Melia Cayo Guillermo Hotel

1 reader found this review helpful

We were at Melia Cayo Guillermo from Dec. 27th to January 3rd. We were extremely disappointed with several aspects of our vacation experience. Firstly, I'll mention the good: the beach was great, especially if you like long beach walks and close-to-shore snorkeling and the nightly entertainment, while at times corny, was fine.
Now for what was bad: essentially everything else. The list is as follows:
1. The food quantity was severely limited and selection was also limited. Even the stations, like the freshly grilled meat station, had a single employee with a 6-inch pan cooking for one person at a time. The average lineup, for those who had the patience, was at least 12 people long at any given time, each person at times waited between 30-45 min for service.
2. Table service varied considerably even with the same staff. Don't bother tipping less than 3 CUC's if you want decent service.
3. The bar liquor selection was very limited. Many (included) menu items were simply not available. At peak times, there was often only one bar staff person serving 20-25 waiting people (it's as if they wanted you to desist and walk away out of frustration).
4. This hotel claims to be 4.5 to 5 stars (they have 5 stars in their signage) but they are 3 stars at best.
5. The entire hotel is in serious need of repairs. Specifically, the 250-foot Hemingway pier is out of service due to the fact that half of it is missing in the middle. In the bar, the seats were uncomfortable and missing most of the cushions. The ceiling tiles in the main restaurant and throughout the common areas were literally coming apart and the painting throughout was peeling giving the hotel a deteriorated appearance.
6. The rooms were not as represented. We signed up for a king-size bed and ended up with 2 double beds joined together by a cord with 2 different sets of sheets.
7. We never did figure out who to bribe to get beer and water in the bar fridge in our room.
8. Do NOT be late for your specified meal times or you will be refused entry to the restaurant and end up not eating at all. There is no food available outside of meal times until after 11 p.m. when you can get a small pizza at the Italian restaurant.
9. When you change money at the hotel bank, you will pay an 11% administrative fee for the privilege. If you end up with extra Cuban Pesos at the end of your vacation stay, you will pay another 11% to convert them back to dollars. Be aware that the exchange rate with the Canadian dollar also fluctuates from day to day (we were getting .86 to .87 CUC's to the Canadian dollar).
10. If you are at all susceptible to bug bites, wear long pants and long sleeves. I still have scars all over my body from the dozens of bites I endured, in spite of the fact that I regularly doused myself with a 20% DEET solution.

Horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible.
The room stank of fish and mould.
The food was bland at its best, inedible at its worst. The buffets with fresh fruit were the only things worth eating.
The beds were hard, the sheets threadbare, the rooms damp.
There was never, never hot water when we wanted to take a shower.
"Ocean view" means "Look out over the compound onto all of the rooftops with ventilation and see the ocean a bit on the other side of that."
The beach was scrubby and seaweedy. You couldn't swim in the ocean due to the reefs.
Just... don't go here. It's really dreadful.

1 reader found this review helpful

Hi, here I am again. Just got back this weekend from Melia Guillermo. We had the best time, honestly, the other two were brilliant but this time it just seemed like coming home.
We were welcomed back so warmly, and consider a lot of these people now our friends.
We were recognised immediately, there was a bottle of rum and a delicious platter of fruit awaiting us, in our room, the one we had stayed in the first time.
But what made it for us was the smiles on the faces of our friends who we had left just 9 months ago.
Do not take notice of the bad reviews you have read about the animation team, believe me they go out of their way to help make your holiday a more than pleasurable one.
Just where they get there get their energy from I don't know, they are on the go from dawn to dusk. I love them all.
This time we didn't go on any trips although my daughter did do the scuba dive (she had been doing it at home for a couple of years) this was her first open water dive and she loved it, and was looked after by professionals.
We had a lot of late nights this time more than ever, either in the disco after the show, the bowling alley or just sat chatting late into the night with my dear friend Ismavis.
We got a little bit of bad weather, tropical storm or whatever, but it spoilt nothing. We loved every minute of it. The sea was still several shades of blue. The sand as white and soft as ever.
Once more it brought tears when I had to leave, and Laura (my daughter) was heartbroken. But we'll be back probably sooner than ever this time. Whatever you do, please come here with an open mind, and maybe you will fall in love with Melia cayo Guillermo.

