Meliá Dunas Beach Resort & Spa All Inclusive
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We did overall have a pleasant holiday but the hotel left alot to be desired. The hotel was on nice grounds, with lots of facilities, particularly to cater to children. The main let down was the rooms and the food (plus a crazy amount of mosquitos which didn’t help). The rooms were very clean, however all the furniture was worn (ripped sheets, very old towels, rough toilet paper etc) and it felt more like a room in a youth hostel rather than a ‘5*’ hotel. The bathroom in particular was very basic with a tiny bath, toilet and sink (there’s a reason they don’t have pictures on their website) and there was hardly any storage space. To enter our rooms you had to walk down a damp, dark passageway which is what I believe contributes to the mosquito issue as we have never had so many in our rooms anywhere we’ve been. We spent every night killing tens of mosquitos before bed, and then being woken up multiple times a night to the dreadful buzzing in your ear. There were also 3 cockroaches in our room which made it feel even worse. I did complain to the hotel about the rooms when we arrived, they were completely unhelpful and referred me to our easyJet rep who was also completely disinterested - in the end i decided not to spend the holiday complaining and trying to move room. The buffet was of quite a poor standard. There wasn’t much choice compared to other hotel buffets (I.e. fresh food stations, fruit salads etc.) which is perhaps due to the location and having to import everything, however the food they did have was poorly cooked and tasteless. Quite often in the middle of meal times the food stations would be empty and not replenished. The restaurants are of a slightly better standard and we preferred to eat there whenever possible. Bikini beach bar was the best food we had the whole trip and luckily was included in our package. If you have it included I recommend eating there every day. Avoid eating at the Bob Marley beach bar, although a nice setting on the beach, the food was awful. Although the hotel is marketed as an all inclusive it felt more like full board. On the day we arrived and wanted a snack as we’d been travelling all day, at 1700 there was nowhere open to eat until 1830 when dinner started! There also aren’t places during the day where you can just go and have an ice cream or something (other than the hotel buffet). There’s nowhere to eat around the pool. Aqua the snack bar is about a 5 minute walk away from the main pool and is only open from around 12-1700. Overall the staff were unfriendly and unhelpful and not particularly welcoming. There were a couple of really nice members of staff - a lady from the kids club was really nice and chatty and great with the kids and our baby, and I unfortunately had to go to the dr on the resort, but he was incredibly knowledgeable and helpful and really nice and friendly. He was actually our favourite person we met on the whole trip! A final point for people traveling with children - there’s no point in getting the vip package as half of it you can’t use with children. We wanted to go to the vip breakfast as the budget wasn’t very nice and weren’t allowed to go with kids, nor to the vip pool which looks much nicer, has cushions on chairs etc and food and drink service. I don’t know why they market it as a luxury family hotel and then exclude kids from the vip package, especially when there’s an adult only hotel next door! Whilst I appreciate hotel ratings vary depending where you are in the world, I have been to Cape Verde before and stayed at a couple of riu resorts which were of a much higher standard, and had that more luxury hotel feel. I wouldn’t go back here or recommend it to anyone looking to book a nice resort holiday.
