Gran Melia Palacio de Isora

"Such a poorly run hotel . It probably has all the required facilities for a 5 star but for me 5 star suggests a level of exclusivity, tranquillity, high levels of customer service and relaxation, but this hotel is just too big without the resources to meet the demands of guests . It started with an extremely long and laborious checking in process , almost half an hour !!!! Then we tried to find sunbeds . Although there is no stampede for sunbeds if you haven't staked your claim by 7 , your unlikely to get any beds . The kid’s pool is just row upon row of sunbeds , it's like a car park of sunbeds . The only way we could guarantee for 7 of us to sit together was to hire the daybeds at €250 a day , which actually worked quite well as that €250 includes all drinks and pool food . The most disappointing aspect is the food , or lack of it !! They have an app which your meant to make dinner reservations, but it doesn't work very well, and upon arrival we were told they could not make any reservations at all for us as they were fully booked. Can you imagine arriving at a hotel and being told you can't make a dinner booking , at all for 5 nights !!!! Obviously I kicked up a stink and then with 4 x broken promises that they will try and make some bookings . I didn't hear anything and then I just happened to catch one of the customer experience staff ( that's a laughable title ) and she managed to make 2 x bookings , I then asked to speak to the F&B manager to explain how appalling this was , he failed to turn up to our first appointment ( typical of their attitude to customers ) , and then at the rearranged appointment, I think they just sent someone out in a tie and jacket , he spoke very broken English ( not a criticism) ,couldn't work his computer smelled of cigarettes , in all honesty I think he was sent as a stooge , he totally failed to understand the impact of not being able to eat in house and the stress levels that had caused . His lack of customer service was mirrored throughout the hotel , queues for everything !!!!, queue at breakfast , despite empty tables there was only one receptionist to show people to table . Queue for Oasis grill for lunch at 12.30 pm , again loads of staff hanging around but no one understanding the situation. Queue to get into the Pirate pool , queue to get beach towels , everywhere it was possible to have a queue , they managed to contrive one . The supposed F&B manager did eventually manage to get us a table at the Asian , which unfortunately was not great , it was OK but just not great . Neither was the lunch we had at Oasis grill bar , our "freshly cooked fish " arrived 2 minutes after we ordered and before our drinks . Clearly it was not freshly cooked and had been sitting under lamps for some time . It was dry and flavourless and smothered in a sauce that my wife described as “ soap suds” . So many other problems relating to the quality of the food , a salmon poke bowl without salmon , flat beer , cold chips , cold and hard-boiled poached eggs , all delivered in the main by staff who couldn't give a toss . Fortunately the absolute bonus of not being able to eat in the hotel was it forced us to seek out a couple of local restaurants which were amazing, caring friendly attentive service with fantastic food and wine , if anyone else is struggling to get a dinner reservation or is disappointed by the quality of the food I would wholeheartedly recommend “ Les Tres Raices “ steakhouse and “ B on the rocks” both were superb . So sadly the hotel does not deliver a 5 star service , the building and position is great , the rooms were very large , if a bit smelly ( probably due to the sulphur from the volcano ) but it is a hotel that has not moved with the time in terms of customer service , just because a process was adequate 5 years ago or when the hotel is not too full , they appear unable to change it . It would be so easy to avoid the queues , but there is so little comprehension about customer service it probably is not even considered . As I said in my opening , it is all about expectation levels , and there were lots of families having fun , enjoying themselves and perfectly happy but anyone who has been to an Ikos , or Sani or Jumeirah , or any of the new breed of 5-star Greek hotels will be sadly disappointed ."

"Where do we start ….. Maybe with the only positive and that was the red level concierge. They tried their very best to rectify the multiple issues, but are clearly fighting a losing battle against a hotel that has dirty, damp and dated rooms, restaurants that are understaffed and poolsides are unequipped to cater for families. We had a red level suite and it was truly horrendous; the damp was overbearing. We were wearing damp clothes daily as a result and the smell was terrible in the room. To the concierge’s credit they did offer us 2 other rooms, both of which were just as bad. In the end we had no choice but to sleep with the window and patio doors open and one of us would sleep by the open door and one by the window for safety as we were on the ground floor. The shower flooded the bathroom every time it was used. We had a bed side lamp…. with nowhere to plug it just a big hole in the wall. The cleaner clearly gave up after day 2 and the room was not cleaned. They did make the bed but that was it. We had to request clean towels, toilet rolls and to have empty shower gel and shampoo replaced. The bath stayed mouldy throughout. We had a jacuzzi bath in our room which we chose not to use, much to the disappointment of our son (we knew it would be filthy and unsafe) but after we showed him why he understood. See pictures of the mould that came out of the jets after turning them on! There were plenty of other issues within the room but I feel this paints enough of a picture. We paid in excess of £1500 to have the red level upgrade and this was a complete waste of money, do not do it! We had a tiny area in the family pool supposedly for red level guests. There were only ever 2 umbrellas for the whole area and it was impossible to get any more meaning there was no shade available for our baby. But rest assured there is the option to pay in excess of €200 euros for a Balinese bed for a day! Unfortunately we had no option but to do this on our last day if we actually wanted to spend it around the pool as there were not even any loungers available. Non red level guests be sure to be up at 6am to get a lounger .. 7am for red level guests! The restaurants always had a queue and the staff were rushed off their feet often meaning lengthy delays with drink orders ( you are unable to help yourself anywhere) and on one occasion our order was missed entirely for breakfast after 30 minutes of waiting. They were all working exceptionally hard but clearly far too few staff for every meal serving. Loungers were dirty and they often ran out of towels. One day they actually tried to palm me off with damp reused towels as they had no more! They were very apologetic when I returned them on realising, but admitted they had none left. The all-inclusive even at red level has many things that are not included especially when it comes to drinks. In the evening you had to sit and wait to be served and this can take anything up to 25 minutes. For anyone who is travelling with Jet2 they are absolutely aware of these issues - we were in a lengthy queue to speak to the rep and complain like the others, who had very little to offer except “5 star is Spain is very different, you just need a spa”. We did not even travel in the height of the UK holidays so I cannot imagine what it would be like at peak times. I would honestly advise anyone travelling as a family who expects anything near a 5 star experience to avoid, as like us you will be very very dissatisfied and disappointed. In regards to the red level, I genuinely feel it’s a rip off and would strongly advice anyone travelling who are already all inclusive to seriously think about spending the extra money as it’s not worth it at all. As already mentioned the staff are almost all working very hard to provide a great level of service but are battling against the expectations of guests that are rightly expecting a 5 star break. The travel companies and chain who market this resort as a luxury 5 star hotel are the people who are at fault and wholly to blame here in my opinion."

"We went for a half term trip with our two children, ages 9 and 7. There are a lot of reasons we didn’t enjoy our trip: 1. The service standard was particularly poor. We did red level for families, but this was not good value for money. The concierge was unresponsive and not proactive. They didn’t respond to my emails at all on three occasions, and didn’t give me the information I needed for purchase watching trip, which they organised, and we nearly missed, because of this. 2. There’s a really horrible sewage smell throughout the resort. It makes me wonder about hygiene and cleanliness. 3. The food was disappointing (for example they use fake processed cheese on their nachos, and the omelettes and eggs served at red level breakfast weren’t ever cooked long enough), and there is not enough variety. We got very tired of the food after 4 days and struggled to find food to eat over the next 3 days of our holiday. 4. The room had a horrible damp smell, and there were tiny bugs in the room. It also felt dated, and in need of refurbishment. Overall I would not recommend this hotel. And we won’t be going back."