PR Rio Grande Gran Melia

[tommac]

OK new to the review but felt the need to review this hotel in particular.

On the tail end of a cruise we stayed 5 days/4 nights in PR and won a bid for $82 in Rio Grande at the Gran Melia.

Getting to the Hotel

OK we rented a car in san juan and drove to rio grande. The road in Rio Grande is super run down by normal US standards. It looked more like an industrial town than a resort town. The directions were sort of vague and we ended up in some crazy dead end street with street dogs and roosters all around. There really are no restaurants or stores or anything on the road ... just a bunch of outdoor dirty drinking establishments. We finally found the road for the hotel but it was quite a bit off the main highway maybe 4 miles or so down this road with nothing on it. At the end of the road you see the resort and some fairly nice golf course. We pulled up and the hotel looked beautiful.

Checking In

Checking in was sort of complicated and slow. They had one girl working check in and a bunch of people doing other tasks just kind of hanging around. We got there at 11:30 and they told us that the room would not be ready until around 3:00. We were allowed to use the pool and wait. After an hour and a half I went back and asked them about the status and it didnt seem like it moved much. i was travelling with 2 children and my wife and originally asked for 2 beds and that seemed to be the blocking point ... they only had a king bed room available ... but they told me there was a fold up couch and they could supply a cot. They showed me the room and it was super big and plenty of room for the 4 of us. The room was the size of a suite with a balcony that had a nice view of trees and the local wildlife. The room was very nice.

Parking

They charge $15 a day for parking and we needed to park about a mile away from the room. They did offer golf cart service to get you from one place to another but we found that the parking was expensive for an out of the way place and that the cars were way to far away from the rooms. It was often a problem if you needed to get something from the car or when you were leaving.

The Grounds

The grounds were beautiful. The entire setting from the main building to the pools to the area with the hotel were beautiful and very relaxing. There were iguanas and birds and ponds with fish and statues and much more all around. The bar restaurant area was really nicely furnished and was exciting to just walk through there.

Service

Hmmmm ... I think I need to give a mixed review here ... the people that drove around in the golf carts were great! They were personable and would take you exactly where you needed to go and they seemed to be there when you needed them. All of the staff seemed friendly. However some of the staff seemed a bit slow. It seemed at times they would rather just stand around then try to see if you wanted anything ... maybe you can look at that as a positive if you prefer a passive staff rather than the pushy hard sell types. The one thing that bothered us was that we had an issue with the airconditioner in our room, it was kind of stuck in the on position and kept the room at about 65 degrees. As we were travelling with 2 small children this was a problem. As we had two beds ( the pullout and the cot ) we needed blankets but when we called up they said that the hotel did not have any more blankets and they didnt bring them. We then asked to have the AC fixed. The guy came over and was very nice and basically showed me which breaker we could use to turn off the electricity to the air conditioner unit. It was kind of funny because we needed to remove a picture as the breakers were hidden behind the picture in the room. For the 4 days we removed the picture at night and turned off the AC and during the day removed the picture to turn it back on ... not really that big of a deal just not what was expected from a 5 star resort.

Pool and Beach

The beach was below average ... they basically told us that it was a snorkeling beach and not really a beach beach. There was very little sand and it didnt look that nice ... but it was a beach and wasnt that horrible. We found that we really didnt spend any time there. The pool on the other hand was a different story ... the pool was HUGE and was open 24/7. They also had 2 other pools located around the hotel. The main pool had a bar at the pool and a little island in the middle. The one thing that was a bit annoying was that they had these really nice Bali Lounges but you needed to pay $60 for the day to rent them. I found that a little tacky especially on the days that the pool was totally empty. Also you needed to sign in for towels and then there was some sort of confusing thing where they give you a card when you returned the towels. I am really not sure what I was supposed to do with the card and I returned home with 9 of them. I was told that if I didnt bring back the towel by the end of the day that I would be charged $35 per towel so I was quite paranoid about towel usage and making sure that I returned them by the end of the day even if I needed bring them back from my room. The other semi issue I had was that there were no hot jacuzzis ... in the evening it did get a little cold and the pool is not heated ... while it was warm enough from the day to use it it wasnt warm. I would have liked a warm jacuzzi and there just wasnt one anywhere on the property. Also parts of the pool were supposed to have bubbles but didnt bubble up. Minor things as the pool area was a net big positive and the kids loved it. We also spent half a day there waiting for checking and half a day waiting for a late checkout so it was definitely a big plus.

The Area

At first I didnt like the area that much. There really arent that many restaurants around and the main street looks a little seedy. However after a bit I got used to it and I think overall the area was quite good ... I think it was much better than staying in san juan. Here is the deal. if you go here you need to have a rent a car unless you are happy just to stay the entire time at the hotel ( if you do that be ready to drop some major cash ( $22 breakfasts + $15 hamburgers etc ... ). If you plan on leaving the hotel you will be travelling 6-10 miles minimum to get anywhere ( about 4 miles to the main road ). But if you have a rent a car there is lots to do. I would recommend doing Culebra island. You take a ferry there from fajardo which is like a 20 minute ride from the hotel. It is cheap there and the beaches are some of the nicest in the area. Then you also have Yunque national park which is a really nice rain forest that pleasantly surprised me. You have some pretty good places to eat Ricks is a must and the kiosko #2 Plantilla in Luquillo is also quite good. The food on premises was very expensive but the restaurant area was quite elegant. As we were travelling with small kids we stayed away from them except for an emergency takeout meal. There is a small bakery near the main road that has good food for breakfast and lunch and is quite cheap for the quantity and quality of the food. I think this area is WAY better than staying in san juan. If you can get this place for $80-100 a night I think you are way better off here than something for a similar price in san juan. The difference may be that you need a rental if you come here.

Summary

Overall positive experience, however lacking a bit if you are expecting a 5 star resort. At times it felt as if the resort was failing ... maybe just because we were there in the off season. The rooms were at 15 % capacity which seemed really strange to me. People were very friendly and if you can get past some of the things that I stated above it is a good bargain. The room and grounds were really nice, the pool is great, the location very good ... I pointed out some negatives above but that is more because I was being picky and more of slight annoyances ... but I felt like I got a bargain at $82 a night. The other resorts in the area looked equally as good though so bidding 79 in the area for a resort in the rio grande area would probably guarantee you a good deal.

Well that is it ... hope I did OK on my first hotel review.

Regards,

Tom

[BigCheese]

Stayed for 7 nights here 23-30 Marc h 2011. Paid $85 per night to Priceline + tax & fees. Paid an additional $12.32 per night Resort Fee plus $15 + tax to the hotel.

Hotel