Montebelo Vista Alegre Ílhavo Hotel — Hotel in Ílhavo

Not a 5 star experience The hotel is in a beautiful location overlooking a river and part of a porcelain factory. The décor is very beautiful and contains a lot of porcelain. There is a museum and two shops on the premises that shows and sells porcelain, well worth a visit.

The hotel is classed as a 5-star hotel but doesn’t live up to its classification. We were upgraded to a suite, which was very nice, but had to wait 30 minutes for someone to show us the directions to our room. The direction was made by a young boy who didn’t know how long it would take to get to the hotel, didn’t know where we should park and couldn’t drive us in the buggy since he didn’t have a driving license. After standing for 10 minutes and trying to get an answer from him we started walking and found the room only 3 minutes’ walk away…

The room was nice and quite large but not really cosy. It had a small outdoor seating area from where you could see the river standing up, but also the carpark.

After settling into our room, we went to the pool bar for some sandwiches. After waiting for 30 minutes, we asked for our sandwiches and they had forgotten about them, at that time we were the only guests at the bar. The pool bar was the only open bar during daytime (the second bar opened 7PM) and had very limited offerings. No draught beer at all and only very small glasses of sparkling wine, to mention two things.

We hade breakfast the first day about an hour before closing time and almost everything on the buffet was empty or nearly empty and it took long time (or never) for the staff to refill. There were a lot of tables around us that didn’t get cleaned for our stay at the breakfast.

Later that day we explored the surroundings and the hotel called around 3 PM and asked if we wanted our room cleaned. We had left a sign on the door and all, but one, towels on the bathroom floor and was really surprised by the question. On the second day our room was cleaned but not until after 4 PM (and we had left a sign on the door since 10 AM).

Breakfast the following days did not improve and neither did the pool bar (there weren’t any other restaurants or bar nearby). All in all, a nice looking hotel in a somewhat remote location but more a 2 to...

The hotel is in a beautiful location overlooking a river and part of a porcelain factory. The décor is very beautiful and contains a lot of porcelain. There is a museum and two shops on the premises that shows and sells porcelain, well worth a visit.||The hotel is classed as a 5-star hotel but doesn’t live up to its classification. We were upgraded to a suite, which was very nice, but had to wait 30 minutes for someone to show us the directions to our room. The direction was made by a young boy who didn’t know how long it would take to get to the hotel, didn’t know where we should park and couldn’t drive us in the buggy since he didn’t have a driving license. After standing for 10 minutes and trying to get an answer from him we started walking and found the room only 3 minutes’ walk away…||The room was nice and quite large but not really cosy. It had a small outdoor seating area from where you could see the river standing up, but also the carpark.||After settling into our room, we went to the pool bar for some sandwiches. After waiting for 30 minutes, we asked for our sandwiches and they had forgotten about them, at that time we were the only guests at the bar. The pool bar was the only open bar during daytime (the second bar opened 7PM) and had very limited offerings. No draught beer at all and only very small glasses of sparkling wine, to mention two things.||We hade breakfast the first day about an hour before closing time and almost everything on the buffet was empty or nearly empty and it took long time (or never) for the staff to refill. There were a lot of tables around us that didn’t get cleaned for our stay at the breakfast.||Later that day we explored the surroundings and the hotel called around 3 PM and asked if we wanted our room cleaned. We had left a sign on the door and all, but one, towels on the bathroom floor and was really surprised by the question. On the second day our room was cleaned but not until after 4 PM (and we had left a sign on the door since 10 AM).||Breakfast the following days did not improve and neither did the pool bar (there weren’t any other restaurants or bar nearby).|All in all, a nice looking hotel in a somewhat remote location but more a 2 to...

It's a good hotel but not an "excellent" hotel, which for its price and 5 star rating leaves you wishing for more. Indeed, the hotel is very nicely decorated, rooms are very well sized and comfortable. The breakfast was also excellent even with the covid-19 limitations. But then the service... a 5-star hotel should stand out in this department and it doesn't.

Two examples: Hour room wasn't ready (for a 4pm check-in) and took an extra hour. They just informed us of about this and told us they'd call us when it's ready. They aren't apologetic at all, it's almost like we're being a nuisance for wanting to checkin at time. A higher standard of service would be more apologetic and immediately offer us a drink or make sure we had a good time while waiting. They simply don't care.

Second example: the rainy shower piece was broken in our bathroom. What I'd expect: once informed, to apologise, to immediately try and fix the issue. What I got: a lady who's annoyed to receive this information and only response was "I will tell maintenance". Maintenance never showed up and I had to go and tell them again, the next day, I still had an issue. The next day they showed up as I was getting out of the shower - they said they'd come again later and never came. Nobody checked again or asked about this.

Would definitely overlook any other issues for a lower rated and cheaper hotel, but at this tier this is simply...