Meliá Las Américas

Anónimo, CA, 2005-03-28
The Hotel is clean and beautiful, the staff are appropriately friendly, the beach is amazing
but the service is lacking even when properly tipped The problem to my concern is in management, the morning staff should be told that we need our coffee now! not in 10 minutes or so, Coffee is something to bring to the table, coffee cream is not available, just watery milk. The main bar has a eppresso machine get your coffe there The lobby bar is your best bet on service if you tip
All other ammenities were great - towels, shade, chairs, space at the pool area. Car rental and scooters were fun and an inexpensive way to get around. Golf is available as well, my package had 4 free games of golf but no one said a word to me about it. There are no night activities to speak of, or places to go for night life which was fine with us.
No shopping other than the local flee markets where people sell their hand crafts which were great and fun and we met nice local people.
trying to get information or help on any subject is like trying to pull teeth. We found even though we tipped heavily we did not get the attention and the service or promptness we have recieved at other vacation resorts.
We loved the island of Cuba and the countryside but we found the people lacking in friendlyness and we did not feel overly welcome at the resort. We would not go back for any other reason than the beautiful island still with the grandure of nature left mostly intact.

Anónimo, CA, 2005-03-27
We travelled to Varadero late January 2005. We were a group of 11. When we checked in, we were asked to wait in the lobby and each family was checked in individually. We read about nightmare check-ins but ours was painless. The gentleman taking care of us was very professional and managed to get us rooms on the same floor, very close to one another. One room was problem though as it had 1 double and one single bed for a family of 4. A new (larger) room was found quickly for them. The rooms were very nice. Clean, roomy and we had a great view of the ocean. The food was great. The buffet was one of the best we have seen. Food stations grilled fish, meat etc. and made breakfast any way you wanted it. The speciallty resaurants were very good also. The restaurant near the beach/pool/towels was excellent for lunch. Great grilled snapper. The beach was very nice and clean also. We played volleyball a couple of times. The service was excellent. Tips helped but we had no complaints. The one thing that will prevent us from returning, was the pool. The water was FREEZING!! No, not cold, freezing! We had read that the pools were not heated but we figured no big deal, its hot out right? Wrong. It almost ruined our holiday. We had 4 kids with us and they went in anyway. They were the only ones in the pool. I went in up to my ankles then I bailed. We kept making the kids come out of the water because we thought they might get hypothermia. I'm not joking. There had been a cold front the week before we arrived and the weather had not really warmed up much. I'm sure that travelling to Cuba later in the year would have made a big difference. The ocean was warmer than the pool. We took a trip to Havana which was a highlight for me. It should not be missed. The architecture was incredible. It was sad also as many of the buildings are falling apart. Our tour guide was very knowledgable. The cigars are very cheap - Cohibas are half price even with the exchange. Another day we rented mopeds and took the kids into Varadero. We went down every street and alley. Other drivers were extremely considerate of us. I did not have a moment of fear or uneasiness. We felt safe everywhere we went. I loved that about Cuba. In Punta Cana or Jamaica you can't leave your resort unescorted, but in Cuba you can go pretty much anywhere. We had dinner at the Dupont mansion - a great experience. The food was great and the mansion was beautiful. The evening entertainment at our hotel was great. We expected 2nd rate singers, etc., but were surprised at how good the performers were. The dancers get the crowd involved, we learned the salsa! Kids too. One evening they had a jazz band playing that was unbeilevably good. Over all I have to say that it was a great week. The hotel, food, and people were great. It was the pool that made our week less than perfect.

Anónimo, CA, 2005-03-15
If you are expecting the service you would receive at any four or five star resort in Mexico this is not the hotel for you. We just returned from one week (March 5-12).

We checked in at 230am into a room that was not what we booked (no balcony) only to be told come back tomorrow after 2pm and we'll try to accommodate you. Which was done with some complaining the next day.

Service at the bars themselves was generally good, exceptionally good in the lobby bar. You will NEVER get a drink brought to you on the beach or by the Pool (no matter what you tip).

The hotel itself is beautiful, it has four outdoor beds, one on the beach and late afternoon a champagne fountain is set up.

The food we felt was very good, not bland like people said. You could get lobster for dinner or lunch and grilled prawns in the buffet restaurant. Very good for a third country I'd say.

The bar serves premium liquor be sure to ask for it though (Jack D, Smirnoff, Beefeater, Bombay, Johnny Walker, etc).

The beach is awesome, and yes there are always chairs available.

The one thing I must complain about again is SERVICE. We had to call the front desk 4 times one night because no one answered the phone, in order to get a wake up call. Upon check out since we were not leaving until midnight, the hotel would not accommodate anyone with a late check out, and for about 15 people that were leaving that night, they only provided 2 courtesy rooms, in which you had to wait 45 minutes to get clean towels.

Again I repeat, if you expect five star service you will be lucky if you get you get 1 star. (except for the lobby bar and swim up bar). Even lunch in the a la carte restaurant takes an hour to get the food you ordered.

This hotel definitely has the potential to be a five star hotel, they just have to get rid of ALL THE FRONT DESK STAFF maybe the bartenders should teach them a thing or two.

Beside the service, it was a great trip, saw Havana (but don't book with a tour operator) for $40/pp you can get your own driver for an 8 hour day who takes you on the same tour and lets you decide how long you want to stay at each attraction. (talk to OBERT the bar tender in the lobby bar to set you up, I think everyone we spoke to including ourselves went through him with no complaints - we had a new air conditioned toyota corolla.)

Definitely take the catamaran tour to Cayo Blanco (includes snorkelling, lobster lunch and swimming with dolphins) $75/pp with sunquest.

There are only 2 a la carte restaurants (Italian and Seafood) and one buffet restaurant for dinner, so do not expect a great selection. Some websites were claiming there were 5 restaurants. For lunch you have the option of the buffet, pizzaria, bbq grill or a la carte. Lunch was generally better than dinner, especially the calamari at the bbq and great service of the adjacent swim up bar.

Have a great trip - and if you can try to stay at Sandals, Sol Palmeras or Barcelo Solymar, people at those hotels did not seem to have the same service problems we did!