1 reader found this review helpful

We have just returned from the MCG and would like to add some comments.
The airport on arrival is fine no problems, then a short coach ride to the resort about 35 mins. As soon as you arrive go straight to check in the porters will remove your cases.
The check in is very slow so get there first, you put the tags provided with your room number on, on the cases and they will follow you on.
The rooms as a good size and clean your fridge is stocked daily a peso or two will ensure it’s overstocked !! Our rooms faced the pier but as there are hundreds of palm trees the sea is close by but not visible. Great maid service clean towels and sheets every day if needed.
The food is fine, veggies are never hot but with all the fresh food stations ,pizza, pasta stir fry and griddle you always find something to eat . We sat at the same table for breakfast where you can get bacon, sausage, fried tomatoes and eggs fried poached or an omelette as much fresh orange juice as you can drink and great service.
The two other restaurants are good so the food is not a problem also during the day you can get toasties.
The people make this holiday special so friendly and genuine, having looked around I would think this is probably the best resort on the island, the speedboat trip is awesome also the Para gliding on the beach(to a height of 400 mtrs)if your kids like crisps take plenty as they are dearer than a bottle of rum!!

1 reader found this review helpful

We paid the extra for the premium cabin and it was well worth it, the flight is long and would have been a nightmare without a free bar and leg room.
The hotel is lovely definitely 3 * not 4 but as Cuba is a third world country and the staff earn on average £15.00 a month, I wasn’t about to begrudge them that.
If your booking as we did because they have a honeymoon package don’t bother, it was rubbish. One rose, a small plate of cut fruit and a nasty bottle of cava. Breakfast in room was nice but I was still hungry. Dinner in the international no different than anyone else got. Very disappointing.
The rep was a godsend as he sorted out the few problems we had with the TV and coffee maker in our room.
The room was more than adequate with air con and fridge, clean towels everyday and sheets changed four times in two weeks. The maid was excellent and we left her all unused toiletries as she would never be able to afford them on her salary.
It is well worth going to Moron on the Jeep safari it was a real eye-opener into how these people live.
The food was very good but if you have food intolerances you may have problems, I’m allergic to wheat, so no pizza and pasta, bread etc which cut down the foods I ate, also I dislike seafood. My partner on the other hand was spoilt for choice and was a piggy in heaven.
The staff were fine, though the Canadians tip for everything and the difference in service was obvious. We tipped at the end of the two weeks for consistent good service by some very good staff, all better educated than I.
The setting is paradise and yes I was eaten by the mosquitoes.
I will definitely go here again. Better prepared and with realistic expectations.

We have stayed at Melia Guillermo twice. May 2005 & August 2006.
This year on 7th June 2007 we will be going for the treble. We love Melia Guillermo.
It states its 5 star luxury, it isn’t. But to me it is the most beautiful place I have ever been.
The beach, the colour of the sea, the pool, the surroundings and the people are the friendliest you would ever wish to meet. Bless you Ismavis, Jusilla, Elain and let’s not forget Idael.
So the rooms might not be luxury, so what, they are nice they're Cuban!
So the food may not be up to Michelin standards, so what. We have always had an enjoyable meal whatever, and the beach restaurant must have the best view ever.
I have never felt the need to complain about anything. If you have read the previous reviews they must have surely been mighty fussy folk.
I can honestly say, hand on heart if you come to this place you will have the nicest time.
If you are looking to just wind down after all that work at home, let Cayo Guillermo de-stress you. When I leave here I really feel like I've had a holiday.
We can't wait to go back.

Thoroughly disappointed with the hotel. We traveled premium flight with First Choice, well worth the money. Loads of leg room and cabin staff very attentive. Hotel a disaster though. We paid an extra £200 to upgrade to a sea view room, don’t bother most rooms have their views blotted by the palm trees which appear to have been over planted. Initially we were given a room that was above the evening entertainment area. VERY NOISY.
The second room although very much quieter over the other side of the complex was rather poorer quality but was quiet so we did not ask to be moved again. Probably we may have got a room like this if we had not requested an upgrade when booking the holiday. Maid service was poor, not sure she knew which end of a brush was the working end.
Although beds are made each day the sheets are not replaced for clean ones and in desperation I ended up stripping the bed and put the bedding on the floor to ensure we were given clean sheets after a whole week (I later found out that others had been forced to take this measure too).
The food is pretty much ok, much better if you join the queue for freshly cooked foods e.g stir fries, pastas and pizzas. After two weeks the food becomes boring and the choice limited but everything was edible.
A lot of the staff are very pleasant although I had the feeling that some of the waiting on staff were insincere with their pleasantries and were plugging for a tip(although I have on occasion done that type of work myself and it can sometimes be a thankless task).
The gardeners are a good bunch and always appear busy. They do a good palm leaf sunhat if you ask them. Overall the holiday was not up to standard and I could kick myself for booking it so far in advance and probably paying over the odds. If it had been offered at a reduced price as a late booking then I could have accepted the things that I felt were wrong with it as 'what do you expect for the price' The hotel is definitely not 5 star probably 3 star at best and absolutely not recommended by me!

