Melia Marbella Banus

Hotel is very pretty, pools are immaculate, and room was very clean.

Some of the worst staff I have ever come across... ever! Male receptionist needs a crash course in how to smile, the pool boys had such a bad attitude, the way he spoke to one old lady was disgusting and the management seemed to let them get away with it.

The walk along the front into Puerto Banus is about 15 min its nice in the day, but walking home at night on a couple of times we felt a bit intimidated by gangs shouting things at us.

If I went back to puerto Banus I would stay somewhere else, somewhere closer, but in fairness I doubt if I would ever go back.

Had a long weekend at this hotel last year, it was fantastic!

A girlfriend and I went for a chill out weekend; the hotel was beautiful, plush decor, top class food, attentive staff, and beautiful grounds with swimming pool and lagoon pool with waterfall.

This hotel has an ideal setting for couples, or friends, with pool side bar and restaurant.

They had live music at the pool side restaurant.

The rooms were immaculate and really high quality.

Only 5 minute taxi ride to the harbour and all of the lively bars, clubs, restaurants and shops on the Marbella strip.

The nightlife is amazing, so much going on, so many people, but what a lovely atmosphere.

2 minute walk to the beach, you can see the hotel from the beach, which has a few beach restaurants.

Don’t know that I could afford to stay for longer than 1 week, but its well worth the money if you can afford it.

Would highly recommend, would love to go back.

My wife and I have just returned home having spent a wonderful 7 days at the Melia Dinamar. The hotel had wonderful facilities which were clean and in excellent condition. Our room was large with two 4 foot beds and overlooked one of the two very large swimming pools, there was also and indoor heated pool which we did not use as the outdoor pools had an ideal temperature. The standard of the food was superb although a little pricey. The included breakfast was a revelation, well over a hundred different items,

Full English, Continental and American all rolled into one with a chef in attendance to cook the omelette of your choice. The hotel is situated in a quiet residential area less that fifty yards from the beach and promenade and within a ten minute walk to the centre of Puerto Banus. We can't wait to return.

NB

Berkhamsted UK

Stayed here for a long weekend at the end of June on a B&B basis. Loads of food to choose from for breakfast so no complaints there. Found the waiting staff a bit abrupt though. Rooms were furnished to a high standard and were spotlessly clean.

Sun longers for the pool were not a problem as the staff brought out more if requested.

Close enough to walk to the main harbour and far enough away not to be disrupted by the noise.

Great base if you're after a nice hotel to relax by the pool in the day time but want the nightlife of Puerto Banus.

I stayed for 2 weeks half-board in June 2006.

On the first night it became apparent that there would be problems with noise from other guests as my wife and I were awoken regularly from midnight though to 5.30 am by drunken guests in the corridors. There are a lot of groups of men or girls who stay for 3 or 4 nights and do not eat at the hotel. They clearly drink there, however. I was forced to buy and wear ear-plugs every night thereafter, and was still occasionally woken by noise. Other guests complained and some moved rooms.

The food was very poor quality for a 4-star hotel, both in variety and quality. I was treated to fermented orange juice one morning and a curdled milk dessert one evening. The staff were aware of the orange juice problem and simply left the juice out for other guests to drink rather than remove it. The food would be recycled, with left-overs from the breakfast re-surfacing in the evening. A considerable quantity of the food was clearly pre-packaged rather than made fresh on the premises. On the whole, the food was a bland, unappealing mess.

The rooms were clean, although the maids twice took all of the towels without leaving replacements.

The "entertainment" is dreadful - a tone-deaf pianist, who had to be heard to be believed, and a mariachi-style group, who were better, but an unnecessary distraction in the dining area when one is searching for something edible.

Do not believe the brochure blurb about this being an exclusive resort. There are some nice designer stores and a Corte Ingles department store, but the place is greatly overrated. The marina in Benalmadena is far superior.

My husband and I are just back from staying at the dinamar for 4 nights. Hotel was quite nice, room was nice and clean. The food in the buffet was OK, not wonderful. Breakfast time, the bacon was swimming in grease, the sausages were strange foreign looking pale ones, and the eggs looked like soup, but apart from that it was OK! We were half board but we ate out most of the time, the restuarants in Puerto Banus are so much nicer to eat at. Plus we prefer to be served our food rather than have it buffet style. Overall the hotel was a good choice, not 4 star like it says it is, but is OK for a short break. The pool area is nice, the sunbeds are really comfortable. Only bad thing was the pool bar area, only one member of staff on who told customers they would have to wait to be served as she was busy! Good location, go out the back gate, walk along the promenade and you are at Puerto Banus marina, nice place to watch all the spanish posers posing in their boats and cars!

