Our vacation at the Melia was very nice we found all the staff at the hotel to be genuinely friendly and helpful. Service was the key at the Melia. I travel a few times per year and have stayed at many all inclusive resorts and love most of them but I think the Melia offers the best hotel for service. The beach is just passable because of its size and sand although the water is warm and swimmable, the pool is wonderful, the shows are good, and the rooms are very nice and clean with great views. The breakfast was excellent with the best omelet chef and a nice selection. Lunch is limited to a snack bar and one restaurant with limited choices. Dinner offers a buffet restaurant(excellent) or 2 speciality restaurants(both are good). Reservations are only required for the Italian restaurant and Thursday is Romantic night at the restaurant and it was lovely.
All in all we had a great time at the Melia and will try another Melia hotel in the near future. It is so close to the airport that I would suggest getting your own taxi to and from the airport as it is inexpensive and quicker. We took the bus into the town and it was fun to meet and interact with the people of Mexico - I must say that I always felt safe walking the streets of Puerto Vallarta and everyone was friendly. I love the silver jewelry that I purchased at Evolucion right near the old Cathedral in town. If you visit the store tell the sales girl you read my review on the internet she is great and the prices unbeatable! I also wanted to mention that the managers at the hotel are very helpful and if you have any special needs they will do their best to accommodate you.

As a first time traveler to Puerto Vallarta & The Melia Resort- I really valued the reviews I had read prior to our trip and feel compelled to describe what this hotel was really like. My boyfriend and I (25yrs old) got to Melia and it was beautiful! I had called the hotel before our arrival and asked them to set up a surprise for my boyfriend. The man assured me that he would take care of everything and email Melia in P.V.- when we checked into the hotel- I secretly tried to ask if there was a note on my account for the surprise. After explaning the situation to her, she shook her head and said yes, it was taken care of. Unfortunately- it was never taken care of and the complimentary surprise I had been promised was never fulfilled. I spoke to 5 different people who all told me they didnt check their emails and had no idea what I was talking about.
Moving on... The hotel is beautiful; there are greens, flowers, iguanas, & duck all around the ponds on the grounds and the people were extremely nice. Hernan was a great help if we had questions or wanted advice on places outside the hotel! Overall, the food was not very good-There are a couple places to eat since the hotel is all-inclusive. Breakfast at Quetzal was good, Azulejos the mexican place was awful- there were bones in my boyfriend enchiladas, Vitrales(the italian rest. where a reservation was needed) was decent, but again my boyfriend found something in his eggplant again at dinner. La Palapa is a lunch place which is good and offers variety. We decided to eat outside of the hotel and had FANTASTIC dinners at Cafe de Artistas (literally one of the best restaurants in the world- amazing!), The River Cafe, and Theirry's Steakhouse. I would definitely recommend that you eat elsewhere if you are staying at Melia.
The rooms were beautiful, air conditioning worked perfectly, and every room had a balcony which was nice. Pool is awesome too, very big. If you are a couple- there are a lot of children at this hotel and it definitely has a strong family feel, but it didnt really impact our trip since the pool is so big! Pool bar is good- Abraham was wonderful and tried to take care of us. Coming from America (NJ)- we drank the mixed drinks with ice and neither of us were sick at all. I suggest the beers, sangria, and bloody marys!
Overall, we will NOT go back to Melia again. We booked our trip thru Expedia for July 1-6... NEVER go to mexico July 4th or 5th if you want to drink. NO ONE told us this is their election and there is no drinking or serving of alcohol permitted in the ENTIRE country. All of a sudden we saw signs the night before telling us they wouldnt be serving alcohol when we paid for that as a part of our all inclusive package. Forget swim up bar or lobby bar, there was no drinking and he management did not care and would not acccomodate us in anyway even though we paid for it. This really put a damper on our weekend and the fact that the hotel didnt care made it worse.
Finally the last night there was a thunderstorm and pipes burst in the lobby. There was water all over the floor and people were trying not to slip and fall. The maintenance tried cleaning it up and just put carpets down on the floor. I wonder what this hotel would do in the case of a hurricane.

