The Level at Meliá Villaitana

Stunning buildings and great service combined made this a fantastic visit. We only visited for one night but wished we stayed longer and have already booked for 4 nights for next year. The views are spectacular, the service was incredible and the food was delicious. We stayed in a skyline view room which was beautiful and had the most comfortable bed! ||The pools are beautiful, the restaurants we ate in were fabulous (Mexican, Argentinian and the breakfast buffet). ||Can’t recommend highly enough.

Our experience has been so pleasant from checking-in to checking-out... Would like to mention the ever charming Cecilia and Debbie who assist us on the recepcion area, Patricia and Juan Carlos on YHI Spa thanks to them we enjoyed our time on the hotel's wonderful spa, as well as the ever friendly Renan, who brought us a complimentary bottle of cava. The hotel is an oasis in the middle of busy and hectic city of Benidorm. It's a place of peace and relaxation a little far from downtown full of party people. The sunset and sunrise views from our room are breathtaking. The foods from both breakfast and dinner buffets are one of the best that we have ever tried on our hotel stays, everything are delectable and beautifully presented. All the personnels on Botanic and The Level are very friendly, competent and respectful. Would like to thank as well the house keeping personnels for always making our room immaculate during our stay.

It is a beautiful facility and the food at the restaurants is great. But the customer service is awful. The check in took 1hr 15', which made me late for a work call. There was a line, due to the fact that their check in procedure is completely dated and requires about 20-25 minutes per guest. At check in we were informed that the swimming pools were all cold except for the one at the Level (the nicer branch of the hotel), and we had to pay a supplement to get a room there and be able to use the heated pool. We paid that suppplement and got a room at the 5 star section. The room temperature did not work and we slept the whole night at 27 C, while trying to lower it every hour. We were informed in the morning that at this time of the year (March) there is no room temperature control. Only options are heat on or heat off. It would have been great to know that at check in.||The staff was very friendly but unable to resolve issues. At check out, waited another 40 minutes, and when we finally saw somebody from management and told them what happened, they politely apologized and told us that they hope to see us back again. Just wat I fet like hearing after a restless night that ruined our padel torunament the next day.|So, I hate to sound whinney but when I book a 5 star hotel, I have certain expectations, and this hotel might have the facilities of a 5 star hotel, but certainly not the the customer service. The lines and the conflict resolution are not at that level.

We recently stayed at Meliá Villaitana in The Level section for four nights and were, unfortunately, disappointed by the overall experience—especially considering the premium price. For context, we were two adults travelling with a 3 month old baby and we are gold melia members.||||Check-In & Room Allocation||||Check-in took over 30 minutes without explanation. Despite emailing in advance to request a ground floor Level room (ideal with a baby), we were given a room on the 4th floor with no direct access to pools or restaurants. Our dinner reservations, which we had also arranged ahead of time, were not honoured.||||The Room||||Spacious, clean and modern, but not a proper double bed—just two singles pushed together with separate duvets. We had requested a crib but were given a travel cot with a loose sheet and blanket, which wasn’t safe for infant sleep. Air con worked well but was noisy, and there was none in the bathroom, making it hot and stuffy. One evening, our corridor and room smelled strongly of cannabis. Reception said “housekeeping would clean around it,” which didn’t feel like an appropriate response.||||Food & Restaurants||||We enjoyed the buffet and had a great meal at the Italian. However, Lima was inconsistent, starters, small plates and desserts were good, but the beef and cod mains were very tough. I was also charged €11 for a non-alcoholic cocktail—the same price as a regular alcoholic one.||||The Level’s “half board” is misleading. It doesn’t include à la carte on site restaurants ; instead, you get a €16pp price tag to dine there. Booking restaurants was frustrating: the iPad in reception rarely worked, and the hotel app didn’t function at all. No menus, no event info, and no restaurant bookings possible online.||||Service in the buffet restaurant was slow. We often waited to be seated, not due to a queue of guests, but due to a lack of staff present. Dirty plates stayed on tables for too long.||||Hotel Facilities & Access Issues||||This hotel is not pram or baby-friendly. Perhaps our most frustrating issue during time at the hotel were the lifts. The lifts were unreliable throughout our stay, one completely out of order, the other frequently used by staff with trolleys. We regularly waited 10–15 minutes for a lift, with no signage or apologies. Corridors and lift areas had no air con, making waits with a baby uncomfortable. The lift on our floor also required multiple button presses to get the door to open, concerning from a safety perspective.||||The hotel layout is complicated, especially with a pram. To get from our room to the buffet, we had to take one lift to floor 5, exit the building, cross a courtyard, and take another lift to floor 3—not ideal.||||The Level Lounge||||The lounge was hit or miss. Drinks weren’t always chilled, ice wasn’t replenished often, and no labels on food made it hard for dietary needs (as a pescatarian, I accidentally ate a ham croquette I was verbally told was cheese). We were told drinks weren’t allowed to be taken from the lounge, but this rule seemed to depend on who was watching. As a breastfeeding mum, being able to take a soft drink back to the room would have made a big difference.||||Staff at the lounge entrance desks were passive, not greeting guests or offering help. When I did ask for assistance, I was redirected to reception.||||Baby & Family Facilities||||There were no baby changing facilities in the male toilets or near the pools. The lack of accessible routes and reliable lifts made moving around with a pram frustrating and slow. At times, we were queuing with an upset baby just to get back to our room.||||Pools||||The pools themselves were lovely, plenty of variety and shaded areas, and there wasn’t much towel reserving, which was refreshing. However, we saw people with glass near and in the pools, and only one lifeguard visible in the entire Level pool area.||||Overall Verdict||||While there are some great aspects (pools, scenery, room cleanliness), The Level didn’t meet expectations. The service, accessibility, and basic functionality (lifts, app, booking systems) need serious attention. For a premium experience, we expected much more.||||I have provided this feedback to the hotel via their satisfaction survey and received no reply.||||Would not return or recommend The Level upgrade unless significant improvements are made.

