Melia Braco Village

Overall it was a nice stay. You must stay on the level side! The staff is awesome! No complaints other than the food, not good!

Overall we wad a great time with family (wife and 3 grown kids). First of all this is Jamaica...not sure about the 5 star rating, but nothing is going to be 5 star New York or Chicago comparison. It's not a modern high rise type of resort. It is as the name implies...a village. I would recommend getting a Level room as the Level Lounge was our favorite part of the stay. We did not have any of the horrible experiences that some folks have written about. Check in was perfect, and I can see some people may have had to wait for a room a long time depending on what time they arrive. Can't expect a room to be ready if you show up before 4 PM. The level check in area is literally a 90 second walk from the main check in and they drove us over in a golf cart and it took about 20 seconds. It took about 5 min to check in and we were off to our room , which was in a 3 story condo type building right on the beach. It took about 10 seconds in a golf cart. We had 2 rooms on the 2nd floor...both were very nice and modern. Room was 68 degrees and we had to turn it down sometimes. We had a suite and kids had regular room....both modern and very nice with stocked mini bar. Beach and ocean was at our balcony and we drank coffee every morning on the balcony. No issue with the room whatsoever and I can see the room itself being a 5 star Jamaica room. Food was pretty good at best....OK at worst. The steakhouse was the best as was the jerk shack. Japanese Hibachi restaurant could have been good but wasn't due to the only bad service experience we had the entire week. Buffet was good and had a wide selection and we didn't see any of the conditions with flies that some mentioned....although you are on a beach and are outside, so there can be flies. There is food available in the level lounge....small plates which are very good. Also espresso and a variety of self serve premium alcohol and mixers. Again...favorite part of the trip. The pools were very nice in both the regular area and the level area. We stayed in the level mostly. Drinks and food were available there all day. You could order pretty much any drink. If you want a specific alcohol then ask for it...if you don't ask for it they will give you house brands....which there was no issue. I did start asking for Appleton Reserve Rum in all the rum drinks. Beach itself is very nice and there weren't any issues with chairs. You can go out in the water but it is rocky as some folks mentioned. It's not really a swimming or water sport beach as there is almost no water sports at all. If you want to relax on the beach this is the place for you...if you want a variety of water sports and beach activities then this might not be the place for you. The staff was great and very friendly. Can't say too much more about that. The level concierge was awesome and any staff in the level lounge, beach, or bar. Jerk Shack guy was always busy but did a great job. Buffet staff was good. Our waiter in the Prime Steakhouse was awesome. The only negative was at the Japanese Restaurant as mentioned. You don't have to tip, but I always did. I would tip beach service at the beginning of the day and the pool staff throughout the day. The 2 times we at at the restaurants I tipped $20. Tipped for baggage as you would in any hotel/resort. Bring plenty of $5 bills if you are going to tip. Overall I would recommend this resort if you want to relaxing time at a pretty nice resort with an older family as we had, or a couple of very young children. I would also recommend it if you are going to off doing excursions most of the time. You are pretty close to the major excursions. We did 2 excursions during our 5 day stay. If you have 8-17 year olds and expecting to stay there all the time and be entertained and have plenty of things to do then I wouldn't recommend it. Get away for adults to relax??? Perfect. If you want true luxury than you can spend double the amount. The value is certainly there for this resort.

Very disappointed. I paid extra to upgrade to the level and beach front suites. The room was nice and clean and 20 ft from the beach... The service was terrible for a 4.5 star hotel. When we arrived we were dropped off in front and no one attended to us. We had to walk in and ask for help. Once they realized we were “level guest” we had to wait another 20 mins for a cart to take us to the other side of the resort. It was like no one was prepared for our arrival. It took 1 hour for us to get us through check in and finally get to our room. The food was terrible I can’t think of anything that was above average. Every restaurant was slow but always took at least an hour for food. We had to go and ask for every drink or snack. Yes, they had servers but the servers spent more time hiding behind the bar and eating and drinking themselves. I actually saw servers have a drinking contest at the levels swim up pool bar. The buffets were full of flys and the selection sucked. Also they don’t offer premium liquor unless you consider Smirnoff premium. I will not return. Thanks for overcharging me and offer terrible service. I’ve learned my lesson only AM resorts when traveling to the Caribbean.

This resort is absolutely gorgeous! It is about a 49 minute ride from the airport, but you are able to see the sights along the way. Meliá Braco is secluded and breathtaking. The staff are so courteous. Do bring some water shoes, the beach is pebbly. We will definitely be going back!