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Review My wife and I just returned from a 5 night stay at the Melia Punta Cana Beach Resort. While overall we enjoyed our time in Punta Cana there were some glaring setbacks that we felt anyone considering this resort should be aware of. I’m giving a detailed review because I know I’d appreciate to see this before choosing a resort and spending my money. Arrival: Our arrival from the States into Punta Cana was smooth, my wife arranged our transportation from the airport to the resort with a transportation service company called DAT. I would highly recommend them for transport, it was a personal ride and the drivers were friendly and the process was easy and cost effective. Check In: Upon arrival at the resort we were greeted by the bell staff and as upgraded Level guests immediately picked up by tram and taken over to the Level Lobby for our private check in. Which was a pretty lengthy process. During this time we had access to the self-serve level lobby snack bar and drinks and we met with our “concierge” and who oriented us to the resort and shared the extra perks that come with being a Level guest. He also gave us his WhatsApp to be able to contact him when needed. It’s important to note, this concierge feature doesn’t function as a personalized service experience like one you may have had elsewhere- so do not be expect this to be an at your call service concierge. He basically is available to answer questions and book your reservations for dinner. He wouldn’t even book our massages. After meeting with him, he quickly called over the excursion pitch person. This took about 45 minutes of our time but we were interested in taking a boat trip to the private islands so we went along with it. If you’re not interested in doing an excursion, you can skip this or book yourself with a third party. Despite the lengthy check in and lack of welcome service- I do HIGHLY recommend getting the Level upgraded suites for a better experience. We had access to the spa amenities, a 30 minute massage for each guest is included, the rooms are closer to the beach and pool area, and more importantly the access to additional food options and top shelf bars. Without Level, you are very limited with food options on a smaller resort that already has limited food options on the resort. We were also under the impression that we had access to the Melia Caribe amenities, while we were allowed to go on that side of the resort we weren’t able to use their restaurants. The accessibility to that resort and the # of massages we were able to get was conflicting depending on who you’d ask. Room: The first few hours on the resort sound more like the beginnings of a trip from hell. THANKFULLY, it did turn around but it was enough to put a bad taste in our mouth about this property because this should never happen. After we booked our excursion and had some time for lunch we were told our room was finally ready. We booked The Level Suite Tropical Palms. We had a bit of a walk to get to the room and the concierge Alejandro came with to assist with our luggage. This is when we were we were quite literally dropped off into a damp and filthy ground level “level suite” filled with mosquitos! I killed 5 mosquitos in the first few minutes of being in the room. As we started looking around the room nervously it was increasingly apparent this room was not cleaned and honestly seemed like it had been abandoned. We thought the wait was due to the room being prepared for us and clearly that was not the case. It looked nothing like the pictures on the website, not even of the most standard Deluxe room option. More like something you’d find at a cheap spring break motel. After noticing some questionable stains on the top of the bed, my wife immediately pulled back the sheets to reveal a mattress that was covered in what looked like mold. Pillows that had what looked like black pest droppings scattered, more stained sheets. Really, truly unacceptable. The furniture had stains, counters and coffee area were dirty, the TV was crooked, and the bathroom was disgusting. As far as decor there were 2 green dumbbells, a yoga mat, and a balance ball. NOTHING like the what is pictured when you are booking on their website. We took pictures and went back to the lobby where we showed Alejandro “the concierge” and he brought us to speak with one of the ladies at check in to request a room change to which she responds they can’t move us until the following day due to overcapacity! She offered sending housekeeping to clean the room but due to the state of the bed my wife was clear that she wouldn’t be sleeping in that room for even one night, and they shouldn’t expect us to. After a few minutes, we were able to speak with the manager who miraculously had a room change available right away and had our stuff picked up and brought over to a closer and significantly better suite on a second level. The second room was vastly improved and looked just as it is pictured on the website, it looked like it was waiting for our arrival with welcome wine and a plate of chocolates. It was very inviting and decorated beautifully. This is what I would have expected and what the expectation should be in ALL of the rooms. Level or not. It was incredible the difference in what we were given initially to what we were moved to, yet they were supposedly the same level suite. My wife even inquired about that and was brushed off with the notion the first room had fitness theme decor. Anyway we chose to let that go and enjoy the trip and we did. Service: The service here was good when it was good, but mostly inconsistent. It was hard to know if their handoffs approach was due to this being a wellness resort or if they are just understaffed. We had some really great experiences with some of the staff/servers, specifically Alejandro Deba at Yumay, the servers at the level only Quimera restaurant, and the YHI spa staff. Our concierge arranged for our first dinner to be at Quimera where they surprised my wife with a lovely birthday cake and song. This was very thoughtful and the cake was delicious. Outside of that, I’d say mostly the interactions with the staff weren’t exactly friendly, particularly