Meliá Century Hotel — Hotel in Ponce

This review may be a bit biased because of my situation, but hear me out. I happen to be a Puerto Rico local and recently a victim of the terrible hurricane Maria. The whole island of Puerto Rico went dark. There was no water. Communications were zero as well. Food was scarce. It was hell. I decided to adventure around my city to see the destruction and suddenly, like a shining beacon in the middle of the storm there it was: the Hotel Melia in Ponce was open and operating!

The location is the best in Ponce. If you are going to visit Puerto Rico, I recommend you to visit Ponce, the largest city outside the San Juan area. Ponce has an historical heritage and you will enjoy Spanish era buildings and a more relaxed vibe than the Metro area. Among those buildings is the Hotel Melia (the real one, not the Gran Melia impostor). This is the oldest operating hotel in Puerto Rico since 1895. The hotel has suffered many renovations during the years, but at the same time it retains its classic charm. Modern additions include a roof modern bar, a small but nice pool and some cool top of the line Convention rooms.

During my visit, the hotel was being remodeled -- and partly destroyed by the hurricane, so the lobby area was a mess full of broken chairs, wood planks, etc. They tried to cover everything as best as they could with plastic to keep the areas safe.

I was greeted by Desire and Gladys. This lady is by far the best manager I have ever seen on an hotel anywhere in the world, at any price level. Without computer systems operating, she managed the reservations like a champ with just a notepad and tennis shoes. She literally was there 24 hours a day during the hurricane's first week. You could be on the front desk at 6am and she was there, so at 10pm, 2am, etc. If she wasn't there, she was wandering the premises looking for guests well being. She took great care of us, understood the emergency situation and patiently greeted us always with a beautifully tired smile. Desire, a member of the marketing staff also worked like a mule, leaving aside her duties and taking the task of running up and down the stairs to provide room service and guest assistance. She was another jewel in this place.

The service in Mocha, the restaurant/cafe was impecable. The treatment from Marta, Sayonara, Hector and Emily was 5-star! They always took care of us and provided more than expected. One night, Hector saw we were not happy with the menu choices and came to us and whispered... 'I could make you some deep fried cheese dogs and puertorrican fritters if you want'. And so he did! Delicious goodness in the middle of the worst catastrophe in PRs history. These details, like Emily saving a plate of hot beef stew for my wife aside until she arrive are what make an hotel great.

Details like these are what matter most to me as a traveler. The property itself is old but majestic in a charming way. The room was small, but with high Spanish ceilings and a very comfortable bed. We even had TV, a WORKING TV! The bathroom is plain white and was SPOTLESS. The hotel has chandeliers and carpets which the staff were constantly cleaning to avoid moisture smell. The room smelled clean, was clean and was above expectations for the price range, even during 'normal times'. Don't expect a high-end hotel, expect a wonderful travel experience.

I am very grateful of the staff of Hotel Melia, and I hope this beautiful place stays open 100 years more. A special shoutout to Ms. Uma Blasini, who was the eternal ghostly presence everywhere checking on her staff, her clients, while handling her beautiful kids. Everywhere I stood, there she was as an omnipresent force, always with a nice smile and asking 'are you guys good?' at every minute, making sure this historic place was a true oasis on the middle...

WARNING! DO NOT BOOK HERE! WORST EXPERIENCE EVER!!!

Came for a wedding and the venue booked 2 other events that overlapped with one another. Here is the list of things that went wrong.

Hotel Parking:

The parking for the guests and visitors is poorly managed with no communication between the employees once they need to switch shifts. Some guests leave the car keys and others don't causing conflicts and having the need to have the guests move their cases for other to leave. So it's a half assed valet parking with only 1 valet at a time. Staff was rude and seemed to disregard concerns that was brought up until you get rude and loud then they want to be the victim which brings me to the next point.

Staff:

The coordination between management and upper management is sub-par at best. One manager will say one thing and say "yes, we'll make it happen" then the upper management comes and says no and your stuck with it. They might try to accommodate you but the rooms itself leave you with much to desire.

