Hotel Vila Galé Cerro Alagoa — Hotel in Albufeira

If you’re looking to pay 5-star prices and get service worse than a cheap hostel, this is your hotel. Our stay at Vila Galé Cerro Alagoa was a complete disaster. Here’s why this place doesn’t deserve anywhere near the 4 stars it advertises: Staff lacking professionalism and hygiene • Some employees show up to work without being properly groomed. In a 4-star hotel this isn’t just a small detail, it’s completely unacceptable. Reception: misleading information from the start • At check-in, I was told I had “requested” a street-facing room — completely false, as I always request pool or back-side rooms to avoid noise. • They tried to present it as if they were doing me a favor by giving me a back-side room, when in fact that was my preference all along. Dishonest and unprofessional. Extra bed request: we got a crib instead • I clearly requested an extra bed for my 3-year-old daughter and was given a crib. • How can a 4-star hotel fail to distinguish between the needs of a baby and a 3-year-old child? Completely careless. Pool and sunbeds: rules exist but aren’t enforced • By 7:00 a.m. guests are already placing towels on sunbeds and disappearing for hours. • The result: sunbeds occupied all day but actually empty. • The hotel sees this happening and does absolutely nothing. Rules are just for show. Overpriced and inconsistent charges • Small beer: €3.40. Large beer: €5.80. • Yet on some occasions, magically, my wife was charged €2.80 for a large beer. Does it depend on the waiter? On the day? No consistency, no transparency. Dirty and poorly maintained pool area • Cigarette butts, plastic cups and general filth. The so-called “relaxation area” looks more like the aftermath of a street party than a 4-star hotel. The Spa: forced charges while others walk in freely • We were forced to pay €12 for three swim caps to access the Spa. That could be understandable. • What’s absurd is that at the same time, people were walking straight in from the outdoor pool without caps, without control, without rules. • Some guests get charged “for hygiene,” while others are allowed in however they please. Total joke. Bar service: a complete disaster • In both hotel bars, there’s no table service. You have to get up, tell them your table number, and then they’ll bring drinks. • One day we ordered food. The waiter took the order, asked for the room number, and then vanished. After a long wait I had to go to the bar myself just to get drinks for my daughter, as it was very hot. • To top it off, they tried to charge me twice: once for the original order the waiter wrote down, and again for what I requested after waiting so long. A total mess, unacceptable for a 4-star hotel. Housekeeping: disorganized and inconsistent • Day 1: we placed the “please clean room” sign at 10:00. Returned at 15:30 and the room was still dirty. • Day 2: no sign placed, and yet they entered in the morning, forcing us to wait with our 3-year-old daughter. • They do the opposite of what makes sense. Pure chaos. Sheets and towels: changed every three days • Both sheets and towels were only changed on the third day of our stay. • In a 4-star hotel, at the very least, towels should be changed daily and sheets every other day. • Unacceptable hygiene standards for the prices they charge.

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Conclusion: Vila Galé Cerro Alagoa is not a 4-star hotel. It’s a perfect example of how to mismanage absolutely everything: reception, staff, housekeeping, bars, pool, Spa, pricing and rules. You pay premium prices, get terrible service, and leave feeling scammed. One of the worst hotel experiences we’ve ever had.

We will never come back and we do not recommend it under any circumstances. If you value your money and your holidays,...

We just came back from spending a lovely week at this hotel, we thought we would try a new hotel other than the one we used to stay and we are so glad we tried the Vila Gale. The rooms were more than big enough for the two of us, clean, modern and always came back to clean towels and the beds made up. Air conditioning was spot on and had a nice sized balcony to relax on over looking the pool area and sea views. The staff were very helpful and friendly, even happy to give us a late check out as we had a night time return flight. There is a small fridge in the room which comes with 2 bottles of water and 2 sparkling water which are chargeable to the room, also there is a safe in your room which is charges at €2.50 a day which we thought was fine. The pool area was spotless, every morning someone was attending the pool and getting it spot on around 7am. Regarding sun beds, it’s simple, if you want a good spot near the pool with an umbrella, get your towels down before 8am, as most are taken after that, but saying that there are ample amount of beds around the whole area. They do say they are trying to stop people reserving beds but it’s common everywhere so get up early. The breakfasts have plenty to choose from, hot, cold, pastries, cereal, juices, and endless amounts of coffee etc. the pool bar offers a good selection of food and drinks which are reasonably priced if you don’t go all inclusive. The hotel is literally a 10 min walk into Old Town (down hill all the way so little effort) and is about 40 mins from the airport which if using a taxi (green and black ones) will set you back about €50, Ubers work out a little more. So to sum it up, beautiful hotel, clean, recently refurbished, lovely pool, good food, will certainly be booking there...

We came in early and our room wasn't ready yet. We left our baggage and decided to take a walk around, but before I needed to use a restroom located in the lobby. My apologies for details, but this really would give you an impression of this hotel. Flushing didn't work, so horrible urine smell came through the mask. I thought, probably it's a temporary problem and maintenance is working on it. When we came back several hours later that smell still was there... Anyway. During the check in process we got surprised by a charge of ,€2.50 for safe box and.... €2 for 2 masks if we need ones. That was a first hotel in my life who charged for safe box and first hotel since pandemic who charged for mask. Finally we got into room. Beat up beds, on for all washing substance in the bathroom and unbearable tobacco smell. Oh well .. I went to reception to check if there's better rooms in this 4 stars "Resort". While I was waiting for manager for over 30 min. Another guest came by, almost screaming that his plumbing issues hasn't been solved for more than 3 hours. Remember that horrible smell in the lobby? It was still there. Manager told us that all the rooms are the same quality. So, we decided no to take any more chances in this half star motel and found much better hotel nearby. This is the most funny part. Front desk told us they can't issue us a refund and we need to request it from hotels.com. After our return I contacted hotels.com but they said they can't issue me a refund, cuz this hotel considered us to stay, and the reason we left is on us and there no refund. What a shame! I understand we all got hit by the situation, but to loose your face and reputation over a few €. That's a...