As promised here is the first part of my reviews of my holiday in Benidorm, this is the accommodation one, resort etc to follow soon.
Hotel Melia Benidorm
The Hotel Melia Benidorm is located away from the main area of Benidorm but close enough to walk within 10 minutes, the road is named Avenida Severo Ochoa and is only 600m from the Playa de Levante Beach.
The Room
We arrived and I started with the photos before we unpacked lol, we had room 213.
The room was a decent size for the 3 of us.
Looking around the room it could have done with a bit maintenance, one of the things was the wall near the bed could have done with a fresh lick of paint just to brighten it up as it had alot of scuff mark not showing up on the photo, I may be a little picky here but for a 4 star hotel just these little things would have made all the difference ( more to come about the maintenance later).
The TV had a few English channels although you had to play around with the settings to get the audio back into English.
The bathroom again was of a good standard size with free shower gel, soaps etc plus a hairdryer.
Im sure that all rooms have a pool view, our room was on the second floor and was located near the road side of the hotel, we thought this would be a problem with road noise but it was fine.
Follow this road to the bottom of the street and your on the coast/beach
The room was cleaned every day with fresh clean towels. The maids were lovely and polite always smiling.
Pool Area
Loved the pool area, I cant normally lie around a pool for very long as I get bored but this was a lovely area to be in.
We did notice on our second week the hotel filled up and reports of towels being taken off beds and the beds being taken. I actually saw two guys shouting at each other and getting close to fisty cuffs lol
We think that people were complaining about the hotel not having enough sunbeds as the manager went around the pool a few times asking people for proof they were staying at the hotel.
Reception area
Lovely open area gives it a special feel.
Restaurant
Sorry still cant bring myself to stand their and take photos of food infront of the staff lol.
Always something to eat but some things a bit repetitive, for example Onion rings were out 3 times in one week, steaks one day then another 2 days they had beef stews of some sorts, obviously from the steaks.
Another example was brocoli one night then the next night battered broccoli lol.
The juice machine was always running out at breakfast time.
They had a theme area but it was always Italian nothing different, I think this was a shame, if they had different themes such as Chinese Indian etc it would have made all the difference but pizza and pasta every night, also the pasta was always cold and you had to ask them to heat it up in the microwave, this was never a problem to them though.
Staff worked hard, can't fault them.
Extra Info
I read on various sites about the reception being very slow and not being very friendly, well from what I saw they were friendly and helpful, when we got off the coach we ran to the desk because of this reason lol, I noticed they were moving around getting forms etc (3 of them) I think its the paperwork that slows it down not the staff.
Told the reception the first day we arrived that the patio door lock was broken, well 2 weeks went by and it didn't get repaired, wasn't impressed with that.
Lots of lifts around 10 in total I think, but only 8 of them go to all floors and sometimes at dinner time you had to wait a while for them, a little tip here if you stay on floors 2 to 4 you have the option of the other 2 lifts which were always available, they were the glass ones, ideal for us :thupp:
Drinks were very expensive in this hotel if you weren't A/I, I did read this before we went and found out for myself on the first day, I asked for a pint of lager and was charged €3.30, it was not a pint it was about 3/4, they don't serve pints they call them large beers, so didn't have another even though it did have a nice taste.
At dinner time we used to get a large bottle of water, it was 1 litre again very expensive, €3.20, x that by 14 nights €44.80 :pale:
So if you want water for around the pool go to the large supermarket across the road, I was buying 2 litre bottles for 32cents and just refilling small bottles as the fridge in the room was free.
Plenty bars across the road from the hotel for lunch, good cheap drinks and free Wi-Fi, more about these on another post but basically pints of Lager were €1.50 and real good, toasties etc all good value. Most of these bars had entertainment on at night, drink prices went up but we didn't mind as some of the entertainment was real good and has to be paid for.
Would I go back, well yes if I got a good deal but B/B would be what I would aim for, plenty of places to eat around the resort, lovely pool area, rooms a good size, aircon and free fridge.
We stayed at hotel one night for the entertainment but quickly realised this was a mistake lol and went out on the town.
