Nice hotel dated and not worth money until staff better trained
James · family with children · 2026-08-24
“The overall hotel is lovely but quite dated. The rooms are a good size but again dated in their look and facilities. Kids excited that there is a TV in the bath, but its so old sound didn't work etc. The pool area is nice also just not a 5 star service. Breakfast was good but not for the money when you didn't get it included. Food in the restaurant was very good but took 90 minutes at which time my 8 year old was having a meltdown as so hungry!
thew ladies at kids club were the exception, lovely but again the whole kids club needs an update and got messages telling me my child wanted as snack, could they not have provided som fruit or snacks for the kids......”
Worth knowing: The staff are nice but not properly five star trained.
Not attentive or overly helpful in pool and restaurant areas / told on our first day you get 2 towels and a free water but thats it and everything else chargeable / which is fine but we didn't even ask and were just told this which was bit rude on our first morning. Really hard to get pool staff attention even though there are plenty of them, they were usually chatting to each other. Breakfast wasn't included in our rate even though we paid a thousand pound a night and then on arrival tried to upsell breakfast rather than tell us about the hotel. Turns out children under 11 get free breakfast anyway so were being sold things we didn't even have to pay for. Room service is a disaster, expect to call several times to chase. we got the worst view of any room, no little extras, noted welcoming, small bowl of fruit which you would normally get in a five star hotel. felt because we hadn't been to the hotel before and booked through booking.com instead of direct we were almost not important to them especially on arrival and with the room and extras.
Staff need some more training, even though most of the guests are English many staff do not speak English so ordering or asking for things was a challenge. Staff didn't seem like they got on and at breakfast two staff had a massive argument where the whole of the outside tab les could hear / just little things like this need to addressed by better training.
Spa is also payable and not worth it as clearly dated, the free sauna is a bit of a joke also.
It's not a bad hotel just currently not worth paying that a nigh when better places to go. it needs a refurbishment and some staff training then would be up to par.
Sad as I really wanted to LOVE this hotel and sadly nothing left us feeling like we wanted to return.
Easily the worst 5* (really 3*) we have been to.
JFDublin23 · Couples · 2026-08-15
“We arrived just after 3pm for a 2 night stay. All looked good on arrival.
However, beware if you book this hotel personally, not via your business account. They may well actively punish you for it.
We were advised that because a person who had an American Express booked just days ago, before staying (a few days ago”) , we booked our room by phone weeks ago, they had “bumped” us out of our room and we had to wait until 5pm to check in as a result. Those with American Express need more time to check out seemingly, draw your own conclusions as to why, and what the clientele are then likely like, if they need such a late check out on rooms that are already booked.
In all my years staying in very nice resorts I have never felt such levels of disregard. Unless you paid with an AMEX (very odd in Europe), you don’t matter here, that was made crystal clear. I have never paid so much to stay somewhere that didn’t want you there, and made it really obvious from the first second you arrived. The opposite of a good 5* resort. As an experience, it’s 2-3*.
For context, it’s not the most expensive, in the world, but for Portugal it might be. It’s around €1k per night (1200$).
If this is the service, go to Spain, stay in an Intercontinental, you will be treated properly, not like an inconvenience, like a client. You feel welcome and valued from the first second, here, you are an inconvenience if you don’t book with an AMEX, you are “less than”.
I will never stay here, or in any Hilton Group hotel for my business travel or otherwise. We were in shock. We booked our room, we were requested to prepay for it, then on arrival we were advised that basically “more important” people, by virtue of the credit card they used, had taken our room and delayed our check in by 2 hours. It was really clear “you don’t matter”, only “AMEX” clients matter. The person booking was probably using business points, not paying personally. Likely not a prospect for repeat custom. A really bad business model.
They offered us “credits” and platitudes but for such an expensive resort they were all but worthless in the context of a short stay. The staff were relatively polite, not overly at management level I have to say, and not overly apologetic. It was a normal issue they were wholly desensitised too so they saw it as normal. We were treated as though we should have known this was a risk here. Confused looks. It was a burden to tell us this.
It really spoiled our stay here, on arrival, and I have to say I would not book again as a result. Stick to Marriott, IHG etc who treat all clients with respect, don’t pay over the odds for Hilton where they profile you on the credit card you used to book. They will punish you for it. I don’t need a AMEX, I had one 20 years ago, I need a reliable hotel. They want business travellers here only by the look of things. People making personal bookings are “less than”, or “not privileged” was the exact quote I got. It’s a resort, not really a place for financial people using points for their family stay, the custom is diverse.
As an aside, the hotel is nice, not 5* in other countries but very nice. The staff and service are 3* and that is our overarching view of this place. I am here now, it’s a 3* resort client service, likely 4*+ or 5* by how it looks. But nothing could take away from how bad they make you feel checking in. If you don’t use AMEX to check in they basically treat you as though you don’t matter, you are ballast on a ship, you exist to fill the rooms AMEX paying clients don’t have, and you should be glad that they “let” you stay here until an AMEX person wants your room.
Easily the worst 5* experience I have had. To be told on check in that somebody booked a few days ago, was given your prepaid room and won’t be leaving until they are ready, is the epitome of bad client service. It’s below 3*. To lose your room to a double booked customer, who only booked a few days ago is the epitome of bad service, it should be studied by the competition on how “not to behave”. I felt bad for the staff. It’s not their choice, but they are desensitised to it.
Do not book here unless you are aware of this. It’s almost €1k per night and you can be treated very badly just because of the method of payment used.
If you have an AMEX ( and pound the skies for a job), then go for it. It’s probably quite nice. But if you don’t, avoid this like the plague. It’s a terrible place where you are profiled and reduced on arrival regardless of the room price. Astonishing.
A terrible place in truth, unbecoming of our custom. A low grade hotel masquerading as something better.
We are disgusted to stay here. If we had a longer visit (we come here for 1 month every year), I would have sought a refund and moved to another hotel, which are better in many ways just because they make you feel welcome and wanted.
A disgraceful service, shameful.”
