Concerto

Is there no sign of the Melia site becoming actually usable? It just seems to get worse and worse and for me, nothing works now. There is a 30% bonus points offer if you buy points (if the advertising on the site is to be believed), but I have no idea how to get near it. The only motivation with this is to make an activity, that ideally recompenses me with something, in order to keep my account alive.

kai.lileboo

Meliá hotels and its management is getting worse each month. I have been a Platinum member since 2012, so two years ago I already qualified fot Lifetime Platinum, which Meliá ignored until today. First they said I would get it in 2023, then they corrected themselves saying that the Covid year (in which one additional year was granted) didn't count towards the Lifetime, and last year they said I haven't complied with all requirments and that I will not be granted a Lifetime as did not stay 500+ nights in Meliá hotels. This rule was added last year, as before that it was OR points OR 500 nights + 10 consecutive years. Apparently it is now AND.
So here I am in my 13th Platinum year and I cannot contact anyone but reservation in order to deal with it. In 33 days my actual status will expire but it seems Meliá will not adjust the valid date.
I think that the best thing would be go to court, but before that I would like to ask if anyone had lived any similar?
I contaacted Meliá many times, and although they confirmed by email that I will become LT in 2023, nothing happened. The other claims remain unanswered and nobody is responsible.
Is this really happening?

HadesNL

Yes Melia's IT and its way of doing business seem to be a random case of mañana mañana...

trvllvr123

To add to the frustration there was an email about an extra 12 months to gain or retain status but no underlying detail. My Gold status has just been extended for another 12 months (to feb 25). You may find that you have another 12 months to battle for your lifetime status.

kingofbeans

I have been platinum for a few years although will lose it now after completely giving up with Melia (see a few post above). But this was something I noticed they changed in their terms some time back. It's not quite as you described, which had I continued to stay with Melia would have been no issue for me, but it is instead:

a) Platinum For Life status. Members must meet the following requirements: Be a Platinum Member for ten (10) consecutive periods of twelve (12) months, making at least 500 stays in that period which have earned Points or have been booked by redeeming Points.

So it's not 500 nights, it is 500 stays!? In 10 years!? How niche is that even among those of us who half live in hotels! No other hotel scheme has such a difficult/impossible term to achieve for lifetime status and the big hotel chains have significantly more hotels in many more locations so they are easier to achieve. This term makes the whole platinum for life thing basically a scam now in my eyes. I would love to be able to find out, but I do expect Melia didn't email you about it because they don't automatically do platinum for life because nobody at all has achieved it since this term was applied.

Honestly, I think they have the ability to change the scheme however they wish, and I don't think court will help (which would be Spanish court, no?)

I am at least glad that this thread exists as a warning to people about how Melia operates.

My advice, switch to Hyatt/Marriott/Hilton. I've been using Hyatt and I can assure you the grass is much greener!

kai.lileboo

Thanks kingofmeans. I will defenitely sue them, I can't lose anything, right? Before that I have to check the old websites, to be sure which conditions were published a few years ago.
Yes, Hyatt is one of my favourite hotel chains, but for people outside the US is not really suitable, as their programme is designed to earn points in many other places and the credit cards with them are only for US residents. (what gives you more miles/points)
I found OTA in the last years quite interesting, they always offer cheap rates, many times cheaper than those booked directly. And regarding Sheraton/Marriott, since Marriott took over, I find the programme to be more expensive to burn points. and also the rates are higher and higher all the time. Difficult to find anything below 150 €, except Moxy which is Ok for one night sleeping only.

kingofbeans

I guess the only thing to lose is your sanity! I’d check out the full terms, as generally these things say they may be amended at any time. You aren’t under the terms you initially signed up for.

