Only stayed one night but an excellent experience. Great room and balcony facing the lagoon. Enjoyed the design of the hotel and grounds.. Great location on the beach and easy access to cheap public transportation. Check in/out service was tops. Service attitude was excellent. The hotel is HUGE. We had only one meal, lunch buffet. A disappointment compared to other hotels in the area. This dropped our overall rating to Above Average. Cancun needs to work on it's beach. Alot of erosion is taking place. Our 4th trip to Cancun. Would stay again at the Gran Melia.

We stayed at the Gran Melia for 7 days April 12-19 and it was our 4th stay at this hotel over the past 13 years. We keep coming back and the Melia Cancun just keeps getting better every time we come back. We have stayed at other hotels in Cancun and Cozumel and always return to the Melia because of the spacious rooms, fantastic service and beautiful setting.

We arrived at about 7PM after a long flight day from Oregon and the attentive desk agent checked us in in less than 10 minutes, explained all of the details of our stay and gave us our keys. We headed straight to our room which was a top floor ocean view junior suite. We did not upgrade to the Royal Service package as we had a 3 year old with us and kiddos are not allowed with Royal Service (we fully understood this going in so it was not a disappointment). Our room was very large, clean and significantly updated since our last stay. LCD TV, small sitting bench, hide-a-bed sofa and two queen beds, large bathroom complete with separate room for toilet and bidet. Rain shower head as well as a handheld spray attachment. There was a mini-fridge, but we did not have a key (nor were we offered one). The balcony had two comfortable chaise lounge chairs and small side tables. Views of the beach, pool and ocean were as good as ever.

The only wierd part of our trip was due to a World Trade Organization conference in Cancun during our stay so the hotel was in full lock down mode with fencing all around the perimeter, very tight security including dozens of security guards, metal detectors that you had to go through in the lobby and a minimum of 3 Mexican Navy boats parked off the beach of our hotel for 3 days of our stay. We never felt threatened and it was good for tourists, as the pools and beach at the hotel were mostly empty. More information below by category:

Pools - Deserted most of the week. We only had access to the non-royal service pools, but there were hardly any people at the pool or beach for the first 5 days and we had no problem finding a palpa bed or shaded lounge chair at any time of day. We did have a 3 year old so we stayed closer to the extreme south end of the main pool which was only 2 feet deep and probably 40 yards long and 10 yards wide - ample space for the 10 or so kids that were there at any time. They also had an activity hut with face painting, arts and crafts, toys and a bounce house. There was always an attendant there and they were great with the kids. Pools were a perfect temperature and well balanced. Waiters were always available for a drink or food order, but never pushy.

Beach - There has been significant beach erosion due to the hurricane in 2006 and the large swath of sand that we enjoyed during past visits is now reduced to about 20 yards (at most) between the concrete break wall for the hotel and the water. Most days there was ample room to play and walk the beach, but our last two days were windy and the waves were approaching the break wall at our hotel and actually hitting the wall at the Fiesta Americana (south of the Melia). Sand was as good as ever, but there are rocks protruding from the sand.

Quetzal Restaurant - We ate here almost every morning as their breakfast buffet is fantastic. Fresh fruit of every kind, made or order omlettes, pork, chicken, sausage, bacon, pancakes, french toast, waffles, yogurt, soups, hot and cold cereal, 5 different juices and even tamales and tacos. If you sign up for the Mas card, you get 2 for 1 breakfasts and they did not charge for our 3 year old either. Total daily breakfast bill was about $21 USD including service fee. Great deal.

Ku-Nah restaurant - We had the "get it all" package which included a free dinner for 2 so we ate at this restaurant and it was fantastic. It's kind of a Mexican Fusion restaurant - I had the Lobster (full tail) and my wife had the shrimp fajitas - all wonderful. Tortilla soup was excellent and even dessert was great. Service was impeccable and they catered to all our needs.

YHI Spa - I signed up for a 50 minute massage and it was excellent, but expensive ($132 USD) however we had a $50 resort credit with the "get it all" package so offset the cost. The spa is located in the middle north tower where we were staying and the area where the spa is located is decorated with rich wood, tiki huts and water features with koi ponds and soothing music. Very good experience.

