Santa Eulalia Hotel & Spa — Hotel in Albufeira

I do quite a bit of homework before choosing a holiday and did the same again this year. I finally decided to go back to Portugal, close to Albufeira, this hotel seemed a good place to go. I went with EasyJet, early June, good price but the most I've paid for, ever! Let's keep it simple. |Hotel: good location, 10 minutes from strip, nearest beach 12 minute walk slightly hilly.|Enough bars and restaurants to keep you happy, food and drinks cheap. |Hotel is clean, staff very good, can be noisy at night when youngsters return from strip, pool area good, bar service good, bar food is good and caters for the discerning British palate of chips and burgers. The main restaurant is good and serves a very good breakfast|||Let’s get down to it without the fluff, people get bored pretty quick! ||Location: Very good, 12 mins from strip, 10/12 mins from beach downhill there, little hilly on way back. Enough eating and drinking places within 15 mins range, entertainment is usually on in the bars, especially karaoke, don’t panic no one is forced! Chemists, doctors, hospitals all minutes away. Lots of souvenir shops nearby, small supermarket and excursion shops too.||Hotel: good access, stairs and ramp, lifts to all floors, clean and bright throughout, all the staff are helpful and speak English, I have seen reviews mentioning parts of the hotel is tired, yes maybe bits a pieces need an update but nothing to spoil your holiday. Rooms are clean and airy, good air-con, towels changed regularly, very good pool with huge parasols. |Food: breakfast is all you can eat buffet style and was very good, kitchen staff were great, especially the waitresses. Lots of fruit, cooked breakfast, bread, water, coffee machines, cakes, you name it, it was available. Now for dinner, which I booked for the whole two week stay. If there is not enough occupancy, the dinner is a la carte and a bit limited. There was a buffet several times and it was good but not what I am used to. |Now, on the Easyjet and Jet2 websites it says the restaurant is buffet style. So it is buffet style for the unlimited starters and deserts, there is nothing wrong with the food and the kitchen tried to accommodate us on many occasions but two weeks is too long for me on this type of menu.|I would recommend the breakfast and this can be bought daily at the hotel and also the dinner, but there are lots of options nearby and it’s not expensive. In hindsight I would have only booked breakfast.|Pros: good location, nice staff, clean, laid back, helpful, friendly.||Cons: lots of young people use the hotel and can be noisy at night on their return, the hotel in fully tiled throughout and shoes can be noisy! This may depend on where you are located in the hotel! |Only entertainment is on Saturday and Sunday afternoon. ||Tips: use the UBER app if you have it for taxis, cheap and reliable. The little road train is cheap but is too far from the nearest stop, near the old Bullring, or bottom of the Strip. | Go into the old town, worth a visit. I never used the bus service which is cheap. | Visit the Praia Santa Eulália, beds and parasols available, two restaurants, left side is expensive, 28Euro for two beds and a parasol for the day, or 14Euro for half day. On the right side of beach,20Euro for parasol and two beds for all day.||Did I have a good holiday? Yes. Would I go back? Maybe!|| For the guys and possibly girls, local beer. €3.5 a pint….€ 2 during happy hour. €3 for glass of wine Three course meal in some restaurants € 15 includes a drink as one of...

