Azoris Faial Garden - Resort Hotel — Hotel in Horta

The Faial Garden is a resort/holiday hotel that has seen its day. The hotel and the property are badly in need of renovation. You will find fitness facilities like sauna and steam room not in working order, doors that stick, hair dryers from the 1990s. The good part of your stay here is the location and the quiet - you are a short walk from the marina and perfectly located for driving around the island. The best part is the buffet breakfast and the serving staff. A lot of variety to choose from and the exact kind of breakfast you need to start a busy day. I would give the breakfast 5 stars but it does not make up for the lack of service in other areas and and have been lied to!

I asked for a late check out, they could not accommodate - that is understandable. I asked about paying and was told it was not possible because the hotel was completely booked. I asked if I paid for a full extra day if we could not extend the check out. "No, sir, as I said we are booked." I really needed to stay longer due to a delayed flight, so I called my travel agent and after checking they asked why I just don't extend my stay at the Faial Garden, they were listed with rooms of choice available!

You should have seen the 3 people at the front desk all look up with that "Oh no" expression when I said I have my travel agent on the phone. It was amusing to listen to the verbal tap dance trying to explain the "misunderstanding". How do you misunderstand a "fully" booked hotel suddenly having availability? It was my only interaction with staff, so it wasn't like I had made a bad impression - so bizarre. In the end, they said instead of paying for a whole night, they would offer me a late checkout for $50 euro - "how does that sound?" :)

If it was not for that, I would say if you are not one to stay on a hotel property then the hotel is acceptable. But the lie is something you can't forget. And why? You would think they would just book an extra night - maybe some weird power trip?

Anyway that was my experience. In the end, the time spent on this island was wonderful and the people were lovely. I would come back again but would not stay here and I have suggested to my travel agent to remove this hotel from the...

Worst thing about this place (which completely ruined this leg of our vacation) was the lack of AC despite advertising as having AC. We've complained about this multiple times, I've proved that their "AC" doesn't work using the thermostat in the room (the rooms were literally warmer than the outside after having had the windows and curtains closed the whole day with AC on full blast). They tried to give us other rooms with equally non-functional AC, and finally told us that their maintenance said the air coming out of the vents is cold so it must be working.

This would have been annoying any other time, but with the outside temperature going up to 29C (85F) and up to 80% humidity, the rooms were completely unbearable to be in during the day, and impossible to sleep until 2-3 AM at night, even with the window open and a table fan going. (note: this was for a North facing room that didn't get much sunlight, can't even imagine how bad a south or east facing room would get).

We essentially couldn't use the room during the day, and could only get 5-6 hours of sleep per night at most, as the sun rises around 6 AM, and the noise outside (both construction and tourist group busses coming in) start not much later, both of which prevent sleep with the window and curtains open.

It didn't help that the beds were some of the least comfortable I've ever had the misfortune to use. They were incredibly stiff, with the springs digging into me uncomfortably the entire time, and my arms going numb very quickly if I tried sleeping on my side. My inflatable camping pad on the ground would have been more comfortable.

In addition, the hotel feels extremely old and unmaintained. I could write another 10 paragraphs about why you shouldn't go there, but...

We stayed here for 5 nights in March, the room we had was very large, clean and well equipped with a nice sea view. The hotel itself is a little dated, as is the bathroom, but they are currently doing renovation works, which didn't interfere with our stay at all. The location is perfect, up on the hill with easy walk into Horta to the pubs and restaurants. Easy parking and most of the staff were bery friendly and helpful, especially the lovely guy at breakfast. The pool, sauna and jacuzzi were lovely and relaxing. |The negatives are no tea and coffee making facilities in the room, being from England we like to drink a lot of tea and having to go to the bar and pay €4.20 for 2 herbal teas was costly, especially as it was only 2 teabags and hot water. A kettle in the room would make a big difference. We were very excited to see on the restaurant menu they had a variety of vegetarian and vegan dinner options, however when we went to the restaurant they told us none of this was available and offered us meat and fish. We dont eat meat or fish so had to find somewhere else to eat which was a shame as we couldn't use the 10% discount voucher they gave us a check in. Other than these small issues we would...