Paraiso de Albufeira — Hotel in Albufeira

Came for a 5 night get away in October, would not recommend at all.

On arrival, the hotel reception staff were very friendly, which was nice as we'd had a delayed flight and transfer so it was 2am by the time we got to the hotel. We had to pay a "tourist tax" on arrival, which wasn't expensive, but we didn't know about it before hand.

At 2am, the hotel had nowhere it could provide bottled water, no vending machine, no shop. I had to walk to a kebab shop on the corner of the complex (outside) to buy some water. I thought that was bizarre as they sell weed products in the hotel vending machines, but not water...

The first night, I was too tired to notice just how uncomfortable the bed was, but by night 3 my neck and back did a good job at reminding me. The beds are awful, with sprung mattresses that have well passed their useable life. The bedding was stained and the pillows felt like they were stuffed with socks, the stuffing all separated over night and left me lying in a void with a cricked neck.

The rooms are dated, in fact the entire hotel decor is dated. We stayed in room 745, which faced the outside of the complex. This was fine, but the balcony is seriously unsafe for children. The wall is really low, lhip height for an adult. How the hotel haven't seen falls is beyond me.

Out room was in pretty bad shape, with towel railings broken, only 1 working plug socket (which happens to be above the sink.. there are none near the bed), the TV was damaged with a blue spot in the center. There are tons of switches in the room, like light switches, that don't do anything at all. Working out the lights was ridiculous.

The facilities were pretty bad too. We had a self service room, but decided that the facilities were too poor for us to actually prepare food. Not only that, the room was booked for 3 people, but the table and chairs provided only sat 2 people, and needed dragging about to actually make use of it where it was stored.

The noise in the room was bad, not from outside, but from appliances in the room. The Air-conditioning continuously buzzed, with a super bright "20" that lit up the room shown on the front. The fridge was the loudest fridge in the world, rumbling away every 10minutes, loud enough to wake me up through the night.

The first full day we had, we decided to check out the local area, which is really nice. The beach is amazing, with a lovely sandy beach, amazing restaurants and cafes. If it weren't for the local area, this holiday wouldn't have been a holiday at all. We spent nearly all of our time outside of the hotel.

The one occasion we tried to use the pool was seriously dissatisfying. The outdoor pool is a good size, and deep in places for adults who want to swim, but it is definitely not big enough for the hotel it is supporting and that was really evident as we were there off season and still struggled to get sunbeds.

The sunbed situation is stupid. There are 3 types of bed. Blue ones with adjustable backs that are around the poolside, first come first serve, but not many. White lay-flat ones around the wider area. And some black/grey ones that are fully adjustable that are a bit further away, but face the highpoint of the sun, which the hotel charge €7.50 each for!

Not only this, but the staff were really unhelpful and rude at the poolside. We wanted to buy drinks, but the poolside bar is cash only (and it's cash only for the pool towel hire that they don't provide for free) so we went to the main bar and used card to buy drinks. On going back to the pool, the staff stopped us saying "only drinks bought at the poolside bar van be drank by the pool", which is a stupid rule as surely it's all the same company. The pool experience was as a let down, not only that, but the pool was full of sand and the water was salty. Really not worth it.

The gym is actually really good, but expensive and not included as a facility with the room (not our package anyway)

The indoor pool looked nice, but another stupid rule of a "swim caps are mandatory" put us off from trying it as the...

Where do I start? Upon arriving we were given a room with an outer balcony door that does not lock. Got put in twin bed room when we had paid for a double bed, and placed right next to the lift and stair well, so every single person coming or going we heard. With the door windows closed there’s a whirring sound around the door frames when it’s windy, or you can have the outer door slightly open and hear all the noise of the traffic or rowdy passers by. So a quality sleep was never on the cards.

There was also a strong smell in our room every night, as though someone had been frying chips or Chinese food. It stunk to high heaven and was quite nauseating.

We asked if we could change rooms, we were told we would have to pay A LOT more for a room with a double bed! We had already paid for one!

Next there’s the maids, who are knocking you up at 9am, disturbing the little sleep you may be catching up on from the restless night before it. When they do clean your room, it’s always a half job. Sometimes the bed gets made. Sometimes the towels get changed. The floor was never once cleaned. Even on our last day, after another poor nights sleep, they were knocking on the door at 10am. Why bother when we were checking out at noon? Only two working plug sockets in the entire room. The rest all smashed / broken / dangerous.

As for the hotel receiving a 4* rating….. was this awarded back in 1993? The place is terribly dated. Unless it is the hotel’s sole aim is provide the best 1990’s tribute experience in the Algarve.

