Phil the Flyer

I've just cancelled the reward rooms and booked the same rooms at a rate of EUR140.40 per room per night inclusive of all taxes and local charges. For a European Conrad this has to be a pretty good deal.

If I had continued to use points for the booking this would have equated to GBP0.0026/USD0.0041 per HHonors point. I can get much better points value by returning to Conrad Koh Samui in Summer 2013 (currently available to book with points at an 'exchange rate' of GBP0.0101/USD0.0157 per HHonors point - almost 4 times the value!) ^

MediaMan

Wow....at last the hotel is opening tomorrow (26th Sept 12) - they have some good opening offers so it may be worth checking it out

RedVee

I'm there in a little over two weeks, so will post a TR as soon as I can.

GBM.flights

There is a dedicated page for special opening offers
It's mentioned Double points until 15th of March.

GBM

RedVee

Well, the trip report will have to wait a little, as I'm still here.

But for those of you soon to visit, including Phil The Flyer, here is a photo album to whet your appetite.

We already had the King Conrad Suite booked on a fantastic points rate that I don't think we will ever see repeated. On arrival we were updgraded to the King rooftop (Presidential Suite)

First guests to use it and it is amazing. Over 300 square metres, including rooftop terrace, study, dining room, lounge, pool with retractable roof, sauna, steam room, kitchen. Currently a snip in the flash sale at £1563 a night .

But the standard rooms are lovely too, and currently on sale in the flash sale for £113 a night, with 70m2 suites starting at £185 a night. So if you can get a weekend off, or sometime next week, get here - thoroughly recommended!

erik1868

Thanks for the pics RedVee! Booked a suite for April, can't wait.

Are the pools heated?

RedVee

Hi eric1868 - not sure, and I've not seen many people swimming. I'll find out for you tomorrow - the one in my suite is.

Guest Directory just gives the sizes - Infinity Pool 420 sq m, Sensations Pool 497 sq m and the Indoor Pool 75 sq m

More than enough loungers for the occupancy at the moment, although I expect that, if they need to, in the peak summer months more will appear on the tiered, grassed garden areas.

sven60035

So I checked in today and here some tips as first impressions

Transfer
If you book a transfer arranged by the hotel ignore their message about a driver meeting you at the gate, they do not meet at the gate. The driver will stand outside the bag collection area past all the other hotel drivers and he will not have a signboard with the Conrad logo but rather name only. Mine did not show up until I called the hotel.

Spa
Book early, despite them being not full it's hard to get spa times, they are booked solid, the best they can for me is 0800 in the morning right now.
The spa area with 2 pools (indoor / outdoor), sauna, steam room, relaxation area is available free of charge to Hiltons status card holders (non status card holder need to pay for access) and its really a beautiful area.
Treatments are individually tailored and charged on a time ratio rather than fixed price per treatment. Which is great if you got a tailored package. The staff this afternoon was excellent showing me around and making sure I could book what I want (well at crazy times).

Hairdresser
They have a hair salon on site in the spa.

Suite
I can't beat RedVee's suite but the grand deluxe suite I have is great, it's a big bed room with a big living room with big windows and access to the balcony which has some seating areas.
The bathroom is rather small of the bedroom with a bathtub and a shower with not enough space to put ones toiletries.
There a 2 TV's (32 flat screens) and in the living room there is a DVD player/sound bar with a sound woofer.
I had the choice of a view over the pools or a view to the front drive way (which I took). Yes there is no great view in this suite, as it looks over the drive way and onto the apartments that make the complex but I will get sunshine from morning to evening. The pool view suites don't have that.
What is missing is adequate lightning in the rooms, the foyers are bright but the living room is dark with no real central light source.

Pools
There are 2 pools, one infinity and one serenity. There also cabanas on can rent at the serenity one (don't know price yet) and the areas are clean and I have not seen many people around this afternoon.

So far so good (well beside my driver not being there and some problems at check-in with their credit card terminal (which does not like my Lufthansa Chip/Pin card, just like Karstadt).

Once I have done my stay I will post an update.

Phil the Flyer

Currently 'in residence' at this property (opened 26 September 2012) with wife and son. For what it's worth here's my own thoughts so far:

We were met at FAO by a Conrad representative - he was displaying my name on an iPad (a first for me). Taking our luggage trolley he led us to the car park and a car with 'Conrad' emblazoned on its doors - a Porsche Cayenne SUV (another first for me).

A 20 minute drive brought us to the property entrance; the first-time view down the driveway is really quite impressive.

Check-in formalities quickly completed we were escorted to an upgraded pool-view suite with interconnecting twin room for our son - amazing value at 2xEUR140 per night (it probably helped that I had booked one room in my name and one room in my wife's name - we're both Diamond).