Just returned from 3 nights at The Level at Villaitana (mid-May, weekday booking). It's a bit of a mixed bag at this time of year! ||TL:DR; Overall, it’s a beautiful site with amazing pools and perfectly comfortable rooms, fabulous architecture and good a la carte restaurants. The buffet food is very disappointing and there were some poor service experiences. Would we go again? Yes, but maybe at a weekend and/or on a different board basis.||The good:||- The pools are gorgeous. These are the biggest, most beautiful pools we have ever sat by, and at this time of year you get them all to yourself! The water is cool, but not prohibitively so. Just get in! You also have your pick of the sunbeds, all day; we estimated there were no more than 10% being used at any one time, at any of the pools. ||- Our room was large, bright, airy and clean, with a dressing room and separate shower and bath. The bed was two pushed together, but that’s minor. The air con was in action during our stay, and overall we were very comfortable. The wooden Villaitana souvenir magnet is a nice touch.||- The resort is built like a small town, and the architecture is stunning. It’s an exceptionally pretty site, with courtyards, gardens, fountains and lovely walkways.||- Even with events taking place, the resort itself is quiet and ideal if you’re wanting a peaceful, relaxing holiday with lovely pools, plenty of sun, great views, and a hint of sea breeze. ||- The Level breakfast is good, with a lot of choice: pastries, charcuterie, fresh fruit, bread, waffles and crepes, and hot items including made-to-order omelettes. This is also where you are most likely to meet the Level cats, who are super cute.||- The two a la carte restaurants open during our stay were very tasty, with generous portions. The Papamambo truffle Caesar salad is delicious and easily a sharing portion (far too big for a starter), and everything we tried at Cosa Nostra was top notch. Can highly recommend the pineapple carpaccio for dessert.||- The majority of staff was very friendly and efficient. Special shout out to Tony at the Level, for being so helpful and getting our luggage down the (many) steps. ||The not-so-good:||- Guests v “VIPs”: During our 3 days on site, there were also a Finnish filming crew, an international judo convention, and a corporate conference which all caused disruptions, and impacted our experience as guests.||The filming crew prevented access to coaches, so on arrival we were dropped off right at the gates to the resort and had to walk up the hill with our luggage. Halfway up we were stopped again by crew and told to “wait” or “go around” to check in. A passing hotel staff member overrode this to let us through, via a back route to avoid the filming in the main plaza, but the first people we saw on arrival were filming crew lackeys, blocking the way but knowing nothing about the hotel and unable to answer any questions. Why no hotel staff facilitating arrivals at the gate, a golf cart to at least take luggage up, or signs to advise on where to go? | On collecting our luggage once our room was ready later that day, we needed to cross the main cobblestoned plaza from over-fill to go back through the Level reception to our room. We were again stopped by the filming crew, who said our luggage was too noisy and we needed to just stop where we were, indefinitely, until they were done. Even though we were paying guests, who were 10ft from the door we needed to go through. We weren’t detained for long, but Melia should have thought more about the guests’ experience, and either insisted the filming crew pay for exclusive use, or made it easier for arriving guests to move around efficiently and quietly without being accosted, maybe by laying a carpet, or providing staff to assist and direct. There weren’t any staff around, even at check-in time and knowing that filming was taking place right outside the building they were channelling every new arrival into. Melia didn’t do enough here; our break shouldn’t have started off with what were essentially *other guests* treating us like we were trespassing just for trying to check-in to a hotel we’d paid to be at too.||- Check-in queue: For some reason all hotel guests were checking in at the Level as the regular reception was closed, and this included the numerous, large sports teams (who were not Level guests) arriving for the judo convention, which caused us to queue for 40 minutes (around noon). Staff training was also happening at reception, slowing things down during this incredibly busy time. There was a “priority check-in” lane – is that for Level guests, maybe? If so, it needs to be clearer.||- Luggage room security: Rooms are not available until 4pm, so everybody (including the sports teams) was leaving their luggage and ours had to go into over-fill. This involved us going to another, empty building and leaving our luggage – none of which was logged, tagged or ticketed by hotel staff – in a single locked room which staff were allowing regular guests to enter to leave or collect belongings, passing items left by other guests. Hardly a safe approach, and we’ve never seen this before in 4 or 5* hotels!