Completely agree about Hyatt being best for US people. Earnings opportunities are so limited for a U.K. resident like me and it’s a shame. But earnings with promotions from stays are much better than Melia. Hyatt have fixed redemption rates which can be great value (eg cat 1 3500 points off peak which costs £53 to buy under current promo can save you €130 on a cash rate!). Of course you cannot take advantage of these rates like the US people can, but at lease you can sometimes. In contrast, since Melia Rewards had their massive unannounced devaluation, I haven’t found a time when it has been worth spending points vs cash (apart from tiny amounts on part pay). So Melia Rewards for me became really only about the benefits (level/red level lounge access, upgrades etc) and it turns out Hyatt is much much better.

csycsycsy

Hi IMH, how was your stay at Innside NYC, did you receive Melia Gold benefits?

When you made your booking, and on the folio, was the 'facility fee' listed as such? I tried making a booking and its now written as a "tax"
"A tax of $45.90 per night applies" and if using the site in Spanish it's "Se aplicará una tasa por noche de 45,90$ dólares americanos"
"Tax" I would assume goes to the government which if it's a destination fee absolutely does not, so I would consider it dishonest.
"Tasa" if translated to "fee" is less dishonest (as far as resort fees goes).

Did the offer offer something in return for the "fee"? The now $45 is on the high side, I think.

Thank you!

IMH

I can't remember much about the stay, or details of Gold benefits, but it's a nice property. We've stayed twice -- so there was nothing about it that put us off.

I very much dislike the additonal fees, but they're a fact of life in certain markets and will be until they're prohibited. My problem was that the fee charged was $5 a night more than the fee we'd reluctantly accepted at the time of booking, and I didn't notice that until we'd left the hotel. My emails to try and get the error fixed were left answered, initially by the hotel then later by Meliã.

csycsycsy

Hi IMH, thanks for the reply!

Sounds like a decent property at a good location.
I was doing reading reviews and those that mentioned "gold" were all negative and the one that mentioned "platinum" was good. Must be a 'status heavy' hotel heh.
I don't mind additional fees if they are optional, and if not optional then directly added to the initial quote for price comparing.
It seems to be widespread phenomenon in the US; some places gives the guest back something for the fee, but seems like the Melia NYC one is pure profit for them hmm.

Anyway, hope you got some WonderWeek deals!

kingofbeans

I’m wondering if it was my review which mentioned that for Platinum it was good! I had a good stay in Innside New York last year. I do recall that it was a destination/resort fee and it was notionally tied to benefits like local calls, internet etc but nothing interesting. As you mentioned this is widespread in the US.

Headforpoints in late 2022 shared from Melia’s own presentation the number of members at each status level and MeliaRewards for the size of the chain seems to have great overall numbers of members which is to be expected from how status is given free from credit cards. However the number of platinum members is still very low considering this too can be got with a credit card and no stays. I have also seen at multiple hotels how many platinum members are staying because Melia seem to super relaxed about privacy and have sheets often at reception / the lounge / breakfast which identify the platinum members. Taken together I don’t really believe that any Melia hotel has such a high proportion of platinum members that they should be ignoring golds (as you’d find with e.g. key business hotels with other chains).

I think benefits at hotels for golds instead are consistent / consistently poor across the chain. You can and should expect late checkout if available. You should get buy one get one free on breakfast. Otherwise I would not expect anything and in my experience in the past I don’t think gold ever seemed to get me upgrades (consistent with published benefits).

Additionally, do not take wonder week or Black Friday / Cyber Monday sales as genuine. I will be doing a big big analysis of this for Black Friday but forgot Wonder week this year. It is completely false advertising. I just checked Seville hotels and prices are now lower after wonder week than before. For Black Friday so many of the rates were exactly the same or at least nowhere near the discount level they claimed to be. I don’t know how the company gets away with it! Do check prices before to make sure it is genuine!

IMH

Following up on this -- for a stay from October 2023 -- a mail to [email protected] this week got a fast response and a refund of the "facility fee". Either my earlier messages went astray or the prospect of the matter being referred to my card issuer made the difference.