Gran Meliá Iguazú — Hotel in Puerto Iguazú

Only thing this hotel has going for you is the location and staff. The staff are very helpful and friendly. The receptionist desk knows a lot of English.

The location can speak for itself. The closest trail is the lower trail and can be completed in

This is a very personal review and rating, and I have waited several days before writing it.

On the surface, this appeared a magical location with the distant view of one of the world's natural wonders and a very pleasant staff to greet us on arrival.

After going off on a guided trek we returned to receive the room key, going into the room we were net by an overpowering smell of what seemed like paint thinner or varnish but as we had been told that evening's bring mosquitos we assumed it was linked, left the door out to the hallway open for 15 minutes to let air in. We went to a prebooked dinner and being vegetarian. I had Ravioli, which was fine. Back to the room, smell had returned, door left open again, etc.

The real personal issue began at breakfast, once again English was not spoken by the friendly staff but I was able to request a vegetarian omelette having been told by the chef to go back and order it through the waiter even though she was taking waffle orders at her station. Ordered and waited, and waited, we had an early morning tour booked, so I reminded the waiter about the omelette, and he kindly hurried away to get it, returning a short while later with the omelette. As it was running late, we were busy chatting and planning the day when, on the 3rd bite, I noticed my vegetarian omelette was filled with ham. Stopping eating, I handed it back to the waiter, pointing out what they had done. Apologies from him as he took ot back to the chef, we left for our appointment, and on the way out, I reported it to reception as such an appalling error had not happened before anywhere. We got back, had lunch, and were greeted by 2 managers apologising for this "appalling error." The danger of adding ingredients to an order that could cause allergic reactions or be contrary to religious beliefs was mentioned by them, and they said the dinner that night would be "special"

Down to the prebooked dinner checked the menu settled on another vegetarian option, as the same menu, and when the waiter arrived we were told, in broken English that we could not order it as that vegetarian option was part of a grill menu and we would have to go outside and be seated there to get it, so once more had to order the Ravioli. Then another member of staff brought over an amuse buche for us and.....it contained meat. I asked to speak to a manager, 10 minutes later one from earlier came over, apologetic again. Oh, and that "special experience"? we got a free dessert.

FYI, the smell in our room turned out to be the room beside ours, which they were repainting and sealing the floor

So, in summary, if you speak Spanish and are vegetarian, this location might be for you, I can not say for sure, but for myself having NEVER had a problem receiving a vegetarian meal in places with little English spoken in Nepal and Japan for example and combined with this being a so called international visitor location I can not...

This experience is hanging on the view (which I must say is gorgeous from the lobby, restaurant, and pool areas) but if you are expecting a 5 star experience you will not get it. From check in, we were not really actively welcomed and told to wait a bit on the sofa, the front desk man gave us minimal information about the hotel, only told us where the restaurant was and that was it. He didn’t even tell us about the monkeys we had to overhear this from another guest which turned out to be a major issue of the hotel (locking doors otherwise monkeys will come in your room). The food was quite good but very overpriced. The dinner service was again quite good but they were just so understaffed the first two nights we were there. We waited so long for every course, watched other tables who came after us get drinks and food before us, and there was just no attentiveness of staff. We asked for salt and pepper and a waiter slammed it on the couples table next to us not even paying attention to who asked for it. Again, this wouldn’t be that much of an issue if not for the price and expectation you expect from a hotel like this. The rooms were fairly old and the first room we were given (after paying for a falls view) had a palm tree directly blocking the view which they thought was acceptable. Luckily they had a spare and moved us but this is just really basic stuff you expect a hotel like this to know when you’re paying over almost USD 700 per night. Some staff were very nice and attentive in the restaurant but the front desk people were really lacking. They told us their system had crashed twice when we tried to book our time for dinner and check out and we were told we could just go downstairs and do it with the restaurant. Again other 5 star hotels of this price would just never tell you to do that. On check out we had to leave at 7am and were told my the receptionist the day before breakfast opened at 6:45 so we could have it quickly but the morning came and it opened at 7am so we had to have a small coffee and pastry from the bar instead when we could have told our taxi driver to come 10 minutes later to eat. Also, MOST HOTELS we’ve stayed at would make an exception and allow you to go just before open or put together a small packed breakfast if you have to leave early but no one at reception suggested this they just told us the facts and didn’t try and help us with a solution. I think it’s a great view and if you can come for lunch or the day it would be better (although I see in other reviews people who aren’t guests haven’t been treated great) but I really wouldn’t pay that much to stay here again. The service is absolutely not 5-star hotels worthy and neither are the rooms - without the view and location they would absolutely not...