Yasmin Orlans
00
We visited the Melia Dunas 7 years ago as a family and loved it. We booked this holiday over a year before, and it cost a small fortune. We couldn't book a family room through tui so I contacted the hotel prior to our arrival and they set aside a 3 bed family suit for €300 at check in. When we arrived the service wasn't as we had expected from our previous visit. Last time we went our bags where taken to pur room for us not this time however staff said "your room is only on the other side of the pool" when in actual fact it was in another block. We got to room, and the room wasn't in a great state and as the days went on we found more and more faults with the room. The shower head holder was broke in the master bedroom so we couldn't stand under the shower, Blinds where broken, the toilet seat in the family bathroom was broken with a screw sat at the bottomof the toilet bowl, one bedroom had no aircon and the living room air-conditioning unit leaked every day and you could tell this was a consistent problem as the frame was warped and screwed into the wall, one of the door frames was so broken it one part fell off when the door was closed thankfully it didn't hit anyone, power sockets where coming out of the wall, the net curtain didn't fit the sliding doors, the draws did not fit properly and the general cleanliness wasn't great with cobwebs on the wall. The Melia pool needs new tiles throughout with huge patches missing. The centre piece was a hazard with a hole in it. Sun loungers were in bad condition and not enough of them towards the end of the week and the parasols need new tops. The public toilets were not in good condition loose taps and broken locks. Instead of fix the locks they put bolt locks on which I caught my finger in. The outdoor showers were in a terrible state of repair also. The 4 a la carte restaurants were hit and miss and if that's if you could even get a booking... and they were never full. We made a complaint at the reception and a senior member of staff came to see me and apologised and said he would see if he could get us in one. He gave us the atlantis after telling him that particular restaurant wouldn't suit us as a family. The service in the restaurant wasn't great a few times we were served after people who had arrived well after us and the food wasn't always to a great standard as you would come to expect from a "a la carte" restaurant. Spices had its own issues sometimes food was cold their were issues with food and arguments with holiday makers because of the lack of organisation in the restaurant. I ended up with a broken glass on more than one occasion and nearly cut my lip. The bar staff were always excellent and friendly but often couldn't make some drinks because of stock issues. We made a complaint with our rep who passed it to the hotel but didn't hear anything back from them. We were not the only holiday makers with problems. We had heard plenty of dissatisfaction from other family's and a couple. we got to know had such a bad experience they left a few days early. The evening entertainment hasn't improved in the seven years since our last visit if anything, it's declined with the removal of the Lion King show and the magic show being exactly the same as it was. It was so sad to see the state of the hotel, the hotel has so much potential, and the grounds are stunning it's let down by management and lack of care for rooms and facilities. Overall we had a good time as a family but our experience did not reflect the price of our holiday.
HGgames
00
If you want to go to Melia Dunas reed this: We went to the Melia Dunas on Sal in Cape Verde from 7 to 19 November 2024 with Tui and it was not the holiday we had in mind. We booked the Level, because there is extra service offered, with a private check-in desk (there was none), extra cushion on the beach chairs, more than half of the chairs had no cushion (see added video) since we both have a bad back, but in the morning it was a struggle for a bed with pillow. We still must get bathrobes, slippers and extra beach towels for The Level. And we asked for that every day for a week. The free beachtowel that everyone gets that could be exchanged daily, could only be exchanged after three days, because there were not enough towels. We also got to know that the hotel was overbooked and everyone that was overbooked got The Level for free to compensate their troubles. We immediately reported the bathrobes, slippers, and beach towels to the reception the same evening on November 7. The first day that your hostess from Tui was on location, we went to her for the complaints, including that the food in the main restaurant was cold. We also went to the Level restaurant for breakfast and after we had some fruit and coffee, we decided to leave after waiting for our eggs for one hour, we did tell the waiter that we were leaving. Later we heard that people had to wait 2.5 hours for their breakfast. This has also been reported to your hostess and a compensation of 250 euros has been given for it, while the extra costs for the Level are 287 euros per person. The Meliá offers a day of Spa as compensation, but since my sister got an immune disease, she is not allowed to go in. From 11 to 12 November the misery really started, and we both got diarrhea. For both reported to the hostess of Tui, who created the report for my sister properly and there was also an email from that, for my there should also be one, but that email came in on the day of departure November 19 stating that the report was made on November 14, after we went to report to your hostess every day that the second email had not arrived. So, i was ill from November 12. On November 14, we also submitted all complaints to Mrs. de Brito de Pina, she is one of the reservation managers in the hotel. So, we had been in the hotel for a week, and nothing had happened yet. What we also told her was that there was a guest toilet, along the boulevard for a few days as in the photo and the rest of the doors were locked. We don't know if that has been resolved, but we have seen it like this for 3 days, after that we have not been there anymore. When we returned to our room that day on November 14, there was a letter in the door, asking us to stay inside. The letter is attached . We have been inside on the balcony for 6 days, only used our own toilet in the room. We only went out to eat, otherwise we would have starved with the speed of serving in this hotel. Everything has overdue maintenance, handrails are full of splinters, beach beds are broken, tiles are gone in the edges of the swimming pools. There was most off the time, no bottle of Coke Zero or Sprite Zero available at the Level swimming pool. We came to the Melia because our previous experiences were very good. My sister has been to Melia Dunas before, and everything was perfectly arranged. We are trying to be compensated burg the only thing the Meliá wil do is giving points for a next time. We don’t agree with that Never we have stayed in such a bad Melia hotel.
