Melia Braco Village - Jamaica

We booked with Westjet vacations, 7 ladies. We all wanted to be close together and requested this at booking in November but we ended up with 3 rooms in separate villas, the oceanfront view and closeness to the water and beach were magnificent. Some of the people are great and helpful and enthusiastic (Homroy, Vinessa (love you), Dezine, Warren (thanks for the food tips)!!) Sharone thanks for your smiles and all the coffee!! and yet some look very unhappy to be there...Food management, give the  [... read more]girl making the omelettes some help please in the morning...long line ups with just 1 person each day! Same with the hamburgers at lunchtime at the Market. Other food management issues, the tables are not set up properly, constantly asking for coffee, cups, cutlery, salt/pepper etc. This should all be ready before we are seated. Happened for each meal all day long. So weird!, do you not have enough tableware? A suggestion to have a coffee station/bar setup for walkups in the morning for self service. Instead of carrying all those plates, there should be trolleys to help out the staff. Also, what is with the lack of butter, jam and keeping the buffet supplemented....really at 8 am and 12 noon there should not be empty platters!! Salsa chips with no salsa or guacamole around, just a lumpy cheese sauce. Very confusing for vegans as the signs state dairy free and dairy on the same one so which is it! And the bread all being made with butter, eggs and milk....should be more vegan options clearly marked. The restaurants well....Rasta Pasta, such a long wait and the food not that good, how can you go wrong with pasta. Did not go to the Steak restaurant. The Asian Fusion was ok but a lot of things on the menu were not available when you ordered (so why are they on the menu!) Jamaica and Beach Nights were good but food ran out quickly. The Grill was good but by 12:15 pm there was no jerk chicken and you had to wait another hour....seriously this is the #1 staple in Jamaica, they had great fries. 3 mornings in a row I would walk out to find dishes upon dishes outside my doorway area from someones room service still with some plastic wrap left on the stair walkway area! This needs to be looked at as people would dump all their dishes outside and then the cats would make a mess of everything left over during the night. I believe the whole Food Management of this resort needs to be seriously overhauled!! One of the worst experiences of all the many resorts I have attended. Also, not enough staff on the beach for drinks and long waits for everything! Again, a trolley would greatly assist. This is a great place and could be so much better with better supervision of staff and facilities. The beach pathway from the Market to the Villas is in dire need of repair, many a stubbed toe walking along this path. And what is with the towels and cards and no cards....really should all work with the bracelet...we received no towel cards at check in and were ok going back and forth for a few days and then on the 3rd day they asked for cards???of course we did not have them and the towel hut guy did not wish to give us towels....seriously!! Went to the office to complain and they stated towel cards were not available and we should be able to get towels without them....COMMUNICATION everyone...#1 basic thing at a resort is towels for the beach. Also the double beds in the rooms need to be upgraded to queens! There were 3 of us in a 2 double bed room and it was a tight fit for 3 adults. All in all a good vacation but there are a few things I would like to see made better before I would return, there are nicer and better resorts for less money out there on other islands. If you like cats then this place has a lot of them wandering around everywhere. Also, even though this is an all inclusive, tips are needed and expected for everything, cleaning room staff, bartenders, services, everyone! Grounds were nice but not great. Beach was nice, but garbage left around in bags by the walkways, some not cleared up for a few days. There was minimal seaweed. Some of the bathrooms need constant attention, lack of tp. A great little resort but needs some much needed TLC.

Amazing Resort!

This is a beautiful resort with outstanding restaurants, beautiful grounds and fantastic customer service. This was our second trip to the Melia Braco and we can't wait to make it a third. If you can, I suggest you upgrade to the Level. This is the premium side of the resort with ocean front rooms, an enormous hot tub, lovely pools and an exclusive beachfront outdoor restaurant. It also has a separate check-in lounge with topshelf drinks and snacks. It is your own little piece of paradise wit [... read more]h plenty of lounge chairs on the beach. No need to get here early to hold your spot on the beach. The entertainment at the resort was very well done (too bad the piano man is not there any more). The jerk chicken and pork are outstanding at this resort and the steak restaurant is fantastic! We had a couple of issues with our room initially but thanks to the hard working staff and the especially the help of Gloria (guest relations manager) it was corrected. If you're looking for a great resort with awesome food and beautiful beach look no further! We will be back this year.

