Melia Tropical All Inclusive

The hotel grounds were very good and well kept. A beautiful resort but was to big for my taste. The room was very nice and clean. The beach was very nice and inviting. We upgraded to the Royal Service and there was nothing Royal about it. I was there for five days and there were only a couple of times I felt like the staff even really cared to help me with a question or anything else. Several times I would walk up to the Royal Service desk or another area where several hotel employees were located (towel attendants at the pool, front desk, several bars and restaurants, etc) and they would not even acknowledge my presence, I would have to interrupt them from texting on their phones or having a conversation between themselves to get any service. I always felt like I was bothering them instead of feeling like they welcomed me as a guest and were happy to help me. Overall the food was good and there is a restaurant that you can pay extra for steak and lobster. My family of three chose to eat at this restaurant one night and it was outstanding. Overall I don't think the cost of the trip was in line with the poor service we received. Some final notes - there was no conditioner in the showers and they did not provide it, we had to pay 11 U.S. dollars for a small bottle of conditioner in the gift shop. Also, we had to pay 33 U.S. dollars for a bottle of sun screen so make sure you bring your own! That is ridiculous!

Took my fiancee here Christmas week 2012. We upgraded to Royal Services, think that's a must. We got a nice romantic suite with a balcony overlooking the beach. Nice, clean room...couple of small oddities like doorstops that my toes found a couple times...but very very nice. The beds were great, very firm which I love. Nice in-room jacuzzi. No beer in the room fridge, glad we stopped and picked up a few bottles from a local store on the way. Great beach, great beach amenities- beds, chairs etc. There is a lot of seaweed, but it comes in patches and the staff rake it and bag it up enough so that its not a problem. The Royal Services pool is kind of far from the beach (and our room) but the regular trolleys make up for that...plus RS guests can call for transport via golf cart...nice touch. Walking was cute for the first day but not something I'd like to do regularly. The first night we ate at the French place, it was okay. From then on out we ate at the Gabi, which was much better altho the food still seemed a little bland. This was out first time at an all-inclusive so maybe that's to be expected, especially when cooking for so many people...but coming fro Manhattan we're a bit picky about food. Nevertheless, I had low expectations and the Gabi definitely exceeded them. Nice pool with pool bar, jacuzzis (not heated but very nice), tile chaise lounges built in with drink stands. Surprisingly good beef at the Gabi and in general. The best food we had was at Los Cocos, which at 45.00 is a pricey add on, but everything was great. Huge twin lobster tails, huge tasty rib-eye....grilled about 20 feet away. Easily the best food there. We didn't do any excursions surprisingly. We decided that the beach and pool were enough to keep us occupied...and they were. We walked through the buffets on the beach, but really were not interested by anything there. Tried a bit of paella, which was good but a little bland....the product of cooking for so many people I guess. Wish there had been some spices within eyesight. We tried the Japanese restaurant, an additional 25.00 for RS guests, 30.00 for others. Nice guys, the habachi chef put on a good show, but overall not impressed with the food. Kind of boring stir fry. Again, we're from Manhattan and there's tons of excellent restaurants...maybe we're just being picky. We didn't go to any shows, though there seemed to be plenty. I played poker for about an hour in the casino, which opens at 7pm. It's a smaller casino, about half slots with a handful of blackjack tables, couple of roulette tables and one poker table. Nice room with its own bar. The resort was huge, I really was surprised bu how much area it covers. And it has tons of places to hang out in, lots of cool loungy spots, plenty of bars... We would definitely go back- extremely good value. We do feel the Royal Services package is a must.

Hands down, the grounds are beautiful! Check In took over an hour. The resort is so huge, its hard to know what is going on, when etc etc..a lot of walking or a lot of waiting for the train to pick you up. We upgraded to Royal Service, and the only difference we could tell was top shelf drinks , the Gabi and the private beach( which was still hard to find a chair on the beach). Language barrier is a challenge. Tipping is expected and was not appreciated at all. Food was average and it was hard to get a reservation, a couple of the resturants were closed too. All in all, we enjoyed ourselves b/c were on an island, but it could have been so much more with a better staff

The hotel itself is big. I been before in such big hotels in Dominican Republic but over here everything feels independent. they have two lobbies and on beginning its confusing with place where need to go. Announcements are almost on Spanish, the same when they have night time show host talk on 3 languages but it not easy understand him and shows are not interesting very weak team. Food could be better( no any avocado salads but it was season, ) little seafood. Work out outside i seen only 2 time and not too many people were involved. Not often you will see smile and Ola on personal faces. Rooms are ok for families with kids they nice pools and some activites. Dont recommend for my friend .

It was a great experience. Beautiful property with great bars and decent food for an all inclusive.

The location, and the beach were just great. The food especiallyfor lunch was not that great, however.

overall great experience. things to know, bring sun screen, $25 in gift shop, bring bandaides, .25c ea in gift ship. The food was excellent, amerian grill is a must, french restaurant was supposed to be great, we got up and left, service was worse than bad and food was average. Plan on lots of walking the shuttle train is very slow. taxi from airport is only $30 and much faster than any shuttle. If you want a diet coke for your room, get bottled coke at the pool bars, free there, $2 in the gift shop

We stayed in regular room, everything was ok. The room was close to lobby/reception area and far from the beach. In the end I felt that I spent too much time walking somewhere or waiting for a train but it made time pass really fast. When we stayed hotel was not full, i think it made things better. Kids club was nice, my son always wanted to go there.

Recently stayed at Melia. The grounds are beautiful. The rooms on the other hand need some work, very dated...no wireless, uncomfortable beds, older TV's. We even upgraded to Royal Service on the advice of reviews on this site. Would not recommend it. Not worth the additional cost. Would rather have spent the money on additional days. For the most part, the staff was pretty friendly. The front desk staff however were not, even in the VIP lounge. You keep getting hounded by people to go to a Time Share Seminar, very annoying. This was my first "all inclusive" vacation and from other people I have talked to, the amenities at this site are not as good as at some others. The food is average. Overall, a good place to stay for the money, they just need to do some work on the rooms and upgrade them.

If you're looking for a care-free resort vacation in the sun then Melia will do the trick. There are some pros and cons to the place but overall we had a great time and from talking to other guests (many who were repeat visitors) it's one of the more consistent resorts in the Dominican Republic. Pros: -On the beach (sort of) -All inclusive -Clean -Solid food options (reasonably vegetarian friendly) -lots of entertainment choices Cons: -Staff can be a bit pushy about their time share scheme -Restaurants require reservations a day in advance -Be prepared to do some walking. We didn't mind it, but we're young and fit. Older people or people with kids may not enjoy just how 'sprawling' the resort is. -Both rooms we stayed in had a musty/moldy smell in them, we brought that smell home with us in our luggage. -mosquitos at night. bring bug spray. Again, overall a great vacation and we'd go there again. Just wanted to give you a little bit of insight as to what we did/didn't like.