Kimpton Atlântico Algarve — Hotel in Albufeira

SHAM OF A HOTEL!

Although the location of this hotel was as advertised, that is exactly where the reflection of a five star hotel stops.

From the moment you step inside the hotel, you are greeted with a drab brown, dated hotel lobby with paint peeling, ripped carpet and sparse lighting in the hallways. The staff at the front desk are quite unfriendly. Even though we had booked two rooms adjacent to each other (we had upgraded them both), the staff informed us that only one room had been upgraded and to make matters worse the rooms were on opposite ends of the property and on different floors. This of course did not suit our family with young kids and the only way they seemed responsive to resolving this issue is when I asked if I could speak to a manager. Apparently, both rooms hadn't been upgraded and the only way they could fix the issue was for us to downgrade our other room.

The issues did not stop with the room allocation. While my husband and younger son stayed in one room, I was in another with my eldest. Imagine our surprise when we walk into the second room (around 10:30 PM) and a toxic smell greets us, emanating from the shower/drainage area. The room smelled as if sewage was leaking and was definitely not something we felt comfortable staying in, considering the unknown putrid stench could be harmful to our health. My husband called the front desk and we were told this 5 star hotel had no manager on site and they were unable to move us to a different room as the hotel was full. The hotel reception sent maintenance to spray chemicals in the bathroom and we were advised despite our pleas of the awful smell in the room to "DEAL WITH IT", until the morning. At that point my husband and I marched down to the front desk where we advised the staff that if no alternate room was provided then we (my husband and I) would sleep in the hotel lobby. Magically, a room was made available to us. My elder son and I, having no other choice walked through the hallways in our pyjamas to go to our room around midnight. We asked that the manager call us in the morning but were told that the manager doesn't start the shift until after 2:00 PM. We also asked if we could cancel the 2nd nights reservation but were advised again that the reservations department was closed until 9 am the following day but rest assured the hotel manager would contact us in the morning to resolve our concerns.

The saga continued the next day as we were not contacted by management We finally tracked down the manager mid afternoon (3 pm). We shared our concerns: primarily the unsafe conditions emanating from the smell in the room and the secondary issues related to non responsive management and massive inconvenience. Rita Fernandes (the manager), acknowledged the issues. We told her to be fair, since our first day at the hotel was a complete nightmare, we should be refunded for one of our two night stay, at the hotel. She said to contact booking.com for the refund and they would be in touch with hotel admin, since the reservation was booked through that platform.

My husband reached out to booking.com the next day and imagine to our surprise when the agent told us that they couldn't help us since the management of Sao Rafael Atlantico, ignored all of their attempts to communicate. Upon returning home, I further followed up to no avail with Sao Rafael Atlantico.

The following day I received a note from the hotel manager advising that contrary to our discussion and for the distress caused the hotel would provide a 25% refund for one night. However, I was able to get the coordinates for the General Manager of the hotel. We sent a note to the General Manager (Bruno Silva) and have followed up twice over the past week since then with no follow-up from this seemingly 5-star hotel. Moreover, Booking.com has also launched its own investigation as their emails/calls have gone unanswered by the hotel (Nau Sao Rafael Atlantico).

Be warned, the five-star rating of this hotel is highly inaccurate of the premises or service provided...

Beautiful hotel with lovely grounds. We arrived several hours before check in so hotel took and secured our luggage.Very good check in and were advised we could explore hotel while waiting for our room. We went upstairs to rooftop bar and got something to eat. Nice menu & I ate a salad, perfectly acceptable but not mind blowing.Very comfortable area with lovely views.