My husband and I (both age 30) stayed here and loved it. We are not really ones for staying anywhere half or full board as we like to eat out at all sorts of places.

On this occassion hearing that Puerto Banus was expensive I thought we would stay half board - just incase it was too much to eat out so we can always eat at the hotel on a last resort.

Well we wish we stayed full board! the food was brilliant. It was buffet style so eat as much as you want but I know buffet style does sound cheap and cheerful which this certainly wasnt! The food at the hotel was fab. They even had a chef who cooked to order any fish or meat. It was like the meat deli counter at tescos - you chose your meat or fish which even included fillet steaks and the chef cooked it in front of you.

Some people who only stayed B&B regreted not staying half or full board and tryed to upgrade their holiday from B&B but the hotel would not allow this. To eat and pay for the buffet dinner was something like 60 euros each which was a rip off.

The pools were lovely but no shadey areas by either pools. And there was no entertainment at the hotel.

I would go back again just for the food!!! Puerto Banus is a 10 min walk away. Because we ate at the hotel we did struggle to do much at night as we didnt really find many bars that opened before 1am! Most of the places at PB were restaurants.

There is a food supermarket which sold designer clothes La Coute (I think it was called - a green logo). That was well worth a look at. The clothes were cheaper in there than the designer shops.

Saw lots of celebs, footballers whilst we were there.

Saw Max Clifford the PR guru, John Barnes and some man off Sky Sports. Hear Meg Matthews was there too but didnt see her. Lots of millionaires with their flash cars and boats. You will need to take some pennies with you - not a cheap place to stay at.

ENJOY!

A nice hotel in a very good location. An easy and flat 10 minute walk to the Harbour at Puerto Banus.

Till 10 pm you can use the back gate, turn left then right and walk along the prom.

Not too easy to find, as other reviews have pointed out - you basically need to head into Puerto Banus off the motorway and then head back as though you are going towards Marbella on the N340 / going back onto the Motorway - the turning is just there, as the road forks.

5.90 euro's in a taxi back from Puerto Banus of a night for a couple of minutes ride - We did walk once or twice, but the road was very quiet and little to no passing traffic and 10 euro's from Marbella itself.

Our room was very good, it had recently been refurbised. Ample space, clean and comfortable.

Only two moans -

The Air con is not in use until May -with outside temps in high 20's the room was very warm forcing us to leave the balcony door open at night.

The Breakfast was typical european hotel fayre, the evening meal was good with a choice of freshly cooked meats and other dishes from the hot counter (they could of done with labelling some of the dishes as it was not clear as to what they were) however both at breakfast and dinner the food was only just warm - unless you were lucky to be there at the momment they brought fresh items out.

we are just back from the melia dinimar and loved it.the bedrooms are so nice ,you have 3 pools to choose from and one is an indoor pool. the food is fantastic the chef will cook chicken, steak or fish made to order breakfast is also a good choice and the chef will cook eggs any way you want them.

I had read other reviews about difficulties in finding the hotel and therefore had consulted several map sites to pin point the hotels location. The Melia's own web site was completely wrong but luckly the alternatives gave better guidance. Only the oneway system then had to be overcome. The easiest way to get to it from Malaga is to it is come off at Puerto Banus and turn around to rejoin the main road back to Malaga. On the slip road that rejoins the main road there is a small exit. This exit leads to a road which goes straight to the hotel at the far end.

The location itself is fine, on foot it is a short walk to the beack from the back gate and then a bit further into Banus itself.

I had also read about staff attitude, but they where mostly very help if you tried to speak Spanish but generally remained a bit distant.

The standard of the room, hotel and the restuarant was, on the whole, excellent. As we where visiting in March, we picked the hotel because it had a covered and heated pool. This was infact in a lean to structure (shed)which it shared with the turkish bath so the air was hot and humid inside but the pool itself was quite cold, too cool to take my son swimming. The other pools look inviting but again too cold.

The final point as mentioned in other reviews, is that it is a business hotel with lots of conference delegates which do tend to take over at times. At the end of our 4 day visit a well known Japanese car company's Germany distributor was doing a new car launch to its dealers and they took over several 'public' rooms and all the main carpark and forecourt to the hotel. And this was only the preparation days. Instead, we had to use the poorly lit underground carpark, in which, I managed to scrap the hire car against a post whilst avoiding other poorly parked cars. It was only a small scratch which I hope I got away with but still I feel at bit miffed about being displaced into the underground CP in the first place.