Inviting and cozy!

Melia Braca was indeed a village. The set up was pleasing to the eye. The two storey buildings scattered on lush grounds, which were relatively easy to navigate upon arriving. Rooms were nicely updated. Our room in particular was PERFECT for my elderly mother since it took us steps to the lovely beach. We received mixed information re daily towels. Beach loungers super comfy. Bring water shoes. The food was under par for resort standards. Need more vegan options. Almost all bread and p [... read more]orridges had dairy. Service was extremely hit and miss. Most of the staff were super upbeat and friendly, which made up for spotty service. Jamaican night and beach night were nice.

Amazing Resort

Awesome place to stay if you're looking for a quit,beautiful resort with very friendly staff.Good size swimming pool and long beach with plenty of shaded space and adequate number of loungers.Lots of good food, especially the steak restaurant-one of the best steaks I have had in a long time.I gave the room 4 stars as I had a problem with the shower, where I had to run the water for a few minutes for it to warm up and the fridge/cooler did not keep the drinks very cold.

Great Vacation!

My partner and I recently came back from a one week stay at this resort and overall had a fantastic vacation! Pros: We really enjoyed that the resort was smaller; the buildings and scenery were beautiful and the grounds were extremely well kept. I loved that it was intimate and short walking distance to any spot on the resort. The rooms were large and very beautiful and also very clean (we stayed in a premium garden view room). I also appreciate that the resort is eco friendly! There is an ext [... read more]ensive room service menu with a 24 hour menu which is handy. The beach area was gorgeous and pristine; the water was crystal clear and sand was white and clean as they cleaned any seaweed right away. The perk about a small resort is that we never had to worry about not getting a chair or a good spot on the beach. We always got the same great spot. Drinks at the bar were great. Overall good was pretty tasty and there was always a pretty fair selection at the buffet. The a la cart restaurants were also good. I was impressed with the nightly entertainment and really enjoyed every night! Definitely much better than any resort I’ve been on. Cons: The main reason we chose Jamaica was for two reasons 1) the food 2) the amazing people. I have been to Jamaica before and raved about it to my partner who had never been. Unfortunately these are the two areas which disappointed the most. We are a very easy going couple so we still had a great time and didn’t allow anything to influence our overall experience but the feedback is worth noting. In terms of the food, it is quite limited. Breakfast buffet is standard but for lunch and the duration of the day, the only food option is again, the buffet. While the buffet offers variety, it can get very repetitive and boring. It surprised me that there was no additional option such as a pizza place, snack bar, or jerk hut; it would have been nice to have some options where we could order and eat by the beach. Which leads to one of my biggest complaints; the jerk hut was not operating for the entire duration of our trip. We inquired every day about it and got conflicting answers and were given false hope each time until someone was finally honest with us and said it is not operating due to low occupancy of the hotel. This was extremely disappointing and pretty shocking since jerk chicken is a major reason travellers love Jamaica yet there was no jerk chicken to be found the ENTIRE week we were there!!! Given that this was the ONLY thing my partner was hoping for on the trip, this was a great disappointment. I would really recommend they incorporate more jerk chicken options because there truly were not any authentic ones. The only authentic jerk chicken was on our final night during the “Jamaican street party” where they brought the jerk hut out and it was absolutely delicious; such a shame we went the whole week without it. Again, the food available was delicious but we just missed out on the main items of interest. Room service was convenient however usually arrived incorrect one way or another but this wasn’t a big deal for us. The staff at the hotel were also not very friendly. We encountered some very rude staff members who appeared miserable, did not greet us, or when I initiated a greeting, they did not respond or seemed disinterested. There was no real customer service provided and I definitely did not experience anyone go above and beyond the bare minimum. There were some lovely staff members who made up for it, but again, nothing over and above - more so just the general customer service I would expect. I was really hoping for more since my passed two times in Jamaica I had the most positive amazing experience with the people and it’s a shame my partner wasn’t able to have the same experience as I have. The overall vacation was lovely and we had a great time, the pitfalls just happened to be two of the most important factors for us when it comes to a vacation. Perhaps this was a coincidence due to us travelling during off season. I would still recommend this hotel! Great for couples, great hotel and great beach!