at the bars and the “snack” bars. We’ve been to several all inclusive resorts and this is the first where we weren’t greeted constantly and asked if we needed anything while in common areas like the main lobby/entertainment area , at the pools, or beaches. Given the size and the number of guests, you’d think that would be pretty easy to fix. There was definitely a language barrier for us as the majority of the staff is Spanish speaking only -which is fine and expected but at the end of the day it all comes down to attitude and willingness to help and that was lackluster. The promise of the exceeding your expectations with an exclusive level experience is just a thought. They don’t have consistent pool or beach attendants. Most of the pools don’t have any attendants at all but one pool had them on occasion. We were only offered service at the pool once our entire time there and it was for drinks only, other than that we were getting our own food and drinks and often with a wait. It was more of a do it yourself experience. Also, lack of attendants left most sitting areas with trash and left behind towels. While we were able to manage fine and I wouldn’t say it ruined our trip, having better service would have made all the difference in our willingness to come back to this resort and feeling like we could truly relax and have our needs met. After the room incident, we would have expected more of an effort on their behalf in terms of customer service and a chance to redeem themselves in other ways. Maybe offer an extra massage or anything really for our troubles and concern, but they just switched the room and moved on with barely an apology. Also worth mentioning, while the resort is pretty small it is about a 10 min walk between the primary beach and pool area and the main resort lobby/spa/restaurant area. There are trams that run between these 3 locations but you can most likely count on long waits to get you around. Sometimes we’d be waiting for 20+ minutes. Especially in the evening after dinner and entertainment. Food: This is when the Level upgrade really makes a difference because without it your only food options for breakfast and lunch are a very underwhelming buffet. The level upgrade gives you access to the sit down restaurant Quimara for breakfast/lunch/dinner. Outside of dinner the food offerings are sparse and on a tight schedule. The dinner restaurants were very good. We had some great food experiences there. The Mar Del Sal was phenomenal. We even had an amazing steak and lobster dinner on the beach which was a highlight of our trip. The “snack bars” and 24hr juice bar were kind of disappointing. They failed to mention this, but my wife saw a review saying the Quimera rooftop bar had sushi available. Yet that was NEVER mentioned as a food option while we were there and on the first night we asked they said no. But on our last night we asked again and only after asking they gave us a menu. Thought that was super strange, because with the limited options you’d think that would be a great selling point but it was almost like a secret. Same with the burgers by the beach. We didn’t know about that until the end of the trip. They don’t change the menus at all If you’re there for more than 4 days the food options become redundant. The dinner buffet was hit or miss- the Caribbean theme night was by far the best buffet night and is where you will see the most variety. Just be mindful of times because you can easily miss a meal due to limited options and time constraints. Entertainment and Off-resort experiences: The resort is definitely a meant for relaxing and we were not expecting nor wanting a party atmosphere. They did have shows in the evenings that started around 9. Dinner services stopped around 10. And the shows wouldn’t usually go past 11. We really enjoyed the silent disco and the fire dancers. Those were our favorite nights. There is a sports bar called Muse, after 11 that turned into the party spot. During the day they had activities that I think would have been nice to have captured in the app. We didn’t know what was going on most of the time during the day. Which was fine because we really just wanted to lounge by the pools. You’d have to go to the breakfast buffet and look at the daily calendar for the schedule and some of the activities were yoga, water workouts, bike rides, and some other crafts or experiences like chocolate facials or hat painting. This is not resort specific but we opted to take an excursion that we booked through Optimum. This company had reps on on our resort to help plan and book excursions. We opted to take a boat trip to 2 private islands- Catalina and Soana. Overall the experience was great- we had a charter bus pickup that took a small group of us from a few other resorts to a luxury boat for a more intimate experience. No kids. We were able to snorkel and enjoy the beaches and had a really good lunch once we got to the second location at Soana. Again the trip itself was amazing but be warned about solicitors and scammers. You are incessantly harassed to buy pictures, cigars, massages, and hair braiding. And not even at a good cost! It’s predatory and bordering on harassment. Especially on the island of Soana with the women offering massages and the photographers that worked on the boat! They act as though they are there to take momentos but instead they eat up your time asking for pose after pose only to turn around and try to sell you a photo package for $280! You do not have to buy it of course although they were able to take advantage of people by pressuring them and especially if you don’t speak English or Spanish! And they do not take a no thank you they press and press and press. Many people on our trip mentioned their own personal experiences getting scammed on the beach by vendors both on the trip and at their resorts. Anytime we were on the beach we were constantly approached to the point we stopped going after this random man approached us trying to sell us a party boat trip. He had on no identifiable clothing, when we told him we weren’t interested he asked us to get him some food off of our resort and when we seemed hesitant he proceeded to get an attitude and insult us. We