Epic Sana Lisboa Hotel — Hotel in Lisbon

Best Hotel Experience in years

I have been travelling for easily two decades for both work and pleasure and I can say I've never written a review with this type of headline because I don't believe in hyperbole, but I genuinely have yet to experience a hotel across 30-some-odd countries and 4 continents that had this level of a) GREAT staff, and b) nice amenities and a real quality product.

It's a really well decked out hotel and the superb staff are the icing - I highly recommend this to couples, business users, and friends. We don't think the Epic SANA's size or style is that suitable for children - and even though I know they offer things like babysitting, we personally felt places like the pool deck and spa would be pretty boring for children, and also with size and space, kids running around would be somewhat intrusive to other guests.

I would like to spend time to give praise to Bernado and Bernado on the reception on the concierge and reception, Isabela on reception, and Pedro in the lobby... all provided GREAT service during our stay and for me, a hotel is ALL about the staff and the experience. You should ABSOLUTELY book this place if it's in your price range and suits your requirements - it will be well worth it.

Read on for more detail if you are that way inclined -----------------

The Epic SANA Lisboa is about a 15-minute cab ride from Lisbon airport and located at the Northern Edge of the main area of the City a few minute walk from Parque Eduardo VII where the big Intercontinental and Four Seasons are located. So it's a nice enough area, more residential than "business" or "tourist", and you will need to jump in a cab to get to most of where you will likely want to go in the city. However, with Uber and Bolt ride-share apps in the city - a trip from the Epic SANA right into the heart of Lisbon will take less than 10 minutes (closer to 5) and will typically be less than €5 (private ride, so even less for a shared ride).

The hotel amenities and rooms are, to put no finer word on it, superb.

We booked a Junior Suite, and were kindly upgraded to the slightly larger Deluxe Suite (a nice touch). A separate big super King bed with footrest and plenty of space, separated to a living area by some slide close doors. The living area which had a nice two-person table with chairs, and a two person sofa and footstool. The bathroom was HUGE, a full walk in shower with a superb Hansgrohe bathroom equipment, two vanities (with plenty of space, not squeezed together) and a nice big tub too. The toilet was also in this bathroom, but there was also a second toilet just by the entrance to the room. Really well laid out room. Ours was part of a connecting - so you could really have a big family in two of these rooms. The connecting door requires the same door card to open. Coffee machine with stocked coffee was available, a small fridge inside the under-counter cupboard (ours was empty, but that wasn't a big deal for us). Plenty of plugs. Two big closets. An iron and board, and a in-cupboard safe. The room is clearly new - it doesn't have that "lived in" feel yet, no chips and marks or stains anywhere.

Now the hotel itself, bullets now because of Google's character limit.

Rooftop infinity pool, 1.5m deep, 3m x 5m, big enough for 12-15 people before it would feel crammed. Towels laid out and regularly refreshed, 7 cabanas, 12 loungers. One floor down and accessible to the pool from the deck is a small restaurant, ~20 covers. Only "slightly" poor experience the speed of service at rooftop pool, the attendees at pool side were friendly, helpful, quick, regularly clearing away empties and asking if you wanted anything else, but food and drink took too long. Need another chef/barperson.

Spa. Indoor pool same size as the roof, ~12 loungers, a sauna with space for 12, giant tiled steam room with space +20. You have to call down to book a slot. Changing rooms are huge w/ personal showers. Top quality.

I highly recommend the Epic SANA Lisboa....

I’m very conflicted about our stay here and will try to be balanced in my review:

Cleanliness For a 5 star hotel, I would expect the rooms to be immaculate. Our first impression upon getting in the room was how dirty the shower head was - it clearly hadn’t been cleaned in a VERY long time (i.e. months). It was pink and brown with bacteria and grime. When I highlighted this to reception they were understanding but I got the impression housekeeping didn’t understand what the problem was. They did come to the room to try and fix it but even after 30 minutes of intense scrubbing the results were sub-par. We had been travelling all day and the poor housekeeping girl seemed tired so we let it go but this is still not what we’d expect. The duvet had a blood stain which was visible through the sheets. The white leather could do with a good clean. The gaps between the sink and shower don’t appear to have been cleaned at all. That being said, the daily housekeeping was very well done and to a high standard. Our water, complimentary soaps and towels were refreshed as appropriate and the little chocolate was a nice touch.

Food & Beverages I cannot fault the breakfast at all. The team did an amazing job and the spread was wonderful and fresh. Top quality. I miss it already! The team was very accommodating to my partner’s gluten intolerance and went above and beyond. We can’t thank them enough for making this such a nice experience as it’s often difficult catering to food allergies. We did have an issue with room service one evening due to a number of preventable miscommunications. However, the team took our complaint seriously and were extremely helpful. The F&B manager came to speak to us and was delightful. Although the mix-up was a bit annoying, they dealt with the issue very well. These things happen from time-to-time.

Pool/Spa Staff at the pools are excellent and very friendly. Stunning views of the city great bar/food pool was a great temperature I had a facial treatment and it was amazing! I wish I could remember the name of the therapist who did my facial as she was excellent! A bit on the expensive side but worth every penny. the indoor pool was lovely and the drinks/snacks were a really nice touch.

We did enjoy our stay here but in order to revisit I think we would need to see some improvements with the overall cleanliness of the Hotel. This impacts my view on value for money - I’ve stayed at hotels with similar price points and also cheaper hotels that have been immaculate in terms of its cleanliness so this was unfortunately an issue for me.

I hope this is a fair review under the circumstances!

Thank you to the staff who made our...

The Hotel is quite nice. For a 5* Hotel there were too many Details though, that are not satisfying. First of all, it takes way too long to check in or get anything from the reception. The staff is really kind and helpful, but that is also the problem because everything takes way too long. The processes on the reception need improvement. The Lobby is just gorgeous. Really bright and spacious. So is the rooftop pool. Problem here is that in the main season or when the Hotel is fully booked you will have to lie on the floor on a towel instead of one of the beds because those are already taken early in the morning. You can put your name on a list and after a while you will be given a bed. The room itself is also quite nice. It is huge and the bath is beautiful. Unfortunately the whole room looks older than it is. There were way too many marks on all the wooden tables and shelves which looked horrible and also stains on the couch and the carpet. Breakfast was of really good quality and taste and also variety. There was live piano and violin music which was great.

All in all I think the biggest differences between 4 and 5 start hotels are in the small details. Those details really disappointed me in this Hotel: all the marks and stains in the room there is a curtain for the glass wall between the bath and the rest of the room. You have to keep pushing a button to get that down or up so you stand there for 30 seconds instead of one push being enough. That is just annoying. Also the curtain goes to half height everytime you put your roomcard to activate the power in the room. This becomes horribly annoying! The availability of the beds on the rooftop is horrible. You always have to wait and lay on the floor and also it seems crowded. Not enough beds for the size of the hotel. as said, the process of check in and all at the reception takes way too long. I think there should be more services included that nowadays are just not more up to date to pay for: renting a movie on the hotel tv costs 15 €. In times of Netflix etc that is just way too much. Also the TV is behind a mirror, which looks good, but is also very stupid because it reflects instead of showing a picture. There are stereo speakers above the bed, which is a nice idea but the bluetooth in our room did not work and also the electronics are just not up to date. Also there was no TV remote when we got there.

Too many annoying details for a 5 star hotel in my opinion. If you pay less than 100€ a night it would totally be worth the stay. Any euro less I say you can get better quality...