Tivoli Lagos Algarve Resort — Hotel in Lagos

From the website and driving up to the Tivoli Lagos Algarve Hotel, you’d think you were about to enjoy a beautiful, high-standard four-star stay. The well groomed entrance and reception area is bright, welcoming, and gives the impression of quality. Unfortunately, beyond that initial façade, the reality quickly unravels.||Once past reception, the hotel feels tired, dated, and completely lacking in atmosphere or warmth. Corridors are lined with old, worn carpets in need of a deep clean or replacement. Everything from the décor to the paintwork feels long overdue for refurbishment.||I was here on my honeymoon and booked a suite, expecting the highest standard the hotel could offer. Instead, the room was uninspiring and underwhelming. On the balcony, the air-conditioning unit was leaking a steady stream of discoloured water across the slabs, making the area unpleasant. The view included dirty, dilapidated balconies in serious need of repair and paint. Worst of all, just three metres above the balcony was a massive hotel generator, running 24/7. The constant noise made the balcony unusable and could be clearly heard throughout the entire suite. Far from the peaceful, comfortable experience one expects in a suite.||We also attempted to dine at the Patio Velho restaurant, which requires booking through reception. Over the course of our stay, we made roughly 10 attempts to call the front desk from our room — never once getting an answer. On two separate occasions, we stood at the front desk for up to 30 minutes (in total) while the receptionist rang the restaurant upstairs to check availability. It was unclear to us why this was necessary, and each time we were told it was fully booked. Finally, on our last night, we secured a table at 8.30pm when they advised they were “willing to accommodate us”. To our surprise, the restaurant was only half full the entire evening. We were seated directly opposite the outside barbecue grill, which blasted heat onto our table. My wife was feeling unwell and the heat made things worse. When we asked to move, we were told it wasn’t possible, despite many free tables both inside and outside. The experience was so uncomfortable we skipped starters and dessert, just to finish and leave.||Even the pool area, which should be a highlight, was in need of attention — the decking was old and worn, and the general feel was far from luxury. While it was in use by other guests, we personally opted not to spend any time there on any day of our stay, as it simply didn’t feel appealing or relaxing.||I should add that we are frequent Tivoli customers, having previously stayed in Vilamoura and Carvoeiro, both of which were excellent experiences. Unfortunately, this particular hotel has left us feeling cold and disappointed.||After a meeting with the guest relations manager upon checkout, the hotel agreed to discount my stay by €116 — around 6.29% of the total bill (€1,843). While the gesture was noted, it did little to change my overall impression of the hotel that charged us €450 per night. ||Overall, our stay was deeply disappointing. The Tivoli Lagos Algarve Hotel is not what it appears to be online, and certainly not what you’d expect for a special occasion like a honeymoon. My advice to future guests:...

Just believe the other bad reviews and find a different hotel. But if you do choose to continue with this hotel because there really aren’t other great reasonable options in Lagos, here are some things to accept: | - There really are stairs everywhere and you can not avoid them. We were in room 1320 (Block C) which technically had only one short set of stairs to get to our room hallway but was still annoying since we had our 8-month-old daughter in a stroller to carry up and down the stairs everyday. | - The rooms are small and very dated. We were 2 adults and an infant in a Superior Room. I really wish that we had gone with the Family or larger Superior Room to have a bit more space. Our bathroom sink leaked and got everything on the shelf underneath it soaked and ruined. Had to ask for new towels and they gave us an attitude about that. | - The hotel Block C smells like sewage because it faces the parking lot which has the sewage system there. | - The breakfast was decent but none of the other restaurants at the hotel are worth it. (The hotel, Casa Mae, close by actually has a very good restaurant with reasonable pricing for good quality food and service and you don’t have to be a guest to eat there.) Also, the hotel does not let you take food from the breakfast to go. There’s a 20 Euro charge if you choose to take food to eat in your hotel room instead of in the large overcrowded breakfast room. | - The photos of the pools on the website are misleading. There are two pools at the actual hotel site. One outdoors that is small and dated and one indoors that we didn’t even venture to go to. The main pool that they feature on their website is at their beach club which is a shuttle bus away. I have no idea if the shuttle bus has children’s seats, they never offered that information to us. The beach club also has a cost once you get there. | - Walls are VERY thin. You can hear EVERYTHING in other rooms, bathrooms, and the hallways. ||Final comments: If you’re coming with a family, rent a car and stay at the Cascade Wellness Resort hotel (a 10 minute) drive away and stay in their spacious hotel apartments. We stayed there for the second half of our trip and was SOOOO GLAD we chose this place! They have fully stocked kitchens, spacious bedrooms, closets, nice bathrooms with a tub for bathing children after a long day, multiple pools, great food, and a kids play area. It’s a great “home base” for day trips to downtown Lagos or the surrounding areas. They also have beach access but like almost every beach in the area, there are stairs to get down to the water. Lagos, in general, is not stroller or wheelchair friendly due to the bumpy cobblestone sidewalks (if there are any) and steep hills. The only plus from my husband was that there is free parking at the Tivoli Lagos Algarve Resort. ||For those who like to know weather: we stayed in late August and it was between 22 - 27C (71 - 80F) everyday with beautiful sun and light wind during the day. It does get windier in the afternoon/evening which makes the nights cooler so bring a...

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So most hotels are a little misleading in their advertising. This one is especially no exception. The claim for 3 pools is a little misleading, as the third pool (and the best photos of the pool on their website) is NOT at the hotel. It is at a nearby beach location for which there is a FREE shuttle. However the shuttle finishes EARLY. I believe the last one is 18:45 back to the hotel, and it is a little far to walk. The indoor pool area was never used by any one that we saw during our stay. It was very run down. There were broken cupboards everywhere filled with junk. The sauna and steam room were located in a rabbit warren of corridors. The pools showers were in an underground dark and dingy room.

You have to understand that this is an old hotel, and i am ok with that. In fact it kind of added a really nice charm most other hotels do not have. What let this hotel down is general maintenance of the public areas, and the bed sizes. Double beds in all rooms. These beds are very very small, and I am a small person. If you are a bigger proportion these beds will be very uncomfortable for you unless you like sleeping on top of your partner.

As i said I dont mind the hotel being a little old, but the hotel needs to stop misleading customers and thats my biggest gripe and hence the reason for the above. It needs to be accountable and represent what the hotel actually is.

So of ourse some of the rooms are old. If you choose a "classic room", the rooms have not been renovated in like 20 years. They are in a much quieter part of the hotel, which means you need to walk some distance from the reception to get to them and climbing stairs with your luggage is required. If you are elderly or mobile impaired, these "classic rooms" may be unsuitable to you. But they were quiet, and while dated, were comfortable (apart from the bed), and the shower. Forget about the cat, you couldnt swing a. mouse in these showers and the temperature fluctuation was terrible. Scalding hot to cold in moments.

But the rooms were clean given their age and had been well looked after. The same attention needs to be made to other areas of the hotel. Our room wasnt ready at 3pm (checkin time). They seemed to be struggling to get rooms ready. We were given a drink voucher for the bar, but it stated no cocktails. So we got a free softdrink for waiting until 4pm for our room. The hotel reached out after a review on expedia and said they were valid for cocktails, but the voucher said otherwise.

One other thing that can be easily fixed is the chaos at breakfast. It was complete pandemonium. not enough tables on our first day, no cutlery. staff couldnt reset tables quick enough.

So while I am a little negative here, the hotel was good. We had a good stay here. The locations is a little further than most but its only a short walk of 5 mins into the centre. So Its ok for a hotel to say its a little older and even play to that. But this hotel was misleading and i wanted to make that clear. Never the less, it...