Gran Melia Salinas Hotel

My girlfriend and I took a trip to the Gran Melia Salinas at the beginning of June '04. Beautiful hotel with an amazing pool and suprisingly quiet beach with clear water. Good for snorkelling. No problem getting a sun lounger - there is tons of space around the pool. You are made to feel welcome. My only two gripes? -Food. Excellent on the whole, but no fresh seafood (actually I couldn't find any fresh seafood anywhere on the island - its all brought in frozen from Spain. I have no idea why). -Clientele - given our relatively young ages (mid 20's), we were cast a few disapproving looks by fellow guests (i don't know why) who seemed to be mainly much older wealthy Spanish and French nationals. A few Brits there too and thankfully no kids (apart from us!). I would definitely recommend. Weather was boiling hot every day (got up to 40C one day!).

Upon arriving at the Gran Melia Salinas, I was struck by the beauty of the property. There were trees, cascading waterfalls and beautiful plants in all in the lobby area. We checked in without any problems but had to wait about an hour for our room to be prepared. We had lunch at one of the restaurants, and the food was of a very high standard. I would say that the food in all of the restaurants is exceptionable. The buffet is magnificent, with practically every type of food under the sun, however to go there in the evenings will set you back around 30 euros per person. There are two other restaurants, Italian and Canarian style and a pool snack bar. They are also very good. The bar service was a little slow in the evenings, but the entertainment in the bar area was fantastic. There was a new show every night which I thoroughly enjoyed. The rooms are beautifully decorated, and there is plenty of closet space. The balcony is large, and receives sun all day, because of the way the hotel has been designed. There are beautiful views of the ocean and the pool. The pool lets down the rest of the hotel, as it is quite filthy. It has no built in cleanage system. I went in the pool once, and that was enough for me. I am also got a verruca on my foot on that holiday and am pretty sure it was down to the fact that the pool and pool area was not adequately cleaned. Because the summer days in Lanzarote are so hot, it is an annoyance not being able to properly cool off! The terrain around the pool area is also very uneven and consequently many people kept tripping over, which is a bit of a danger is you have young children. Despite my grumbling, we really did have a good time at the Gran Melia Salinas, but I would properly not go back again in the future as I think that there are hotels of better quality for less money. The Paphos Amathus Beach for example.

We stayed at Salinas in Dec'03. I loved the interiors with all the gardens and ponds. The pool was heated, so we managed to swim for long hours, even if the weather was not so good. The room was spacious, with a good sized bathroom and a beautiful view. As for the weaknesses, the shops were inadequate and the staff could not speak English (makes life very difficult at the hairdressers!). The breakfast was very rich, but due to a number of restrictions (dress code, compulsory -and way overpriced- Christmas Eve and Christmas dinners, no seating available without reservation...), we had our dinners elsewhere. It happened to be a good choice, since there are many good restaurants nearby where you can eat at a fraction of the hotel's prices. Although the proximity to the UK is a plus, I would not go there to have the time of my life. I got the impression that Gran Melia Salinas is a place where very rich locals go to show off for poolside drinks and dinners. As for my husband, there is no way he would wear a tux on our holiday. Hence we probably will not be going again!

My girlfriend and I (32 & 29) spent 2 weeks at the Gran Melia at the end of June, start of July this year, 2004. This may be quite a long review but hopefully you will find it very useful. Here are our impressions: First impressions were good. Our luggage was promptly taken inside for us and check-in was reasonably quick and friendly. I had requested a room on the upper floors direct with the hotel some weeks before our travel, and to my delight we were booked into a room on the top floor. Room 417 incase you are planning a trip. It overlooked the swimming pool and across the bay of Costa Teguise – perfect, and you always felt a little bit special pressing the top floor button in the lift!! The rooms themselves were adequate in size for the 2 of us and I don’t know if it was a standard bed, but it was huge and comfortable. There is not a massive amount of hanging storage space, but again we had no problems with 2 weeks worth of clothes to store away. The brochure suggests satellite TV is available, which it is, but very limited channels: Eurosport, BBC World News, CNN, MTV Europe and a few others, but the majority were in Spanish, so don’t expect to be able to get the English channels like BBC, ITV or Sky 1 etc. The bathroom was well equipped, having 2 sinks, the usual bathroom goodies such as dressing gown, slippers, a pack of toiletries, a good shower and a separate sliding door into the toilet, which I think was a very good idea. On the balcony we had a low table with 2 chairs to lounge around in. This proved to be a popular location for an after pool, before dinner, beer from the mini-bar, whilst relaxing on the balcony looking across the bay. Although a word of advice. Although the mini-bar prices are reasonable for a 5 star hotel, about £2.00 for a bottle of local beer, compared with the prices in the Netto supermarket next to the hotel they seem a little expensive. About 0.70p for the same beer! So I brought a few bottles, brought them back to the hotel and as a drank one from the mini bar, replaced it with the same beer brought from Netto! It seems that I was not the only one, as we often saw people brining in bags from Netto filled with shopping. A bit cheeky maybe, but hey! I guess that late June is at the beginning of the season as the hotel seemed almost empty when we arrived, although service did not seem to suffer because of this. We stayed B&B which for us was excellent as we wanted to use the restaurants outside the hotel at night, of which there are quite a few. Some much better than others. The breakfast’s were always very good, being a buffet style, so you could have as much or as little variation as you like. We always ate outside in the morning, but there is plenty of space inside as well. The pool area was very large, but unlike many other 5 star hotels there were not many sunshades available, so you had to reply on getting a bed near to the shade of trees. Also there was no pool service for food or drink, you had to order this at the pool bar, which for a hotel of this standard I found surprising. Once you found a bed by the pool you had to collect your sunbed mattress, which for us was not a problem, but could well have been for the older clientele. If you like the beach it could be accessed via a private gate onto the public beach. Which surprised me as I thought the hotel had it’s own private beach! Overall we very much enjoyed our stay at the Gran Melia and would recommend the hotel to others, if they have decided on Costa Teguise for their holiday, albeit even if the hotel is a little frayed around the adges and maybe doesn’t offer the degree of luxury that it is sold as and maybe I’d even question it’s membership of ‘The Leading Hotels of the World (LHW)’. It is a nice 5 star hotel, but world class? That is still open to debate. During our stay I was comparing the Gran Melia to the Annabelle, Paphos in Cyprus. The Annabelle wins hands down for me, much more luxurious with excellent levels of service, but strangely this hotel does not appear in the LHW.