Booked this hotel for my husbands fiftieth birthday.
Room smelt musty, balcony doors poorly fitted.
Food was awful; they had all the ingredients but no idea how to cook them. One morning we had cauliflower cheese for breakfast!
This is the first time we actually lost weight on holiday. Definitely a poor three star, not four star plus as advertised!

1 reader found this review helpful

We stayed in the Melia Cayo Guillermo for two weeks in September. We are well travelled and have stayed on all inclusive resorts in other parts of the Caribbean for the last 8 years - so we have a good idea of what to expect.
First, like most Caribbean hotels, the rating system gives the hotel a higher rating than it deserves. This isn’t 5 star luxury – the hotel is more of a 3 star plus standard and I base this on comparisons with hotels we have stayed at in Varadero (Cuba), Dominican Republic, Mexico, Margarita and Barbados. We have stayed in much better in the Caribbean for a similar price and we were disappointed with the standard of the hotel at MCG.
Location - This place is miles from anywhere. There are no villages or towns on Cayo Guillermo or on Cayo Coco the next island and you are an hour's drive from the nearest town on the mainland. This is great if isolation is what you seek – but be aware there is nothing to do and nowhere to go – you are very much tied to the hotel when you are not on excursions.
The other aspect of location is that the four hotels on Cayo Guillermo have been built on the beach side of a swamp. The island really is nothing more than swamp, mangroves and beaches – nothing else. And this leads to a massive population of mosquitoes. You will be eaten alive – even using the strongest spray – not just by muzziest but also by the flies which also bite.
However, the beaches are great – some of the best you’ll see in the world – powder white sand and warm clear waters, shallow for quite a way out and safe.
The MCG has a long pier out to see and you can see a variety of fish from the pier – including resident barracuda that live under the pier. These are harmless and pose no problems at all.
Hotel Grounds – One of the hotels best features. The grounds are stunning with rock pools, flowers, well tended grounds and fresh coconuts which the gardeners are happy to cut down and let you drink the milk. For wedding photographs, the MCG probably has best gardens we have seen in the Caribbean.
Hotel Décor – The MCG is only six years old but looks older and already needs a refurb. They were painting some of the buildings around the pool whilst we were there but more needs to be done. One of the blocks was completely out of use whilst we were there owing to air con problems and some of the bungalows in the ground don’t appear to have been used for some time. Standard bedrooms were ok – bathroom a little tired though.
Biggest problems most people had was either air con not working properly or the TV remotes not working (very common problem). Maintenance does arrive when things are reported but sometimes a reminder was needed.
Public rooms also need a little refurb with the chairs – paintwork scuffed, cushions very tired. The lobby bar also needs air con or a fan.
Maid service comes every day but beware your bed linen isn’t changed during your stay unless you request it. Towels are changed if left in the bath – if re-hung they get left.
Meals – The main buffet (Las Palmeras) is self service and one of the problem we found were the amount of flies settling on cooked meats, cheese, bread and the warm food. There appeared no attempt to remove or control these by the chefs. Whilst we were there, many people had tummy upsets and I am sure that the amount of people troubled in this way could not be entirely down to over indulgence – it must in part be due to the lack of hygiene in the buffet.
About 50% of the food in the buffet is fish or sea food, the rest is a mixture of pork, chicken, paella, grill or stir fry. Don’t expect thick juicy steaks – they don’t have them; the beef is thin and contains a high degree of fat. Pork was better but often tough and the chicken was the best option most nights. Paella is served every night as is stir fry should you require it.
The food gets a little repetitive but is fine but do watch for food appearing at more than one meal – this is particularly true of cakes, pate and cooked meats. The same cake can often appear over four nights.
The flambéed bananas are great, the ice cream is really good as is the choice of fruits – but mango seems rare for some reason.
The Italian Restaurant (Bonasi) is outdoors and opens at both lunchtime and in the evening. Booking are required for the evenings but not lunchtime. Lunchtimes are great with both pasta and pizza being good. However, the evening menu was no more than ordinary and the food certainly wasn’t anything special.
There is also a special restaurant overlooking the swamp at the front of the hotel ( La Laguna). The setting in here is much nicer but it isn’t air conditioned. The food tended towards the sea again however the veal was excellent. Don’t be put off by reports on other sites that say the lobster doesn't exist – it did when we were there and was also excellent. A pity you are only allowed one booking a week as this was the better of the three restaurants.
On restaurant bookings, the main flights from the UK seem to arrive on Mondays and people tend to make their booking soon after check in or certainly after the welcome meeting on the Tuesday morning. This means that the speciality restaurants book up quickly. The other problem is that wedding parties are blocked booked into the special restaurants and this also limits availability.
