InterContinental Cascais-Estoril by IHG — Hotel in Cascais

Absolutely Disappointing Experience – Far from 5-Star Standards

I recently stayed at InterContinental in Estoril, and it was hands down one of the most disappointing hospitality experiences I’ve ever had. The service and management fell far short of what you would expect from a 5-star hotel under the InterContinental brand, and the issues were both numerous and serious.

Safety Hazards in the Room: The minibar fridge was leaking water near an electrical socket, presenting a clear safety risk. Despite notifying staff, no prompt action was taken to resolve this potentially dangerous situation. Unacceptable Dining Standards: During breakfast, my wife slipped on food left on the terrace floor. This wasn’t a one-time occurrence, as basic cleanliness was consistently neglected. For several days in a row, the same waitress wore a stained uniform, with visible coffee marks on it. Additionally, when arriving for breakfast, we—and other guests—were made to stand and wait for a table, despite there being seating areas available. This might seem trivial in isolation, but when considered alongside the overall lack of service, it was just another example of the poor management. Spa and Sauna Neglect: After signing a liability waiver for the spa, I was assured that the facilities would be available immediately. However, I spent over 40 minutes walking back and forth, only to find that the area remained closed. Stones that should have been in the sauna stove were left under the loungers, and the steam sauna was shut down due to mold, with no clear indication of when it would be operational again. Lack of Assistance for Guests: I witnessed a couple with a small child struggling to carry mattresses and cushions across the grounds, without any help from the hotel staff. The neglect towards guests’ needs was palpable and far from the “luxury” experience that was promised. Billing Confusion and Unauthorized Charges: The minibar was not restocked despite repeated requests. I was charged each time I ordered items that should have been provided initially, and although I was assured these charges would be reimbursed, I never saw a refund. To make matters worse, there was confusion regarding my credit card, and I was falsely accused of using a different card at check-in, leading to fluctuating charges and a prolonged resolution time. Ignored Communication Post-Stay: After leaving the hotel, my follow-up emails were met with silence. It became apparent that once I checked out, my concerns no longer mattered to the management. The lack of accountability and professionalism was truly astonishing. Checkout Incident: To top it all off, after expressing my frustration to a staff member at checkout—merely raising my voice in a situation that warranted it—I was accused of making an offensive gesture as I left the hotel. In reality, I was simply giving a friendly “Victory” sign as a gesture of farewell. To twist such a simple gesture into something inappropriate was absurd and highlights just how poorly this hotel is managed.

While some form of compensation was provided for my stay, it fell drastically short of addressing the extent of the issues encountered. A token gesture like this might suffice for a non-functional shower or a missing towel, but it in no way reflected the series of incidents I experienced. To anyone considering this property: if you value quality service, peace of mind, and your own safety, look elsewhere. The InterContinental brand should be embarrassed to have its name associated with such a...

What a magnificent hotel! We were expecting a very large IHG hotel with many floors but what we encountered was a relatively small boutique hotel. The actual hotel has 3 floors, the main reception is in the main floor and below you find 2 more floors with rooms. The floors above are all private residences, so it feels very exclusive. This is a new hotel, reopened I believe in 2016.

We were warmly greeted by Martin in the front desk, from the very start you could sense it was a very special place. This hotel is part of Amex Fine Hotels and Resorts collection. We were given an upgrade to a very large room with ocean view and a very large balcony. The attention to details is noticeable, we were given some very tasty Portuguese sweet treats in our room when we checked in, absolutely delicious! The view from the room was gorgeous, the smell of the ocean was fantastic and it made us feel very comfortable.

Before dinner, we walked all the way to Boca do Inferno, about 40 min away by foot, we find it a nice way to get a feel of the place when you walk and interact with locals and tourists alike. The hotel has a fantastic location if you want to walk to town.

We had dinner at the hotel, we sat outside on the restaurant that has a large open balcony facing the ocean. Dinner was amazing, we ordered the Bacalhau and the Robalo corado, and as a starter we had the Camarao a guilho (shrimp), everything was delicious, very well presented and everyone was very attentive to our needs. We ordered a bottle of red wine from the Alentejo region and it was very smooth. For dessert we ordered the mousse de queijo chevre and the typical Portuguese dessert The Egg Puddin (Pudim Abade Priscos). The Pudim was fantastic and we ordered it a few times in our trip around Portugal. Unfortunately we cannot remember the names of the people that served us, but we do remember the special treatment we were given.

Since we chose this hotel as part of Amex’s hotel collection, breakfast was included. Due to Covid restrictions, there is no buffet but they offer a collection of breads and pastries that they bring to the table, and you can special order eggs cooked any way you want, cereal, juices, coffee, etc. It is very well presented and several waiters were taking care of us during this time. Telmo was the main waiter, very friendly and we spoke briefly about the history of the hotel, how it has been built and rebuilt a few times, and how it hosted several events during the 2nd World war… You sense you are part of history as you think about these events.

All in all, it exceeded our expectations! We knew that it would be a very good hotel (it had to be in order to be classified as an...

This hotel is beautiful and is in a wonderful location. The rooms are spacious and the pool area is lovely. The breakfast was amazing. However I would hesitate to recommend this hotel to others simply because I think the cost of the hotel is too high relative to the benefits. I chose this hotel because of the views. But, the views are really only accessible if you are dining in the restaurant or purchase an ocean view room. While there are many great aspects about this hotel, the food and room views are the main reasons I would hesitate to recommend it.

At the hotel, I tried both breakfast, lunch and dinner. The breakfast was included and was delicious. However, the other meals were not good. For lunch, I ordered a chicken Caesar salad by the pool. It was 22 euro and the chicken appeared like it was pulled off a takeaway salad. It was extremely overpriced and not edible. For dinner, I tried the restaurant. Everything was overpriced on the menu. When I ordered, they informed me they were short staffed so the food may take a bit, which I said was fine. I ordered fish and nearly 40 minutes later, it came out. While it was delicious, it was cold. I asked the server for some additional hot sauce. The sauce also came out cold. If the prices were reasonable, I wouldn’t care, but the fish was 31 euros.

Lastly, this hotel has a strange upgrade policy. booked with AMEX Fine Collection which provides for a room upgrade (when available). I also have a IHG credit card and status. Even though there were plenty of upgraded rooms available, the hotel has a policy where they will only do a “level one” upgrade. If you book a standard rooms, all upgrades to anything with a view is level two or higher. They said they would do an upgrade for 75 euros. Given I already paid $400 for the room, I was unwilling to do that. I candidly asked them if they would rather the ocean view rooms go empty than upgrade guests with loyalty and they said yes. As of 11:30p on the day I checked in, there were still 6 upgraded rooms available. It’s simply bad customer service not to reward loyalty. I’ve stayed at many hotels and have never encountered a policy like this. Upgrades are often unavailable (which is understandable) but this is a different case. It’s ashame because the only other place you can see the ocean view is the restaurant, which is not worth it for anything other than breakfast.

I would hesitate to recommend this property to someone for these reasons. If you could see the ocean in the room, I think the $400+ for the room would...