Still an OK hotel, reduced elite recognition

100   Recommended

Deluxe King
January 7, 2020 by
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Food
 
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Deluxe King

Liked:
Location
Service
Food
Amenities
Room

Stats
Room
Deluxe King

This is my 2nd time staying at this property, after slightly more than a year ago.  This round I found that the hotel to be quite stingy with upgrades for Elites - also the front desk associate that I interacted with to be less welcoming.

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Location

As mentioned in my last review, the location is not the best, but also not the worst especially if you are going to do sightseeing as it is not really located close to the main touristic sites down close to Prace de Commercial.  There are 2 metro stations located close to the hotel - the best from my point view is to get out at Saldanha metro stop (as it is on the same line connected to the airport) instead of the next possible one Picoas (where you have to change lines).  Both are equally the same in walking distance to the hotel.

Other than that, there is a this airport express bus - but I have no experience with it and it's slightly more expensive than the metro.  

For both options, I felt it was doable even with check-in luggage.  On the other hand, Uber is available and if you are more than 1, prices is very reasonable and might be worth it.

Check In

I arrived late afternoon and was helped immediately as there was no one before me.  There was no option for online check in.  At check-in I was told that I was upgraded, which I did not ask to what room, but I believe it was just a one category upgrade to a deluxe from a basic guest room.  Was rather dissapointed with this as when I checked, they still had premium rooms and suites available for booking.  I did not bother press on this as it was just a one night stay.

Check-in took some time, ~ 10 mins, which is usual as they want your documents and they make copies of them, etc.

I was informed about the breakfast times - which I did partake this stay (skipped it the last time due to an early morning flight)

Room

The room was located on the 6th floor and was rather small in size.  The view was also not the most pleasant, as it looked out towards residential apartments and back yards of buildings.

The usual amenities were available - including tea/coffee making facilities.  The room did have electronic blinder/curtain system (although it is not the most logical to operate - there is a combination of switches that is needed in order to get it to open/close).  They did have 2 complimentary (glass) bottled water in the room for Gold/Diamond members.

Climate control in the room was good - room did manage to cool/warm up well with not too high fan speed noise.  Wifi in the room was stable and reasonably fast.  Sleep quality was good - bed was not too soft/hard and there were not too much noise from both interior and exterior.

Bathroom space was small, fitting two person was quite a squeeze. The water pressure and temperature was good, and luckily even with the glass protection, the bathroom floor was still quite dry.  Toiletries were the usual Crabtree &Evelyn ones. 

The design of the room (and hotel) I guess is very personalized - I liked the modern design which is quite unique for a DT property and makes it less of a cookie cutter design.  However from my last stay, I did notice sadly that there were quite a lot of wear and tear already on the furnitures and fittings around the room (and hotel).   

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Breakfast

Breakfast is served at the main restaurant of the property.  The selection was quite good with lots of different hot/cold dishes and lots of local Portugese dishes.  The staff were very efficient and friendly during the whole service including picking up used plates and refilling coffee/tea.  I am not sure if they had eggs for order as this option was not presented and since I just took the scrambled eggs from the buffett, I did not ask further on this option.  

One unique feature of breakfast (not sure if it due to it being the 2nd day of Christmas) there was a solo musician in the corner performing live.  It was quite a nice addition to the breakfast area - although I guess some guests were not sure if they should clap after each piece or...no one clapped or acknowledged after each song finished.

One akward situation was that because the restaurant sits across the municipality market and office, in the morning there were quite a number of people opposite the road sitting and hanging around the entrance of the building - I had no idea what they were waiting for there (as the market and the municipality office was already opened) but quite a number of them would be staring into the restaurant.  

Overall

All in all, an OK property with OK staff.  I guess if you are an Elite member, it did seem like the recognition at this property has degraded compared to my last stay (where I was upgraded to a Suite and provided welcome drinks) and some gifts in the room.

For those that want to stick with Hilton hotels, there is not much other choices in the area. 

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