Paradisus by Melia Salinas Lanzarote

Firstly, let’s focus on the positives of the hotel - Location is fantastic! Half an hour transfer from airport to the hotel, on a bus route to Arrecife and Puerto Del Carmen. Very close to shops and restaurants - Food in general is of a good quality, the meats are lovely, particularly the steaks and seafood. Seafood and Asian nights are stunning! Great selection in the buffet restaurant apart from one night - theme was Poke bowl?? Not a huge amount to choose from and we are not fussy eaters. Luckily, there are great restaurants nearby. - Cleaners, our room cleaner was excellent and kept things clean and fresh throughout our stay. Although they did come round with a change of towels at approx 5pm which is early I would say for most people - we don’t usually shower again until after 6. - Rooms are well appointed although could do with a refurbishment as they are a little tired in places. Bed was huge and very comfortable and shower was great and powerful. Now the negatives…. - As soon as we arrived to check in we were offered THREE upgrades, don’t mind perhaps the offer of one but we politely declined as the upgrade price would have doubled the cost of the holiday which was not cheap in the first place! But to continue to offer two other upgrades when we already said no, then say your room is ‘ok’ anyway does put doubts in your mind. It is a very ‘upselling’ hotel and lots of employees milling about to try to do this too. Please take on board that people will ASK for an upgrade if they want one and don’t get staff to keep pestering you. People are paying a lot of money already to stay at the hotel. - Service. In the Ginger bar and the buffet restaurant, the service was not great at all - very much ignored for drinks orders, some staff were better than others but on the whole they need to up their game for customer service. Also, you need to have a separate area for people who want a quiet drink after dinner outwith the entertainment area. - Need to be more vigilant on wet floors in the communal areas, my hubby slipped and fell in the atrium area. Think there should be signage there most of the time due to the open and exposed atrium areas. After I made sure my other half was ok back to our room I was going to feedback at the lack of signage so other guests were aware, but there was a sign out by that point.