After having read some good reviews about this hotel and a week to spare in june 2004, we[two middle aged couples] thought we`d give it a try for a week. It has a five star GL category and is a member of the leading of the world, so upon arrival we were suprised to see no porter or bell boy. Check in was swift and we were given two rooms on a low floor, which had a very restricted seaview so we asked to change. "You cannot have a room on floor three and four, sir" because they apparently had the painters in to renovate. Which proved wrong, since other guests were well accomodated on these floors and we saw no ongoing work. This may be understandable with a fully booked hotel or rooms booked through a consolidator with strict allocation, but the hotel was almost empty and we had booked directly. All rooms are very small, not at all of five star standard and cleanliness is o.k. at very best. We did get daily breakfast papers as booked, most often around 4 p.m. or none at all, or maybe a spanish one. They do have a sizeable pool area, but do not expect any pool service, neither for food and beverages nor for towels, loungers etc. All self service. The pool is cleaned by means of heavy doses of white powder? and it appears to have had the last thorough clean-up many years ago. Not very appealing. Staff is at hand but not friendly.Food came highly recommended and was one of the greatest disappointments ever. They have "Theme Buffets" every night, which is essentially the same food every night with a different flag. Wines and beverages are average yet priced according to the official rating. If you booked halfboard, they allow you to eat in the other hotel restaurants with a credit of 9 Euro per adult, in lieu of the buffet, yet the buffet costs you ca. 37 Euro if you want to it it. There are several shops within the hotel, yet most of them are closed, due to "change of management" Entertainment is limited to short shows in the evening. The area itself is reasonably quiet, with two towel sized sand stretches. Upon checkout we found an overcharge of about Euro 240, which was duly taken off, but it was there in the first place. How this hotel is 5star Grand Luxe is beyond me, how it got into the Leading Hotels of the World is a total mystery.

This hotel is great for a winter break with the kids, the pool is superb and you only have to descend a flight of steps to the beach, the hotel also runs a kids club for the over 5s . The restaurants are all good, and the buffet breakfasts are amazing. We were lucky enough to have a junior suite which is think is about 2 times as large as a normal room, so it would seem to me that a double room may well be quite small espcially considering this is a 5 star hotel. My room not amazing for a 5 star hotel either, but more than adequate. Will return one dreary winter in England for sure.

We stayed here on our honeymoon and were completely spoilt. This hotel is quiet, tranquil, and has fantasic food and service. The rooms and facilities are wonderful and if you can afford to treat yourselves there is no better place than this. P.S. Upgrade to half board and have the pleasure of the cooked to order buffet, fantastic!!

For: Excellent food and service and entertainment Against: Pool too cold for young children Double rooms very small and plain.

This Resort Property "GRAN MELIA SALINA'S" is a Leading Hotel of The World" and certainly lives up to that description. The Garden Villa's are a pure oasis, based on BALI Villa's, Fantastic. My family and I have stayed at this hotel on 5 occasions over the last 3 years and each time we have been wonderfully hosted. Next visit already booked. Try it, You will be pampered.

Although nearly 26 years old, this hotel is certainly one of the 3 best beach resorts of the Canaries. It is well kept, spottlessly clean and quiet. Inside, green and white marble and dark wood dominate. The hotel is filled with works of art, most dating back from the seventies (e.g. Manrique). Outside the hotel has a large and well kept outside garden and a very beautiful inside landscaped garden which must be seen! Huge, very beautiful and impressive swimming pool, designed by Manrique (certainly the most beautiful of all the Canary Island Hotels). The hotel is right at the beach, but also very close to shops. Several luxury shops within the hotelgrounds. There are 5 restaurants to choose from, as well a two bars. The hotel also offers the services which one would expect of a member of the 'Leading Hotels of the World'. Conclusion: More expensive than others, but worth the extra amount!