Annabella Boterbloem
00
Our stay at Melia Dunas was far from the 5-star experience we expected. Food & Drinks The food quality was poor across the board, whether at the buffet or in the themed restaurants included in the all-inclusive package. Both food and drinks were of low quality, and even the ice seemed questionable. Water Supply Issues For a hot and sunny destination, the water supply was completely inadequate. Only two 1.5-liter bottles were provided in the room every two days, which was clearly insufficient. Despite multiple requests at reception, we were unable to get more water. Several times, I tried to use the room phone to request water, as instructed at reception, but the line never worked. Room Discomfort & Cleanliness Issues Our room was located 890 meters (a 15-minute walk) from the beach, something to consider for those with mobility issues. Additionally, while the hotel is branded as MELIA Dunas, our room had SOL branding—a budget affiliate of the Melia group. Here, a 5-star resort feels more like a 3-star hotel in Europe. The bathtub glass was tilting, causing minor flooding after every shower. The curtains were not opaque at all, allowing sunlight to pass through in the early morning—especially problematic since our room faced east. To make things worse, the curtain mechanism was broken, meaning we could only raise it manually and leave it hanging. The cleanliness was also disappointing. There were bloodstains from squashed mosquitoes all over the room, including on the walls and furniture, as shown in the photos. Beach Conditions & Lack of Cleanliness The private beach was in terrible condition. Cigarette butts were scattered everywhere—mainly due to careless guests, but the hotel should ensure regular cleaning. Plastics were left near sun loungers, which were in poor condition, as were the straw umbrellas. Due to strong winds, broken sticks and straw pieces were scattered across the sand, posing a risk of injury to both adults and children. Aggressive Vendors on the "Private" Beach For a destination where people come to relax, this hotel fails completely. The so-called private beach was constantly crowded with vendors, aggressively selling souvenirs like hats and bracelets. While I understand their financial struggles, this negatively impacts guests' ability to enjoy peace and quiet. Some vendors even used the hotel's sun loungers and shade. Despite frequent patrols by local police, the vendors would return within minutes. Safety Hazards Cats all over the resort, including inside restaurants and near the pools around the hotel. Near the tennis and football courts, a rusty wooden plank with exposed screws was lying on a pedestrian path, creating a serious safety hazard for both adults and children. Service & Staff Training There is a clear lack of staff training. While the employees were generally friendly and tried their best, their service levels fell short of a true 5-star standard. The phrase "No Stress" should not be confused with a lack of professionalism. This resort has potential, but until major improvements are made, I cannot recommend it as a luxury destination. If you seek for a better alternative: RIU Resorts, Hilton or Morabeza.
Pedro Brütt Pacheco
00
The hotel is classified as 5-star, but that rating seems questionable. The building is only 10 years old but poorly maintained. Railings are infested with woodworms, the stairs are dirty, the sofas in the reception area are both unclean and extremely worn out, broken swimming pool sunbeds and frayed pool towels. The staff is always very attentive but they appear unprepared for work in hospitality. There is a noticeable lack of proper management throughout the resort. Staff members seem to be doing their best but clearly lack strong leadership and guidance. Food hygiene needs significant improvement. For example, staff wear gloves when handling bread but use the same gloves to touch shared surfaces, compromising cleanliness. The fruit station was consistently full of flies and blowflies, which is unacceptable. The Food and Beverage manager seemed disengaged, as the buffet restaurant offered the same dishes throughout our 7-day stay. Additionally, the food was never served hot. Deserts that should be served cold, were at room-temperature. When we requested to reserve a table at the specialty restaurants, we were told they were fully booked. However, we were informed that if we paid an extra €50 per person per day for the VIP wristband, we would gain access, as they always reserve tables for VIP or “The Level” guests. Interestingly, whenever we passed by the specialty restaurants, we often saw only two or three tables occupied. On our hotel room, the living room TV was non-functional, only displaying the hotel system with no channels. After replacement, the issue persisted. Later, the bedroom TV also stopped working. There was no Wi-Fi coverage in the room, not even poor coverage—none at all. Despite raising this at the front desk twice, it was neither resolved nor communicated properly. The room cleanliness was not up to the standard expected of a 5-star hotel. Although we had a 'no cleaning necessary' sign on the door, it was evident that the room had not been properly cleaned beforehand and appeared to have been neglected for quite some time. Queues were longer than expected for services that typically don’t have such delays, like coffee, pool towels, toasted bread, and cooked eggs. I would also like to note that it seems the management often resorts to copy-pasting the same generic response to most reviews. This approach gives the impression that the feedback and complaints are not being genuinely considered or addressed. I encourage you to take a more personalized and thoughtful approach to responding to guests' concerns.