Have stayed at this hotel in the past before twice, before it became an all-inclusive hotel. It was ok, nice stays, priced about ok, however it was tired and needed a facelift for sure. So, when I heard it had 15 million spent on it, I thought I’d love to go back there to see what they’d done with this lovely old-school-architecture 70’s hotel. Although not a fan of all-inclusive, (only option now BTW) when just traveling as a couple, we thought we’d give it a go for 5 days to just warm up in Lanzo and not think about where to eat and drink etc. as reviews looked OK-ish. Now, it is very over-priced before I forget that, in case you don’t read on. Nothing much had changed on check in and reception (apart from a new casual Asian uniform?), but despite being all inclusive I wasn’t allowed a Cava or a Beer while waiting to do the necessary. The sarcastic response I got was “you can take advantage of the all-inclusive as much as you like soon” — OK, fine (but rude), but many non-inclusive offer this by default so this came across rude and a bit cost-saving after a long flight. What seemed more important to them is trying to sell us up to one of the new villas, no thanks we said, only here for 5 days. Our room wasn’t ready, so we sat outside for a drink half in the shade at the only available dirty table (few options, I’ll get to that). Got a call to say room is ready within 2 mins and was asked if I wanted to upgrade to a villa again, er no, not even seen our room yet. Rooms have had a facelift, so they are way more pleasant and practical than before has to be said, but there are many original and still very tired features and unfinished corners, especially on the balconies etc. which takes the edge of what they have done which is a shame. I know deck chairs are cheap, but please rethink your target audience here Melia! As we arrived late afternoon we wanted some food. Alas, no food can be ordered at the pool bar which is an odd concept, hey ho, and you are not allowed to take food by the pool from the inside 24-hour snack bar, so we had to sit inside on our first day on holiday as seating is very limited outside. Very few seats were in the sun outside, it’s such an odd configuration, people where actively moving heavy tables and (broken) chairs into the sunny parts of the outdoor areas that you are “allowed” to eat in. The inside 24-hour snack bar is OK in theory, good choices I guess, but then I noticed the BIRDS inside! My question to my husband was, how do you think they keep these birds away from the buffet which is connected — the very sad reality is that they simply don’t, biggest issue. What can I say. We soon noticed the birds were eating the doughnuts at breakfast off the food counters, freely eating the bread at the bread station, they were even sitting on the prepared salad bowls and helping themselves merrily, and even at lunch time pecking away at the hot stations. I’ve NEVER (travelled a lot) seen anything like it and did not see 1 single member of staff in 5 days shoo one single bird away. In what world can this be acceptable, this is a huge health and safety risk. Nobody apart from the guests seamed remotely bothered. From this point onwards I only ate from servers with a lid, food from the tapas restaurant at lunch, or freshly prepared food from the snack bar — no guarantees of course, but at least I’d not visibly seen birds feasting on it beforehand! Or we ate out. The average age in this hotel must me 65-75, range 40-100, if you don’t know the risks of sparrows on food google it. My all-inclusive band fell off (bad design), the first question at reception was would you like to upgrade to a villa, it’s half price now, er, read the room, no thanks, still. We then got a letter handed to us, inviting for a special free gift at reception, hard to believe the GIFT was an opportunity for an appointment with a hard-sell guy to join the Melia Circle (their membership club) oh purleeze, this is now feeling like time-share sales tactics, just leave us to relax, it’s day 2. Now onto the al-a-carte restaurants, nothing was available for any night before 9, so it was AKA “The Aviary” morning, noon, and night for us sadly. We got a call one night to say the Italian had a last-minute table available, we went. It was so underwhelming, dirty tablecloth, average food, only house wine included, empty vibes, so how come some much in demand, hmmm. Can’t comment on the rest, could not get in, despite going on wait-lists etc. The nicest place to eat by far is the Canarian Tapas place (La Graciosa) by the pool for lunch. The staff there are lovely, the menu limited but nice, and far way from the “Aivery canteen”. However, food could be hotter, didn’t try at night so can’t comment. Onto the serving staff, they were extremely nice people, and helpful, however I did get the vibe not happy in their roles. On day 1 we asked the guy at the pool bar where to get spare pool towels, shrugged and said I dunno, reception maybe (looked like he’d been working there 20-years)? But generally nice in “The Aivery” sorry to keep calling it that, but... On staff in general, nice personalities, however a HUGE, BUT, which is aimed at to execs, Melia, what is the “new” heart-tab all about (for those who don’t know, it’s an Easten welcome, not a Spanish or European one). We aren’t in the Maldives, it comes across fake (nobody is buying the “transcends culture” philosophy you advertise). You have staff hanging around by doors in reception heart-tapping looking for who to prey on for up-sells, I think many guests would rather you give those staff a bird-catching net, or have them go outside to help a 90-year-old to move a table into the sun where they should be in the first place, this was becoming so cringe after 3 days I can’t even express. Onto the beach bar which is clearly owned by the hotel. To note, same staff, glasses, wine choice etc., but guess what, those drinks are not included, just 20% off for guests that are not in villas, you have to be kidding me for an “all-inclusive”! Entertainment staff were really nice, but to give one example of an “activity” let’s go for the wine tasing. It was stale bread and jam, and then you could go to the bar and choose from dry or sweet white wine. That’s not wine tasting, that’s going to the bar via optional breakfast leftovers, and then being poured a glass of what’s free anyway. Melia executives, please book yourself on a short stay with any 5* Iberostar, fully observes the differences, they are significant from every angle. No I don’t work for them and have no connection, I just know good and bad, but honestly so disappointed by the bad here I’m out of energy to list the good for you here, sorry. I guess if you are honest, you know I have a point already. I have way more issues with this stay, but probably out of characters soon. Remember it takes a lot for someone to take the time to do a review, bad or good, these words matter.

Nice hotel with lovely helpful staff, But certainly not 5star, good location shame they had no private bathing area on the beach. as apparently got washed away two years ago and has not been updated in the brochure. To book into the a la carte restaurants at a reasonable time is nee impossible as I suspect most booking have been taken up by The Reserve clients!! and their not especially that good cuisine. As for the main buffet restaurant found the evening dining experience quite poor as same dishes most nights and not very hot. The evening entertainment was quite good and varied with good singers and groups. One warning though 'Do Not Book' into the Spa total rip off and so overpriced, tried to cancel a treatment but they said I couldn't as per the sudden emergence of the terms & conditions and the confirmation email/text message of which I never received and would be charged either way! Overall this is a lovely hotel for a short break but no longer.

Last time we visited on the day we left the major storm hit & the staff at this hotel were amazing.Great to return & again the hotel delivers a fantastic break with excellent food & 1st class service.When the weather is hit & miss they do everything to help you enjoy.if you can go for it would recommend a villa as they really are a great experience .having stayed in different rooms though do find them all at a height level

The hotel was wonderful, excellent food, spotlessly clean, comfortable beds and super pillows. The staff were friendly, helpful and knowledgeable about what was on, where to go and what to do. Pool areas were kept beautifully tidy, clean and ready for guests to use. But a very special mention has to go to the Ents. Team Armando, Soraya, Joanna, Blen, Maria, Barbara, Erasmo, Clara, Carolina and Victor, without you our week long holiday would have been very boring because the weather was so unpredicatable and changeable. From yoga to disco dance, Pilates and stretch, great teaching, great fun and very enjoyable. Keep up the wonderful work that you all do to make peoples holidays just that little bit more memorable and special, thank you all!