We stayed here as an exchange of a timeshare my family has elsewhere. We were received well in the reception, we got a nice little buffet as a welcome. I think this is only for the 'members' though. I had the feeling that you really get preferential treatment as 'members' in general. This was of course fine for us :-). The people in the general (so not the club's reception) were very often rather ignorant. Quite often simple questions could not be answered straight away.

The hotel entrance is really magnificent. The place really looks like it does on the photos. The pool is really excellent. It's quiet (at least it was when we were there in the end of June) it's rather large and it is next to the beach. The beach itself was not too good, but who needs a beach when you have a pool next to it :-). We got a room on the lagoon side, this was rather unfortunate, because the views to the sea are really breathtaking. The room we got was just ok. Considering the price hotel guests pay normally i would have expected a bit more from the room.

The well stocked shop in the hotel has outrageous prices, but I suppose it's the same in all hotels in the Zona Hotelera. If you get sick it's good to know that they have a good doctor's service.

Staying at the Gran Melia Cancun is a real delight! The resort has a magnificent sandy strip at its door step and 3 large clean pools. The personnel was very courteous and the service was fast. The room I stayed in was clearly recently renovated and very tastefully decorated with a big clean bathroom. I do recommend the sea view upgrading (had to pay USD 25.00 per night extra but it was worth it). All rooms have a veranda and just sitting there at night listening to waves crash in to the shore is soothing. I have used the SPA in the hotel which was of a very high standard, lots of treatments available and the have got it right with the atmosphere. At nights they have theme shows which the guests can enjoy for free. There are a couple of restaurants but I only tried the Japanese food served at the bar inside the hotel, which was good. On a practical note: the hotel is about 10 – 15 minutes from the Hotel Zone’s centre and has the advantage of having a public bus stop at its entrance (very helpful).

Just returned from a week at the Gran Melia Cancun and I must say it was incredible. The hotel is beautiful and had a wonderful international feel. The staff was friendly and accomodating. I thought the beach area was great, but as others have mentioned it was rocky. We swam and boogie boarded anyway but if you are not a strong swimmer or a good sport about a little "rock rash" you may want to stick with the pools....which are completely amazing, you won't miss the beach!

We booked an ocean view room which I highly recommend. The view was just too good for words. There is something about hearing the waves crash from your own private balcony that just screams "you are on vacation!" The room was beautiful. It was spacious, clean and had a modern feel.

We ate breakfast at the buffet each morning. Food quality was good and the selection was great. We ate at Nami Sushi Lounge one night, we are sushi fans and unfortunetely Nami did not meet our standards, but the atmosphere could not be beat!

This resort excels at creating an upscale and trendy, yet relaxing and laid back atmosphere. Yes the lobby was warm and humid and the stairs out front could be a problem if you are out of shape. Neither of these issues were enough to spoil our trip but I have to say this hotel is not for everyone. It's probably a bit better suited for the under 50 crowd. I would absoluteley go back again and would recommend it to my friends.

Just returned from a 5 night stay at the Gran Melia. We booked through Costco and got a really good deal. Overall, I have to say it was good. The hotel is architecturally interesting with lots of nice touches and the staff is attentive and professional. We decided to add on the Royal Service with an ocean view. We thought the nicest thing about the service was the separate pool area and the ability to reserve the palapas. Even though the occupancy rate was low for the Royal Service section during our stay, there were families with kids using the pool area which did cause some noise. The ocean views from some of the palapas with the breezes are so incredible. We did order drinks and food from the pool restaurant. The food prices were reasonalbe but the drinks are another story. The drinks were really weak so we had to order doubles and of course they charged a double price which is outrageous (2 drinks $37.00)! Also, we are not accustomed to not swimming in the ocean at the beach but the hurricane has really affected the beach so that there are rocks instead of sand which makes swimming more dangerous.

As for the rest of the Royal Service which includes the breakfast buffet and evening appetizers and cocktails, it was ok with some minor adjustments. First of all, the breakfast does not offer ANY hot entrees. Standard fare is little breakfast pastries which are good, fruit, juices, boxed cereals, bread, cheese, cold meat and salmon and yogurt. The Nepresso coffee machine they have is great. Afternoon snacks and drinks are minimal with nuts and soft drinks. In the evening, they do offer appetizers. At the beginning of the week, they were not great (dried-up chicken nuggets) but as it got closer to the weekend, they got better (except for the cold snail salad they served one night)! They did offer shrimp tempura one evening. As for the cocktails, they have bottles of alcohol out so you can pour a drink or wine and champagne. There were not any mixers available to make drinks so we asked the waiters to make drinks for us and they did. They will have it made the way you like it if you let them know.

In the hotel, watch-out buying anything in the deli/market downstairs. My son bought a 1.5L of water, a can of Pringles and another bag of chips and it was $16.00! Go across the street to the 7-11 and buy your water/drinks and snacks. Also, food in the hotel restaurants is ok but not great. If you want good, reasonable, authentic Mexican fare, take a cab and go to La Parrilla in town. Their mole is excellent and it was under $8.00. Also, for shopping, you can find some good bargains at Market 28 but I found some items in the hotel gift shop and in the jewelry shop that were cheaper. I did not even bother to look in those shops first thinking they were going to be over-priced. Instead, I found out they had a selection more to my taste and less expensive. During the day, you can easily take the bus to town since the hotel is a distance from shopping. It's cheap and a good, safe way to see things at the same time.

As for the hotel, the rooms were nice and clean. Some of the woodwork is showing its age but it's Mexico. Our maid was wonderful and ready to do whatever was needed. One of our rooms had a problem with not getting hot water. It took forever to get it. I had to finally complain about it and they offered to fix it or give us another room. Since we wanted our rooms next to each other, I decided to let them see if they could repair it. It seemed repaired on one day and then back to the same issue again. Also, some of the plumbing fixtures in the bathrooms are old and difficult to work. Also, only the hotel rooms are air conditioned. The main areas of the hotel itself are not air-conditioned. It does get hot there with the glass pyramids in each building. After a day of heat, the common areas can be stifling. It was hard sometimes to sit in an area for a long period of time because of the heat.

Lastly, I want to say the staff we encountered was wonderful. They were warm and friendly and willing to go out of their way to help us in any way needed. In summing things up, all in all we enjoyed our stay. Things were not as consistent as they could be in some areas. I wouldn’t not recommend this hotel but if I ever returned again, I would want to try a different one.