"Booked early whilst the hotel was closed for renovations. Previously been to Paradisus in Lanzarote and keen to enjoy similar or better facilities with the same vibe.Due to arrive approx 7 weeks after the hotel was due to reopen. Concerned about reviews when open about the hotel renovation not being finished, restaurants closed and no spa, so emailed hotel and had a prompt reply but with no mention of the spa, which is a vital part of our holiday.
Hotel surroundings are spectacular, although the hotel is remote.
Checked in at the normal reception desk not the reserve one (in Lanzarote it is staffed until late at night)
Received an upgrade to a suite rather than the junior suite we had booked. Later found out these rooms were not finished. Suite was clean, nice and spacious but lacked attention to detail and felt that it had been rushed to complete renovations especially the balcony. We had a lovely personal welcome card and bottle and chocolate left in the room, but our balcony's view overlooked the reserve pool, boat storage yard, road, car parking area and entrance for builders. It was incredibly windy on the balcony so we were unable to make use of it.
On making any enquiries you seemed to be passed between reserve concierge, guest experience and reception team, nobody seemed to know who’d responsibility it was. We enjoyed the experience at Lanzarote where the reserve concierge looked after you.
Enjoyed the sports/swimming activities, which was one of our reasons for booking Paradisus because it was so good at Lanzarote. Wasn’t up to the same level (meditation classes etc were all at the end of the day at Lanzarote, so finished the day off relaxing) however we did enjoy them, especially the Pilates/yoga and sound classes, unfortunately these took place near the lagoons a natural biosphere reserve area and we were constantly plagued by flys, so not totally relaxing. Class teacher did try everything to ward these off to no avail. We were covered in bites.
Reserve pool and surroundings were lovely but the hotel was not busy and the pool was right next to children’s pool so in peak times may be noisy. Staff were lovely and attentive within the reserve areas. The gate to the area was never closed and on quite a few occasions non reserve guests and children came into the area and used the pool. Lifeguard and staff member did speak with them but only after another guest complained about the child in the pool, when it’s reserve adults only. Manager also served drinks to guests fully knowing they were not reserved guests. Makes a mockery of paying extra for the exclusive Reserve facilities.
Unlike the Reserve lounge in Lanzarote which was a lounge you could get comfy and relax in the Fuerteventura one was really set up with tables either ready for Reserve breakfast or Mahos restaurant in the evening, so closes very early.
Main pool was lovely. Always towels available to replenish. Ice cream in the afternoon for a treat.
Food at The Shack was lovely however the service was either very good or very poor, more the latter.
The food at Lemon Fish was not to our taste. We had a lovely meal at Mahos, very accommodating to my husband’s selective taste. Breakfast in the Reserve restaurant was lovely but sometimes attention to detail was needed. Ate once at lunch time in Kanna but left with out our dessert due to the long wait, they were more interested in the Melia delegation. Food in buffet restaurant was good and much better than Lanzarote (which was often not hot), cooked meat to order to your taste. Service was either brilliant by the more experienced team members to poor from the other staff.
Loved the drinks in the Ginger bar, the ‘day beds’ snd evening low key entertainment, the service was either really good or extremely slow dependent on who was serving. Would be concerned about not enough seats for the evening if the hotel was full.
Issues with room key bracelets not working, between us changed 7 times.
We booked the ‘star gazing’ activity on recommendation from guest experience. Met up and walked to the area with torches provided to start the experience, alas it was a cloudy night so unable to use his telescope. The 2 men in charge of the experience could not speak English, 1 had minimum English but gave up because he couldn’t translate, so we sat in the dark and cold listening to the men and watching a film on stars in Spanish that we could not understand. It was noted by 2 Melia directors who were present at the time, but at no time during our holiday did they come to speak with us about our experience, although we know it was brought up with management etc because guest experience told us. Unfortunately we were not offered another experience out of good will, apparently your only allowed one.
Most of the staff were very polite and helpful, but some did need to brush up on their customer service skills. Quite a few didn’t speak English.
The hotel had not been fully renovated and was still working in progress, although not intrusive with a lot of corridors shut off whilst guest rooms were being worked on. The spa was not ready, but we did have a lovely massage in a room being used by the spa team.
A really lovely holiday, hotel had a lot of potential but needs more attention's to detail for the 5* value.
We would return when hotel is completed and customer service is at its best with a good ratio of staff to clients."
