I am not going to make this a long review, as most of the points have been covered. However I did feel it neccessary to highlight a couple of issues that affected our general satisfaction with the hotel.
We stayed here in Feb 06 for two weeks. We upgraded to a bungalow room when booking. On arrival we were told that they didn,t have a bungalow room until the next day, so we were housed in the main hotel for one night. That room was very small, but it did over look the ocean. Problem was it also overlooked the roof top of the main lobby first ! Not a pretty sight when sitting on the balcony.
Next day moved to the bungalow room. Concept of these two storey rooms is great. Unfortunately they are old and tired. They do smell musty, and ours had black mould on the ceilings near the a/c vent. All that being said they were quiet , clean as they could be for old furnishings and very close to the pool bar, which incidently served a great little lunch.
Our biggest issue was the unbearably hard beds!! My husband had to go to the chiropractor for a month whe we returned home. He could barely walk. Maybe if you are only there 7 days, they would be passable, but for 14 days no way. The padded sun chairs on the beach were softer and the day beds. We asked if they had any different grades of mattresses that we could switch to, but to no avail. Extensive pillow menu helped alittle as I ordered a lot and slept on them.
The resort itself is beautiful, the beach, the grounds. Also the seating in the lobby was awesome. I love to people watch and it was great for that. The entertainment in the lobby was good. The roaming magician,amazing (and cute). The lobby bar was smokey due to a lot of european smokers. We also noticed a lot of the ailine staff used this hotel for stopovers, and they could be rowdy and annoying some nights. They would stay in the lobby bar all night getting drunk. As for the food in general ,well it is Cuba!!!!

We stayed at the Melia Las Americas for the first two days of our time in Cuba. I wasn't expecting a lot, as I have been to Varadero before, and know that the star rating system is not comparable to how it is in other countries. I was pleasantly surprised by this hotel.

Our room was basic, but very clean and comfortable. The air conditioning worked well...lovely view of the golf course, beach and the Mansion Xanadu (definitely worth a visit).

The staff at the pool bar was great....very friendly and quite charming. The bartender would sing while he worked...a nice change from the cranky, rude bartender in the lobby bar who would sneer and snap at you instead. He actually rolled his eyes at me when I politely asked him for something. Fortunately, he was the only person who was rude...in fact we found everyone else to be very pleasant. There is a great little band that plays by the pool each evening.

The food at the buffet was not so bad....we didn't have time to try the a-la-carte restaurants. The coffee bar, also in the lobby bar, had great coffee....the best we had in Cuba.

The beach was beautifully kept up, very clean with a little bar and plenty of chairs and palapas.

We left for a few days and went to Havana....when we came back to Varadero we stayed at the Melia Varadero, which was the wrong choice. If you're trying to decide between these two hotels, pick the Melia Las Americas. Although they're both owned by the same company, The Melia Varadero is absolutely atrocious...see my review for it.

I would recommend the Melia Las Americas, and would stay there again.

Just returned from Las Americas and miss it already! The staff was incredible, the amenities as well. I went prepared for a let down on the food, as I read a lot of the postings saying the food was not great in Cuba in general,and felt that the food issue was NOT an issue at this hotel. I think if you were to eat from every offering in the buffet, then I can see the rating dropping a lot on food, but when you figure out what is what, and what works for you, then the food issue is a non issue. I had some of the best Lobster I have had anywhere, and was impressed at the quality of the food through out all the ala carte restaurants. The beach was incredible, and offered all you could expect in activities for those that took part. The rooms were roomy and modern, perhaps the beds were a little firm for my liking, but others commented that they loved the beds. The last 2 days of our stay the weather didnt co-operate, but we found ways of amusing ourselves anyway. The people we met on this trip were incredible, and everyone we came in contact with I think would write a positive reply. The abundance of Canadians was a positive, and we have met friends from both coasts that will remain friends post trip....I will sum it up as saying the Las Americas is a true 5 star experience, and I would go back tomorrow!
Cal Aronetz Vancouver BC

I stayed in this hotel during the week of 19-26 Of November and was simply disappointed by the lack of quality of the service.
We paid for an all inclusive vacation and we were quite prepared to tip the friendly and competent employees of this hotel, however i have to say that i saved a lot of money in tips as they were most of the time quite unfriendly and unprofessional.
The people behind the check in counter are not the most friendly ones, i have to say that only one guy was quite helpful (his name is Jesus), all the other times we were always serviced with a bad face that always made me feel uncomfortable.
After we made the check in we checked the room, and it was quite nice, even though it is not prepared for windy days, you can really hear the wind whistling. One day i had a very nice cockroach going around our stuff in the bathroom.
The room cleaning personal was fantastic, really 5* service, and super friendly.
The elevator was a curious machine, sometimes the music was non existent and other time was stupidly loud.
The lobby bar was one of my worst experiences ever, the service was bad, slow and they run out of peppermint all the time, so for a lot of day there were no Mojitos available, this was really very nice, be in Cuba and drink no Mojitos, courtesy of Melia Las Americas Management.
The lobby area was nice and clean, and they had some nice environment music and some nice live music at night.
The pool area was nice and everyday they cleaned it, however the water was always extremely cold, but i guess this is not so important. Since it was too windy in the beach most of the times, this was really the place to be with some nice sun areas.
The beach was fantastic, always very clean, and with plenty of space and chairs available. The beach bar, was ok, nothing special, the service was the same quality as always, the bartenders always with a bad face. Still no mojitos here.
The Grill restaurant was very good, very good service and fantastic live band.
The Italian restaurant had a very nice selection of food and wines, the service was also very good and friendly.
The Japanese restaurant was the cherry on top of the cake, fantastic food, fantastic service (Thanks to Beatriz and Alejandro) and a very good environment made the dinner i had there the high moment of the stay in this hotel.
The Buffet, so much i have to say about this Buffet restaurant. Normally when you stay in a hotel with the All inclusive option, we expect the buffet to be the center of all meals, so this is supposed to be the best offer and with varied types of food. Not the case, one of the worst excuses for a restaurant and service. Overall the waiters were rude, unfriendly and unprofessional. The food was mostly cold, bad quality and i checked a lot of times and found that they use the leftovers for the next meals. Unbelievable. Only for breakfast was this place an acceptable place, otherwise just avoid it at all costs!
The pool bar was also funny service, it takes them +5 minutes to service someone even though there was no one else waiting.
I did not try the golf as i am not a golf fan, but i find it very nice that the hotel is side by side with the golf course and you even have a cheaper price for it if you book it in the hotel. (50CUC versus 70CUC).
I will not return to this hotel again and i sincerely expect people to really think 2 times before going there.