Amazing vacation

April, great time to visit the island of Jamaica. My wife and I just got back from melia braco village, and we were amazed by the staff, the grounds, our room, the food, I am not sure but I think this is one of our best experiences so far, for us.I have to give them five star for service and hospitality. Also to point out a few high lights, no getting up earlyfor beach chairs, no line ups for food unbelievable right, it’s true so feel free to try them out if you are like us that preferred a sm [... read more]aller village setting combined with Georgian inspired architecture, beautiful gardens and home feel then it’s you

Fantastic resort !!!!

This was our third time visiting this resort. A fantastic gem !! The staff and service are amazing. Everyone goes out of their way to make you feel relaxed and at home . We will continue to return again and again.

Quiet Resort

Unfortunately our vacation started on a very sour note with Sunwing delaying our flight from 9am until 4:30pm. When I originally booked the trip flight departure was 6am and return was 9:40pm, this changed two days after I booked our package with Tripcentral. Flight delay was due to "mechanical or technical" issues with the plane, which I find very hard to believe. I was very disappointed with the poor compensation from Sunwing for this delay. When you work hard all year and wait to get away for [... read more] seven days and lose a whole day (not a weather related reason) it is very disappointing. As for the resort, we have been to Jamaica 6-7 times, never to this resort. I enjoyed that it is very quiet. The layout and gardens of this resort is absolutely amazing. Rooms were ok, first given a room with two doubles and thankfully they were able to move us the following day to a room with a king. We had no problems with hot water which I was very happy about after reading previous reviews. Beach is rocky in parts, did bring water shoes but just ended up swimming in areas that we were ok without them. Food was good, enjoyed the Japanese restaurant and the steakhouse. Great service at both spots. Lunch we did the buffet and grill a few times both were fine. Ordered room service twice, nice to have the option as we had such a late arrival our first day there. Service was great at the bars as well. Do feel the drinks are watered down however we usually had wine in the evenings and felt it was good. Was very windy a few days, disappointed could not do any water sports. Overall resort is nice, enjoyed that it was quiet but again feel it was hard to enjoy it to its fullest due to the negative start by Sunwing.

Beautiful Resort

Awesome resort! The staff is friendly and always making sure you have want you want and need. Food is great with 24/7 room service available! WiFi works great around the entirety of the resort. Beach is nice however I would recommend water shoes when swimming as there are some rough spots in the water.

Beautiful

The resort was beautiful the food was delicious and the staff was excellent. Only a couple of things. The shower would just go hot and when we showed up they did not have our reservation. Also they did not offer a place for people who were departing a place to shower and get ready. I have never been to a resort that didn’t have that as an option.

Amazing Staff, Amazing Hotel

I have nothing but good things to say about this hotel and it's staff. The property is beautiful and the oceanfront rooms are really oceanfront. Sitting on the balcony was like watching a movie. It was so peaceful The food and service were superb and all the extra perks with the level are well worth staying there. We unfortunately had to leave a few days early to return home. The staff spent all morning on the phone trying to get us a flight and a ride to the airport.. Without all their h [... read more]elp, the situation would have been a lot harder to deal with. I can highly recommend staying at this beautiful place.

Outstanding Resort

I was planning to go to DR but just couldn’t find a resort that wowed me. I hooked up random with Marcia on trip Central and she worked with us . Finally I told her so don’t want a big resort or high rise. She said I have the place for you. We looked at Melia Braco Village. Bingo !! it was exactly what we were looking for. A not too high hotel with 3 floors that looked like Condos Just surrounded by a beautiful beach, stunning grounds, quaint property. We booked right away. Mar [... read more]nie worked from beginning to the day of our departure her expertise and professional attitude from the day we booked and the day before we left. She nailed it. The resort is Spectacular. A big hug to our friends, Dean Paul, Alex, Eric, Dwight and Abigail kicked my butt on days I couldn’t eat another thing we did Water Aerobics, bike in water spinning. These 2 were so inspirational and friendly professional! Lovely, Lovely. The food was exceptional, the restaurants quaint and clean and comfortable. Every night was a different event at the street and experience. We were there Super Bowl. What a great job they did. I felt like I was on the Red Carpet. They do not go cheap on anything at this resort. They make you feel right at home. The food is not skimping on anything. To all the people at the front office all the way to our beach area, pool guys, cleaners, sweepers, DJ , bartenders. Thank you Thank you. My holiday was exceptional because the care and love you put into ur work believe me it shows. You never feel like u are bothering the staff. They are laughing, and talking to you as if u have been friends forever!!! I hated saying good bye so I won’t. Until next time . Everything Arie Mon. No problem I will be coming again only to Braco Village. Smile Mon😊🇯🇲💕 .

