Meliá Cala Galdana — Hotel in Ferreries

I’ve made these complaints to the hotel and all they have done is say that it’s all fine. No acknowldgement to improve things. |Safety:|The main one for me is that despite locking the windows in our family suite, they still popped open inwards. In the kids room and the kids bathroom. So turning the handles as if they were locked they would still open and from the outside in…. So when I’ve got my 3 children asleep in there it was definitely a worry. I only realised this on the last night otherwise I would’ve definitely moved rooms. The family suite cost us over €4,000 for the week half board so safety should be priority number one, especially when the kids were in a different room at the other end of the suite. |Restaurant:|Each time we went for breakfast or dinner, we were a family of 5 plus extended family came with us so a party of 8. We waited a while to get seated or we were pushed to the far end of the restaurant, where with four kids under four across our family, trapseing the kids up and down the buffet took us 20 minutes at best. The coffee machine down our end was generally off or turned off early. We asked to be put in the middle of at the top end daily so we could access the food more easily and it was met with a long wait which again is hard with 4 kids between us all. I’d expect that the hotel would want to make our stay and memories the best possible but it felt they were doing us a favour.|First night:|After traveling from England we were met with a long check in time, no offer of drinks or anything whilst I waited with the kids. When we got to our room we realised we didn’t have a cot for the baby and our phone didn’t work for room service which we needed for milks for the kids and baby, so we asked for these two things to be resolved. The cot was brought whilst we were out getting a quick bite at the buffet about 9.30pm…..I think we checked in about 8/8.30 in the end. The cot was delivered but the phone didn’t work and we found ants in the room when we got back. My husband had to go back down and ask for the phone to get fixed and the ants to be sorted. The cleaner came and used a really strong repellant in our room to the point we couldn’t use it for an hour or so so we were worried we couldn’t sleep in there. The phone got fixed about 11.30pm in the end….. |Half board:|I was disappointed to find out that the lunch / dinner that is normally included in half board was only dinner & that was limited to just the buffet restaurant in the hotel despite the hotel having a number of different restaurants. We asked for water during dinner as there were no drinks on offer or included in the evening meal (although cava, orange juice and water for breakfast) so we had to buy water each dinner time. |Kids evening entertainment:|Our kids are pretty young so the live music was fine for them to dance to but it’d be good to offer a variation to this and offer a kids night at least once in a week. ||I’ve uploaded the response from Melia to my initial feedback to them and they took it that the majority of my stay was great and it feels like a wish wash response in my opinion. It’s not good enough for a +€5,000 holiday for a week! Please don’t act like you’re doing me a favour…. I’ve paid for a stay that should be met with a level of service and it just wasn’t. Although the hotel is nice and in a good spot, the response to my feedback has made me not want to go...

We have always been drawn to the Melia brand when visiting Spain but Melia Cala Galdana took our impressions of them to a whole new level. Beyond its naturally beautiful location, the hotel itself was gorgeously done up from the moment you enter the hall/lobby at the upper levels you are treated to the most epic of views facing out onto Cala Galdana itself.

The buffet breakfast was epic and dinner was indulgent - if it weren't for the daily PT activities, we would have come back the size of a whale. Having actual real training exercises was one of the highlights of Melia Cala Galdana - usually the activities are quite low level and mundane but with 4 training sessions to choose from per day, you have no excuse but to do at least one to keep in shape while being treated to all the amazing food.

Special mentions to the following: Mathias (Matti): He was omnipresent with a smile and the best attitude; we did all of his physical training sessions during our week's stay and no sooner had we finished those, we saw him upstairs in the restaurant serving guests - the dude was everywhere and he did it with an attitude that epitomizes the gold standard in guest service. Mathis has to be the employee of the month! Thanks for all your time with us.

Santiago: He worked at Cape Nao Beach Club at Level 1 and he would always go out of his way to treat us and the fellow guests well; he was attentive and friendly, and made an effort to accommodate us with great service even during busy times. He made the difference down at Cap Nao Beach Club while his fellow colleagues were less attentive - one day we went there when Santiago around and there were literally 4 people standing around and we had to seat ourselves and only had we done so we were told that table was reserved...