If I can think of anything else Ill add it later. If you have any questions please feel free to ask :mobeer:
http://www.melia.com/hotels/spain/benidorm/melia-benidorm/index.html
Hotel Melia Benidorm
The Hotel Melia Benidorm is located away from the main area of Benidorm but close enough to walk within 10 minutes, the road is named Avenida Severo Ochoa and is only 600m from the Playa de Levante Beach.
The Room
We arrived and I started with the photos before we unpacked lol, we had room 213.
The room was a decent size for the 3 of us.
Looking around the room it could have done with a bit maintenance, one of the things was the wall near the bed could have done with a fresh lick of paint just to brighten it up as it had alot of scuff mark not showing up on the photo, I may be a little picky here but for a 4 star hotel just these little things would have made all the difference ( more to come about the maintenance later).
The TV had a few English channels although you had to play around with the settings to get the audio back into English.
The bathroom again was of a good standard size with free shower gel, soaps etc plus a hairdryer.
Im sure that all rooms have a pool view, our room was on the second floor and was located near the road side of the hotel, we thought this would be a problem with road noise but it was fine.
Follow this road to the bottom of the street and your on the coast/beach
The room was cleaned every day with fresh clean towels. The maids were lovely and polite always smiling.
Pool Area
Loved the pool area, I cant normally lie around a pool for very long as I get bored but this was a lovely area to be in.
We did notice on our second week the hotel filled up and reports of towels being taken off beds and the beds being taken. I actually saw two guys shouting at each other and getting close to fisty cuffs lol
We think that people were complaining about the hotel not having enough sunbeds as the manager went around the pool a few times asking people for proof they were staying at the hotel.
Reception area
Lovely open area gives it a special feel.
Restaurant
Sorry still cant bring myself to stand their and take photos of food infront of the staff lol.
Always something to eat but some things a bit repetitive, for example Onion rings were out 3 times in one week, steaks one day then another 2 days they had beef stews of some sorts, obviously from the steaks.
Another example was brocoli one night then the next night battered broccoli lol.
The juice machine was always running out at breakfast time.
They had a theme area but it was always Italian nothing different, I think this was a shame, if they had different themes such as Chinese Indian etc it would have made all the difference but pizza and pasta every night, also the pasta was always cold and you had to ask them to heat it up in the microwave, this was never a problem to them though.
Staff worked hard, can't fault them.
Extra Info
I read on various sites about the reception being very slow and not being very friendly, well from what I saw they were friendly and helpful, when we got off the coach we ran to the desk because of this reason lol, I noticed they were moving around getting forms etc (3 of them) I think its the paperwork that slows it down not the staff.
Told the reception the first day we arrived that the patio door lock was broken, well 2 weeks went by and it didn't get repaired, wasn't impressed with that.
Lots of lifts around 10 in total I think, but only 8 of them go to all floors and sometimes at dinner time you had to wait a while for them, a little tip here if you stay on floors 2 to 4 you have the option of the other 2 lifts which were always available, they were the glass ones, ideal for us :thupp:
Drinks were very expensive in this hotel if you weren't A/I, I did read this before we went and found out for myself on the first day, I asked for a pint of lager and was charged €3.30, it was not a pint it was about 3/4, they don't serve pints they call them large beers, so didn't have another even though it did have a nice taste.
At dinner time we used to get a large bottle of water, it was 1 litre again very expensive, €3.20, x that by 14 nights €44.80 :pale:
So if you want water for around the pool go to the large supermarket across the road, I was buying 2 litre bottles for 32cents and just refilling small bottles as the fridge in the room was free.
Plenty bars across the road from the hotel for lunch, good cheap drinks and free Wi-Fi, more about these on another post but basically pints of Lager were €1.50 and real good, toasties etc all good value. Most of these bars had entertainment on at night, drink prices went up but we didn't mind as some of the entertainment was real good and has to be paid for.
Would I go back, well yes if I got a good deal but B/B would be what I would aim for, plenty of places to eat around the resort, lovely pool area, rooms a good size, aircon and free fridge.
We stayed at hotel one night for the entertainment but quickly realised this was a mistake lol and went out on the town.
If I can think of anything else Ill add it later. If you have any questions please feel free to ask :mobeer:
http://www.melia.com/hotels/spain/benidorm/melia-benidorm/index.html
