Sophie M
Really don't understand these negative reviews!!! We visited as a family of 4 with my husbands parents and had a wonderful time! The apartments are so modern and clean, perfect location, friendly and helpful staff and very very spacious! We had a 3 bed apartment, it has two balconies, an ensuite, a main bathroom, lounge and kitchen. Such great value! Would definitely recommend! Only £30 deposit for families, I think the visitors who have been charged huge deposits and hen and stag dos that the hotel is trying to deter from coming to stay!
Lauren O' Reilly
AVOID. Lovely hotel/apartments/pool and great location but they're basically running a scam. They charge an outrageous security deposit of 250 per person and then refuse to return a large chunk of it because they have to change the towels and bedsheets? They are now not responding to any of our emails where we've asked them to send us the contract where it states they charge for this. I have never heard of a hotel charging for changing sheets and towels, this is something that needs to be done every time a guest checks out. Great location and lovely place to stay but I would avoid for this scam alone.
James
Stayed for 6 days in September. Was within the realms of expectations if not arguably a little expensive for what it is. What I believe is the hotel nearby runs/owns quite a large number of these similar apartments blocks around the nearby street. Apartments all look pleasant from outside and are all well maintained. Comparing ours to others I suspect some have been modernised but ours hadn't. It was probably done in the 90s but everything was clean and worked. Ac strong, bed comfortable. Area notwithstanding the odd stag or hen group is quiet but rooms don't have alot of sound insulation between them so if you have noisey neighbours or want a lie in past 9am when the cleaners start you may want to consider. Having said that I'm a light sleeper and with the aid of some ear plugs I had undisturbed sleep throughout. Key benefit of these apartments is proximity to a nice part of the beach. We used the quieter of 2 pools a couple of times which was fine (pool with bar was cramped and full of idiots) Would i stay again? Yes if price was right and I happened to need to come back to albufeira (which I doubt).
Ryan Toal
Our holiday was great but a hiccup at the beginning. Booked holiday with easyJet and for a start the picture and photos we had were from outside the hotel and hotel pool. Don't be fooled as we were! This complex is blocks of apartments/flats a stones though away. The reception is in the hotel but not the hotel reception. All very confusing and also because we arrived after midnight our apartment was not ready, in fact a family was still in it til 12pm. Rang easyJet holidays on number they sent for 24/7 help line, rang for 35mins and no answer or answer machine...Luckily staff were able to put up in a one bedroom for the night. Staff were lovely but not a great start. Moved in to correct apartment at 2pm after it was cleared and cleaned. Pool was ok but very busy and probably about a quarter of the people were on sun loungers, the rest were on towels on the grass and any free areas. When I mentioned it to pool guard they said August is very busy, June is better to visit😳. Again when we went to look at the hotel pool were told not allowed to use, it was hotel guests only. ..So we were shown hotel and pool from the pictures to sell the holiday and this was not available so will be speaking to our agent. The apartment was great once in and cleaning staff were brilliant. Also cause we had issue with 1st night, staff were kind and gave access to another family block pool, just down the road.👍, and had daughters birthday while away and staff delivered a cake and fizz; nice🤗. Location is good plenty of restaurants and bars and strip is a good 10 min walk away so not noisy at all. Beach is a good 10min walk down a steep hill so hard work coming back. Also beach has sand but very rock and difficult to get into the sea. Areas where no rock are crammed with people and I mean crammed! As always locals know best and they go onto beach as others leaving at 5-6pm and enjoy last couple of hours of the sun. Summary good but not what we thought we had booked....
Anthony Dempsey
Mixed reviews (We'd booked and paid before reading them)
I don't usually leave detailed reviews but I'll try address what iv read in prev reviews
Reception:
Staff where very pleasant. Told our room wouldn't be ready till after 4pm. We where there at 12midday. But fortunately they called me to say it was ready around 2.30pm while we were getting something to eat so wasn't to bad.
Deposits:
Appears stags/hens/groups have to pay the €250pp deposit
I went as a family (my partner and 2 kids) which was only a total of €30 so not bad for us at all. End of stay returned deposit there and then so no issues whatsoever.
Pool area/security guard:
Pool and bar was fine although definitely could do with more sun loungers..we spent couple days on towels on the grass but this didn't bother us.
The security guard was pleasant enough kept to himself mostly. I did see him send some people to the "other pool" because they wanted to use inflatables. They didn't seem happy about it but I wouldn't say he was rude in his request. His demena may be different with stag/hen groups but I didn't experience this so can't judge.
Food at the pool bar was fine. But I'd advise if getting drinks just take 2 mins and run the shop €7 for a cider at the bar. €1.85 for a cold can from the shop fridges.. just stock up take them to your lounger.
Room:
We stayed in block 9
Room was fine. Decent aircon. Clean. Everythin you need for a short stay. Modern bathroom. Small balcony though and right next to the neighbours so never used this.
Biggest problem for us though was definitely the noise.. The slamming of doors from other guests or maids would rattle through the hallways into the room. Some of the apartments in our block where privately owned or from a company not run through the hotel. The room next door had a dog that would not shut the £*#& up. All day. All night. Would get left on the balcony just yapping away. Could see other guests who where staying opposite pointing and unhappy about it. Trying to get kids to sleep and that's all you could hear was hard work! And one night they decided to try their hand at karaoke.. listen I have nothing against a bit of karaoke, getting drunk and making a fool out of yourself. Been there many times myself, but at the bar! Screaming the whole complex down in an apartment room at 10pm was horrendous. Room above scraping furniture for days! None of us got more than 5 hours of sleep a day. So this was a nightmare with the kids.
I had spoken to staff about it and as soon as I mentioned the dog they knew. Numerous people had complained but as thought this was a privately owned apartment so hotel was unable to do anything about it. Even so I think measures should be put in place to at least alleviate these issues.
Maids/cleaning:
No problem here whatsoever. Besides being a tad loud they wer pleasant and thorough. Towels every 3 days. Cleaned every day as stated.
Location:
Great! One of the only running themes from previous reviews. Nice stroll to the beach. Close to bars and restaurants which was ideal.
Note: Avoid Solcaffé: they massively overcharged us for breakfast and didn't provide a receipt just walked to the table and said how much we owed.. only orded egg on toast. And jam toast and apple juice for the kids. And was more expensive than evening meals we were getting. Worked out on menu at least €20 overcharge
Recommend places to eat: Laras Plaice, La Brezza and Teasers we had great food and drinks @ these places, friendly staff and well priced.
Overall can't say the place is as bad as its made out In reviews.
Would I stay again.. if I was promised a room without screaching dogs as neighbours then yea definitely. But as that's not a choice I'd have then I probably wouldn't stay again. Lack of sleep was definitely enough to put us off especially having a 9month and 3 year old to try battle to sleep. Might be a different story if didn't take the kids
Hopefully this may help people gain a clearer image of what's on offer here
My Booking
