Zel Punta Cana

My family and I stayed at Paradisus for a couple of nights and we were very disappointed. My husbands family is actually from the Dominican and we go to an all-inclusive resort every year, we are sad to say that the service was not great. Consider booking at another resort, they are some amazing ones out there. Here is my list of items that we experiences that were not great: Service Quality: Throughout our stay, we experienced consistently poor service. The staff did not appear enthusiastic or attentive, which impacted our overall experience negatively. Check-In Process: The automatic online check-in service was non-functional, leading us to wait in line to speak to someone and get our room assigned. This inefficiency added unnecessary frustration to our arrival. Delay in Room Requests: Despite requesting a bed and crib upon arrival, it took multiple follow-ups before these items were finally provided. This delay was inconvenient and did not meet our expectations for prompt service. Family Activities: the resort is marketed as a family destination, but we found the kids' activities to be lacking. The kids' room and available activities were subpar compared to other resorts we’ve visited in Punta Cana, making it less appealing for families with children. Dining Reservations: Securing reservations at your restaurants was challenging. We attempted to book a table at 9:30 am, but the only available option was the Dominican restaurant, which was not suitable for children.

We spent 4 days here with the family. Hotel is beautiful, some of us stayed at The Reserve Beach at Palma Real which is just in front of the beach. We had understood that Palma Real is one of the newest from Melia. It’s just a little confusing choosing which of the paradisus (Palma real or punta cana, the reserve, the reserve beach, spa and golf) to stay at. Be sure to check before where your hotel will be located exactly and what are the differences between one and the other because many of them are very close to each other but the room rates are very different. For an all inclusive, food, service, beach and rooms are very nice!

Pros: The hotel had some good things going for it. The staff was hard-working and pleasant. My room looked almost like a five-star quality. The swimming pools were nice. Cons: The safe was not attached and not working. They fixed this on the same day. The air conditioner was leaking. They came and placed it at 20 C. It kept on dripping when we raised temp to auto 21C. We left towels to soak the water and gave up with 3 days left. We called room service to have our fridge filled with the usual 2 coke zeroes. It took them two days for room service to bring us the Coke Zero bottles. The music was loud at night and they only played Spanish music. They also had a singer that would sing every 3 days only in Spanish. The beach had dead brown grass or algae and was not clear so I could not see my toes. I went there for the all-inclusive golf for 80$ golf cart. When I got there, the golf course explained that it was 90$ USD and only 80$ after 1 p.m. and that the hotel publication was wrong. I checked and even their own golf course website said 80$ from April 2023 to April 2024. When I complained again after the 6th game, they honoured the 80$. I just check my card and they charged 80$ but did not refund for the 5 other games x 10$. Dishonest advertisement.

We had a great time! The hotel had activities, great drinks, food and entertainment. Bryan Peralta from the entertainment team was so friendly and nice to our family. We went with our kids and they loved it too! We will definitely go back. Great experience

The staff were so kind and helpful, especially our concierge Emmanuel :) The trip was to celebrate my sister’s birthday and Emmanuel went above and beyond to help us surprise her. He stayed overtime to decorate our room and make it extra special for her. He helped us with any and everything we needed, he was simply the best!

This property was old and dirty. Staff was apathetic. Spa which is advertised as having bridges built over water, has no water at all. All of the furniture is old and banged up. Bar smells sour. The food on the buffet sat out for hours while kids and other guests handled it with their hands or picked over it. Not edible. Our concierge was more interested in getting us to buy into the rewards program than helping us enjoy our experience on the property.

We had an amazing family trip to Garden Suites by Melia. The staff as always made us feel right at home and took care of our everything professionally. The food was great! And the weather was beautiful every day. After dinners we walked the stunning grounds, the flower gardens and trees are amazing and very well kept. Thank you for everything!

The property looked and was tired... pools missing lots of tiles and lots of debris.. Hot tub was not working... The buffet is tiny and not very hot even when you show up at 6.30.... the cooking station is nice though.. Mizu was the best speciality dining.... One night the hotel chose last minute to close all specialty dining restaurants for a night being stuck at the buffet... Very Very agressive timeshare / Circle club sales... Not worth the money... not super bad but not worth 700$ a night and not 5 star... Stayed at Melia's before and this was the worst

Here is the letter I wrote to Melia outlining our horrible experience. They did not seem to care. Why would they, they received my payment. I recently returned from a family vacation at the Garden Suites by Meliá, where my family and good friends of ours stayed from July 29, 2023 – August 5, 2023. Upon my return home, I purposely waited to write to you, not wanting to send an email out of anger and frustration. I do however feel it is necessary to relay to you the downright disappointment that we experienced while staying at your resort. Below is a list of itemized issues that we encountered while at the Garden Suites. 1. We booked directly through Meliá, where we requested and we told we would be accommodated with a two-bedroom garden suite facing the pool. Our original room was on the second floor opposite the pool and the room we changed to (see #2) was on the third floor. 2. During the first day of our trip the air conditioning in our room was not functioning properly. The unit in the second bedroom was not operational, leading to the room to be unseasonably warm. Our concierge Javier, was unable to accommodate a room change on night 1, leading to our daughters needing to sleep in bed with my wife and I to keep cool. Despite several open rooms, we were forced to stay the first night in a room with insufficient air conditioning. In addition to the inadequate AC, our original room was dirty, smelled, and was clearly very outdated with numerous amenities not working. 3. On day two, we were finally granted a room change, later in the day. This room did have a properly functioning air conditioning unit, however the exterior jacuzzi tub did not function, one of the televisions was broken and the room in general was not well maintained (leaking shower heads, broken couch, old furniture, missing iron, etc.) 4. In relation to the room. The resort advertises an in-room minibar. The mini bar consisted of water, juice boxes, six bottles of soda, and 6 beer cans. The in-room snacks were two cany bars, a few small bags of chips and two small packs of cookies (have pictures of both food and drink). Based on the advertising, this is extremely misleading to guests. 5. In regards to our Concierge Javier. He booked us each night for a different restaurant. Based on menu and dietary needs (which were expressed prior to our arrival), we immediately asked for a few reservation changes. When doing so, he told us that this was all that was available for the week and that we would have to repeat restaurants regardless of our reservations. Come to find out “Rubi Rocks”, which we did not have a reservation for, was a fantastic place to eat and hang out, and was fully available. Clearly Javier was unaccommodating and dishonest to us. 6. Javier also continuously harassed us to take part in a time share/membership presentation. When we informed him repeatedly that we were not interested, he continued to badger us and told us “I would like you give me a hand in thi