The lighting throughout much of the hotel would make sense if it were attempting to simulate a horror movie. Much of the hotel is very dimly lit, and parts smell like there could be a dead body laid in the corner.

On our last day my wife and I were attempting to catch up on a bit of rest whilst waiting for our transfer to pick us up, in the main bar area. We decided to get 10 minutes in the sun before going to collect our suitcases. Upon going back into the bar, a Joe Pesci with a wig lookalike (basically the Portuguese version of Tommy from GoodFellas) who turned out to be the hotel manager, informs me that he had found my wallet on the sofa and to collect it from the reception desk (bear in mind, NOBODY else was in the bar when we left it, or when we returned to it 10 minutes later). The manager was the only person to touch my wallet, or move it from where it was left, which had fell out of my pocket and would’ve been tucked away in the corner of the sofa.

I got my wallet and immediately checked the contents, only to find that £260 and €20 was missing. I immediately asked for the manager and as soon as he saw me he already knew what the problem was going to be! He just said ‘nope, nope, nothing…..’ and was doing that nervous sort of smile people do when they’re being dishonest. The way he spoke to me was as though the wallet was mine and what he found inside it was his, as though it was his finders fee. Shocking.

I am 100% positive he stole the money from my wallet, but spoke to me as though there was never any in it! I’d literally just bought a drink from the bar 30 minutes prior and paid cash!

After having read other reviews for this hotel, it doesn’t seem like it’s the first time theft has occurred where their staff are concerned, and he definitely lived up to the comments of others where they’ve had an issue. If the guy wants to try and charge you €7 to hire a broken sun lounger for the day it’s safe to say that he’s the sort of person who’s sole aim is to empty his guests wallets in whatever manner possible.

Steer well clear and book the Brisa Sol just up the road, which is a far...

Hotel paraiso apartmento de albufeira Honest to God holiday from HELL!!! We booked my mam and dad a weeks holiday the first week of May for there 40th wedding anniversary. Only two of them,so we booked a studio apartment, so first of all they arrive... there's works going on and drills going all day, annoying but no worries were not fussy, and then also water spraying onto our balcony so we couldn't sit there so we asked to move but got told we got what we paid for. We arrived on Wednesday , Thursday night our apartment was robbed. All cash and bank cards gone. Before anyone says about a phone , my ma and da are old school wouldn't be able to tap a phone or set up. Took me two hours to explain how to freeze her revolut Card and cancel her ptsb bank card. The police arrived friday and the first thing they said was " the woman here has cancer" and asked my mam to prove it. My ma held up a bag of medication which actually held no cancer meds because at the min her cancer is stable(done chemo and radiation and cancer hasn't moved in a year but still there 🥲 BUT ACTUALLY WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE IF SHE DID OR NOT ?? AND WHAT BUSINESS OF THERES WAS IT ???police then said cctv was broke which is like laughable and asked nothing about what was taken and told them not to bother the hotel. 6pm friday my ma rang me to to let me no what happened. I said no worries mam ill ring the hotel and sort out something, surely if I pay over the phone with my card they will give cash back to yous , at this point they have 14 euro to there name to eat, drink and to be honest be on bloody holiday and enjoy there time there. A man called MIGUEL answered . RUDE RUDE RUDE NO HELP AT ALL. I get people have a job to do but is there no humanity in this world. I asked could I send money through and he told me to call back, I did 15mins later. He said it wasn't the hotels problem. It was a problem of "your parents " I said I'm not asking you to take money out of your own pocket. Western union is closed, they have no bank cards, dad has a Nokia 32-10 and 15 euro cash can u please just take my card number and give them cash back. He refused. Anyways between that lots of back and forth with hotel. They wouldn't meet me anywere. I told my mam and dad to check out and they have moved to luna sol aqua just so my ma could sleep. I get alot of people have had great time's here. Some of my family have but honest to god if ya can't help people out at a time like that what kind of person are you. I've worked in hospitality my whole life and I have never seen the likes. Not one person from the hotel approached my mam and dad to offer a tea, water ..NOTHING!!! It was like I was asking MIGUEL to take it from his own pocket. My mam and dad were scared to stay in a room we're they were robbed. There wasn't a bit of sympathy or compassion or an offer to change room.This all happened while my mam was asleep in the room. I'm just so disgusted that a hotel would treat people like this. They offered nothing to help. I wouldn't give them another euro. Please avoid. Nice place but obviously bad things happen there. My mam and dad have said now they feel like they had been watched all week. Sick to my stomach over it all. I hope one day one of the staffs parents don't need help in another country AVOID AVOID AVOID SHOCKING TREATMENT. THE PLACE IS DANGEROUS

My mam and dad returned to Dublin 3 days early because they were terrified. Disgraceful holiday from...