Intimate resort

We returned to Melia Braco for our 2nd time. This is a smaller intimate resort great for kicking back and relaxing, although there is still much to do. The beach area has been improved 100%+ lots of sand has been added easy to walk barefoot. Great food and staff. Felt like going home.

Beautiful Resort

Kevin from Tripcentral was amazing and very helpful throughout the booking. We had an amazing time and awesome view from our room, the service was great. We had fresh towels and housekeeping in our room every day, bar fridge re-stocked on a daily basis. Grounds are very well maintained and food was awesome. Plenty of room to sit at the pool and the beach with plenty of beach towels every day. Hoping to return one day.

It's a wonderful paradise!!!

It's a wonderful paradise!!! We were family of five adults that stayed at Melia Braco Village for a week. We thoroughly enjoyed our vacation without any regrets. This hotel is located approximately 50 minutes away from the Montego Bay airport. We arrived around 10 pm at the resort and ordered room service for dinner. Although there were some flaws in our order, the service and the rest of the meal was great. Now, I must mention about the hospitality and the customer service we received  [... read more]during the entire stay. The entire staff members were well trained and know how to treat their guests properly. Starting off with the coconut man "Kermar" we found that he was a very polite and friendly. Dean Paul who served us at the Prime restaurant or Sharone (she always had a beautiful smile all the time) at Rasta Pasta restaurant and all the servers and bartenders at all the restaurants and bars...all were amazing!! Now, lets talk about food. The buffet had enough variety and amble food every day. Not a single day we missed fish. There were different varieties of fish, chicken, pork and beef and rice, veggies pasta and omelet stations, fruits and desserts. We thoroughly enjoyed the papayas. Very fresh and juicy. As we enjoy spicy food, the menus were little bland for us. However, to compensate that they had pepper oil ( extremely spicy) and jerk sauce. So we could make any dish spicy. Out of 4 a-la-carte restaurants, the Rasta pasta was our favorite. The drinks and cocktails at the Bar were amazing! The resort is absolutely situated in a perfect spot. The grounds were nicely landscaped and filled with beautiful matured trees and tropical plants. The beach....breath taking!!! The big waves were calmed down by the barrier and created "pool like" water for swimming and snorkeling. Out of 7 days, 5 days we went for snorkeling and saw more than nine varieties of fish. And don't miss out the activities. Marlon was really helpful and friendly at zip lining. Finally " the out of the resort experience". We took a cab from the hotel and his name was "Johnny P". He was very nice and friendly and took us two trips: one to see Montego Bay town and Blue Hole water falls. We thoroughly enjoyed the water fall and its surroundings. If you are buying any booze, buy at the airport. Much cheaper than anywhere else. We got ripped off at the shopping centre. Pros: mentioned all already😄 Cons: Wished the hotel property allowed us to walk along the shore not limited to their property. Overall we had the perfect vacation!!! On Thu, Nov 1, 2018 at 8:57 PM Anusha Vinayagarasa wrote: It's absolutely a wonderful paradise!!! We were family of five adults stayed at Melia Braco Village for a week We thoroughly enjoyed our vacation with out any regrets. This hotel is located approximately 50 minutes away from the airport. We arrived around 10 pm to the resort and ordered room service for dinner. Although there was some flaws in our order, the service and the rest of the meal was great. Now, I must mention about the hospitality and the customer service we were received during the visit. The entire staff members were well trained and know how to treat their guests without no frills. Starting off with the coconut guy "Kermar" we found that he was a very polite and friendly. Dean Paul whom served us at " Prime" restaurant or Shannon ( hope I got her name right😀 she always had a beautiful smile all the time) at Rasta Pasta" restaurant or even, bartenders at drinks bar...all were amazing!! Now, lets talk about food. Buffet had enough variety and amble of food. Not a single day we missed fish. There were different varieties of fish, chicken, pork and beef and rice, veggies pasta and omelet stations, fruits and desserts. We thoroughly enjoyed the pspays. Very fresh and juicy. Although we enjoy much spicy food, the menus were little bland for us. However, to compensate that they had pepper oil ( extremely spicy) and jerk souce. So, we didn't regret it. Out of 4 a la carte restaurants, the Rasta pasta was our favorite and we enjoyed the most. The drinks and cocktails at the Bar were amazing! Now, the the resort! Absolutely situated on a perfect spot. The grounds were nicily landscaped and filled with beautiful matured trees and tropical plants. The beach....breath taking!!! The big waves were broken down by the barrier and created "pool like" calm water for swimming and snorkeling. Out of 7 days, 5 days we went for snorkeling and saw more than nine varieties of fish. And don't miss out the activities. Marlon was really helpful and friendly at zip lining. Finally " the out of the resort experience". We took a cab from the hotel and his name was "Jonny P". We was very nice and friendly. Took us two trips..one to see Montego Bay town and "Blue Holes water falls". We thoroughly enjoyed the water fall without any doubts. The guide " Mike" was amazing!!! If you are buying any booze, buy at the airport. Much cheaper than anywhere else. We got ripped off at the shopping centre. Pros: mention all of above😄 Cons: Wished the hotel property allowed us to walk along the shore not limited to their property. Overall the perfect vacation we had!!! Anusha

