Meliá Costa del Sol

Pluspunten
. Keurig hotel met vriendelijk (schoonmaak-)personeel!
. Goed georganiseerd ontbijtrestaurant!
. Ideale ligging aan rustig strand bij Bajondillo.
. Zwembaden beneden en op het dak aanwezig!

Like other hotels in the area they need a no reserve sunbed policy.
Stayed a total of 5 days and only once did we get a sunbed for a few hours and this was late afternoon. There were the odd sunbed on the upper deck available but had no umbrellas so it was a case of frying in the sun at 32c or not bothering
We'd watch the mad rush from our room overlooking the pool at 9.00am only for half of them to throw their towels onto the beds and then disappear for hours on end and eventually return at 3pm in the afternoon. I watched it and a scene from Benny Hill sprang to mind.
The melia hotel desperately needs to address this problem as I'm sure this will put people off booking at this hotel again
We'd try the rooftop pool but there were not enough sunbeds for the number of guests as they only had 11 on counting around the top near the bali beds but none on the sides like they used to have and maybe the same number at the sides and this opens at 10.00 and again people queued up at the door. However, there are 8 huge Bali beds for 30 euros per day overlooking the sea with amazing views.
The hotel itself is clean and elegant with amazing staff to match
Beds so comfortable with clean modern rooms and quiet at night

Myself my mum & sister visited the Melia for a week this May, 3 of us were sharing 1 room but on entering the room there were only 2 beds 2 sets of towels etc, a quick call to reception and this was quickly rectified, the room was small for 3 of us and couldn't use the balcony as the third bed was blocking the door but we managed the ladies did a great job of cleaning it each day.
The melia is a lovely hotel everything is clean and well presented the pool areas are great and we always got a lounger, we used the bottom pool and I've read that people are put off because it doesn't get the sun all day, but it was there until late each day, we moved along abit around 3 if we were still there but usually we went up to the rooftop bar for a drink and spent an hr or 2 up there.. it was beautiful relaxing with great drinks on offer and fantastic views!
The staff in the hotel all work hard in all areas and are very attentive, it does get very busy especially in the dining area.
My mum has mobility issues and we hired a wheelchair and it was easy to get about the hotel, the lifts are small so wheelchair and 1 person only I would say.
A few niggles at breakfast, they need more hot water urns/machines for tea, there was always one not working or the water wasn't hot enough resulting in a big queue for a cuppa. Food at breakfast was plentiful and good selection we thought evening meal was alittle underwhelming, repetitive and at times abit like 'school dinners' and the cakes/pastries were better at breakfast that in the evening.
We enjoyed our stay at the Melia the location is excellent the views outstanding, we walked the promenade each day where there are lovely places to have lunch a few drinks & relax.

L’emplacement, la vue, la propreté, le repas

Wspaniała lokalizacja przy plaży. Widok na morze, dobre, urozmaicone śniadania.

Great location and really friendly staff. The extra amount to stay in the T Level rooms and access the facilities was well worth it. I would definitely go back there again!

A very underwhelming Meliá despite charging literally more than €250 per night.

I was assigned room 2901 and it seems that the air-conditioning in this building doesn’t work properly. I stayed 30 May - 1 June and the air-conditioning only worked during the day. At night, the air-conditioning barely worked, the room temperature actually hovered around 25-26 degrees Celsius, which is way too warm and balmy for me. Temperature went down only after sunrise, when the temperature finally went down to 21-22 degrees, which was still not ideal.

The check-in / front desk experience also left much to be desired. They seem to prioritize servicing guests coming in large group, which predominantly come from certain countries, and it made me feel very racially profiled to be left alone. Nobody said hello to me, nobody asking me about whether I want to check in or not, etc..

On the bright side, their restaurants are very good. The Beach has amazing seafood (the squid!) while the other newer one has delicious Korean Fried Chicken!

Overall a disappointing experience, except the restaurants.

I wanted to leave a review of 2.5 but could only choose 3. Here's why.

My parents have been lifelong customers of the Meliá brand and always came home raving about how great it was consistently. So we had high expectations.
We arrived early (approx 11.30). Check in was slick, professional, courteous and informative. Plus, our room was ready. Great!
Room was well appointed albeit it was tight on storage space. Our complementary drink on arrival was a 500ml bottle of water outside of the mini fridge. All drinks inside the fridge could be purchased for €2.50. Is this a tactic? Underwhelming in any event.

I'm not going to give a blow by blow account of our stay, just some of our observations.

My wife has a shellfish allergy which we highlighted when booking. On our first night in the restaurant the host knew this straight away. He personally walked us to the chef in charge who in turn walked my wife through the entire buffet, including desserts. How fabulous and reassuring. Must also add that the variety of local and international food on offer for both breakfast was very comprehensive.

The service for breakfast was chaotic and permanently understaffed. Over the course of the week they ran out of glasses for orange juice, ran out of plates for bread at the toast station, ran out of butter for said toast, ran out of bowls for cereal and ran out of natural yoghurt twice. The queues for toast were bad enough but try and get an omelette? Not a chance. One person on the omlette station cooking for (on an educated guess) between 800 to 1000 for breakfast! It was not the chefs fault, poor girl only has 2 hands. Meliá, this is an easy fix. The procedure for staff topping up orange juice also needs reviewed. The top of the dispensers sit about 5 feet. Watching staff struggle to top them up from an ice bucket filled with juice is just wrong! Apart from the spillages from being at such an awkward height, what has that ice bucket been used for before? Why not have pre filled dispensers sitting to one side just to swap in?

Dinner service was less chaotic and not as busy as breakfast. Food was fine for buffet. The restaurant could definitely benefit from background music. When I'm on holiday I'm definitely all for being comfortable but I do like to make a bit of an effort to dress for dinner as does my wife. Cut off jeans and tee shirts, doesn't really do it for me but here it appears to be the norm. Yes they have a dress code but it doesn't seem to be anyone's job to enforce it. A polite notice asking for a shirt with a collar and tailored shorts surely can't offend anyone. Might also be an idea to have the dinner menu at the entrance to the restaurant as you do for lunch. Better still why not post the week's menus in the lift, beats watching the floor numbers going up and down. Also, why expect me to eat my dessert with a teaspoon. Not a one off. Every night. Is it to discourage people going back for seconds? Anyway teaspoons are for stirring tea!

Staff by and large very helpful, very smiley, although obviously under constant pressure. Special thanks to the guys on the roof terrace who took the time to let me engage in my broken spoken Spanish and in the restaurant Sandra needs a special mention. Clone her and for goodness sake keep her. She seems to know and remember everyone! She also delivered the complimentary bottle of prosecco to our room recognising my wife's birthday.

Lastly. Although the hotel caters for a more mature demographic there was absolutely no daytime activities, no quiz, table tennis, aqua aerobics etc

Very nice property, good location, very clean, nice staff