Eurostars das Letras — Hotel in Lisbon

BEWARE OF STORING LUGGAGE. 5 STAR? THINK AGAIN.

It’s pretty common for travelers to leave their luggage in the hotel’s storage before their rooms are ready for check in. We never expect our luggage to go missing or be handed off to another guest but that’s not the case here. We decided to leave our luggage in between stays at Eurostars Das Letras while we travelled to nearby cities by train. We had done this at on of their partner hotels and everything went smoothly. However, upon returning to Eurostars das Letras to retrieve our luggage prior to our flight the next morning, we came to find one missing, nowhere to be found nor a way to be tracked. The receptionist, Paula, attempted to play the “we never had your luggage, there is no proof” card. Luckily, we had our storage tickets as proof. We were told by the receptionist around 11pm that nothing could be done as the manager was not onsite nor could he be reached. It’s truly baffling that a hotel of such said caliber does not even have a manager on site to handle client issues, or at the very least be readily available in case he needs to be reached. After waiting all night and taking a trip to the police station the next morning, the receptionist supervisor, Tiago, showed up at 9am long AFTER we were due at the airport for check in for our flight home. When he finally arrived and spoke with the police who accompanied us, he informed us that he would look through the cameras to see when the luggage entered the vicinity and if it ever left. Meanwhile, we headed to the airport to try and get our flights rebooked. Not only did we wait 4 hours in line to get our flights rebooked, but our flights could not be changed and we were forced to purchase a new ticket home for $1600. While we were waiting at the airport we called for an update for our luggage to learn that the luggage was returned. You would expect the hotel to try calling since they knew we were waiting, but they didn’t’ even bother. So if we had not called ourselves we would have never been updated about our luggage. When we finally returned to the hotel to verify the luggage, we asked for rooming accommodations as we were forced to book new flights with the next available being in the next 2 days. We were offered a discount of $100 euros on a 2 night stay. We were expected to AGAIN pay for their mistake which should have never happened. When we expressed our anger to the receptionist she simply turned her back and walked away until the receptionist supervisor said he would have to speak with the general manager to see if he would agree in compensating us with 2 free nights following THEIR MISTAKE. I must add that when I said this should have never happened, the receptionist supervisor bluntly responded “well, it can happen.” I acknowledge that mistakes can happen, however, in the event that it does, customer service should go above and beyond in taking responsibility and it should go without saying that we should have been accommodated as our luggage was given to another without any sort of verification. In the event of a mistake like this, the hotels response makes all the difference and will usually put guests at ease, but this hotel did quite the opposite. This hotel exhibited pure negligence and a lack of customer service. If you’re looking for a 5 star experience this is surely not it and very far from it. BEWARE.

Note: This location did not even have a luggage cart readily available. Aside from our mishap, we must add a huge thank you to the bartender and receptionist, Rodrigo, as they provided EXCEPTIONAL customer service...

People who are looking at staying here because it's a 5* hotel....it's not. I WISH I read the other reviews before I booked it, as I would have stayed anywhere else. PLEASE READ and reconsider before booking.

I visited Eurostars Das Letras for two nights to visit family. It came up as a 5* hotel and the pictures looked great. However, the experience was not what I had hoped. This is an honest review and here is how it went.

When you walk in, it immediately feels like a 4* hotel AT BEST, not a 5. I have had the privilege of staying in a number of 5 hotels around the world, and this doesn't even come close.

The staff were nice and polite, but didn’t offer to take my bags to my room...like 5* hotels should do.

I was on the top floor, the 8th floor, and immediately I notice the lift was small, shaky and took a long time to get up to the 8th floor.

The bed was super comfy. However, the room was worn down and there was a weird damp/mould smell. The floors were worn and things in the room just didn't quite work. The curtains felt poor and barely hung right. Silly things like the wardrobe doors not opening and closing properly. The shower was a bit rubbish too.

I used the gym the next morning, but it’s not really a gym, it’s a basic gym in a small room than makes you want to walk out as soon as you walk in. You’re better off going for a run around Lisbon. I had to turn the sauna on myself, and open the gym up myself as well. It also had the heating on full blast but the air-con didn't work so I had to open all the doors to let fresh air in.

Wi-fi is weak and kept cutting out whilst I was trying to work in my room. Spent more time trying to reconnect than actually being online. My room key also was tempermental so had to go to reception to change it.

Here’s the big news, I left my room at 11:45 am, after the gym, on my first morning. I came back to my room at 11:00 pm. The room was unmade. It was as I left it with dirty towels in the bath tub, my bed un-made and still that dirty smell. I went to reception where the man on duty felt uncomfortably embarrassed and said he couldn’t accommodate me in another room, and to speak with the deputy manager the next morning. I had a massive go at the deputy manager and he eventually gave me a discount for my second night.

It's a shame to have to say this, but if you want to stay in a good hotel, and one that says it's 5*, then DO NOT STAY...

On our arrival night my boyfriend found two bedbugs, both of which he killed. One was filled with blood. I would like to mention that even though I was bitten, he was awake all night, itching and scared of being bitten.

When we woke up, we immediately reported it to reception. The gentleman was very professional, while we were out he confirmed the room was inspected and another bed beg was found. He kindly moved us to another room. We asked questions about bedbugs and how that could affect us, but we didn’t get a clear answer. At this point as I had not noticed any bite marks and did not know of the potential long term consequences, I was not too concerned. We were also told that the only real reason to seek medical attention was for an allergic reaction. For this reason I did not take up the offer of immediate medical assistance - we have been told we can receive this after check out also which we appreciated and will likely need to use upon arrival back to the UK.

After noticing the bite marks growing by the day I became more concerned. After some research I have discovered that bed bugs can leave keloid (permanent) scarring which is really worrying me. We have also just realised that the bed bugs can attach to luggage and infest our home which is also concerning. We were offered dry cleaning for the clothes we slept in but didn’t think think this too much of an issue. We will now likely need to throw away a good portion of our clothes as our luggage was out on the bed.

When we discussed a remedy at check out we were told that the hotel could only find one “tiny” bedbug that “apparently” bit me. We found this choice of words quite inconsiderate but to her credit the lady did apologize once it was clear this had offended us. I have attached images of around 10 bite marks so far. As well as a picture of a bug and some of the blood it left on the sheets. We tried to contact the hotel for a full refund of our stay, for about two months, every week. They gave us some fake paperwork to show the room was clean and when we asked to speak to the manager they kept lying, saying he was in a meeting, every day for 2 months. Highly recommend looking at the many more hotels in the area, they ruined our...