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.
William Barker
We stayed here between the 18th-25th October as a family.
Positives:
1. Beach - it is a bit of a walk so take the pram but it is stunning. One of the best beaches we have found
2. Kid activities - our kids were always entertained. From kids pool, crazy golf, kids mini disco, beach plus the kids club.
3. Rooms - we got upgraded to the 2 room suite which were really spacious and clean.
Negatives:
1. Service: very poor for a 5 star. It is almost none existent. To having to get your own drinks at dinner and or no urgency to take orders or serve family’s with young kids.
2. Premium service: yes there is option to upgrade but it’s not worth it. The additional bar only has one person serving which means long waits. Promise of filling up your mini bar in room never happened.
3. Pools: every day pools would have mud, pebbles etc as no paving around kids pool. Feels like a 3 star. Could do better!
4. Babies: you would think with a 5 star that asking for full fat milk would be offered but you have to ask and they were a little funny about it. Even though it’s an all inclusive. Plus I requested we have this in the mini bar. It never happened.
5. Water: water station in our block didn’t work plus only given one water per room per day. It was only when I insisted there be more we got two in each room.
6. Food: it was okay but nothing like other places we have stayed.
7. Restaurant booking: almost impossible to get anything until last 3 days of stay. Even though in some cases the restaurant was half full at best.
I wouldn’t go back to this chain as it’s not at the same standard of other 5 star chains and I would give it a 3/4 star depending on which topic was being discussed. Zafiro is far better.
ryan jones
If you're thinking of booking think twice! The marketing for this place makes it look amazing (why wouldn't it!) but the reality is much different.
The food here is just diabolical, breakfast, OK as an English holiday maker it's the same in every all inclusive, the bacon isn't bacon, the sausages aren't sausages, it's to be expected but the main issue here is the restraunt can't cope with the number of people, come any time after about 8:15 and you'll struggle to find a table, not just for people but for the fact that the staff can't keep up with clearing them once people have left, dirty plates left on tables, none of them reset with cutlery, if you do get a table you'll struggle to find any cups and glasses for drinks etc. Then there's the food areas, dirty, messy, spilt milk, beans porridge everywhere and again the staff struggling to keep on top of things, the woman frying eggs is throwing them out still raw on top as she can't keep up with demand, the whole operation is a joke, it's just massively understaffed for the number of people here and this theme continues through lunch and dinner.
Lunch in salty bar is a little better but every single day it's the same, salads and cold pastas, the usual cake selection and hot food consists of hot dogs, burgers and "meat of the day" usually chicken breast or frying steak. Your kids will struggle, no chips, no pizza, no chicken nuggets, none of the usual beige food that keep the kids happy on holiday, luckily ours aren't fussy and have found something but I've noticed a lot of people struggling with the kids.
Dinner, as I said the theme of not being able to keep up with resetting tables and cleaning continues, most nights food is cold with many options sitting empty for considerable time without re-fill, the kids might find a chicken nugget or two at dinner but I'm not sure they are made from anything that would be identifiable as meat, they have themed nights but something here I have never expirience before is if you don't like that nights theme, it's tough! Usually you atleast have the option of pizzas, pasta, some basic bland meat option if you don't like the theme but here, fish night for instance, there was one meat option, pork, and even this was pork with clams 🤯 I resorted to salad this night, and you know there's a problem when I'm resorting to salad.
We've made a few friends by the pool and all have said the same, it's a 5* hotel (although overall I'd say 4* at best) but with a 2* food and drink offering.
The staff are attentive happy and polite, can't fault them, but you really can't help but feel sorry for them, a clear case of big corporation trying to make as much profit as they can. It's a real, real shame.
Just as a side note, we also have had two cockroaches in our room so far, I know they are native to Portugal so I don't know if this is to be expected, but again not something we've expirience in other hotels.
Looking forward to leaving Thursday and no holiday should feel like that!
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?
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.
My Booking
.jpg)
.jpg)
