Gran Meliá Palacio de los Duques

“Mostly magic!”

We made Palacio de los Duques our last stay on a 3.5-week Europe trip. It delivered exactly what we needed: luxury, pool, delicious breakfast every morning, and screens in the lobby to view each World Cup match - no matter the time of day. Staff was fantastic. Special shout out to Johnathan for t… more

We made Palacio de los Duques our last stay on a 3.5-week Europe trip. It delivered exactly what we needed: luxury, pool, delicious breakfast every morning, and screens in the lobby to view each World Cup match - no matter the time of day. Staff was fantastic. Special shout out to Johnathan for taking great care of us at breakfast and at his later pool shifts. We were eligible for an upgrade upon check-in, and the hotel provided us with a supreme king room on the first floor, with garden (not city) views. Although I hesitated at the first floor, I was assured elevated ceilings were only a feature of the lower-floor rooms because that is where royalty stayed when visiting this historic palace. The supreme room had a little “balconette” of sorts, plus rain shower and massive bathtub. Breakfast was amazing and was included with our room. It included deluxe espresso drinks, cocktails, a top-notch buffet, and an option to order certain food items from the à la carte menu. We made sure never to miss breakfast. While nearly everything about our stay was perfect, two things affected our enjoyment - bringing this closer to 4.5 stars for us. (Still amazing.) First, screaming kids at the pool. For the most part, parents ensured their children were respectful of other pool guests. For the most part, this worked. However, a family with just one child managed to be louder than families with several kids. This kid did multiple “cannonball” dives, getting pool water on guests and in drinks; he shouted constantly, with zero correction by his parents; and he talked about unappealing topics (like poop) more than I cared to listen. My headphones didn’t even tune him out. Unfortunately, the hotel didn’t say anything to the family when they failed to manage their own child’s behaviors. This annoyance situation lasted for two days of our four-night stay, and it significantly affected our goal of relaxing before returning to “real life” after vacation. Our other challenge was perhaps a bit niche: way too much goose down in the bedding. The feathers poked through the mattress cover, which made me bleed - nothing serious, but it definitely woke me in a shock. Overall, the down mattress topper plus down duvet caused us to sweat profusely overnight, despite the AC being on max. Housekeeping removed our mattress topper on night two and we slept much better from that point on. Luckily, these little annoyances won’t deter us from staying in the future. We will definitely come back, we’ll just be sure to ask for the down bedding to be changed before we check in next time… and hopefully kids and parents at the pool will be more respectful of other guests trying to relax and enjoy a luxurious stay.

less