Paradisus by Melia Salinas Lanzarote

Had a really nice time, but a few things made it a bit disappointing. We had a Reserve junior suite with whirlpool tub. Easy to get to from the airport (don't bother booking transfers at €75, we got taxis outside both ways instantly, under €30.). On arrival it's a really nice experience, they explain a bit about the area etc. We had a quick relax and then went for dinner at the buffet. The buffet is alright... I do feel that Reserve guests should either have preferential abilities to book restaurants, or indeed have their own restaurant... It is incredibly difficult to get a restaurant place at a decent time, we only ended up managing it once in 6 nights ( Cappella, very nice). This was very annoying. Also the Reserve WhatsApp you get is absolutely useless... Offers nothing you couldn't work out yourself and has no benefits. The service staff and bar staff were absolutely fantastic. In The Reserve, Carol and Hamza were brilliant, and Esther is an amazing cocktail maker in Ginger's. The Reserve was worth it, the deck chairs are nicer, the queues are shorter and the lunch offering at the pool bar is really good. Sadly there were a few annoyances like our outside hot tub leaking water from the back which people came to fix, but after it just kept leaking, but at least it filled up, but it was a real slip hazard. I couldn't be bothered to message them again as they had already had 3 people try for an hour. We also strangely had water coming up through a drain in the floor in our bathroom which was weird. Like I said, the service and bar staff were phenomenal, but the issue we had was with what I would call the "sales" staff. This is pushing something called "The Circle" which I won't pass comment on on here, but a quick Google/Reddit view will tell you all you need to know.... Day 2, we get a hand delivered card to our room saying we have been chosen for an "experience" and to report to the concierge. My wife instantly wanted to go but I am always cynical of something so nondescript so I left it. Day 3, a man comes up to me as I have finished lunch asking me my room and telling me he wants to talk to me, I tell him I am busy and he leaves me alone Day 3 in the evening, I get told by someone in the Reserve lounge I have been selected for €100, I make it clear (having at this point researched on Reddit what exactly is going on here) that I don't want "the talk" and I'm crossed off the list. Day 4, the same guy from day 3 lunch comes up to me, says he understands I was busy the other day but he had something to talk to me about. I made it clear I am completely uninterested and he got the point. Finally on day 5, a nice man I had spoken to while waiting for lunch, then tried to get me to talk about the Circle. It made me feel like everything we had spoken about was just leading to a sales pitch. This was the biggest negative of the holiday and left us feeling a bit harassed. We actually saw the exclusive "Circle" night, it looks a bit culty and was definitely done in front of everyone to get them to sign up. Its weird because I thought schemes like that died in the early 2000s, I would urge people to do their research! I gave a 3, and wouldn't go back, my wife gave a 4 and would, so we are going with the 4 because there was a lot of nice things there, but the pushy sales staff, some poor maintenance and a lack of Value in some ways let the place down. Oh and one final weekend thing, it wasn't clear there was a part of the gym that couldn't be used, and if you went in a staff member got quite aggressive, I saw this happen to a few people.

This hotel is located near the ocean and few shops, pharmacy and supermarket nearby. We stayed in an ocean front reserve double room for 2 weeks. The hotel is adults only with EXCELLENT prompt service at all times from all staff. Guests are always acknowledged and requests fulfilled. Overall the hotel has a relaxing atmosphere, unless circle events are taking place. These tend to overshadow the main bar and ambience. The promoter for the circle is polite but insistent on trying to sell it, but really unclear what the circle is and we didn't want to spend holiday hours listening to a presentation on it. There are lots of plants, waterfalls and ponds in the main atrium, giving an airy feel, with cactus and palm trees outside. This probably attracts the birds, which do fly into the main buffet area. I did'nt personally see the birds land on the food, but the food areas are all open and I felt concerned of contaminated food from birds. The food on the buffet is not particularly warm and fish, sushi and shellfish is not presented on iced or chilled plates to keep in fresh. We tended to use the a la carte restaurants mainly - reserve area for breakfast and Samira or Capella for evening. We did not have issues booking with the reserve concierge via Whatsapp or direct on the Melia app 2 days in advance, but the hotel was not at full capacity. A la carte menus did not change over our 2 week stay, which was disappointing and bit limited. However most of the a la carte choices we had were well presented and tasty. We did not like La Graciosa evening tasting menu - small plates in fine dining style, but the lunch tapas there was amazing. The evening entertainment is only live music for about 2 hours and bit repetitive. The ginger bar service is very slow and coffee often arrived cold. The bar is very understaffed and the staff there are working hard, but just cannot keep up. The reserve lounge is open to 11pm with an open bar and snacks, but no entertainment. We enjoyed an excursion to a winery as part of reserve, transport included. Also enjoyed mixology cocktail class and glass making workshop. The room was well stocked with good quality toiletries and cleaned to a good standard. Plenty of towels for pool and room too. Robes and flip flops are either medium or large, so not used by us - a more personalised approach on sizing without asking would have been preferred. A beach bag is provided for the duration of the stay too. The mini bar was stocked daily as well as few snacks. Plenty of bottled water provided in room too, as well as nespresso machine, full size kettle and tea coffee. The hairdryer is powerful full size relatively new so does not run over hot - can take from bathroom to bedroom as plug in hairdryer not wired. Turn down service can arrive from 6pm - to change towels, chocolates and information sheet - bit early and do not disturb is ignored at times. We asked pre arrival for deckchairs on balcony to be exchanged for rattan chairs. To get ocean view thou, had to go onto balcony as walls between rooms, obstruct ocean view from the bed. The double room on reserve is 2 single beds pushed together with seperate bedding - beds comfortable but expected a king size or similar bed not 2 singles. The reserve pool is well laid out with access to single sun beds with padding or bali beds. Areas for shade or full sun. It can be windy, we used spf30 or 40 on body and spf50 on face and still tanned well. Great bar service from Hamza and Carol. Would we visit again? We only use adult only hotels all inclusive and this is our first visit to the Melia brand. Although the service was excellent and the best we have experienced, the evening entertainment, slow service in ginger bar and birds in buffet area have put us off visiting this hotel again, unless these concerns, also raised by others were rectified. We may look at other adults only hotels in the Melia brand.

