Hotel Melva Suite

We booked Hotel Melva Suite as we were looking for a small hotel with restaurant that had other local attractions near by. Firstly, we discovered that as it was the quiet season the restaurant and bar were closed. In fact, after breakfast in the morning we didn't actually see any staff about, with the whole complex closed up on our return each late afternoon. The two restaurants about 5 minutes walk down the hill served pretty much the same menu, which is fine if you like Canarian potatoes and grilled meats. Both are very popular with the locals. The hotel is in the suburb of La caldera, Firgas itself is about 10 minutes drive away. There are walks in Firgas, but nothing local to the hotel. As the hotel is about 500m above sea level, it was a few degrees cooler than on the coast, the weather was damp while we were there and the hotel was often in the clouds. When clear, there was a nice view of the hills opposite and Las Palmas in the distance.

Our room itself was was very comfortable and well appointed, and very comfortable. However, we found the heating controls a bit random, and seemed to take a long time to heat up. Once on, the room warmed up quickly. As the bar and restaurant were closed for the winter, facilities to make hot drinks would have been appreciated. The safe did not work and was not fixed during our 7 night stay.

Breakfast disappointed. The food was not of particularly high quality. Bread rolls, although freshly cooked that morning were obviously bought in frozen - a basket full of semi defrosted rolls were brought out one morning. Oddly, there was a bowlful of tinned fruit salad each morning. With all the lovely produce on the island, a bowl of freshly prepared fruit salad would have been a nice touch. Orange juice seemed to be of the dilute to taste variety - not terribly nice to drink. Bizarrely, on our last morning there was a tray of sandwiches on offer at breakfast - no doubt leftovers from the previous day's conference!

The location of the hotel makes it well situated to explore the north of the island and no doubt when everything is open it is quite a nice place. As the hotel was essentially a B&B with staff absent during the evening and a poor quality breakfast, we were very much overcharged, it was not worth what we had to pay.