also got approached by a Circle representative for Melia. That experience was off putting, not because the rep was rude but it was very misleading as to what role he was playing in our stay. We were under the impression that he was taking over as our concierge since Alejandro was off based on his approach. He asked us to meet with him so he can talk to us and give us our free gift. We thought nothing else of it until we got a call from him as we were leaving our massages and once again we felt kind of frustrated because it seems like every time we finally were relaxing someone was there to ask you to buy something or do something. We agree to meet him thinking it will just be brief and he can say what he needs to say and then he gets a tram, again thinking we are going back towards the level lobby and we begin to go off resort! We were like what’s going on, he then lets us know he’s taking us to a presentation for essentially a timeshare type situation that Melia offers as a membership! Major red flags with this. Another few hours of our time wasted. I think beware of the beach was the overall consensus because the beaches are STUNNING. Honestly some of the most beautiful beaches I’ve seen and yet they always had cabanas open, the beach was almost always empty. Also, be sure to bring strong bug spray and reapply often especially on your legs, ankles and feet. Sand flies are extremely aggressive and can cause a lot of discomfort. My wife had a bad reaction and had to purchase medication back at the resort for relief. Overall: Based on what I have shared you may think we didn’t have a good time but we actually had a great time despite those things. I just wanted to give an honest and thorough review because if you’re like us, we come on vacation in search of rest and relaxation. Our expectations for an adult only luxury resort is EXCEPTIONAL customer service. If you want an experience where you are able to just show up and relax with very little thought and effort, this is not the place for you. As I mentioned we’ve been to many upscale adult only all inclusives, especially in Jamaica and Mexico we always left impressed. This was our first time coming to Punta Cana and while I can’t say I wouldn’t return to DR, I can without a doubt say I wouldn’t return to this resort.

Meliá Punta Cana Beach | December 2025 | 10 Nights | The Level Member | Birthday trip Punta Cana alone, for my birthday — a deliberate choice. The hotel suits that well: a vast, green property, a private beach section, and five Meliá hotels sitting side by side, forming their own small world. The Level — Meliá’s VIP package The Level guests get a dedicated WhatsApp concierge who handles restaurant bookings, answers questions and stays reachable without needing to visit reception. Add a private pool, a private beach section and a café-restaurant open almost all day — and as a member, a room upgrade on arrival. The room was centrally located, close to everything that matters, yet surprisingly quiet. Housekeeping came through multiple times a day without being asked. This isn’t a perk — it’s a fundamentally different stay. What doesn’t work Check-in took around 40 minutes — not because it was busy, but because the main reception team explains everything very thoroughly, which is generally a good thing. The issue: as a Level guest, I should have gone directly to the dedicated Level check-in at the other end of the hotel. No sign, no indication, nothing. First-time guests simply can’t know this. One orientation sign would fix it immediately. Also noticeable: staff on their phones — not everywhere, but frequently and across different areas. Some spoke no English, others seemed disengaged or simply lost. For a property positioning itself as luxury, this is the weakest point — and the reason I’m giving 4 rather than 5 stars. The property deserves more; the inconsistency in service pulls it down. The highlight of the stay I met the hotel manager — a connection that changed the tone of the entire trip. Over three evenings he invited me to the neighbouring hotels: Zel, Paradisus and Meliá Caribe Beach Resort. Each time I was shown the property, introduced to its concept and stayed for dinner. This wasn’t a tour — it was a genuine look at what Meliá has built in Punta Cana. Five hotels, five characters, one place. Verdict For a solo birthday trip, it was the right choice. The property is impressive, The Level makes a real difference, and if you’re open to it, Punta Cana can offer encounters that go well beyond the holiday itself. On service consistency there’s room to grow — a true 5-star experience needs more of that across the board.

Excellent service, everyone was very helpful and nice. Eddie Solutions was the man and helped us book all of our reservations and was very informative for what the resort had to offer.

Apart from the drinks being the lowest than low quality, maybe to be expected for an all inclusive resort, they price hiking on menu list prices for a la carte drinks service. Eg. I x bottle champagne, hotel menu listed price 161usd. I bottle ordered, waiter returned with IPad, sorry sir the price is now 189usd, please go an ask your manager, came back with, your are lucky sir, you can pay 166usd. 5 dollars more than the listed price. Smoke and mirrors seems to be the basis of ethics. Trying to book dinner at alacarte restaurant. Became a torent of smoke and mirrors, culminating with hard sell meeting for time share or its present day version. Guests fighting in the middle of the night, screams, door banging and yelling, house keeping walking into the room in the evening 20:30/21:00, of course can’t be blamed towards the hotel, more o. The cliental that stay, half made room on the first night, no chance to book dinner on the first night, all culminates with a seriously unsatisfied feeling for the resort. Leaving a feeling to look elsewhere to stay somewhere else for the rest if the 10 nights stay three days in.

This is my second time staying here and the Level experience was not worth it. The service was very slow and the food quality was terrible. Will never stay here again. Everyone in our party had issues with their rooms not being clean and broken pipes with water leaks.