The stay was great due to the hotel staff and the room spacious and well insulated. However, there are policies in place that makes both customers and their staff uncomfortable and go against common sense as well as EU and National regulations. I hope that with this review, the Meliá groups management will come to their senses. Please read:
The 1200 km trip going to the hotel was horrible, so when we arrived there, we just wanted to take a shower and go to sleep, but we were asked to fill in some forms with our personal data, agreeing to the hotel rules as well as agreeing to pay a fine (400 euros) if we were to smoke (we asked for a no smoking room). We were also asked to leave our credit card details on one of said forms, which is very unsafe at best. Other people were asked to leave a 200 euros deposit since they did not have a credit card. There are European as well as National regulations that specify fines for smoking in forbidden areas, and there are strict European laws for data protection that those forms are not adhering to. I never experienced this before and it made me feel unwelcomed and harassed, so much so I was ready to leave, if not for the issues this would have caused to the staff, that looked visibly uncomfortable. Melia, this is a big no! Also the fact that there are international channels available is a big no! You should thank the staff and the great hotel manager you have, that are doing their best to make the customers feel welcomed!