Sol Fuerteventura Jandia

Overall, we had a nice stay. Having stayed in Melia hotels before I had high hopes, however, this hotel definitely does not meet the benchmark for the other Melias I have stayed in. Check-in, was VERY tedious. We arrived at approximately 12:30am with three very tired young children and four teenagers. We were checked in by Ale, who took over an hour to check all 11 of us in, we had three rooms and couldn’t go to any of the rooms until all 3 rooms were done. The hotel is quite a maze, and we then needed someone to escort us to our rooms. Because of this, the younger children had to lie around in reception for over an hour, which was frustrating after such a long journey. They did offer us some food when we arrived, which was a nice touch, but by that point everyone just wanted to get to bed.

The hotel itself isn’t situated around a great deal. There is a market opposite every Thursday and a small shopping centre down the road. We did walk into the centre, which took around 15 minutes, and there are some bars and restaurants there. You are also just across the road from the beach, which was great.

The rooms are nice. We had a courtesy room on our checkout day, which actually had a much nicer shower. In our room, the shower was over the bath with a questionable glass screen. The shower itself was slightly grim and could definitely have done with a good clean or a new shower head. That said, the beds were comfortable and the cleaners came in every day. There was also a fridge in the room. I had read that there was meant to be a mini-bar, however, our fridge was empty when we arrived and remained empty throughout our stay.

The hotel had lots of Spanish families, and this was reflected in the food being served. The food was okay, although I think most all-inclusive hotels are fairly similar. Breakfast was probably the best meal of the day, although you can’t really go wrong with eggs and toast!

You do have to give times for when you want to have breakfast and dinner, although it didn’t seem like anyone really stuck to these times, and certain periods were very busy. The variety of food was okay, with lots of different seafood to try, show-cooked meats, along with the usual pizza, chips, salad, etc. The drinks were pretty good, with a range of cocktails. The reusable cups worked well and you got a clean one everytime. Lucia was by far the best bar tender. Again it depended on the day as one night when the bar had closed we were sat still having a drink and playing card games and the staff just turned the lights off and left us in the dark!

We never ventured down to the restaurant for lunch as the snack bar by the pool was pretty good. They had breakfast items available from around 10:30am and then offered a variety of salads, pizza, burgers, nuggets and other snacks. It was great for the kids and also handy for the adults to graze throughout the day.

The pool area was great. During the first few days, you could get a sunbed at pretty much any time, although as the week went on it became busier. There was no mad rush for sunbeds first thing in the morning, which was really good to see.

There were some discrepancies depending on which lifeguard was on duty. One day, no floats were allowed, another day it was no balls, and on another day you were required to shower before getting in the pool. Then, on other days, no one seemed to question anything. It would have been better if the rules were consistent.

The entertainment was okay. They had a kids’ club, which we used once, but there were also activities around the pool, including water inflatables, a water mat, aerobics, etc. The evening entertainment was actually quite good, with a different live act every night. It was just a shame that there wasn’t a proper seating area for the entertainment. You either had to sit at the pool bar, where you only got a side view, or sit on the sun loungers. There were 4 entertainment staff who worked so hard, they did morning yoga classes for adults, run the kids club, the daytime entertainment and then the evening kids activities. It’s a shame there wasn’t a mini disco every night as our kids love to us on holiday, but they did have some shows and bouncy castles on.

I did feel that the Spanish guests definitely received preferential treatment over the other guests at times, which was disappointing.

Overall, though, it was a pleasant stay. There were a few things that could be improved, but we enjoyed our holiday and I would return.

I don’t really understand why people are giving bad reviews. I feel like some people want a 5* experience for what you’ve paid for. I see someone say a noisy hotel? How? It’s very quiet and relaxing, apart from at times in the pool if there is water aerobics or kids run mat etc. it’s actually enjoyable to watch if you’re not taking part. We just come back from 10 days and we had a warm welcome very late at night and were offered some food in the dining room. Rooms were spacious and very clean, towels changed every other day and bed made most days. Food was great, always something to eat even for fussy eaters. Sushi, prawns, paella, noodles, roast pork to name a few. Plenty of drink choices, cocktails included, slushies for the children ( or adults). I liked the chip idea where you had to give a chip over to get a cup, really helped with any mess people leave behind and you had your cup back for a fresh one or exchange for a chip if you don’t want another drink at that time. My children are 11 and 14 and had a great time too! We have nothing to complain about and we will certainly look at coming back.