Melia Llana Beach Resort & Spa

If you ever go to Cape Verde I would definitely recommend Melia Llana. The hotel is clean and the grounds are well maintained. The staff are what make this hotel they are all so lovely and friendly and always willing to help. No issues with food or drinks as there was plenty to chose from. Pool a little dated but still lovely.

After reading some of the latest reviews we are a little worried about what our stay would be like. Fortunately, our experience was very different from the reviews we had read here. Overall this is an excellent hotel, although we have to admit that there are things that need to be improved to meet what a customer is expecting in a 5* hotel. Positive aspects: - The friendliness of the staff. We were always very well attended to by all the staff, from reception to cleaning staff. The friendly Mr. Daniel (among others) is undoubtedly a differentiator for the hotel. - The rooms are spacious and very comfortable. We stayed in one of the most basic rooms, which was still very spacious, and had a bathroom with shower and bathtub, minibar (which was replenished every 2 days), etc. - The food is very delicious. Compared to other hotels we have used in Africa, the food at this hotel was very varied and tasty. In addition to the buffet restaurant, 2 à la carte dinners are included at Pura Vida BBQ and Terra Nostra, dinners that did not disappoint. - The hotel has an excellent beach. The artificial beach created in front of the hotel (protected by 2 jetties) where Bikini Beach is located ensures that there are always good conditions for swimming as you are protected. This protection also ends up being sought by fish, which ends up being an excellent free snorkeling spot for both fish and turtles that appear during the afternoon to feed. Aspects to improve: - The cleaning ladies always forget something (put shampoo and/or shower gel, one of the towels, etc.). The hotel should create a checklist so that cleaning staff can check that they haven't forgotten anything before declaring the room as clean. - There are several drinks on the menu that are not available. During our entire stay several of the drinks were unavailable. This is something that is not acceptable in a 5* hotel. If they cannot guarantee the drinks, they must remove them from the menu. - The sun loungers on the beach (and the beach itself) are not cleaned every day, in fact in a week's stay this area was only cleaned curiously on the day of the weekly beach cleaning event. Every day an employee passes by with a bag of rubbish, but only collects cups, leaving ashtrays full of rubbish and rubbish on the floor. - Beach areas should be separated by hotel. There are 4 large resorts in this area and 4 lounger areas on the beach, but none of them are marked as belonging to a specific hotel, which means that everyone uses whatever loungers they want. As this is an “Adults Only” hotel, it doesn’t make sense that anyone who wants to use the sun loungers has to share with a Melia Dunas family who decided to sit in front of the Llana. - Entertainment during the day should be improved. It's normal for an “Adults Only” hotel to be calmer, but it doesn't do justice to the little entertainment there is (sometimes there are things scheduled that don't happen). You should take a look at the entertainm

Nice and quiet and relaxed hotel Staff very friendly and helpful Restaurant (buffet) very good Good WiFi everywhere Bar service is very good. Would have been 5 stars but for the sunbeds. Unless you Level ‘up’ or get up at early O’Clockand reserve, you will be left with a cushion less sunbed which after a few minutes feels like some sort of ancient torture machine. Minor gripe but I was slightly annoyed by the lack of comfy cushion. I did ask a member of staff and they simply said wait 5 minutes. No idea what for.

This holiday was absolutely amazing!! From the start I have nothing negative to say about this hotel it was bliss We levelled up and had the VIP package with a beautiful room overlooking the stunning beach. Elisete had sorted out everything before we arrived with the level package even down to getting us a mattress topper on the bed. She is an asset to your hotel what a lovely young lady (hope you enjoyed your gift Elisete) Room was spotless clean and maids came every day wasn’t short on towels, coffee, water, mini fridge was stocked daily I can’t fault the maids at all they did an outstanding job! The food in my opinion was fantastic as we had levelled up we could dine in lots of different restaurants across different hotels which was great. The service was impeccable with servers whom made you feel extra special and always had a smile we never waited for drinks and they always came and topped your glass up if they saw it getting low. We did also eat in the buffet a couple of times and there was always plenty on offer and we found the food delicious and lots of variety. All the staff work extremely hard but what made it special they would talk and interact with you . We ate at bikini beach a couple of times highly recommended for the Sunday brunch! Danleson at the level bar was just brilliant at cocktails he would make them just as you wanted excellent espresso martini!! We had breakfast at the al a carte most mornings Lindinalva was great thank you!! Never once did we have a problem getting a lounger even at midday which was lovely to see not many folk saving them with towels. We loved this hotel and will most definitely be returning we loved it!!!!!

