After mostly good reviews my expectations were high for this apartment complex so I will split this review into two.
The good;-
Hotel grounds - Nice landscaping, flowers, palm trees and setting
Location- 5 mins from the strip, 30 min walk from the old town and within 10 mins walk of Fishermans beach and Oura beach. A great central location thats close enough to all the main attractions but in a quiet location which was great
Hotel staff - Always friendly and helpful, can't knock em',
The apartment - Excellent, all you need with tasteful furnishings, 2 air conditioning units, great views of pool. Bathroom with bath and shower. Plenty of plug sockets, lovely bedroom all lit with classy LED lighting as well us the usual standard lighting.
The "Need to do better";-
Bars - The indoor bar never seemed to have any staff to serve you, the Pool bar didnt open till 11am (Although it was nearer 11.30am most days). The bar often had nobody to serve you. It also closed around 7pm, so if you fancied a drink near the pool outside it was a non starter. The bar staff were friendly but sometimes got the drinks and food order wrong due to their lack of English.
Bar Prices - A bottle of beer was 3.50 Euros, the best value drink was freshly squeezed orange at 2 euros. 3.50 For a beer seemed the same throughout the resort which is a bit steep I thought.
Food and Prices - At 13.50 Euros per person for breakfast we never bothered, you could get a full English breakfast over the road for 4.50. It would of cost of 40 Euros just for breakfast which is far too expensive. We did have lunch from the pool bar which was also expensive for the quality (Cheesburger and fries 7.50, Basic pasta 8.50, Toastie 3.50), the food was ok but nothing special and didnt justify the price.
Pool area - It claims to have 3 pools, It has 2, One standard pool which is fairly small but adequate and a childrens pool split into 2 for toddlers and kids. There are quite a lot of tiles missing from around the pool which is dangerous. Also the plastic grids around the pool often come off and nobody bothers to fix them. A lady fell down after falling down one and hurt herself whilst we were there. The sunbeds are too close to the pool which results in getting a soaking when someone jumps in close to you. I only saw the pool get cleaned once in 2 weeks, there was often various oddities at the bottom ranging from half eaten sweets to money!
Pool rules ;- This was a joke!!! There are rules which state - No playing of football in the pool, No Diving in the pool, Children must be accompanied by an adult, Only food and drink purchased from the pool bar can be consumed in the pool area, sunbeds must not be taken from the pool area. Every single one of these rules are ignored by holidaymakers and hotel staff. The most annoying being hit by balls at least 2/3 times a day when your trying to relax.
What is their target holidaymaker?- There was a mix of groups of lads, families, couples etc. The groups of lads could often be intimidating getting drunk and being load, swearing and fooling around. This was not acceptable with young children and families around and only once I heard a group of mid 40's men get told to be quieter. If you were a group of lads/girls out for a good laugh and bars/clubs holiday you would be a bit peeved at tapering your behaviour to suit families and vice versa.
Cleaning / Maids - The maids did a great job of cleaning, In the first week they would clean between 9am-1pm which was ideal. However in week 2, they didnt arrive till after 4pm which was inconvenient if you were getting ready to out for the evening.
Kitchen - This was the apartments only let down. As others have mentioned, No Toaster, We asked for one and got it the 1st day. It states there is a juicer, none present. Not enough glasses, No wine glasses. Only tiny cups and very few cooking utensils.
Toilets - The mens toilets around the pool was always without toilet paper, I was informed by my wife that it was always there in the ladies! They were reasonably clean.
Pillows - The pillows are small and not comfortable at all, but the beds were fine although it was 2 singles pushed together which seems to be standard these days.
Evening activities - Non existent, as mentioned earlier the outside bar closes at 7pm, no entertainment at all (Which we didnt want anyway as more often than not it's poor). However to have an evening drink outside would have been nice.
Money exchange - This is the first hotel I have ever been to that does not change travellers cheques, we had to walk a mile to the nearest one which became a regular journey throughout the 2 weeks
Summary - I am not sure how Portugal rates and stars it's hotels, this was rated four star. At first glance it looks four star, the room decor echoes four star, However the lack of attention to detail and general maintenance lets it down.
Would I visit again ;- If this hotel took more care about the basics I would go back without question as the room and hotel grounds are lovely. But as it stands I wouldnt stay again until they pay attention to the following;-
- Pool safety
- Adequate service from the bars
- Review the prices in line with surrounding cafe's and restaurant's
- Provide sufficient cooking utensils, glasses and a toaster (Without asking)
- Either make this a family friendly and couples hotel or state that large same sex groups are welcome (So I know not to book)
- Enforce the pool rules, or take the signs down to avoid any conflict between holidaymakers when they get regularly hit by balls and other flying objects.
I really wanted to provide a good review for this hotel as it has so much potential, but in the interests of others i've been honest. I myself use these reviews as a guide so believe the more information I can provide, the better informaed choices you can make.
So my final message to the Areias Village - " Clean up your act, take note of the feedback and I will be back, Until then I will be looking at other hotels.