Issac/Edgar: We only had them for a couple of sessions but they too were very professional, friendly and engaging.

Elisa: Up at the buffet dinner manning the grills, she was super friendly every night we saw her putting on some great grilled fish/meats.

Nevertheless, every hotel no matter how great they are, can always improve so these would be our points that they may wish to address:

There is a bit of a musky damp smell in the rooms for some reason but we just fixed this with opening the windows to let fresh air in. However, this may not be possible in the middle of summer when it's too hot to leave the AC off...

As mentioned above, there are a very small handful of staff (mostly down in Cape Nao) that were a little off the mark in their attentiveness and service and seemed they just didn't want to be there. If it wasn't for Santiago, we probably wouldn't have gone back.

Beach is public which means you'll need to pay for loungers (quite steep at 20 euros a day) so don't expect this to be provided by the hotel; there is a limited space at the back of the hotel with pool loungers but it is north facing so direct sun is limited to the morning and early afternoon.

Finally, to end on a positive note, we would seriously consider coming back again next year if the prices are right - it is a great base from which to explore the local area. Our only regret was going to Mahon one of the days and lost time at the resort/on the beach - Mahon was tiny and there was literally nothing left to do/see after 1 hour. So if you have limited time, stay in Cala Galdana and don't...

Do not book this hotel - not anything near a 5 star hotel. Building is not fit for purpose..arrived 19/09 checked out with full refund 20/09.. if you are thinking of booking the Meliá Cala Galdana read to end before making your reservation…

Arrived 19/09 and were allocated Premium Room 519. This had a damp smell. We were moved to Premium Room 522.

19/09 - evening meal…restaurant had buckets on floor for the rain

Woke @ 6.30am 20/09 to the sound of rain spilling into the room from balcony. This would explain why the entire 5th floor had a damp smell as soon as one exited the elevators. We reported this to reception and we’re asked to have breakfast and wait for them to find us another room when checkouts were completed for that day.

20/09 - we and the other guests were required to eat breakfast in the lobby/bar area as the entire restaurant seating area was closed for breakfast as it was soaked from the rain…

The pool with sea view which one can see in the hotel’s social media is only for The Level guests. The pool for the rest of the guests to use is at the front of the hotel and has no sea view - this pool is tired, has flies around the bar area and has one communal toilet with opaque glass walls which was filthy with a foul smell.

Access to the beach is at the back of the hotel and if guests are at the main pool (at the front of the hotel) they need to walk through the hotel reception area (in their bathing suits) and take an elevator down to the level where the exit is for the beach.

20/09 - We were eventually moved to a 3rd room at 12.30pm on 10th floor, 1028.. when we returned to this room @6pm there was a smell of a dead rodent or similar coming from the air conditioning unit. Needless to say we had enough.

After a long negotiation we checked out with full refund @7pm. The manager at reception wanted us to pay for the 19/09..we refused to pay for this after our horrific experience in the Meliá Cala Galdana (3 room moves in our first 24 hours there!!!)

During our short stay at this hotel, there was no visibility of any senior management. The management and customer service representatives were young and inexperienced and clearly had no support or guidance from any senior management. Shame on the Meliá group leaving young staff to deal with the shortfalls at the Meliá Cala Galdana.

The social media advertising for the Meliá Cala Galdana is deceptive and not true to guests experiences.. the beach is stunning and the Meliá Cala Galdana use its beauty to falsely sell this hotel which is not fit for purpose.. the hotel needs considerable renovation and repair.

Shame on the senior management of the Meliá group to deceive potential guests with their social media posts - The Level only pool with stunning view of the beach is only accessible to a minority of guests! This is what one sees on Meliá Cala Galdana instagram posts and is not representative of our experience there.

In summary, the building is not fit for purpose, it’s rooms have fouls smells, there are lots of flies around the pool bar, the communal toilet at main pool is filthy, the main restaurant has a leaking roof which prevents guests eating there...