We stayed from 4/13 to 4/16 and had a generally great time.

Pros:
- Nice entrance/lobby and general setup. It's very pleasant to walk around the resort. The weather was cooperative too. We even had a good time playing in the lobby area.
- Good specialty restaurant. It was surprising that the specialty restaurants are not more popular. We visisted the Mexican and Italian both and loved them. They were pretty easy to get a seat. The food was much better than buffer. Although of course buffer places have their advantages in that it's easier for kids to pick thei likes.
- The room was clean and didn't have a carpet which I liked.
- The baby/toddlr room (4 months - 4 year old) was great. They had plenty of toys and the staff was friendly. We never left our children there, but had a very easy time when they were busy playing in there.
- The playground was pretty good with all the monkey bars etc.

Cons:

- The beach was underwhelming. Expected but still.
- The swimming pool was adequate and we generally had a good time, but I wish there was more kids friendly setups such as water slides.
- The buffet was sufficient, but again not much too praise.

We stayed at the Melia for Spring Break the first week in April. 4 couples and 2 eighteen year old seniors in high school. We all loved the resort. Lots to do: relax by the pool, great swim up bar, night time entertainment, walk on the beach. The resort is an $8.00 cab ride to the Malecon.
The 18 year olds met several other seniors on spring break and they had a wonderful time at the pool during the day and going to the clubs at night.
OK, so the food isn't the greatest, but anytime I don't have to cook or clean up it rates above average.
Beautiful grounds and lobby. We had ocean view rooms closest to the beach, and we saw gorgeous sunsets each night.
I would have no reservations about recommending this hotel to others, and I would definitely go back again.

My family and I stayed at the Melia for spring break. I have three children, ages 13, and 8, 8. The young kids had a great time. Not much for older kids to do but hang out at the pool.

Other than the breakfast buffet, the food was disgusting. We made reservations at Vitrales one night, and were served cold lasagna. If you love dessert, don't expect getting anything decent at the Melia. It's just not good. The LaPalapa restaurant lunch buffet was decent, but eating the same food for a week gets old pretty fast. I went to Mexico to enjoy Mexican food, which is in short supply at the Melia.

We were ignored at the pool for drink orders, while others at the pool were given more attention (we tipped our waitress, too).

We booked a family room - two queen beds with a bunk bed. We were given a smoking room when we requested a non-smoking room. They did move us after we pointed that out. The room (and all of the Melia) is in need of a serious update. The amenities were decent, but for a few hundred dollars more, next time, I would go somewhere else. The beds were hard, and so were some of the pillows. Extra towels had to be requested over and over again. The grounds were decent, but the music and programs at night are loud if your room overlooks the courtyard area.

This is a great family resort, and we will try to stay at a Melia hotel again. They have tons of kids activities like archery, rifle shooting, a batting cage, climbing wall, daily bingo, ping pong, pool and foosball tables, oversized chess, bocce, shuffle board, volleyball, iguanas on the grounds the kids can look for, plays they can participate in, etc. This lends itself to bringing more families with kids to the resort. Kids being like dogs, they're naturally attracted to each other, they end up playing in groups having a great time, which makes life easier for Mom and Dad.

The grounds are very green and open. The pool's huge and the staff are great. Some things to know in advance:

Good:
-The hotel has espresso/cappuccino but you have to ask for it.
-The bus to downtown stops across the street from the hotel and costs 55 pesos (55 cents) per person
-The marina is also across the street and has lots of shops/mini marts/pharmacies/restaurants. It's very nice for a stroll before dinner.
-The steak restaurant has a great ocean view and cooling breeze .
-There were no rowdy spring break college kids!
-Huge selection of Mexican beer for an all inclusive. They had Modelo, Negro Modelo, Corona, Tecate, Dos Equis, Sol, and Pacifico.
-They had two kids dinners while we were there, a bar-b-que and a pirates party on the beach. This gave mom and dad two evening meals out without kids and the kids had a great time playing games after eating.
-Nice workout room with exercise machines.

Bad:
-There's surprisingly few Mexican food offerings. They do have a night time Mexican restaurant, but no Mexican offerings at the snack bar (just hot dogs and hamburgers), and very meager selections at the buffets. I did improvise and get the Chinese stir fry to fry up meat that I then made into fajitas or tacos, but most folks wouldn't got to the effort.
-The night time buffet food was not very good. I would suggest going to one of the three other restaurants if at all possible.
-Despite the pool rules, most guests save lounges by the pool very early in the morning, like dogs peeing to claim their spots. It never appeared that more than half the lounges were ever occupied, but if you don't claim one early in the morning, you'll have no place to sit. This is especially bad for parents with young kids who want to keep an eye on kids in the pool.
-Meager wine selection, but they did have better wines you could pay extra to buy by the bottle.

Other:
-The hotel is about a mile from the Airport. The taxis/vans at the airport will charge $16 for the ride, but if you walk across the street (the big bridge out front) there is a taxi stand where you can get a taxi to the hotel for $10 or less. From the hotel to the airport is only $5.
-The resort is more crowded during the weekends than during the week.
-Minimum wage in Mexico is about $5 per day. Although tips are not obligatory, a little something can go a long way for some of the lower end of the pay scale workers.