Me and my partner stayed at this hotel for 10 nights beginning of august (6th - 16th). I just wanted to give our feedback on our stay/ experience. We would definitely say it isn’t a 5 star hotel, 3 at a push! Most of the staff are lovely and friendly! The food is very decent, different choices everyday. Overall the hotel is lovely but not a 5 star that we thought we were paying for. Pros and cons to follow: Overall we are extremely disappointed in our stay, it’s not what we thought we were paying for at all. We made it the best we could but overall disappointed to say the least. Pros: - We upgraded our room to a swim up - totally worth the money, we appreciated this much more than being sat round a big pool. - Cats everywhere!!!! - Mini bar in the rooms gets topped up everyday! - Good choice of drink selection. - Not a far walk to the lovely beach. - Good selection of entertainment on in the evenings. - One of the only times the cleaner came in our room early, we left the safe open, she came outside to us and made us aware and asked if we could shut it while she was in there, lovely and respectful of her! - Good range of daily activities (yoga, water aerobics etc). - Decent choice of food every meal time. Cons: - One day the cleaners came in our room and did they’re thing, I went in after they had finished and noticed they hadn’t left us any towels (this was 4 days in after not changing them, we put them by the door on the floor for them to be changed) when I had noticed this, I went and found a lady cleaning the next block of rooms, I asked her if we could have clean towels and to her response “NO” I was taken back, I explained to her we need fresh towels to shower and her answer was still “no” so I went and found another person who was cleaning the other rooms and asked, after then waiting 2 hours since I asked I was then brought towels to my room. - We were also told about a late check out, our flight home wasn’t till late at night so we went to reception 1st time was told to go back on Thursday (the day before we were leaving), so we went back on the Tuesday night, the lady behind reception was about to look into it for us then another lady appeared and we was then told we can not have late check out as they are fully booked :/ the next morning at breakfast I hear another couple who tired asking for late check out and they were told it isn’t a thing this hotel offers to guests. So our stuff has been stuffed into a room of the side of reception for the last 4 hours of our stay (NOT GREAT)! - Was told one day at dinner, my partner asked for a vodka lemonade and was told alcohol drinks aren’t allowed in the buffet restaurant. - As a younger couple, at meal times, especially breakfast, the waiters/waitress’s do not give us the time of day, 9/10 times we ended up getting our own drinks, they don’t acknowledge us to say morning etc, we feel this due to being a younger couple here, also isn’t 5 star service. - The only bad thin

Just back from a week at the Meliá Llana and it was fabulous! We did not upgrade and didn’t really feel the need for one week - we split our time between the pool, the beach, and when we wanted a change of scene, Santa Maria itself (it is a 5 minute trip and costs just 4 euros). If we had stayed 10 days/2 weeks we may have considered upgrading for the latter part of the holiday for the swim up rooms and more restaurant options. The drinks are good - we tended to stick with cava, wine and beer - and the food is fine. There are many comments about the food being awful but my husband is quite fussy and still found something to eat every day. It is not a foodies paradise but given the location of the island we didn’t come expecting that. Breakfast has lots of options and I particularly enjoyed the Asian themed night. Casa Nostra was fabulous! The whole resort has a very chilled out vibe which was perfect for us. There is not a big night scene - again, perfect for us. I think a lot of the complainants don’t do much research of where Cape Verde is…. It is not 5 star like in the UK because it is not the UK! We had a great holiday and would happily visit again.