||- The wristband with integrated key magnet may not unlock your room if you are given this before your room is available. ||- Communication around the resort is poor. For 2/3 of our stay the Botanico buffet was closed in the evenings. We were not informed about this in advance or at check-in, and no sign was posted outside the restaurant or at the top of the stairs. It simply didn’t open. The first closure appeared to be because of a corporate event occurring at the Botanico pool bar (which was otherwise closed); the event was signposted, but not the closure for regular guests. We had to chase information on what our options were instead, when this should have been made clear to any guests who had paid for evening meals at the supposedly higher-end Level services. (Options were the regular Mosaico buffet, or the one open restaurant with supplement fee waived.) No clue why it was closed on the third evening, but technically we had paid to eat at a restaurant that was inexplicably unavailable to us for two-thirds of our stay.||- On our first evening (around 10pm) an alarm went off at a building close to ours then stopped, then shortly after our building alarm went off. Four times, overall, over 10 minutes. We were the only guests in the block, and there was no emergency information in the room. Was it a drill, or an actual fire? No idea. We ran out and bumped into a lone staff member who was talking on a walkie talkie by the pool, who said it was a “mistake”, no fire. No apology or explanation either, though.||- The evening buffet food isn’t good. Our one evening at the Level buffet (Botanico) served us corked wine, pink pork, and so many bones in both the chicken rice dish and fideua. There wasn’t a lot of choice but we put that down to being off-season. All the pastry-based desserts were soggy and chewy. On the second night due to the Botanico closure we tried Mosaico (main resort buffet) which was worse, and more canteen-like; basic pasta, buckets of fries, pink pork again, fish, meatballs, a Mexican chilli station but no rice. The charcuterie section looked plentiful but was actually limited to only a few options which were then duplicated. At neither buffet did I see the lone “show cook” chef cook anything. This isn’t 4* food, or anywhere close. The Botanico building, ambiance and selection is marginally better but we’d still only give that 3.5*.||- There isn’t a lifeguard at every pool. At Mosaico, the one guard sat at the quarter sectioned off by bridges, and we only saw him check the other 75% of the resort’s biggest pool once the entire day we were there. At the Level, the smaller, heated Romano pool has a guard, but not the larger Botanico pool. ||- We only found one working poolside shower, at the Level Romano pool. None of the ones we tried at Botanico or Mosaico worked. ||- Wifi is poor, and we gave up trying to use it.||What you need to know:||- The Villaitana Level is not adult-only, and the heated pool (Romano) is where most of the children spend the day.||- The resort is huge, and there are a lot of steps. There are lifts dotted around, but it's not always clear where they are or where they take you. The lift down to Botanico (large pool and buffet restaurant for Level guests) was out of order, so accessing the Level pool and restaurant can be problematic for less abled guests. ||- A lot of the resort is closed in May, so go into town and buy snacks, water and mixers. Aside from the buffet restaurants, the only restaurants available are Casa Nostra (Italian) in the evenings and Papamambo during the day. The poolside bar at the Level Romano pool is open, but not the one at the larger pool - bringing drinks to the lower level involves lots of steps. The heladeria and Mosaico poolside bar are closed (can only get drinks from Papamambo). There is no weekday entertainment, but Fri-Sun the Lima restaurant is open and evening entertainment is provided. ||- The Level Lounge has limited offerings, and nothing may be taken outside. Crisps, nuts and pickles are a constant; the morning’s pastries are swapped out around noon for jars of sweets. There are bottled soft drinks, beers and water in the fridges, cava and wine, and a small selection of spirits, as well as coffee machines. ||- For half-board guests: If Botanico is closed, the €16pp supplement fee at the a la carte restaurants is waived. ||- Access to the water circuit at the spa is around €30pp for an hour. ||- There is a small shop onsite, which mostly sells souvenirs and essential toiletries (sun cream, shampoo, nappies, etc), plus beach dresses, shirts, hats, sandals, handbags. They do not sell water or food. ||- A round of two cokes and a large bottle of water costs €10.20 – not unreasonable!||- It’s possible to grab a taxi from drop-offs at the resort, or download the PideTaxi app: a round trip into Benidorm is around €17-20. ||Despite the disappointing aspects, we did really enjoy our stay here! Having the pools to ourselves, and no fighting over prime location sunbeds, was absolutely lovely! Melia just needs to work on the food, communicate better and remember hotel guests shouldn’t be negatively impacted by the presence of corporate clients and special events.

