Sao Rafael Suite Hotel

Reception - AI does not start until 4pm when you can check in. We arrived 10.30am so had to pay for lunch which technically we had already paid for. No welcome drinks on arrival offered. 2. The rooms - suite 118, 2 bedroom suite. Large rooms, lovely beds, TV in each room, bathroom plus ensuite. Fridge shocking though, broken, seal split, full of ice. Did not keep cold despite the ice. Had to repeatedly ask for tea bags and felt like hotel rationed toilet rolls. Also hand soap not replaced when we asked for more. Dressing gowns and slippers in room, plenty of wardrobe space. 2 safes. 3. Balcony glass - very dirty amd sea gull droppings. Why this was not cleaned when the window cleaner cleaned the glass by the restaurant. 4. Pool bar closes 5th Oct so the small indoor bar open. Only 1 bar staff, long waits and queues each day and night. Very frustrating. 5. Restaurant- good selection of food. Although staff were slow to refill cutlery and cups. Also no ingredients listed under each dish, which is worrying as we have a nut and milk allergy in our family. 6. Games room and tennis courts great. 7. Spa - great but steam and sauna rooms inside changing room, not poolside. No water machine close by. This is extra cost. 8. Pools - 2x large plus baby pool. Clean and nice. 9. Table tennis table. 10. Outdoor gym - great. Under trees so shaded. 11. Indoor gym - great, lots of weights but small. Mirrors, 1 treadmill, 1 bike. Open 24 hours. Portugal Old Town - buzzing and very busy but great atmosphere. Lovely restaurants.

Haven’t stayed here since it’s partial revamp which looks great , it’s seriously never a 5 star hotel . How can you make people walk from the pool area all the way to the lobby bar for a drink which you also need to get in a lift then once at the bar there is only one person behind it serving, the queue was ridiculous. One bar for the whole hotel is not good , I understand it winds down at the end of season but keep the pool bar open it was definitely busy enough. Food , while everything I ate was fine there definitely wasn’t enough choice only a few hot options . The tiny amount of cocktail options was very poor , if you’re charging 5 star prices then it should be reflected in the service. Lastly the female bar steward seriously needs to learn some customer care she was so rude and miserable. I’ve been coming here and the other Nau hotel Sao rafeal Atlantico for over 12 years but really don’t think we’ll be back

1st impression, Clean hotel, friendly and helpful reception staff . Not able to start using all inclusive benefits until 3-4pm?? We arrived at 130. Found this very strange as usually we are able to check in on arrival. Spacious room, much bigger than expected. Food selection at poolside great, lunch and evening meal in main restaurant not much selection to choose from. Pool games fun, shout out to Miguel and “crazy man” ! Always lots of laughs! sun beds always available. Things we would change would be : Tea and coffee readily available at dinner time, for some reason all coffee/tea is not available in the restaurant after breakfast?

Drinks at dinner are served by the waiters/waitresses, this can sometimes cause a long wait and on occasion we had finished our dinner before drinks order was taken, again it would save a lot of hassle if the hotel just switched the coffee machines on and had a couple of soft drink dispensers for self serve.

We had to visit reception a couple of times as the teabags/coffee in the room were never replenished, not a huge problem and reception staff were always very helpful and very polite.

I would just say that if a few little things were addressed and a bit more attention to detail then this would be a 5 star hotel, very good hotel but I feel it just falls below that due to the reasons mentioned.