Pestana Fisherman Village - Camara de Lobos — Hotel in Câmara de Lobos

Pros -|Our room was ready early, which was appreciated after an early flight|Large double bed, which was VERY comfortable. One of the most comfortable hotel beds I have ever slept in - Shame about the pillows!|Bathroom not huge, but adequate. Shower was powerful, with lots of hot water and complimentary shampoo/shower gel|Very useful double USB socket and USB sockets at each side of the bed|Complimentary traditional Madeiran cookies and bottled water, which was replaced daily. Fridge in room which was great for keeping drinks cold. Room was spotlessly clean throughout our stay.|1 comfy chair in room, with a foot stool, which doubled up as a seat, not ideal for 2 guests to use.|Nice rooftop terrace. Pool big enough to swim, not 25 metres, but ok for a quick swim and pool towels provided in room. Small vending machine on rooftop. Plenty of sunloungers|Breakfast was good, with reasonable choice, including cereal, bread, cheese, meat, fruit and cooked items. Not all breakfast items were replenished!||Cons - |Room 112 overloking street and restaurants. Quite noisy, especially at the weekend, with noise until the early hours of the morning, not from the restaurants but the bars further down the street.|Pillows were lumpy and not very supportive|Not many drawers or hangers - exposed wardrobe which I personally don't like! |No hooks in bathroom for towels. Bathrobes not provided, unlike other 4-star hotels we have stayed at in Madeira. |Egg menu at breakfast with an extra charge. €6 for an omelette!!|One morning the pastel de natas were very overcooked and inedible, which was such a shame.|Breakfast staff made no attempt to acknowledge any guests.|No proper shower facilities on the rooftop terrace, only a toilet & washbasin.|Hotel does not have a proper bar, but as we were checking out I noticed a limited drinks list on reception. Not mentioned at time of check-in. Pool table in lounge area, but no details of where to get the balls from and reception wasn't...

We definitely enjoyed our stay in Pestana Fisherman Village. The location is wonderful, Camara de Lobos is a cute little fisherman village - as the name says - with a wonderful view. The staff was wonderful, our rooms were clean, we got a new bottle of water in the room every day, it was nice to enjoy the swimming pool on the deck after a long day of hiking as well! Never too crowded.

One night we tried sleeping with our windows open, but there was quite a lot of noise outside. But, with the windows closed, we slept like babies! We used the nearby parking lot, which comes in handy because of its proximity and had to pay 12 euro per day to the hotel. They registered our license plate, nothing else we had to do or think of. There was another parking available for 7,5 euros per day (if I'm not mistaken), a little further away. Parking is only paid between 8AM-8PM on weekdays by the way, so might not even be necessary to pay for some travellers. One morning we arrived at 10AM to breakfast and almost all bread and all pastries were gone, there wasn't anything left, and that's too bad maybe, to not have the guarantee that you'll still have food when you arrive later. On the other hand, there were other options available like fruit, yoghurt and cereal. On our last night we asked for a to-go box for breakfast because we had to leave before breakfast was served, and we were a little bit disappointed by what was in it. In my opinion, it might be interesting to ask what people would prefer in it? Anyway, we're happy that this service was offered.

Overall, we had a really good stay and would definitely...

The location is very good, the breakfast of good quality and varied, and the welcome detail as well as the daily bottle of water in the room are appreciated. However, the experience was not up to what one would expect from a hotel of this category. The room was noisy at night and rather small and cramped, and several issues added up: the telephone did not work, the TV remote control had no batteries, the first minibar did not cool and the replacement did not work properly either, and at times the hot water took several minutes to come out. With the bed and bath linen, a reasonable minimum standard was also not met: towels were not properly replenished and on more than one occasion had stains, and during a full seven-night stay in the middle of summer the sheets were never changed. The most disappointing incident was the reaction of the cleaning staff when I asked for a change of towels: instead of offering a professional solution, they laughed loudly between themselves immediately afterwards, which made me feel disrespected as a guest. Despite reporting all these problems to reception on several occasions, the only answer was that it would be passed on to the housekeeper, without any apology or effective solution being offered. All in all, a hotel with a good base in terms of location and breakfast, but with serious shortcomings in maintenance, quality control and staff professionalism, which negatively marked...