Lisa Schustak
I am disappointed, dissatisfied and disgusted with the quality of the Melia product.
On December 10, 2025 when I made my reservation for 9 nights, I was specific, as I am with ALL my hotel reservations, and requested a room with NO ODOR or smell.
When I checked into the Gran Sol hotel in Alicante on February 16, 2026 I was assigned room 2105 which has an awful stench of toxic sewer gases.
I told the front desk and they sent somebody to spray a strong aromatic perfume, in the drain. Soon afterwards that chemical permeated the air which caused my throat to swell so much, I could hardly speak. I opened the window, put on the air conditioning, then tried heat and nothing resolved the stench.
I returned to the check in counter to hear other people also complaining about the stench.
The front desk now assigned me room 2104, a family suite with four single beds. While not necessary for myself, a senior, I thought I’d try it for the night only to soon discover that the room had the same nauseating sewer gas stench.
Exhausted from the stress I opened the windows, took a sleeping aid and eventually fell asleep.
While asleep, at 4:05 AM a piece of molding crashed onto the floor. The shock of the crash woke me up and scared the shit out of me!! Thie experience of the startling and alarming crashing sound was extremely stressful, unacceptable and most importantly potentially dangerous!!
The next morning, when I brought the wooden debris to the front desk, the resolve offered was a room at the sister hotel for an EXTORTED unaffordable price - almost triple the cost of what I was paying.
Because I cannot afford an exorbitant price for a hotel, I wasted a vacation day searching the internet and walking the streets to check every local hotel. Nobody had availability because not only was this the weekend of Carnival, it was also the weekend of a 7000 person participant half marathon in Alicante.
Clearly, management knew the city was overbooked so they tried to extort money from me.
When I made it clear the quote provided was out of my price range, they changed my room once again-now to 2505 where the poor quality of service continues with a constant loud hum and banging noise that sounds like a tired motor.
To top it off, the shower has very little water pressure, the bathroom sink leaks and the rooms are moldy and dirty.
I’m appalled that bottled water is not offered for the price charged for a room.
All of the above was reported, only to fall on deaf ears.
I am a highly seasoned traveler, including having visited Third World countries, such as Cuba, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and I have NEVER in my life, had such a HORRID hotel experience!
Stephen Tagg
Excellent breakfast. Restaurant Dinner very good. Staff brilliant. Views from room stunning
Now the negatives. Terrible smell of sewage throughout the building. Beds were hard and uncomfortable. No sound proofing between rooms. Had a family next door and could hear every word and scream. Bathrooms are so dated and no space to move around. We had paid extra for a large room so heaven knows what a standard room was like. The room its self was shabby and in desperate need of a refurbished. To be blunt this hotel is not good enough to warranty the four stars the displayed outside. Melia now have this hotel under their umbrella let's hope they improve things quickly because it just is not good enough.
Aleksa Radovanovic
Hotel has a great location, and we paid a bit extra for a room with a view. It was worth it. We got a room on the 21st floor, and that particular room (apartment?) had two rooms, it was clean and a fair size overall. The beds were big enough, but not a proper king-size — rather two single beds pushed tightly together. The bathroom was okay, just looked a little bit outdated, and my main issue was the ventilation. There was no (or very bad) airflow in the bathroom, and we noticed a slightly mouldy smell.
I also kept thinking how hot it must get up there in summer. We were here in November with outside temperatures around 20–23°C during the day and 14–16°C at night, and when we entered the room it was REALLY hot inside. So we tend to keep AC on while we were out.
On the positive side, the daily cleaning and room-tidying were great, the staff did a really good job, and the front office team was also friendly and helpful. And in the end and again, the location of the hotel is just perfect.
João Bosco
Melia Gran Sol Alicante is questionable. The worst room I ever been. I stayed there from 24th thru 28th of December, 2025.
I cleaned the bathroom by my self. It was really full of black dust and mold.
There was a sofabed in the room which was never cleaned inside. It was full of old leftover food and smelling bad.
The hall and elevator smelling sewage.
The mattress was old, hard and I felt the springs in my back. Horrible.
Heather was not working and I tried to use the blankets and they are very old and dirty. They never wash them. Disgusting.
Missing parts of the floor in the room. The bottom of the bathroom door is rotten.
The view of the sea is amazing. The location is great. The breakfast is very good. The staff is amazing! Internet is very fast. Old big flat screen tv but works well.
I think if you search you can find something better.
Jomanah K
I stayed there a few weeks ago, and overall the experience was not bad. The views from rooftop were amazing.
As well as the location of the hotel is great, the room was fine, but the bathroom looked a bit old. The Breakfast was average, not bad.
The reception staff were friendly and helpful, except for the two ladies who seemed to be trainees and were present at the buffet reception area.
They kept looking at us with unprofessional expressions, especially when they saw our travel bags. Their attitude was not nice, and I was really annoyed by their behavior.
My Booking