Rooms:

As you can see in these pictures the rooms are dirty, not well kept and is falling apart. Who would want to spend money to stay at a hotel looking like this? It is in the center of Ponce where tourism is high, this hotel has a lot of history to it so you would think they would want to keep things looking like a 5 star hotel and not some dive you drive into for $20 a night. Also you can see broken glass (not sure if management had picked up on this or not but this IS during one of the events that is going on) this is next to the unusable stairway that is next to a 2 person limit elevator. So one order to leave or go to a room you need to go around the hotel walk up or down te stairs and then make your way back. That, or you can just wait until the unstable elevator makes it to you and we'll good luck getting to your floor in a timely fashion. At 1am there is still a VERY loud party going on so I guess normal guests are not getting sleep early because it's audible in all parts of the hotel. Also the room has a FIRE HAZARD with a duct tape hair dryer!!!!!

Check-in/out and payment:

BEWARE! Of this one. They charge a $100 security deposit just like many other hotels do, here is the catch, they will ask if you want the room to be placed "on hold" with the card so that you can pay the remaining balance with another form of payment, HOWEVER! They will go ahead and charge you in full ahead of time EVEN if you told them not to. This happened with not 1, not 2 but 3 of the other guests that I know were also staying at this hotel. So just make sure you read things through and maybe even call your bank or credit card to place a hold on the charges of the did this to you.

Food:

Breakfast at the location was horrible. Eggs don't look properly cooked and the cheese was just thrown on top with raw vegetables inside. Also the bagels tasted like sweat!! Who is the head chef in this place that is letting these kind of things go out to the guests? I went out to get breakfast because I will NOT be eating here.

Summary:

All in all this hotel is by far the last option you should look at when looking for a place to stay while visiting the town or island. If there was a chance for negative stars or no stars I would be definitely be doing that. But I can't and 1 star...

EDIT TO RESPOND TO THE OWNER: First, my bank statement actually shows I was charged TWICE for my room. I am disputing it. SO ACTUALLY I SPENT DOUBLE FOR A HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE!!! Second, for those who want to to listen to the owner's shaming of us -- we booked the deluxe room. I can't even begin to imagine what the non deluxe room look like. Hence when we went down, the person at the front desk LITERALLY TOLD US we got the best room. Hence, we were suppose to accept a worse room?! Make it make sense.

When someone first came into our room, they said we could call if the problem persisted. They gave us an erroneous number. There were three of us there, we all wrote it down -- the line was dead. And do not attempt to claim it was a language barrier - my mom and aunt are native Puerto Ricans. My aunt lives here.

original post: I booked this hotel for sentimental reasons—my parents celebrated their first night of their honeymoon here 42 years ago, and my father passed away just three months ago. Unfortunately, the experience was incredibly disappointing.

Upon arrival, there were two staff members at the front desk. One was on the phone with a client, and the other was playing on her phone. When we asked the second staff member if she could check us in, she simply said "no" and continued to play on her phone. Once the first person was free, she told us she needed a minute, but we ended up standing there with all of our luggage for 15 minutes. The entire check-in process took over 30 minutes.

When we finally got to our room, the air conditioner was off, and the room smelled like a disgusting mix of smoke (the room said it was smoke-free) and mold. Even though we had booked in advance, the room was completely unprepared. When we reported the issue, we were told to wait 30 minutes for the air conditioner to cool the room, close the bathroom door, and keep the curtains shut. Despite waiting, the room remained unbearably hot, and the smell worsened, triggering my mother’s allergies.

When we went back to the front desk, they told us that all the rooms were the same, essentially saying there was no solution. We had no choice but to leave, as there was no way we could stay in an overpriced, overheated, and moldy room. Shockingly, despite us only being there for an hour—30 minutes waiting to check-in and 30 minutes waiting for the AC—they refused to issue a refund.

We passed by the supervisor as we left, but they couldn’t even look us in the eye. The lobby may be beautiful, but that’s where the charm ends. What we experienced was false advertising and poor service, and I wouldn’t recommend this...