Spencer Mildon
We visited to join our friends in celebrating their daughter's 4th birthday. A total of 5 adults and 3 children, and we had a wonderful time.
The rooms were new, fresh and clean, with some nice decorative touches.
The hotel complex layout is excellent with 3 main pools, another for children, and the best reserved for adults only - a good balance.
Entertainment was also good, particularly the Pluma building where we could leave the kids with supervision, and so enjoy a nice break :)
The staff were also excellent throughout, particularly in the restaurant where they provided a cake, candle and decorative birthday message. Very much appreciated. Many thanks Sonia.
On the downside, the food was only good, not great: quantity excellent but cooking quality less so and variety slightly lacking for our health-conscious tastes - e.g. no smoked salmon at breakfast. Possibly not a big issue for most!
Also, parking at the front was tight and would really benefit from some form of sun shade in the future. Maybe solar panels to also power the hotel, pools, etc?
Beth X
Generally ok for a family holiday but no where near a 5 star (its a 3 star for sure).
The main buffet is very poor quality with limited options (and Im pretty easy with food so thats saying something).
Anything potato based is terrible. Chips - cold, even if you get to buffet as soon as it opens (I dont care for chips but my husband and kid wanted them), hash browns in the morning are hard and cold, again even if you get there first thing. Veg at the childs station undercooked to the point my kid couldnt bite through it.
Had ‘fish goujons’ on day and Ive no idea what it was but it wasnt fish! Almost like a hard fish stick.. again not safe as my kid couldnt bite through it.
Id say the only decent thing we had was the eggs in the morning… but thats pretty basic so I won’t praise eggs.
Cocktail quality depends who serves you, mostly bad but you get the rare decent one. In the end I asked for red wine plus lemonade as that was more sangria like than the actual sangria they serve. Some days when you ask for Sangria they literally just give you the juice mix - awful.
Pools are really nice though and very family friendly with plenty of beds. Never struggled to get a bad but we have come mid-October so not in holidays.
Rooms are nice and spacious but not restocked properly (forgot milk most days and when we ran out of coffee pods they replaced with decaf…) Some ants present most days but we did get our room cleaned daily so not sure why.
Generally the place is nice and clean but in the mornings you see a few leftover drinks from night before which looks grim and would probably only take half hour to clear yet they sit there till the bar opens at 10am. The table clearing isnt great in the bar at night either, usually have to clear a table yourself.
Pool cleaning doesnt start till way after the pools open which I find odd as every hotel Ive ever been to get this sorted before the pool opens. Not really fair on kids who have to get out of the pool.
Restaurants - Italian was great (pizza and pasta… quite easy), Mad Med was absolutely terrible, no taste to anything.. we cancelled our dessert as we didnt see the point in enduring it. It was a temporary Oktoberfest menu so maybe isnt that bad all the time- the menu itself looked great but just no taste to anything we had and seemed cheap crap.
The Roastic restaurant was also great and I give a bit more credit for that as its meat (we had portuguese steak and chicken mains). Staff at the restaurants are very nice. Restaurants are also a nightmare to book as app just says no availability, had to get our jet2 rep to book for us but we only got quite late sittings. The starters and puddings in the restaurants are as basic (albeit different) as the main buffet restaurant so really you’re just getting a main course cooked fresh, but not having to eat at Essence is a treat in itself.
The best meal and cocktail we had was outside the hotel down at Old Town. We werent planning on going elsewhere for food but we needed a good meal.
Wouldnt stay again as we paid for 5 star and got a 3 star at best.
Really disappointing about the food as that was the biggest let down.
Beach is nice but no shop anywhere close so you have to be prepared with water and lunch, unless you go to the restaurant on the beach (which was pleasant but expensive)
The hotel isnt in central Alvor so hard to do any exploring other than in the old town which the hotel shuttle takes you to (some lovely restaurants down there!) - if we came again to the area we would rent a car. The area itself is lovely, just wouldnt pick this hotel again unless they dramatically dropped the price and it was just a holiday to please the kids.
M Keane
I really hate leaving bad reviews but this resort is not a 5 star resort, the number of poor reviews are a fair representation of our trip.