Melia Braco

This was our 5th visit to Braco, 4 times when it was Grand Lido Braco and first as a Melia .....we were assigned room 811 it was to say the least a major disappointment we had booked the premium Oceanfront and it was nothing like on the website. We got in late our first night so I thought I would deal with the room in the morning. We awoke around 4 in the morning as the air conditioner was not working at all, I called down and was told they would send someone around 7:30 in the morning.....need [... read more]less to say we did not sleep well the rest of the night. I went down approximately 7 am and asked to be placed in another room, after a bit of an exchange I was told to come back at noon as they would try to find me another room. Went back at noon and they were still working on it and was told to come back around 3. Went back at 3 and was told to go to my room and they would call me when the room next door was cleaned and while we were waiting, again the air conditioner stopped again. Finally we were moved next door to 812 and unpacked. So we spent our first day on vacation running around I was not impressed. The food was ok the Asian restaurant was the best. The restaurants were not always open, they would close 2 and have 3 opened this was disappointing. Most of the staff were very efficient and cheerful I have always enjoyed Jamaica and this was our 8th visit to the island and will be back but not to Melia Braco unfortunately.

Very Enjoyable week

The hospitality was great. Food was good, rooms were very clean. The beach was a little disappointing -- water shoes were handy as wash in from reef was hard on the feet. Always clean towels available. Only one day we had trouble finding a lounge chair on the beach.

Melia Braco

The Melia Braco was a nice resort. The resort itself was clean but bathrooms could have been kept up better. Numerous times throughout the day toilet paper was non existent and they smelt bad. The food was very good. Only complaint there was that the buffet was not open every night. We found we were eating late every night because we couldn’t get into restaurants. The Rasta Pasta was by far my favourite. Rooms were clean and beds were very comfortable. We had no hot water for a couple days [... read more] and when it did come on we had to let the water run for almost 45 min to get it luke warm. The staff was very friendly and accommodating.

Just ok

Great food & service. Rooms were nice but there were 3 days with issues with housekeeping. The grounds are nice but there is some trash laying around that could be addressed. For the most part every one works really hard but I'm afraid it's not enough.

Great Resort

The resort size I thought was perfect (smaller than most), very clean, staff were very friendly and helpful, food was very good. The Adventure Park is a nice addition, especially for younger people but every age were taking part. Enjoyed the bicycle tour. Beach wasn't amazing -- quite a lot of coral washes in that's a little hard on the feet at times. I would recommend water shoes.