We stayed for 9 nights in the reserve level, the overriding feature of the stay was the friendliness, professionalism and attentiveness of the team working for the hotel, from housekeeping to the concierge and at all the restaurants we had excellent service that was friendly and good humoured. We stayed in a renovated ocean front suite which was clean, well appointed and well equipped, the restaurants provided a good variety and again I need to call out the teams, Cappella offers an excellent Italian range with the team happy to explain the dishes and the wines - a special shout out to Africa, Sarmite, Sheila, Cynthia and Lara for 2 great meals, great service and great food in a nice environment. La Graciosa offers a selection of 3 tasting menus (meat, fish and Vegitarian) of which we sampled 2, the dishes, giving a taste of local produce were available with paired wines (an extra to some packages) all of which were explained, the team happy to answer questions and again provided friendly attentive service, Maria, Pablo, Carolina and Khadi were great hosts, but a special mention to Gabriela who as the sommelier took us through the wines and demonstrated a real passion for her subject. Finally we had the Middle Eastern resturant Samira with a range of flatbreads, koftas, salads and an absolutely amazing duck with a tamarind and chocolate sauce - one of the standout dishes of the holiday - Thanks to Pedro, Fabian, Kevin, and a lovely lady, whose name I unfortunately didn't get. The reserve pool was wonderfully quiet with comfortable loungers and Bali beds, with a great little bar and lunchtime restaurant - thanks to Carol, who always brought a smile to our faces, Hamza and the queen of cocktails Victoria, who makes a mean Margherita! Finally thanks to the reserve team for sorting out trips, bookings and general queries - a big thank you to Estefanna who looked after us - also thanks to the team for the birthday cake and Cava for my husband who turned 55 this year. We were genuinely sorry to leave having had a really relaxing stay - the team working here are excellent and made the holiday

Another relaxing & enjoyable stay at the hotel. The food in the buffet, Ginger bar and reserve pool bar was excellent, served by the enthusiastic staff. Special thanks to the reserve concierge team in particular Chandni in helping to make our stay more enjoyable.

We have just returned from a two week stay at this hotel. We did have a nice holiday but having done quite a lot of all inclusive holidays at 5 star rated hotels, this was not up to that rating in our opinions. On arrival we were immediately hit with the upselling of the reserve area (for a lot of money) which we refused as we had already paid a lot of money to stay at a 5 star hotel as advertised. Looking into it, it didn’t seem to offer anything other than padded sun beds and a slightly quieter area to sit in. The swimming pool in the main hotel was far more impressive to look at and I imagine to swim in than just a square pool. Our hotel room was lovely, great balcony (actually overlooking the reserve area so we could see it clearly) cleaned fantastically every time, lovely big bed, air con didn’t work initially but was quickly sorted and the staff I have to say were all very friendly and accommodating. The big, big issues with us was the lack of staff in the ginger bar in the evening and the fact that you can’t go to the bar and get your own drink but you had to wait for a staff member to come to your table. There wasn’t enough staff to cope with the number of people and we had ordered three times one evening and still didn’t get our drinks. Most evenings it was one drink an hour if we were lucky. This is not acceptable for a 5 star hotel and I have never experienced this before. Meliá you need to employ more staff and like another reviewer said stop the upselling staff bothering guests everyday and get them to wait tables because that’s what is needed more. Also as a lot of other guests have pointed out are all the little birds inside eating the food or pooing on the food which is definitely happening. I never touched anything that wasn’t covered. All the cold meat, cheeses, salad area needs to be covered as does the desert section. It’s madness 🤷‍♀️ Also if you could label all the food available that would be very helpful. But thank you for the positives and I did love the location of the hotel and the exercise classes and the activities staff were fantastic.