Farol Hotel — Hotel in Cascais

OK, I'm going to start my review with a quiz for your next hotel staff meeting!

There are two fundamentals that every hotel on the planet MUST achieve before anything else, these are ONE of the following, is it;

Designer staff uniforms and a wonderful reception lobby?

Expensive artwork and a piano in the common areas?

Nice quality, clean, quiet guest room and a great night's sleep?

A superb location on the seafront like ours, so we don't have to worry about anything else?!

I know the reception staff are hoping for number 1. And the management, especially the pianist in the group, thinks its number 2! But unfortunately its number 3! And your hotel failed miserably! Those terrible guests that pay your wages want their rooms improved and need to stop the owners buying another sculpture...! Horrid people!

Anyway, I'm sure theirs some specialist quality coffee and a muffin in the corner of your meeting room to go have a little sob over!

OK, here's my story;

I usually stay at the Grande Real Villa Itália Hotel & Spa in Cascais, but just 2 minutes walk away was this very designer boutique hotel called the Farol Hotel, right on the water and looked amazing!

Don't judge a book by its cover comes to mind... but in this case, in the wrong way!! I decided to leave my usual haunt and try them out... what a big mistake! As you walk in, all looks amazing, artwork everywhere, smart, polite reception staff, designer furniture, piano, quality drapery etc. etc! Then you get to your room! That's where it all ends abruptly! Small dark room, broken switches, stained carpet, ikea quality furniture, shower pressure of a twisted garden hose and mold on the shower tray (see my photos)! They definitely dont extend their expensive furniture or quality into the room! Twice the price of my usual room across the road and of an incredibly lower quality! I should have just treated myself to the Grand Suite, twice the size and incredible quality, in my other hotel for the same price!

Never stay in room 102! There are two sewage pipes coming down from the upstairs rooms with a thin boxing over them, with no sound insulation. All evening and many times during the night, it's like sleeping just outside a shower cubicle that keeps coming on!

Breakfast was dire, no where near where a 5 star hotel should be. Terrible selection and of average quality. Also, just before we left the room at 7.50am for breakfast we heard noise outside our door, as we opened the door a cleaner was surrounding our doorway with room cleaning gear (see photo)! Like saying, "hope you're leaving soon"!!

It's seems to me that you are paying for them to buy more expensive artwork and furniture for the reception and lobbies. Got to be the worst room I've ever paid 300€ for 1 night for! So if that's what you're into, good luck, but I'm going back to the Grande Real Villa Itália in future.

P.S. You got 1 star for question number 4.! But see my photos... is this a 5 star...

I think the best way to start this review would be to say that our stay here was AMAZING. Before booking we read the most recent reviews and these were all mixed. We decided to give it a go anyway and this was the best thing we did. The location is just amazing (just 10 min walk to the historic centre of Cascais). This is not a big hotel, it is small and cosy and the atmosfere is great. We read some of the reviews where people were saying that the furniture could use an upgrade, some were saying that this is not a 5 star hotel and that this place is too expensive for what it has to offer. Well... after my experience here I can assure you that this is not the case. And yes, maybe the room furniture is not the newest and the poshest but the rooms are so cozy and very very clean. We stayed in a Deluxe double room with seaview and it was gorgeous. The view was one of the best. We had the safe, the fridge, the coffee machine with the nespresso pods , teas, water and fruit all included in the room price. The room was cleaned every morning, and every single evening a member of staff was coming to set up the room for the evening, leaving us cake and kombutcha drinks. All this was also included in the room price. I cannot praise enough all the staff for always smiling and making us feel so welcome. They looked after us making sure that we always have everything we need and offering their services for any of our queries. Natalia and Francisco were amazing and it was lovely to have a chat with them every day. The staff was so attentive and our experience of having breakfast( with the most amazing view) was enhanced their hospitality. The gentlemen who cleaned our room every morning had always a big smile on his face and he was greeting us every time we were going out. The room was spottless after he cleaned it. I cannot praise them all enough. It was such a beautiful experience and I would recommend this place to everyone. I forgot to mention the breakfast where the food was so fresh and you could actually feel and see the quality of the food. We traveled a lot and we are used to different types of culinary experiences. These was one of the bests. So please, don't be put down by the negative reviews. I would always recommend this place and would suggest to book the sea view rooms for a ...

We had 2 nights in the Farol as part of a multi-location tour in Portugal. It was booked via Amex "Hotel Collection" 5 months before. It was around £450 per night and we were given a sea view room on the 1st floor facing west.||Firstly, the positives - the staff were nice. The food in the restaurant was nice. The breakfast was OK, though not as extensive as other 5* hotels but then it's a bit smaller. ||Scratch a bit deeper, though, and it's trying too hard to be edgy and chic/contemporary, without actually thinking about the practicalities of the guest experience.||Lots of little things should just be better, especially at this price point - the slabs of bare, undecorated concrete outside are all blotchy and look like a domestic patio that hasn't been cleaned for years. The stupid plastic chairs used in the dining room make a horrible screeching noise when you move them. There's nowhere comfortable to sit outside in the shade. ||Perhaps the biggest disappointment was the room itself - after being shown down to it by the super-enthusiastic staff member, almost the first thing I noticed was the prominent tear in the carpet. Then he started opening the cupboards to show us where everything was, and made numerous apologies for the noise - the cheap black wood/veneer doors made maddening creaking noises at the slightest move. I wondered "now, will he go to maintenance and get them to fix this with a bit of oil?" No, he didn't. And I didn't bother reporting it to reception so boo to me too. ||The room has no decor like pictures - it's a monochrome box. The bed was comfy and there was a single chair. There was plenty of hanging and drawer space if you could suffer the racket the cupboard doors make. My wife said it's not much better than a Travelodge and she's right. It's a £150-200 a night room in a hotel that wants to add £250+ on top because of where it is.||All in, this could be a great hotel - it needs the outside to be spruced up and attention to detail on the decor if they want to make it a true luxury / boutique hotel. By contrast, we went straight from Farol to drive to Algarve, and stated at the Vila Vita Parc hotel for about the same nightly rate - and were immediately blown away by the staff, setting, attention to detail, the room (even though it was their...