Ultimately, we tried to make the best out of this trip. Its a nice hotel with nice grounds and nice people, but our trip was ruined by the hotel's lack of accomodations :(

I just loved this hotel. It was quite family oriented but my sister and I really enjoyed staying here. It catered to many different age groups and there was something for everyone.The pool had lots of fun entertainment and sports to play and it was also very relaxing. I enjoyed the swim up bar, the snack bar and the restaurants were awesome. My sister and I mostly ate at the buffet and the waiters were so friendly. The night life at our hotel was also enjoyable. They had dancing entertainment every night and one night was a party at the beach. The hotel lobby also smelled amazing. It reminded me of febreeze, I totally would come back to this hotel if I ever stayed in PV again. It was wonderful.

There are a lot of very good reviews on this hotel, which led me to believe that it would be better than it was. When you arrive at the airport you are bombarded with people offering you rides. Your best bet is to go outside, cross the street and grab a taxi there. These taxi drivers will not try to sell you anything except a ride to your hotel. 80 pesos-ask first. When you arrive at the hotel they check you in and promptly send you a "concierge". They will try to sell you on attending their (time-share) breakfast presentation. We said thanks but no thanks. They offer deals on activities if you attend, but they seem to hike up the activity prices in the first place. We booked our activities on line in the ciber cafe (30 pesos for 1/2 hour of internet time) through a travel company .
-The rooms are clean enough. Mexico is very humid, so yes the rooms smell a bit moldy, but it is not that bad. The beds are not too firm (I've had firmer). We booked the garden view room and were on the 4th floor where you can also see the ocean. The garden is a big pond full of big gold fish and algae and some greenery.
-The pool is nice and big-some shallow areas and deepest is aprox 6 feet. There are a lot of wasps especially at the bar, but they did not seem aggressive.
-Beach is absolutely nothing to rave about. There are maybe only 10 or 15 beach chairs as no one really spends any time on the beach anyways. The tide was fairly rough most days. There are some vendors.
-We did not send our 7 year old to the kids club. We met another family who sent their 9 year old a couple times and said the people who work there are good with the kids.
-This hotel was probably nice in its day, but they have let it get a bit run down. They have a zip line, but it is overgrown with trees. The batting cage looks like it never gets used. Every activity (ie: rock climbing, rifle shooting, bungee-trampoline) is only at certain times on certain days to which they only announce over the speaker that it is open now. The poolside activities (ie: bingo) are few and far between.
-The food is ok at best. Lunch buffet is not until 1pm and dinner buffet is not until 7pm. There is a little pool side restaurant that serves well-done burgers and fries. Both my fiance and I were not feeling so well by mid week. I stopped eating any of the food in bins at the buffet and stuck to salad, soup, fruit and toast for the rest of the week. Most of the food in the bins at the buffet looks like it has been made hours ago. It is almost always the same as the day before.
-The waiters were friendly and very good with the kids. They took the time to remember our 7 year olds name and to show her how to fold napkins into fun shapes.
-There is a "mini-disco" each night at 9pm for the kids. It is really just some silly game they get the kids to come up on stage and play. At 9:30pm is the evening show. Again-nothing to write home about, but it is something to do on the odd night. One night they had a silent clown (a mime), most of the time it is a dancing show with lots of costume changes.
-We took public transit any time we wanted or needed to leave the resort. It costs 5.50 pesos (55 cents). There is a Wal-Mart not too far from the resort, the bus goes right by it. You want to take the bus that says "Marina Vallarta". It is the only bus that goes past the Melia and comes every 15-20 minutes. This bus will take you directly to down town Puerto Vallarta (the Melacon). To catch it back to the resort, walk up 2 blocks (away from the ocean) to Juarez Street. We also took the bus to the zoo. You have to transfer buses down town and catch the one that says "Mismaloya". Ask your bus driver where to catch this bus and he will tell you when to get off. This bus will also take you to Boca de Tomatlan where you can catch a water taxi to take you to Yelapa, Quimixto, Majuitas, etc beaches. This time of year, however, being the rainy season, is not ideal to snorkel. Lots of jelly fish.
-The rain was not too intrusive. We were visiting end of June-beginning of July. It would rain most days but not until late afternoon at the earliest.
-All in all this resort is a good 3 star hotel. It is a family resort-there are lots of children. 90% of the guests are locals from Mexico.