Lobby/Stores/Market - If you are looking to get booze or beverages, you are better off going to the Oxxo or 7-11 store across the street (about a 5 minute walk) as prices are much, much less. A 20 0z. vita water in the hotel will run you about $5.50 USD and soda is around $3 a can. You can get a 2 litre of soda across the street for a couple bucks. Don't eat at El Shrimp Bucket across the street - overpriced and the service was poor. Try Bubba Gumps at the Flamingo Mall down about 4 KM north on the hotel zone. The lobby of the hotel is stunning with cascading vines from the 8th story all the way down to the floor. The floor of the main atrium is rich with plants,cascading koi ponds and wood walkways as well as a large central fountain. There is also a sushi restaurant (don't care for sushi) but others that ate there said it was very good. The last two nights of our stay they held a show in the atrium with dancers, jugglers, a clown act and fire juggling acts - very impressive and a great way to wrap up the day with the kiddo.

Golf - Just a short par 3 course (did not play) but adequate to kill an hour if its not too hot.

Just a few more notes:
- Room service was excellent and frequent (3 times daily)
- The timeshare people did not bother us in the least (probably because we had our kiddo along) but they did not seem to be overly aggressive with others either and would generally leave you alone if you just said "No Thanks"

Overall it was a great stay and we are looking forward to our next trip and another stay at the Gran Melia Cancun - there's no need to stay anywhere else.

My husband and I stayed at the Gran Melia in Feb 2007, but I was just leaving my review for this year’s vacation and realized I never submitted a review for this trip. We had a wonderful time!
ROYAL SERVICE - We stayed in the Royal Service pyramid and thought it was definitely worth the additional cost. RS includes a continental breakfast which was actually a lot more than listed. A typical day had some kind of egg dish, French toast, breakfast meat, yogurt, pastries and fresh fruit. There was also snacks and drinks in the afternoon and a happy hour with cocktails and appetizers in the evening. But by far the best part of the RS was the separate pool! “Regular” guests could not use the pool so it was very quiet and no children. There were also palapas that each room had for the week with your name on the post and everything (see photo). We moved around a few times to get different views during the week.
BEACH & POOLS – The pools are beautiful. We really only used the RS pool, but the others wound through the entire resort. They were definitely more lively. The beach was pretty but very windy. My husband swam a lot in the ocean but I was pregnant so it was too rough for me.
SERVICE – The service was really top notch. Every morning the staff would lay out towels in your palapa and get a bowl of warm water for you to wash the sand off of your feet. They frequently stopped by to see if you needed anything to eat or drink. The wait staff in the eating area in the RS was also very polite and efficient. One night the A/C broke for a few hours (yikes) and they brought a fan up to our room and had the problem fixed quickly.
ROOMS – I LOVED our room! The bed and sheets were so soft. We had a flat panel tv and the furnishings in the room were so nice. The shower was great too. And our view was the best part – you could hear the waves crashing on the beach. Unfortunately if you opened your door to hear it the A/C would turn off so we only had it open occasionally.
LOCATION – The location was nice because we were close to some good restaurants and also a short bus or taxi ride to downtown. A lot of people complain about the stairs but you have to be pretty out of shape to struggle with them! If you take cabs you don’t even have to walk down them at all, but I recommend the bus because it is cheap and easy to figure out. We were disappointed with how commercialized Cancun is but were expecting that. I mean, do Americans really come all the way to Mexico to eat at Outback? Scary.
On a side note, we took a day trip to Isla Mujeres and I HIGHLY recommend it. It is so quaint and authentic and the beach and water is amazing. The water is calm and you can walk out for at least 100 yards and still be only waist deep. We rented a golf court and toured the entire island, it was very fun. Overall we had a great stay and I would definitely recommend.

Finally writing in..We stayed here for our honeymoon, it was a wonderful time of year, never rained and not busy. Very close to downtown, we walked. The beach was fantastic, the pool wonderful, we stayed in the more private section of the hotel and we had wonderful service and a wonderul, clean, comfortable room. We ordered room service one day and it was great. We did not eat in the restaurants as we had breakfast included in the morning and then we would do day trips. The coffee was the best I have ever had and the food and snacks provided in the afternoon were okay. Roger helped us and waited on us, he was great. The only thing was the walk back and forth from our room out to the street....lots of exercise and don't forget anything before you leave your room. We tipped daily and then a larger sum at the end of the week.

Make sure you know your Peso's as they (not the hotel but outside doing business) will try an cheat you..I had this happen on the bus...

My husband did get ill while we were there and I took the bus myself into town to Wal-mart of all places and got the antibiotic with no prescription needed and he was quickly feeling better..but it was the food at on of our day trips....

We went to Isla Mujeres and rented a golf cart..wonderful trip, we also went to the pyramids, very hot that day, bring lots of water but again wonderful....