Alex Chaves
00
Don’t be fooled by the nice pictures and fancy description - there is nothing luxurious about this experience and the price is extremely out of touch with any kind of reality. Reception staff is also very unhelpful, incompetent and honestly lacks any kind of understanding of customer service. The cleaning and restaurant staff is nice though, despite working for an absolutely horrendous place. The check in process was super slow, after waiting for ages the keycard didn’t work and we had to wait for another 30 minutes for someone to bring a new one. We then arrived to stained towels, a phone that was not working, not properly cleaned bathroom and a clogged shower, which we immediately reported but which took hotel 24 hours to address (the shower remained clogged after the “fix” and the phone they never bothered with). The room is old and badly needs to be painted with stains on the wall and cracks in tiles etc. AC also needs to be replaced as it is so noisy at times that you cannot sleep. Beds/pillows not comfortable. The a la carte restaurant which are supposed to be included in the all inclusive are booked out days in advance though once we complained the staff got us a table in the so called fully booked restaurant (when we actually went it was mostly empty) as an apology though this never happened as I gave up on trying the restaurant after waiting for one hour and a half for the food and people arriving after me receiving the exact meals I ordered. In the main buffet restaurant we were left with food poisoning for several days, losing time of our holidays being sick. We finally tried one of the other a la carte restaurants and frozen food from the supermarket honestly tastes better. DO NOT EAT AT THIS HOTEL, IT IS A HEALTH HAZARD. All over, our experience was absolutely awful. I have had better facilities and service in simple hostels. This place is not woth the money and definitely doesn’t fulfill expectations for a 5 star hotel. Once we shared our concerns with the receptionist, they also seemed like they could not care less and didn’t even ask why we were not satisfied so I assume they are used to it but just don’t care as long as they get your money. Find a different place to stay and save yourself the headache, money and food poisoning:)
Bo
00
Nearby Attractions Of Meliá Dunas Beach Resort & Spa All Inclusive
TUI Suneo Dunas
Pachamama Eco Park - Viveiro Botanical Garden
Meliá Tortuga Beach - All Inclusive
Meliá Llana Beach Resort & Spa - All Inclusive - Adults only
Santa Marilha Horse Excursions

TUI Suneo Dunas
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Pachamama Eco Park - Viveiro Botanical Garden
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Meliá Tortuga Beach - All Inclusive
4.2
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Meliá Llana Beach Resort & Spa - All Inclusive - Adults only
4.5
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Nearby Restaurants Of Meliá Dunas Beach Resort & Spa All Inclusive
Bar Marley
The Grill Sol Dunas
Nami Asian Restaurant
Riviera Snack Bar
CULINARIUM
Aqua
Casa Nostra
Latitude Restaurant

Bar Marley
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(97)
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The Grill Sol Dunas
3.9
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Nami Asian Restaurant
4.3
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Riviera Snack Bar
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Basic Info
Address
Rua Andrade Corvo, Santa Maria 4110, Cape Verde
Map
Phone
+238 242 23 40
Call
Website
melia.com
Visit
Reviews
Overview
4
(1.6K reviews)
Ratings & Description
attractions: TUI Suneo Dunas, Pachamama Eco Park - Viveiro Botanical Garden, Meliá Tortuga Beach - All Inclusive, Meliá Llana Beach Resort & Spa - All Inclusive - Adults only, Santa Marilha Horse Excursions, restaurants: Bar Marley, The Grill Sol Dunas, Nami Asian Restaurant, Riviera Snack Bar, CULINARIUM, Aqua, Casa Nostra, Latitude Restaurant

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