DO NOT STAY HERE!||||This is singularly the worst hotel experience I've ever had in my life. My mother and I booked the Deluxe Superior single. When entering, it was clear that the room had no sea view (blocked by a massive building in front) and was exactly the same as every other room. We noticed also a strong sewage smell inside the room, which continued for our entire stay, to the point where we couldn't sleep with the door closed because the smell was too much. ||||The sheets were not changed when the room was cleaned until we asked them. Both myself and my mother woke up with bites all over our bodies, which could have been due to red ants which were constantly crawling all over the floor of the room. ||||The hotel has no kitchen, so the breakfast is extremely minimal and the 'cooked food' has been left there cold since 7am when it is brought (presumably from somewhere else) into the dining area. That dining area is so small there is only two tables inside, so in extreme heat customers are made to eat outside as there is no alternative. ||||The pool is just by the roadside and the noise from the dual carriageway is deafening. Furthermore, I would not advise bringing children here because the pool is just open to the street where cars are travelling sometimes 70kmph! Also it's very strange to sit by a pool in your bikini and be visible on the street with a glass screen - very disconcerting and I wouldn't be comfortable again if there were children in the party because of the area's dark background (Madeleine Mccann). ||||This is not somewhere you go to relax. The hotel is so small and in such a stressful location that you cannot escape to anywhere calm. We immediately asked to leave on our second day, after learning the hotel was nothing like the pictures. They said as policy they do not offer refunds. We asked to speak with the manager (and this was a thursday) and they said she was not available and we would have to email her. I have emailed her every day since then and there has still been no response. We are now back home and she has ignored our complaint ever since. We were not allowed to see the manager, get a refund, or terminate our stay and therefore our entire holiday was ruined. ||||The hotel are looking to scam you in every way possible. We asked for towels for the pool and they charged us 20 euros per towel as a deposit. When we asked for the money to be returned, the member of staff could not find the receipt to return the money. He finally retrieved a receipt which was clearly from another customer as the card number didn't correlate with mine. I tried to point this out and was clearly becoming stressed and upset that they were saying they would not return our money, and then he threatened to call the police on me as I was disturbing other customers. ||||I have since found out that the management of this hotel is called Daniella Ferreira. You will never see or speak to her because she is hiding from accepting that this hotel is a total shambles. There are many other reviews online where customers have tried to contact her and have had no luck. If you have a problem, they will direct you to an email address which supposedly leads to her, but you never get a response. ||||A hotel without a manager is not only unsafe, but disrespectful to customers who are paying hundreds a night to stay here - YEP it costs over 230 euros a night to stay here. And that is more than the 5 star resort just across the road. Save yourself the absolute horror of this hotel and do...

We booked through booking and the booking address sent us to the wrong hotel. We then were told to walk to the correct hotel which is around 10 minutes walk in the scorching heat and sun. Both hotels are owned by the same group and hence it would be logical that the hotel facilitates a transport in one of many golf carts or buggy. We then arrived to the correct hotel, and after explaining that we were sent to the wrong hotel the front desk just said that it’s common and people from the other hotel also end up here… it’s an easy fix of updating the location on booking. At check in we were told to wait 30 minutes for the room to be ready. So we waited in the hall. The room was big and spacious with the kitchen and living room, but it is quite outdated and in an old decaying state. The bed was good with comfortable mattresses. We then head for the spa to get a massage as it was a cloudy day. The girl at the spa said there was no availability for massages despite it being empty. She said she could call to see but because she was alone two massages couldn’t be done. We requested one at a time and she said it would still not be possible, we were left with no reason. We deduce that she’d rather stay there on her phone as she was when we came in. We decided to then pay to use the spa. For singles it’s 7.50€ and for couples it’s 12.50€, + 8€ for 2 swimcaps which are required. Remember to bring swimcaps if you considering the spa. The spa itself was empty of people and had a strong odour. The temperature of the water was at roughly 27 degrees, and the pool info screen had last been updated over a day ago. The pool had too strong jets to be comfortable or relaxing and so I tried the Turkish bath and Sauna which were available. Both were quite old but regardless they functioned well. I wouldn’t lean in the sauna as there are splinters on the wood. Parallel to the pool there is a room with some resting beds, which had the ac on. Inside the spa there is also the gym which is well equipped. The restaurant serves snacks until 5pm and we had a burger and sandwich for a very reasonable price. The staff at the kitchen were excellent and very attentive. The next day for breakfast there must have been a mixup as I recalled booking with breakfast, but was informed this was not the case and the breakfast host even called front desk to check. We were given the option to pay 13€ each to have their buffet. After looking at the breakfast buffet options we chose instead to go to a highly rated and commended breakfast spot up the street called Al-Gharab where we ate well for the same price. Checkout was quick. Thank you...