Gran Melia Palacio de Isora

A first Mum/Son-only holiday (leaving Dad behind to look after the dog) and we could not have chosen better. Initially wowed by pictures of the pool, we booked a five-day/four-night stay - and loved every second. We're usually "small, boutique hotel" - type people, not all-inclusive, huge hotel sorts, so we were slightly out of our comfort zone...and usually run a mile at the thought of a hotel with planned activities and evening entertainment. Further apprehension set in as the trip approached, having read numerous reviews about the fly problem and the sewage smells. We should not have wasted a single second worrying. We saw maybe five flies in the whole time we were there - and had a slight whiff of sewage very early one morning, which quickly dissipated. Perhaps we were lucky in the room allocation - but, genuinely, it was not a problem for us at all. So, our favourite things: the room (deluxe, sea view) was absolutely perfect. Perfectly located (3099), perfectly serviced every day (thank you housekeeping), perfectly equipped, and perfect views of the evening sunsets over the sea. The main pool is exactly as photographed. It's stunning - and even when busy (which it was on a couple of particularly sweltering afternoons) - it never felt overcrowded. Do beware of wearing jewellery though - the salt water/chemicals did discolour one item (which is my bad as there is a warning notice). The restaurants were fantastic, the buffet was fab, the Mexican excellent, and the Italian (our fave) was meraviglioso! They do get busy though, so best to book ahead. Buffet breakfasts were a bit chaotic but, given the numbers being served, it's hardy surprising. Great selection though (although the coffee was awful - but we'll quickly skip over that). Generally, service was fantastic - a bit slow at times, but hey, we're on holiday so no rush. The biggest surprise was how much we enjoyed the "forced fun" (which is what we'd previously perceived the planned activities / evening entertainment to be). Activities during the day are completely unobtrusive (even those in the main pool - as it's so big), and my son joined in the paddle boarding and loved it). We saw one of the pizza making sessions for little ones - and it looked super cute. I have truly eaten my words about evening entertainment - the quality of the ones we saw was fantastic - from the sunset DJ, to the rock band, flamenco dancing to the circus show - I was genuinely impressed. I'm now a convert! Not everything was completely perfect. Being charged for using coffee pods in the room was a surprise/disappointment, and - like others have said - the pre-bagging of sun loungers was really annoying (particularly at a hotel of this calibre). Some had towels on from 07:00 - with people not turning up to use them until late morning. Yes - I ended up heading down one morning at 8am to claim a couple of seats (as someone else has commented, I became one of 'those' people) but at least I had the decency to sit on one for 90-mins until my son appeared for breakfast. Even then, we were back on them by 10.15am. Pools we could use and pools we could not was also confusing. The pool we were directed to as being a 'public pool' had a 'Red Level' notice at its entrance - meaning we could, in effect, only swim in the salt water pool. Annoying. These were niggles though, and certainly did nothing to diminish our huge enjoyment of this beautiful hotel. My husband is now insisting that he takes our son to this hotel next time - and leaves me behind to look after the dog. I don't think so!

This is not a 5 star hotel by UK hotel standards in terms of service and facilities, 4 star at best. Overall this was a nice hotel, but we did have some issues with our stay. Pro's - Food good, buffet great, nice variety of restaurants, staff all friendly, main pool and kids pools great, resort is attractive. Room had blackout curtains and double glazing which helped get kids to sleep. Cons - we booked a standard family room with B&B, when we arrived we were given a sales push to upgrade to all inclusive, we didn't really want this but did upgrade to half board which worked well for us. However I have never stayed in a hotel like this where we made to feel like second class citizens because we didn't have the all inclusive or weren't club members. There was an unpleasant undercurrent all the time where you felt you hadn't spent enough. There were whole areas and pools we couldn't access, menus we couldn't use, restaurants we couldn't use. We also had a hardcore sales team accost us and try to get us to join their 'Circle' membership implying how much of a better stay we would have if we spent thousands to £ to join it! The room itself was on the surface ok but on closer inspection had a mouldy shower ceiling, a leaky sink and the worst pillows ever, we all left with aching necks. Perhaps only the 'upgraded' rooms have nice pillows!

Mixed Review: Pros: Food is excellent and plentiful. Hats off to the team that organise breakfast especially. People may moan there is a queue but this is simply to get seated and it really isn’t long, longest we waited 6 mins. Food is best we’ve had. Huge variety for breakfast and dinner and presented well. All credit to hotel for this. Rooms: We had two deluxe doubles which were cleaned daily, quiet and very comfortable apart from the hideous sewage smell which woke us up two nights in a row. We figured it out that when they start to water the estate it basically stinks! This is not the banana plantation! It is the hotel’s sewage/drainage system. They really do need to sort this out as the hotel constantly smells. But the beds were very comfortable and we think the sound proofing is excellent. Lots of toiletries, excellent hairdryer. Tea/coffee/ milk etc. our maid came in daily, she was wonderful and we tipped her when we left. One bottle of water provided on first day, after that you had to pay for it. That’s a shame for a 5 star, everywhere else we have stayed provides water everyday for room. We would agree with some other reviews. Not enough staff in bar/waiting areas. You can wait for a long time to get a drink especially in the sunset area (which is stunning!) but when you do get a drink staff are lovely, helpful and it’s a stunning hotel to chill out in. Sunbed situation is pretty dire. All the beds absolutely need replacing for a 5 star hotel. Towels are given out at 9am but a top tip would be save a couple so you can go down in the morning at 8-820am to get a bed because if you don’t join the mountain of people doing this, you won’t get a bed!! Really annoying that the hotel do not control this. We needed to set an alarm each day as otherwise we had no beds. We became those people! On the whole this hotel is stunning, pools are lovely. We had a really good week with two teenagers who loved their room, we all ate well. Nothing in local area but used garage two mins away from Hotel for cheap bottled water and snacks. We went half board, plenty for us. One week, would have been bored for two. Went to Siam park for the day, great fun. Hotel sorted taxi, €30 each way, don’t use Uber. Well done to all the staff as I do think they work really hard and some people are very rude and demanding. We would recommend but wouldn’t go back but that’s our choice and we like to always go somewhere new. Sort the sewage smell out hotel!

The Melia experience was not present here. There were too many restrictions even though we were all-inclusive individuals. During the booking stage, it was not clear that you had varies all inclusive options. We have been to Melia in Cancun, and it was one of the best vacations ever. In Tenerife, you couldn't even order room service for free. You are compelled to go down, or you don't eat. Even when ordering at the restaurants, too many restrictions. I wouldn't come here again. Cancun is better experience and also a cheaper one.

Arrived here yesterday. Resort is beautiful and spacious. However, impossible to get booked into dinner at an a la carte if you are all inclusive- need to queue at Guest Experiences at 10.30am (took 1/2 hour!) and only early/ late times available. So it’s the buffet for us! I assume premium times are reserved for red-level… Sunbeds around the pool are all taken by breakfast - most have nobody sitting on them until at least 12pm. At least 25% of sunbeds are reserved for red- level - and these sit mostly empty all day while the standard (5 star!) guests can’t get any. Been to much better resorts where 5 star means 5 star. Definitely a 2-tier 5 star experience. Never experienced anything like it!