My husband and I just returned from Granada. I spent a lot of time researching hotels. We were visiting our daughter who is in a study abroad program and is attending the University of Granada. We wanted to be in a convenient location and I knew that noise would be an issue. My criteria was that the room be airconditioned so we could close the window at night. We paid over $200 US dollars per night for a "deluxe" room. After the first night, we realized that the room did not cool off when the AC was turned on. It was so noisy until 3:00 a.m. that we had to shut the window. When we asked about the AC at the front desk, we were told that the hotel did not have the airconditioning turned on yet. It wouldn't happen until May. The hall way and lobby were airconditioned and our room was very hot during the day because it was on the sunny side of the building. Their web site advertised that they have airconditioning. This is very misleading and it should note when it would be turned on. I was very disappointed by the attitude of the staff. They didn't care that we were uncomfortable. The bathroom was spotless and it was a nice room; small by American hotel standards. My husband and I had to sleep with the window open and wear ear plugs. I would not choose this hotel if we visit Granada again. Sue from Massachusetts, USA

While the property is well located and the lobby is nice, we found the staff to be very dismissive, self-important and unhelpful. Our check-in was long, the lobby staff were unable to help with restaurant reservations, and the bellman was positively depressing - which was a problem because he was everywhere. Lines at the counter were inevitably long, the staff harried and short. Our room was uninspiried, and internet service came with a fee. We'd look for another hotel in future stays.

Granada was a great city, and obviosly the Alhambara is the highlight. Well worth doing is the daily 2 hour walking tour which takes in the other parts including the Albacin, were you can get a taste of the Arabic souk culture, you can find details of this at the tourist office or website, and at 10 euros each is very good value. There is a huge variety of very attractive looking restaurants, but such is the genorosity of the numerous Tapas bar owners that you may never need to have a meal, these bars were very busy even on a monday evening. For just 2 euros you can get glass of wine and a tapas. The Melia hotel was booked through the companys website, it is always worth checking out company websites rather then agents as in my experience you always get what you ask for. They had a deal on for January of just 28 pounds per room per night, we requested a quiet room on a higher floor and that is exactly what we got. The room was smart and efficent in a business style, and the bathroom was large with everything you could want. The hotel seemed to cater for business people mostly and the decor again was of a high international standard, one of its best points was the central location, a step away from a main shopping thoroughfare, for those driving like myself there is a multi storey car park adjacent to the hotel, the hotel was very easy to find comming in from the south of the city. The city has a poulation of 240,000 with 80,000 being students which keeps the prices of food and drink down making Granada one of Spains most affordable cities.

We got this hotel because Granada was mostly filled over the Christmas -New Year's Holiday. The management is consistently unhelpful. They would not even give us a receipt for our stay since we booked online. They did not even have a local tourist brochure. Even for a four-star hotel, the beds were uncomfortable and the TV worked poorly. But the worst was the very noisy plumbing. The toilet kept going for a least 15 minutes every flush. We compare this chain to NH, which was much superior, at least in both Cartagena and Valencia.