JAMES HUME
This is a chilled and relaxing hotel. Not overly busy at this time of year. Family suite accommodation is fantastic as plenty of space. Food is delicious and it’s incredible how they keep this up. I am coeliac and chefs understand this well. It makes all the difference. €10 taxi into Benidorm if you wish. But plenty entertainment on site if you are truly relaxing.
Paul Icough
Fabulous resort with gorgeous golf courses. Most of our group got upgraded on arrival, unfortunately I wasn't one of them. Room 5001 is near reception so everyone leaving early walks past the room with wheely luggage, sounds like a train going by every minute! Either the walls are thin or the joining door with the next room allow all noises, I could hear everything. My room was equipped for disabled, but not great for me. A shower at 1.2m is great for someone in a chair but no good for me, it was awkward at best. The biggest nuisance was lack of drinking water, I have never stayed in Europe in a room without free drinking water. There was water in the mini bar at €3.50 about 300ml, simple robbery. I was told that my type of room didn't come with water!! I would stay again, insist on being away from reception and get a taxi to a local supermarket. Buy all the water you may need, perhaps snacks etc. Restaurants were ok at best except the golf club bar which was excellent in every way. The complete lack of facilities in my room clearly spoiled the stay
Teresa Roberts
The hotel (resort) is a rabbit Warren of paths, we were there 4 days , and found various ways to get to our room eventually. 6 swimming pools all lovely and well maintained daily cleaning, plenty of sunbed choice and clean pool towels. The central plaza is great for evening drinks with a good atmosphere.
Marked as 4 star due to reasons noted in the review.
Nina Selaas
Bottom Line: While the grounds are stunning and the resort offers great entertainment for families, it fails to deliver value for money. If you book the 4-star option, expect worn-out rooms, safety hazards, and a distinct feeling of being a "second-class guest."
🌟 The Good
Beautiful Grounds and Great Activities:
There is no denying that the resort itself is visually stunning. It is designed to look like a picturesque, miniature Spanish town, which creates a lovely atmosphere.
Excellent Amenities for Kids & Teens:
The family infrastructure in terms of entertainment is fantastic. The pools, fake beach, splash cone, and dedicated kids' buffet kept the younger ones happy. The kids' and teens' clubs are a major plus.
Sports & Activities:
If you like to stay active, there is plenty to do—including padel, tennis, volleyball, golf, and mini-golf.
Dining Variety:
There is a good option of different restaurants on-site to choose from.
⚠️ The Bad
Missing the "Luxury" Mark & Cold Food:
For the price point of this resort, you expect a luxury experience. Instead, you are met with plastic chairs and tables in dining areas, which immediately cheapens the vibe.
Cold Buffet Food:
Both breakfast and dinner buffets consistently served cold food, which is unacceptable for a resort of this tier.
Pre-season Unreadiness:
We visited at the end of June. Despite it being the pre-season and the hotel not being at full capacity, the facilities were already bursting. The buffet was overcrowded, and guests were actively violating hotel policy by reserving sunbeds with towels unchecked. Worse, the hotel wasn't even fully ready—pool bars were closed and fences were actively being painted during our stay.
Poor Late-Night Logistics:
There is no room service after 22:00. If you check in late, there is absolutely no food available nearby. If you pay for half-board/dinner and miss it due to travel, the hotel offers no substitute.
🛑 Word of Warning
Do not get dragged into the "Melia Circle" presentation. It drags on forever and eats up precious vacation time. Unless you plan on staying at Melia properties multiple times a year, it is absolutely not worth it.
🚨 The Ugly
4-Star Disrepair, Safety Hazards, and Room Placement Nightmares. The resort operates as "two hotels in one" (a 4-star and a 5-star), resulting in a typical, frustrating division where 4-star guests face restricted access to the "preferred" areas. If you stay in the 4-star section, be prepared for severe lack of maintenance.
Room & Facility Conditions
Worn-Out Rooms:
The rooms are desperately in need of an update. We encountered stained linens and curtains, broken lamps, squeaky doors, and visible cosmetic damage.
Safety Hazards:
Shockingly, there were uncovered electrical outlets in the room—a massive hazard for anyone traveling with children.
Dilapidated Common Areas: Elevators were frequently broken down. The pool water was visibly dirty, and broken pool tiles are a constant hazard for your nails and feet.
Unadapted Infrastructure for Families:
While advertised as a family-friendly hotel, the layout is highly unadapted for strollers or toddlers. There are endless stairs and frustrating walk-arounds. With only two main elevators available (which, as mentioned, break down), navigating the resort is exhausting. Furthermore, management seems to have no strategy for room placement. As a family with a newborn, we were placed directly adjacent to British party-goers. Our baby was woken up throughout the night by neighbors blasting music, screaming, showering, and getting ready to go out or returning in the early hours.
Final Verdict:
The resort attracts a crowd consisting mostly of local Spanish and British tourists. While the concept of the resort is beautiful and the kids' activities are great, the poor maintenance, safety issues, cold food, and terrible room allocation mean this hotel does not offer value for money. Look elsewhere if you want a true, stress-free luxury experience.
Katie Kernahan
We had a wonderful stay at the Melia Villaitana for our annual holiday. We stayed on half board in the junior suite for 5 days.
Why we´d recommend here:
- The place is beautiful, the pools and the bridges are amazing to look at and play in. There´s multiple pools so we didn´t feel a need to leave the complex during our stay, there was plenty of variety
- It feels like a village, there´s lot of different buildings and areas to explore that are really well maintained
- The rooms are done to a high quality. Big beds, black out curtains, good shower pressure and solid air con. Also very clean with high quality furnishings, we were very comfortable here
- It´s not Benidorm. Most of the families here were Spanish, and there as no sense of the Benidorm culture!
- The food is really good. We have 3 very different eating preferences within our group and all of us ate extremely well. The fresh fruit buffet was our favourite.
- The kids club staff were very friendly and learnt all the kids names, they said hi to them as they were walking around
- Overall the place is really well maintained, it felt like an experience to stay there. We were very glad we chose it for our holiday destination.
Things to improve:
- Dinner doesn´t open until 8pm. When you have 2 toddlers this is very late, and not very well suited to some international cultures.
- The timing of activities vs mealtimes. The bouncy castle event was also at 8pm, so families were rushing dinner to get to it.
- Our kids said some of the kids club activities were boring. The first one they went to was a treasure hunt and they said they´d just went for a walk.
- The evening entertainment was quite poor compared to our holiday last year. The musicians felt more like background music and the magician wasn´t great. This and the daily mini disco was our favourite part of the last holiday, so this did let us down quite a bit.
- Staff asking for reviews. I was asked 3 times in one day to give a 5 star review for individual staff members, I understand incentivising staff but I dont really want to be thinking about that on holiday
Overall we had a wonderful stay and holiday and would very much recommend this hotel!
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