The daytime restaurant near the beach (El Viejo y el mar) offers variable quality food. There is a buffet with food standing for long periods of time. Seems to be the same fare everyday; French fries, spaghetti, rice and beans, salads, cakes. There is also food available from the menu and grilled to order. The fillet fish of the day was very good – the pork was tough as old boots and hamburgers and fries pretty standard. Again it becomes repetitive as the menu or the buffet never changes.
Bars – The lobby bar is open 24 hours a day and serves most drinks. There are some higher end brands of whisky or liqueurs that one has to pay for but most are included in your all inclusive price. The lobby bar gets very hot and most people preferred to sit on a small adjoining patio which was a little cooler. Service was often very slow at the bar and cleaning away tables after people have left is also very slow.
The pool bar serves all variety of drinks and toasted snacks and service was good in the main bar but much slower in the swim up bar. Swimmers wanting a drink have to wait until the guy serves all the non swimmers before he comes down to serve you. Usually meant you waited 10 -15 minutes for a drink in the pool. Pool bar is open 9am to 7pm.
There is a bar tucked away on the site near the archery and shooting areas in an almost derelict part of the complex. It is open 10am to 5pm and very few people went there. This is the only place you can play pool or table tennis in the whole complex and because it is so quiet the guy tends to start closing up at 4.30pm
Finally, there is a disco bar that opens between 9pm and 2am. It is air conditioned. The bar staffs in here were the best we saw and serve quite quickly. However, the disco music is Cuban – very few other tunes. The dancers from the show often appear after there performances but only stay a short while. Most of the time few people were dancing and most night it was half empty.
Entertainment- Daytime activities are poor. Activities around the pool include darts games, quizzes, bingo or pool volleyball. There is a board publicising activities but they don’t seem to stick to the plan – things often don’t happen, or they happen without announcements, or the times change without announcements. Most days very little happened by way of activities. This was a very poor daytime animation team – the worst we have seen in the Caribbean anywhere. Beach activities – forget it. We didn’t see any in 2 weeks.
The glass bottom boat isn’t part of the hotel but is great value – 20 pesos to go out to the reef and snorkel with the fish. A full 2 hours and great value.
There is a nightly show which starts with 15 minutes of comedy – usually at the expense of volunteers from the audience. There is then a show which is always based around the team of professional dancers. Sometimes classical ballet inspired, other times folk dancing or dances based on musicals. The dancers are excellent – well trained and a delight to watch. However, there is no singing as it is all mimed and the shows do get reptatitive. The main problem with the show is the heat – it takes place under a big top arrangement that traps the heat and there is no breath of a breeze at all.
Excursions – We went on the Sugarcane express which takes you to a sugar refining factory (not working when we visited so very boring), a ride on a steam train (ignore the advertising you only travel 100 mtrs), a visit to Ciego do Avila the regions main town – interesting, the nearest town Moron (nothing there at all and not worth going out of your way for. Our party were given thirty minutes in the main street – all were back at the coach in 15!!) And a speedboat trip on Lake Redonda (excellent and the best part of the day out). Tour guide was great and you learned an awful lot about living conditions in Cuba.
Overall- We were disappointed with the resort. It isn’t five stars – three at best – and this was our first time with the Melia group. If this is representative of their standards it will be our last. Iberostar hotels offer much better value.

1 reader found this review helpful

We have just returned from the Melia Cayo Guillermo and all I can say is ignore the bad reviews. I agree that some parts of the complex need a lick of paint but that was ongoing. The Lobby Bar would benefit from air con but everywhere else was fine. We had to switch the air con in our room off a few times because is was so powerful. Both the beach and pool were gorgeous. I can recommend the Italian and International restaurants. It can be difficult to book them but be firm as the reception staff are at time unhelpful.
There are a great choice of excursions, we didn't have time to do everything we wanted to. The catamaran and speedboat trips were great fun. We also did the swimming with dolphins trip which was a great experience. This trip involves an overnight trip on the mainland and should only be booked if you are ready to experience the "real" Cuba. the lobster restaurant ran by locals on the beach is wonderful.
We traveled First Choice and our outbound flight was delayed 24 hours, these things happen but the First Choice staff could have dealt with it better. If you get the chance to upgrade to the VIP lounge in the Cayo Coco airport you should take it. Comfy sofas, air con and the staff look after you.
Overall a great holiday.