TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

I have a lot to say, I was at the Melia in Puerta Vallarta on 2/22/2026. When the burning of vehicles and the smoke came from the town. First it was "oh my god" you could see and smell the smoke. By noon the breeze that comes in from the Pasific Ocean blew the smoke away from the hotel zone. Yes, some areas the smoke was so much more concentrated, but the air did clear. By midnite there was no more fires or unrest in the different zones of Puerta Vallarta. The news stations and social media did not represent this, for the sake of their popularity. They did then and still are damaging this amazing place. I had many family members I had to facetime to prove the news was fake. There is a reason that after hundreds of vehicles were burned, but the hundreds of people in those vehicles were let to run away. Shutting down the roadways and forcing a stay in place was their main objectives for reasons unknown to me. The next day there was no fires, the government and Mexican military came into make sure things got cleaned up and by Tuesday you could come and go. Because of the bad press you only get fear, that will destroy this amazing place and some of the most genuine peoples' livelihood. You dont hear about the Meli staff that while sure to be frightened and worried about their own families, these people never showed it or panicked. They were informative, and caring. They made sure that the people that had to missed there flights were accommodated. While making sure these people had a safe place to stay the employees that came in 5-6am and with no-one to replace their shifts worked on taking care of all of their patrons. They slept there and were up ready to go right back to work the next morning, with a warm kind greeting. Because of being short staffed everyone regardless of possition was side by side working to make sure everyone was comfortable. That was amazing. I was there for a few weeks before this happened, I would like to mention a few of my favorites, but truly when things went sideways they all bond together for all of us. Please don't give up on Puerta Vallarta or the people that work there. If you are lucky to stay at the Melia here are some names of super emploees. When you arrive Edwardo greets you at the curb. Saul at check in. Alberto, Hector guest services along with their manager Antonio will help you with just about anything you need. Juanita can cook great Arnulfa has cooked for 23 years there,the taste of Mexican food you look forward to. Carolina and Fernanda welcoming Hostess The wait staff that realy makes the difference Diana, Maykol, Juan, Jose, Gabriel, Jerzon and Luis. Thank you all.

We had a travel disruption in Toronto due to an ice storm and we had to book somewhere to stay until our condo was ready. The second day we were there was the cartel interruption. The hotel looked after us by allowing us to stay another two nights until things settled. There staff was absolutely amazing. They treated us like family even with themselves being sheltered in place at the hotel. They are currently upgrading the rooms which will happen over time but the renovations were not disruptive at all. I recommend the Melia to anyone and with the current staff and management this place will only get better and better.

We chose this hotel because we like to have evening entertainment with our all inclusive experience. It did not disappoint, with a great variety over the weekend. We were here when the cartel issue happened and felt very safe and unaffected. The staff were great though it all. Also had a nice mix of age ranges staying; some kids, but not too many.

I found the buffet food delicious with many choices, this is not usually to case for all inclusive. My only negative, which it really isn't, the bars don't open until 11. If you want to be pool side get there early as the spots fill up quickly. If you have a chance to have Raul and Christian as your bartenders you won't regret it. Should you choose to leave the resort you are close to downtown. The airport is only 10 minutes away.

We returned from here on February 14th and in spite of all the turmoil there today, I do think it will quickly be safe to travel there again and since I am an avid reader of reviews whenever we are going to traval, I decided to review this resort. The Pros (of which there are many) Very close to the airport, while never even noticing the air traffic! In reading reviews myself, I noticed that a lot of people complained about the food, I really don’t know why. This is not a huge resort so the size of the buffet reflects that, you shouldn expect a spread that goes on and on! People have said there were not enough options…..not true. I am a very picky eater and I always say that as long as there is bread and bananas, I won’t starve. I always found more than enough to enjoy. I don’t eat fish but my husband eats everything and was very happy with everything and enjoyed the selections. The breakfast and dinner stations where they cook at your request, were very good and in the ten days we were there there was only one evening where the service was not outstanding. If you had the package where you were able to have breakfast at Mole y Taco, that was great! One thing I was disappointed about was the absence of salsa and/or guacamole, two of my favorite Mexican things! They always had the tortilla chips at the buffet and the snack bar but not dips. One evening, Mexican theme night, there was one large bowl of guacamole, right when the buffet opened at 6:00, it was gone very quickly and was not refilled. Disappointing but not the end of the world. We ate dinner at the resort every night but there are many restaurants and bars very close by at the Marina and they were always busy. So you do have other options if you want to stray from the all-inclusive for a meal. The pool is huge, very clean, lots of areas for shade and I have to applaud the administration for not letting people just put their towels out at 7:00 in the morning to save chairs for later. I think several people had complained about this and two of the days we were there, security came around the whole pool and removed towels, took a picture of the table number or removed towels and left a note on the chairs. Obviously it is fine if, once you have been there for awhile, you go to eat or take a stroll on the beach, but otherwise, I don’t recommend it. There were always chairs to be had, maybe just not in the exact spot you wanted. The grounds are pretty, very well kept, I love the ponds near the buffet with all the turtles sunbathing, the interesting birds and very large iguana! The lobby, washrooms, hallways, in fact all the areas that are seen or enjoyed by everyone who is there , without paying extra, are very clean and pretty. Entertainment was pretty tupical of other places, although I really hated the techno music i. the lounge area on certain nights. The magic show was great! My only negative comments to make are about the room! I know that most will say, who cares, how often are you in the room anyway, but I care, especially regarding broken items, and not clean. I have to say that the view from the room was gorgeous but very depressing to enter the room and a lot of that thinking is to do with our initial experience upon arrival. The room was so dirty! We blew the dust off of the lampshade, one of which was hanging over the bed, broken from the wall and hanging down, you could write your name in the dust on the furniture, the luggage rack, attached to the wall was broken and right out of the wall and could not be used. First impressions say a lot and the smell hit me first, before all the other obvious things. We have been to many different places, never been in such a stark, dirty and depressing room. Of course we tried to have it changed and of course were told to wait until the next day, the standard answers but I was not willing to settle for this for our whole ten days! Front desk insisted nothing they could do, sent me to guest services who also could do nothing. Everytone tells you “I understand”, they are very good at making you think they will help but based on how many others were talking to them, it was clear that unless you wanted to pay a lot of extra money, you were not going to get anywhere. I did not want to even sit on a chair in that room! They promised they would find something better the next day, promised to send someone up to fix the broken luggage rack, deep clean the room and offer me some sort of compensation. None of these things happened. We used a package of Lysol wipes and cleaned as best we could. They moved us the next afternoon to a room four doors down, exact same room, only cleaner, never heard about any compensation again. It is quite sad when you see how little money is put into making these rooms more pleasant. I am not talking luxury at all, just change the lampshades, paint the furniture and hang something on the walls! No colour in the rooms at all, the mirrors need to be changed . We have stayed in Mexico many times and colour is expected and part of their charm. So much could be done, inexpensively , to make these rooms look more appealing. They are not welcoming at all, made me think of prison cells! We absolutely loved the area, proximity to the Marina and , ironically, how safeit felt to walk the streets. I would definitely go return to Puerto Vallarta again, maybe not this resort, and that is purely because of our initial impressions.