occupied tables and several staff members were stood together talking and laughing. Eventually, we cancelled both the drink and our dinner reservation.
Housekeeping attended daily, although there was sand on the floor when we first arrived and tea, milk and sugar were frequently not replenished. On several occasions we had to call reception for supplies, sometimes more than once when nothing arrived after 20–30 minutes.
Breakfast started well but deteriorated over the following days. Food was sometimes cold, overcooked or undercooked, the coffee machine was covered in spilled drinks, and on one morning we had to find staff to request tea as none was available. Salt and pepper pots were either missing or blocked.
Unfortunately, even at checkout there was very little engagement. We paid our bill and returned our keys, but again had to ask about leaving our luggage, as this wasn't offered, and the receptionist didn't ask whether we had enjoyed our stay or if everything had been satisfactory.
Ironically, we did meet the GM in the lift during our stay, who asked if we were enjoying ourselves. At the time, we simply said yes as it didn't feel appropriate to raise a list of complaints in a lift. In hindsight, perhaps we should have, as these issues really did affect our overall experience.
I do want to acknowledge that some staff were genuinely lovely. The lady who welcomed us to breakfast each morning was consistently warm and friendly, as was the gentleman with the long ponytail. We also had a very engaging bartender who had previously lived in Fulham, and the lady issuing pool towels was very friendly. Unfortunately, these positive interactions were outweighed by the overall lack of service.
What disappointed us most was the feeling that unless you are staying in The Level or part of the hotel club, you are largely overlooked. Basic requests took a long time to be dealt with, sometimes weren't dealt with at all, and even simple hospitality such as acknowledging guests with a smile or asking how their stay has been seemed lacking.
This experience has unfortunately left us with a very poor impression of the Meliá brand. We have stayed in many 5-star hotels and, based on our experience, this hotel is a long way from the standard we would expect from a 5-star property.
The location is beautiful, but sadly we would not return to this hotel and, as a result of this experience, I would be reluctant to book another Meliá hotel in the future."
