My fiancé and I stayed at the resort from December 28th through January 1st with two goals in mind. First, to celebrate New Years. Second, to meet with the staff about having our wedding at Melia in August 2021. None of which were fulfilled and instead we had the most terrible experience. We came here expecting a great vacation, and we got FAR from an even mediocre vacation. During the reservation process, we were offered the Level premium section for an extra cost. We accepted because the package sounded amazing. However, none of those promises were met. From day one, our room was dirty. The sink had clearly not been cleaned or even rinsed as there was spit blood. The concierge was to make a reservation for us at Riviera restaurant and it was not done. He was supposed to drive us to dinner and left us waiting for over 35 minutes at the other side of the resort. After expressing our concerns to the staff, they gave us a different concierge. Unfortunately, we had the same reservation problems the entire time. They were to set up dinner reservations for us and there was a problem every time. Further, the person who I was in contact with about a wedding was unavailable during my time there. I called well in advance to confirm she would be there during my stay and she simply lied. Fast forward to New Years Eve. The concierges were not informed of any of the events happening. This caused an exchange of continuous misleading information. We were told that due to COVID everyone would be assigned to a particular part of the resort for the NYE celebration. For example, some would celebrate at the beach, and others and the lobby or The Level Pool. Because we were part of The Level, we were assigned to the pool. We had dinner reservations at Merkado (restaurant by the beach) at 8:30pm and after dinner we went to the pool for the "celebration." To our disappointment, the so called "NYE Party" simply consisted of two speakers playing a playlist of songs and four blue lights. We waited there until midnight and never got to see the show or any celebration-like events. However, we did find out through social media that the lobby and the beach both had a show with dancers and such. The staff's excuse was that we might have missed the "celebration" while we were at dinner. If it would have been better planned and organized, we should have had an itinerary. In that case, we would have scheduled dinner around it. We were very disappointed that night. The next morning comes around and it's pouring rain outside. We message our concierge asking if the restaurant closest to our room is still open and he responds and indicates that it is in fact open. My fiance and I walk to the restaurant in pouring rain only to find out that the restaurant was closed. We left the resort that afternoon heading back home with an overwhelmingly disappointing experience. We had very high hopes for Melia as it is usually referred to as a high-end, great resort. Unfortunately, we were greatly disappointed by our experience and have decided not to return and much less host our wedding at a Melia resort. …
Coming from 16 year in the luxury hospitality industry, I pay close attention to details and customer service. Since the moment of the check-In we received excellent customer service. Paula Cerda was the first agent that we met. She was very professional, polite and dedicated. She was checking on us the whole weekend and ensuring our our needs were met. We also received great customer service from Carolyn Rijo, Oscar & Miguel (sorry that I missed their last name) from transportation. The hotel bedrooms needs a little refreshing (I stay on this hotel few years ago and noticed how rundown is). In regards to the COVID protocols, I can said that they were on top of it. Overall it was a good stay but thanks to Paula, Carolyn and the rest of the team members was excellent.
We were really happy to have Edgar as our concierge. He made sure we had a wonderful time at the resort from the moment we checked in: level services, reservations, details on the amenities, bookings etc.
This was our second time to this resort, and we were in an upgraded area called The level. The first time we were here we were in the adults only section also called The Level so it can be a bit confusing. My recommendation is if you are adults travelling it’s worth it to upgrade to the level and then you can also go onto the adults only area etc. While the resort has done an excellent job of maintaining COVID-19 protocols, there certainly were Some big hits and then some equally big misses. First off I would like to recognize the wonderful staff who are working and trying so hard. While the resort was closed for several months I’m guessing they were not able to retain all of the experienced staff so there was a combination of experience staff who returned along with very inexperienced staff. This was evident in areas such as the barefoot Grill on the beach where they would leave cooked items out for hours, and we’re talking about pre-cooked hamburgers, french fries, chicken nuggets, etc. which could’ve easily been cooked fresh upon order. Instead they were left in the open air in metal Buffet containers for I’m guessing are least a few hours which is a huge no-no and it was completely in edible. Same goes for the Merkado snack trailer where I was actually given a completely raw hotdog… And I’m not kidding it was completely uncooked! Also during breakfast it seems that the staff are not checking to see whether the heater or lights are on in the Buffet area and one morning I had 2 completely ice cold poached eggs. Needless to say this is a quick way to get your guests sick, but having said all of that for the most part the food was good and absolutely wonderful at these restaurants: the Italian,Quimera, the Vietnamese (muoi) the Riviera and the Buffet at the American Grill was also OK. We were really disappointed when we had a meal at La Hacienda which is the Mexican restaurant. When we were here last time this was a highlight of our trip but this time it was a complete disaster. Again you could see the inexperience is what came into play and made the experience far less palatable than expected. The grounds and the pool and the beach are all amazing and while the swim up bars are closed you can still easily get whatever you want to drink without any issue, however you pretty much have to get the drinks yourself as we had no pool or beach drink service however there was someone serving on the AO pool. I really noticed a difference in the quality of the liquor as last time we were there in 2016 we could get all top shelf liquors but not now. it looks like most of the liquor is local which is OK but you don’t get the same quality. Also our butler Reynaldo a.k.a. Rey, was absolutely amazing and looked after our every need. He texted us every morning to see how we were and what our day was looking like and where he could help. Truly this was such a help for us and even though we had been there before he helped us navigate through a few different things and nothing turned into an issue as a result of his care for us. I also wanna Shout out to other staff such as Alexandra, Irving, Amanda, Catherine, Jennifer, German, Carlo, Moses, and so many others that made our stay so enjoyable. Considering that we were able to come during a pandemic and just not have to think About it for a week was a really good break for us so thank you very much Melia Caribe and we look forward to seeing you again next time!…
It was a great time we had. The crew is very very nice, always smiling and asking if we needed something. Beautiful beach, good food and we felt very Sécure. We definitly recomend this hotel and we sure will be back!!!! Welcome to Bávaro and DR.
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