We stayed at The Level at Melia Villaitana early April. The location was great for us, reasonable distance from the airport, outside of Benidorm and next to the golf course. You can’t help being impressed by the buildings they are stunning.|Unfortunately the experience inside the hotel does not match the exterior.|Our check in was good but I was shocked to see the other member of staff on reception roll her eyes and sigh as some guests who tried to explain to her that the hotel had got their party’s room allocations mixed up. |All of our rooms were lovely, great views and comfy beds. However the air con is centrally controlled by the hotel and some nights our room temp was 23/24 degrees making it difficult to have a good night’s sleep.|We had all of our meals at the buffet restaurant.. breakfast selection is good but the cooked breakfast food buffet is generally cold. Dinner was better but often the chef isn’t at the fresh cook station, one evening he didn’t appear until 8.30pm. The most bizarre part is that waiting staff ask you to keep your cutlery from your starter plate to use again for your main!|We were only there for a 4 night stay and the poolside bar was only open for one of those days, we could access drinks and snacks in The Level Lounge but that means getting dry and dressed every time as bringing drinks to the poolside from the Lounge bar is not allowed. One guest was told off in front of others for bringing a bowl of crisps to poolside.|So, while the building is a definite 5 star sadly the service and experience is not.

My 4th visit to the Melia Villaitana and I will return again as it is peaceful, stylish and perfectly located with exceptional rooms. However, the customer service and staff/guest interaction need to be improved as they just do not match the level that this luxury hotel should be capable of. One or two great staff interactions but the negative ones outweigh the rare positive ones. Please try to address this to get a knock out 5 star experience for your guests. I work in luxury hospitality so happy to be contacted should you wish to have further detail on my feedback.

Terrible service and extremely poor communication. The day before arrival, we asked about early check-in at 2:00 PM and were assured it would be possible. However, when we arrived, the room wasn’t ready — we only got access at 4:00 PM. As a result, we had to open our suitcases in the hotel lobby and go to the spa (reserved for 3:00 PM) without being able to change or leave our belongings in the room. We were forced to pay extra for slippers and other disposable items because bathrobes weren’t provided, and we weren’t allowed into the room. There was absolutely no flexibility — even though it was their fault, no one took responsibility or tried to resolve the situation.