Melia Benidorm

Location: away from the busy bits of the strip so it's perfect for kids. Bus stop right outside to go to old town or the station (if you fancy a trip to Alicante). Around 10 minutes walk to the beach with lots of shops along the way.

Atmosphere: we went in Easter and there were quite a few children around but giving the size of the hotel, it didn't feel busy, noisy at all.

Service: it was but slow at check in. Free water bottles in the room had to be requested everyday which soon became a nuisance. Indoor pool: heated, not hat no swim. You have to pay a deposit to borrow towels which I don't normally see in Melia hotels.

Food: love the food here, breakfast in the Level were really good - you can order certain food which aren't available in the breakfast lounge. We went half board, dinner were good every night also seafood night once a week.

We upgraded to the Level - private area where you can have breakfast (really good) also you can get free soft drinks, beers and prosecco, tea and coffee, some light snacks (all day). Late afternoon ( I believe 5-7pm) you can get some branded spirits to go with your soft drinks, and some snacks ( most are left over from lunch service, I believe)

Staff: most staff are nice, par one male staff in the dining area ( who verbally abused us for asking tap water instead of buying bottle of water as we can have them for free all day in the lounge.

Noise : we stayed on floor 17 and could hear slightly noise mainly singing/music from the street .

Just home from a 4 night stay at Melia Benidorm. So an honest review of my stay there, good and bad. Arrival and check in was easy, first impression of hotel was impressive,pleasant receptionist checked us in efficiently. Room was clean, and plenty big enough for the 3 sharing it. Bathroom has an over bath shower which was very powerful and hot water was plenty, rooms cleaned and fresh towels every day if you required it. Pool towels could be provided for a €10 euro per person refundable deposit, which was handy,less to pack and no wet towels to go home with. Pool itself was a lovely area, clean and plenty of sunbeds available throughout the day without the usual rush to reserve one. First downside was no pool floaties allowed, lilos, rings or balls, I get this but there are 2 parts to the pool and also an inside pool for serious swimmers, surely one part could be for fun in the sun!! Our kids were playing about splashing etc and got the whistle blown to tell them to stop, is this not what a holiday is all about? Having fun! Plenty of arranged activities to join in with if you so chose. The dining experience, we went full board, we realised that this didn’t include drinks but thought we would at least be allowed a basic human right to some water? Well, on some occasions we were, others we weren’t depending on who was serving. We were told it probably not best to drink tap water but they would happily charge €2-3 euros for bottled water, now they put the bottles on the table so if you didn’t know you have to buy them its too late once you have drunk them! We took our own bottles of water in and were told in no uncertain terms this was not allowed yet at breakfast they provided tea,coffee,juices etc but no free water at lunchtime or dinnertime??? Joke! This spoilt our whole experience really as mealtimes weren’t particularly looked forward to, sort it out, water is a basic human need and shouldn’t be charged for when you have paid for all meals and especially when the weather is so hot you could easily get dehydrated. Hotel is in a reasonable area, bars near by and a short walk to strip. Nice hotel but let down by some things. I personally wouldn’t stay here again due to the issues I mention.