One strong recommendation is to contact the hotel pre-arrival and establish a relationship with the front desk - this helped with resolving such issues as Diamond internet access (we were issued with 8 no. 24 hour-validity user name/password vouchers - 1 no. per room for our 4 night stay), late check-out, etc. Our point of contact, both pre and post-arrival was Mr Rui Gonzaga (Front Office Shiftleader) - [email protected]. His standard of English is excellent (the same can be said for all staff). His colleague, Mr Raul Santos, is the Concierge.

The standard of rooms is excellent - wall-to-wall marble in evidence everywhere. Bathrooms are luxurious, with both a walk-in rainfall shower (approx 1350x1350mm), wall-hung toilet and bidet, twin washbasins, and a bath-tub with TV at one end. Beds are extremely comfortable, with a JBL iPod docking station on the bedside table, TV(s) with HDMI connectivity, etc also provided.

We dined at the hotels' Gusto restaurant the first night - they have a taster menu for EUR48 (with add-on wine options at EUR15 or EUR22). The whole meal lasted three hours, and was the most memorable since Raymond Blanc fed us two years ago.

[On our last day at the property we shook hands with the great Heinz Beck - the chef behind Gusto restaurant - who was visiting the hotel. What a down-to-earth character he turned out to be; an extremely charming guy].

Faro (particularly the old town) and Loule (especially the food market) are recommended places to visit.

One outside restaurant worthy of a special mention is Couleur France, Almancil - how it's not yet got a Michelin star is beyond my comprehension. Apparently we were the first guests from the Conrad to dine there.

If you're looking for Mercedes E Class comfort for taxi rides locally (and even, apparently, as far afield as Lisbon or Seville) I cannot recommend these guys highly enough:

Albio Jesus (+351) 916 971 520 and his partner, Christiane Correia (+351) 966 574 670 [email protected]

There's a mini shopping centre directly opposite the hotel's entrance (clothes shops, a small supermarket, cash machines, bars, restaurants, etc).

Our stay here has exceeded our expectations - our only concern is that we won't get such attractive room rates/upgrades etc on our next visit!

bamboola

Thanks for providing the contact email for Mr. Gonzaga. I've emailed him re: airport transfer and other questions. He is very prompt in responding. I'll report back after our stay in two months.

Phil the Flyer

Very glad to be of assistance - all of us here on FT are here to help one another.

Please say hi to Rui for me - an extremely helpful and charming man.

bamboola

I've been here now for three days and finally have a moment to post some info included in the welcome letter for Diamond members. The letter states the following benefits:

* 50% extra points & welcome gift upon arrival (We received a bottle of Taylor ruby port and a cheese tray. The second day we received a full bottle of Perrier Jouet and a small plate of pastries. Both my husband and I were somewhat relieved not to receive anything the next two days because we are alcohol-saturated. More on that in a later post.)

* Complimentary internet and Herald Tribune (There is also a local English newspaper with useful local information - e.g. the potential TAP Portugal strike.)

* Free spa access (to the jet pool, sauna, steam room, relaxation room) that is normally 15 Euro per person.

* Late check-out subject to availability (Occupancy is very low currently.)

* One complimentary tea ceremony or Cocktail Experience per stay for two in the Lago Lounge Bar (We had the Cocktail Experience yesterday. It consisted of a tray with four test tubes, one each of apple juice, lemon juice, tea, and gin. The server instructed us on the order to pour each test tube into a shaker. After shaking, we enjoyed our creation.)

* One complimentary bottle of wine per stay when dining at Gusto (We will be having the tasting menu with wine pairing at Gusto tonight. We asked if we could have the complimentary wine with our meal in Louro, the other restaurant, and the hotel was happy to accommodate.)

So far we have had the DadoQ (BBQ) and the High Tea on our balcony. We are looking forward to tonight's tasting menu at Gusto and to the Sunday Brunch tomorrow.

The staff is out to please and we are being pampered. I've enjoyed a wonderful massage in the spa. Instead of renting a car, we are using the hotel's car service with very personable drivers. in addition to the airport pick-up, the car service has taken us to the beach and back, to Faro and back, and to Loule and back. We will use the car service one last time on departure day to take us to the Faro train station.

I will report back with more details later.

bamboola

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBboxsn-L68

A short video clip of the hotel featuring some of the staff and starring the beautiful Mariline, who works at the Front Desk.

Can't wait to return.

Calle2525

Hi @all,

we are gonna be staying at the Conrad over Easter for two days.

I got three questions:
Is breakfast included for two with HH Gold?

Is the SPA access also free for HH Gold-Members?

Any experience how much they charge for airport transfer as well as transfers downtown?

Thanks in advance

bamboola

I don't know about HH Gold breakfast, but spa is free for Diamond, Gold, and Silver.

Airport transfer is 34 Euro in a BWM 740d and 45 Euro in a Porsche Cayenne.