We didn’t let it ruin our holiday and there were lots of good things. Staff are trying their very best and offer good service.
The room size was very good. The train to the local town is nice. The beach nearby is absolutely beautiful.
1. Food is extremely poor. The buffet is flavourless and it is clear cheap poor quality food is being used. Most of the food is inedible at the buffet. I have had better meals served to me as a patient in a public hospital
This is far from 5 star quality food.
2. All of the wine we had was poor quality budget wine. It’s a shame there isn’t at least an option to buy a good glass of wine.
3. Hygiene and overall cleanliness is very poor and unacceptable for any hotel. There are not enough bathrooms. I had to avoid the common area ones the smell of urine was so strong. It’s gross.
4. The pools are awful. Completely overcrowded, deck chairs falling apart. The flooring around the Pool is a pebble or mucky grass. It’s like a campsite. Not enjoyable at all to be by the pool. There are too many guests for the size of the resort.
5. There is zero enforcement of rules in the pools. No life guards. The children’s pool is very dangerous with older kids going down slides on large inflatables at speed. Very unsafe. I would be extremely concerned about the water safety and risk of injury and drowning in the pools.
The hotel is an hour from the airport - the hotel website states 45 mins and transfer costs €85 through the hotel.
Duupje2002
Edit day 10: we’re leaving the hotel in two days, the end of a holiday that we enjoyed spending with the family. We have to leave the hotel at 7am, to catch our flight. The hotel cannot pick us up from the room with a caddy car, as they start at 7:30. Wishing us all the best with getting our stuff downhill from the room to the lobby, traveling with a 9 weeks and 3 years old. It’s not a service we’re used to, simply for the excuse that the service is simply not available before 7:30 (maybe make it available?).
This brings for us the 3 back to a 2 star rating. We spend additional money for a premium service they offer, but the premium service is just not there.
Edit day 5: the staff is overall really friendly and we’re having a better time than on day one. So I will update my rating up from a 2. We’re with young kids and somehow there is a German Beergarten place in the middle of the resort surrounded by apartments. The place sound like fun, they play loud music from 20:00 till 22:00 or so, but… if you have young kids, it’s difficult to understand why you would place this loud music in the middle of the park, instead of down hill where the normal parties are and no apartments. So, concluding, I’m leveling up the service rate from 1 to 3 and the overall rate from 2 to 3.
Day 1:
If you’re looking for high end services, and think you’ve found it based on the pricing of this place, you’ll be disappointed. With one day in, and still 11 days more to go we are highly disappointed. Services is extremely bad, already started at check-in where we were greeted as “I need to work” instead of a nice welcome with maybe a welcome drink. The drink is there but you have to find it yourself somewhere in the corner and help yourself.
Towels are not available at all the pools, make you walk for 10-15 minutes back and forth. Drink you need to walk for yourself. With a bit of luck also this will costs you 15 minutes. There is no service at the pools.
We only had breakfast so far, at the premium breakfast, which was cold. Only the omelet station is somewhat okay. The coffee is bad.
The hotel room was full with bugs which had to be cleaned first after we notified the hotel.
I will edit this review the coming days, as this is only the first day we’re in, but the first impression isn’t great, and definitely not worth the premium price we paid.
It feels that everything is maximized for profit and not for service.
Marc Rehmann
We are currently staying at the Tivoli Hotel Alvor and are feeling very comfortable and well taken care of. The hotel is very new, everything is spotlessly clean, and the overall atmosphere is welcoming and relaxing.
Most importantly, the head chef Rodrigo is doing an outstanding job. Our daughter has celiac disease and needs to follow a strict gluten-free diet. Chef Rodrigo has gone above and beyond to ensure she is safe and well cared for, creating a truly wonderful culinary experience for us. Thanks to his attention and knowledge, we feel completely at ease when it comes to food – which is a huge relief when traveling with dietary restrictions.
In general, all the staff members have been extremely friendly, attentive, and helpful, making our stay even more enjoyable. We are truly impressed and highly recommend this hotel – especially for families and guests with special dietary needs.
My Booking
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