Gran Melia Palacio de Isora

"My wife and I stayed at the Gran Meliá Palacio de Isora over the end-of-year celebrations with our 3-year-old daughter. We booked Red Level, which is meant to provide a more premium, priority experience. Unfortunately, in practice, this was largely not the case. Arrival & Check-in The Red Level check-in desk was surprisingly ineffective and, frankly, less welcoming than the standard reception. We arrived late, our daughter was tired, and we were keen to get to our room quickly. Despite having completed electronic check-in in advance, the Red Level staff member appeared irritated by our request to speed things up and proceeded to repeat exactly the same process we had already done online. This begs the question: what is the point of electronic check-in at all? We were then given wristbands to distinguish Red Level guests from others — something that felt very 1970's and far from “luxury.” The Room & Facilities The room itself was perfectly fine. It was noticeably smaller than the junior suite we had last year at the Ritz-Carlton Abama, but for the three of us it was comfortable and functional. The pools were a major highlight. Our daughter absolutely loved the pirate pool and family pool — and so did we. The resort is clearly well set up for families in this respect. The Biggest Issue: Restaurants This is where the experience really fell apart — and judging by Tripadvisor reviews, this is a long-standing problem the hotel either cannot or does not want to fix. There are several “specialist” restaurants, but in reality many are closed or massively overbooked, meaning you simply can’t get a table. That leaves you with two options: The Pangea buffet or a very limited room service menu Our 1 January lunch and dinner were an embarrassment for a hotel of this price and supposed standing. Yes, it was storming/raining heavily, and yes, that made things more complicated. But operational chaos is not excusable at this level. At lunch, Pangea — for reasons only known to an apparently incompetent catering manager — was serving Mexican food from another restaurant instead of its usual buffet. After a 30-minute wait for a table (understandable given the weather), we then waited: 45 minutes for two cold prawn cocktails and a portion of guacamole. A further 15 minutes with no mains arriving. At that point, we gave up and left. We never received our main courses. What made this even more concerning was that the waiting staff themselves openly complained about being asked to serve Mexican food they didn’t understand. One staff member openly admitted she didn’t know the difference between a taco and a burrito. To be clear: this is not the staff’s fault. We fully understand the pressure frontline teams are under. This was a management and planning failure, plain and simple — and unacceptable for a hotel that pretends to have this level of standing. I am sure management will respond, as they have to previous reviews, saying that the matter is “in hand” and that they will “speak to the teams.” But this issue has been raised repeatedly over time, and nothing seems to change so this is either driven by economics (most likely) or managerial incompetence. Positives Genuinely kind and friendly staff Red Level lounge (especially valuable on a rainy day) Family Red Level breakfast room Baby Club (excellent staff) Pools Entre Cielos bar La Terraza (the high-end restaurant with a significant supplement, but genuinely excellent food and service) Negatives Red Level reception experience Poor restaurant availability and food operations Would we return? Very unlikely. This is a resort with fantastic infrastructure and lovely people, but deeply flawed execution in areas that matter — especially dining. At this price point, that simply shouldn’t happen. One other lesson : I always read the five and one star reviews on Tripadvisor. Actually I will now also read the two and three stars. A lot of guests have identified the same positives and negatives as we did."

"We arrived at the hotel and we was stunned by the luxury decor and amazing foyer. The hotel was luxury and had class and had a very amazing buffet for breakfast and great restaurants for dinner. It was hard to book the specality restaurants but we managed to book 3/4 of them. We had bed and breakfast and we would most likely do all inclusive next time as the cocktails were expensive at €14 each and buffet for dinner was pricey (but delish!) A few things that wasnt great, was the push of us joining the Melia circle in which we was asked to join (multiple times) and had an hour meeting about. The room didnt provide dressing gowns but when asked they were brought up with no questions. The spa was lovely but unfortentely had to pay €40 each time for. We would like to stay again next year for sure!"

"We spent a 7-day stay at the Gran Meliá de Isora, and while there were some positive aspects, overall the experience was far from what one would expect from a five-star hotel. On the positive side, the hotel is nicely maintained and benefits from an excellent location right on the oceanfront. The surroundings are well organized, the pools are clean, and the food quality was generally good. However, taken as a whole, the stay did not meet five-star standards. Upon arrival, we waited around 30 minutes at check-in, which was disappointing. The sound insulation in the rooms is very poor—you can clearly hear noise from the hallway and from the room above. The level of service from the staff does not match that of a true luxury hotel, especially when compared to five-star hotels in Central Europe. Staff would benefit from better training and clearer guidance on how to interact with guests. There were also issues with the room itself. The air conditioning did not work for heating, and an oil radiator was provided as a temporary solution. Room cleanliness could have been better. During dinner, it was uncomfortable that staff approached us while we were still eating to ask for the room number and signature; this should be done after the meal, as is standard elsewhere. Additionally, water was provided in small plastic bottles, which felt inadequate for a hotel of this category—larger bottles would be more appropriate. Overall, despite its great location and well-kept facilities, this hotel falls short of five-star expectations when considering the experience as a whole."