We were updated to a garden room which smelt wonderful and was very spacious.Beds were twins but housekeeping came promptly and pushed tiger to make up a King sized bed.The only negative were the amount of cigarette buts in the garden but apart from that room was very clean. Huge shower which was amazing & heating worked well. Breakfast sitting was a bit chaotic at times and we had to queue a few times. This may have been because it was cold so outside seating was not an option. Coffee served was luke warm so my Husband opted to get his own from machine which was fine. Extensive breakfast menu including lots of fruit, salad and vegetables that suited me being vegetarian. Personalised Egg making station was very good and my Husband enjoyed the freshly made Omelettes. Didn't eat at the restaurant as we prefer to dine out and the €27.50 for the buffet was not cost effective for us. We did however have the Sushi twice and I cannot recommend highly enough. I had the Tofu broth and Vegan Sushi which was amazing value for money at €6.The gentleman server at Sushi bar was so welcoming and pleasant also. I went to the rooftop bar and got a serving of sweet potato fries for €4 a couple of times and it was nicely wrapped up so I could take back to our room. Room service would have charged an extra €8 for any spend under €15. Within 10 mins walking distance there are a couple of restaurants and bars. We ate in Margem Sul which was not very Veggie friendly for me so I just had some soup which was great. My Husband had the Fish and he said it was really good. Nice service & perfect for an intimate dinner. Another evening we went to the Ponte Grande sports Bar. Really busy restaurant and again my Husband enjoyed his Sea Bass but my Veg curry was sweet and not very nice. Not the sort of curry I am used to. Would recommend for families and non vegetarians. Had a good evening there regardless as live Tina, Mariah and Abba singer was performing. Hotel is a short cab ride from Marina which also has a few restaurants. We used the shuttle to the old town several times but I feel the timetable could be extended to leave a bit later than 5pm. Not a deal breaker as Uber's are reasonable. The only disappointing things about this hotel is the Spa and Gym. We were given a day complimentary pass for the Spa but unfortunately the Steam was not working.It is usually €10 per day. I complained twice and ask reception too pass on my comments to the manager but nobody got back to me so we didn't bother to pay to use it again. It's a nice area but nothing amazing as far as Spas go. Large area but design was not to my taste and also I didn't feel particularly comfortable in changing rooms as felt the possibility of a male person walking in was likely due to signage & door being left open. The Gym was also a let down for my Husband, being a personal trainer he was not at all happy with the lack of maintenance of equipment and broken machines. Really not complying with health & saftey. I would request if hotel has a compulsory swimming hat policy they look at the diversity of clientele & have hats that can fit. We were very happy with the staff & their care. It was also so nice to get a cake & bottle left in our room for my Husbands birthday.

All in all a nice hotel in a good location to suit all. The beach is a short walk and has a small restaurant with nice views, would...

My review will be long but hopefully it will help many people to choose the right hotel. Hotel is beautiful, we had a Double Room and it was very spacious and clean, the view was really nice, we liked the design as we’re both designers. What we were missing in the Room was a good tv, some “cosiness” and ergonomic solutions. TV didn’t work all the time, I couldn’t count how many times it got stuck and we were angry, the WiFi connection was lost many times too and I think this is something the hotel needs to work on cause we also heard the TV was stuck next door. The bathroom was very dark, it’s hard to see anything in that little mirror. It was also missing some hangers and more shelves in the shower. The room missed and USB socket to charge the phone without the adapter, in all 5* hotels we could have it before. The HUGE minus is the service charge. If you order something that costs less than €15 you have to pay €8 (!!) for service charge. This is a joke!!!! The Bar serves really nice food and drinks, they are not too pricy, we were usually sharing meal for two during lunches as the portions were quite big. Staff is nice, they do their best to leave you satisfied. If the Hotel Management reads this, can you please add to your menu ice coffees, frappes? It would be so amazing to have it there. We were ordering coffee and ice and were doing ice coffees by ourselves. Seven Seas Buffet is spacious, staff is very nice as well, we never felt like we’re not taken care of. Breakfasts were nice but they were all the same for 9 days.. I think it would be nice to change it once a while or add new things as people get bored really quickly. Dinners in the Buffet were amazing, food had a really nice quality, we liked many things - especially desserts (Big bravo to the Dessert Chief!). The main minus is a small selection of food and some meat was dry sometimes. Also, it missed some “coziness” the space is almost “too modern”. They could add some pictures, lamps, decorations to make the hall more pleasant to sit in. Fado Restaurant.. when we went in we thought it’s a joke. It’s just an empty room with some tables, doesn’t really look like a restaurant. It misses “Restaurant Vibe”, doesn’t have any decorations, candles, nothing. Food was amazing though so I can’t say anything bad except that I was waiting for the dessert for half an hour but it was amazing so I forgive them :) Pool, we loved it. It was clean, big and beautiful and we enjoyed the time there. People didn’t run at 6am with towels to save the sun beds as the policy of the hotel forbids this kind of behaviour, we really appreciated it cause we could always find a spot when we wanted. SPA is nice and cozy, we didn’t use any treatments but we really liked the atmosphere there, the pool and gym are in reasonable size as well. Gardens are beautiful, view is amazing, short walk to the beach where the views is amazing and there’s a nice Restaurant as well. You can also do some hiking around cliffs which adds this place a value. Location is really nice, it missed a shop closely though, the big plus is to have a free shuttle to Albufeira three times a day. We also recommend seeing other beaches, Praia dos Ariffes is super close and it has an amazing restaurant too. Hotel staff is very helpful, they do the best to leave you happy and satisfied. Even with the minuses we really enjoyed the stay and we left really relaxed and satisfied. We give this place 4 stars because it needs some upgrades to be a real...