Hotel Tivoli Oriente — Hotel in Lisbon

We choose the Tivoli hotel because it had great reviews and was dog friendly, or so we thought). I would say that just tolerant of pets.

We had two rooms at the hotel. One suite and one double room on the 9th floor.

Let me start by saying what was pleasant about the hotel.

The staff was friendly and helpful throughout the hotel. They recently renovated Sky Bar which is nice and the decor is welcoming and comfortable.

The lobby and hallways are clean. The quality of furniture was great for the volume of traffic the hotel receives.

The breakfast was more than expected. The layout allowed for minimal traffic jams, the variety was extensive and the staff did a wonderful job keeping it clean and well stocked, kudos to the breakfast staff! If you are reading this be sure to add breakfast to your hotel room reservation!

The hotel was easy to find and had a very tight parking garage below ground.

The bed was comfortable.

Now, let me tell you why we will not return. (NOTE: we did not inform management about these problems since they seen the be chronic problems that have not been addressed or are the result of lazy management with low expectations. Unfortunately, my expectations are very high.)

The sink in 901 and 919 drained slowly. The window motor didn't work in 901, but you could manually push and pull the window closed.

919 - Suite Every piece of art in the room was crooked. The piece upon entry had all kinds of something dripping down the glass. Just disgusting!

The motor on the window in the bedroom was not working. The chain was also disconnected, I guess so we could move it manually?

The hair dryer was filled with so much lint that it didn't blow much air. It just made noise. We cleaned that ourselves. See photo.

The pool was as cold as the Atlantic Ocean. The hot tub was the same ice cold temperature, it just had bubbles! The towels for the pool are at the front desk. You need to sign your life away just to get one. The towels are very nice, but this is a major inconvenience. The hotel should either put a pool attendant to watch and supply towels, or change to a basic bath towel and place them poolside. No one will notice the difference. I'm just disappointed that after paying so much to stay at the hotel, we have to sign for towels. That just takes away from the luxury experience. It's just not worth effort just to have nicer towels.

The breakfast area was just too hot both morning of our stay.

The hotel charges for dogs. That is not friendly, it's just pet tolerant. Trust me, my kids make more of a mess than my dogs! There was no grass for several blocks, just overgrown weeds. The front desk couldn't even point us in the direction of a manicured green space.

There was no pet amenity, no water bowls, nothing. Just payment at check-in. It's VERY disappointing. They should look to other hotels for positive examples of being pet friendly. They could start by looking at the amenity and policies at Castelo de Palmela. BE WARNED, this is a pet tolerant hotel only so be prepared to pay extra and bring everything your pet may need for their visit.

The lighted mirror in the bathroom was broken and the switch was replaced with foil tape.

At Sky Bar, we ordered tacos from the shareable menu. We received one taco. I guess we were supposed to share the thee shrimp on the taco? When we complained that we had one taco for 14€ from the SHAREABLE MENU, they added a second taco.

Our overall experience at Tivoli was underwhelming. We were not impressed with any part of our stay except breakfast. The hotel was sufficient for visiting the city and having a comfortable bed to sleep in. For our next visit to Lisboa, we will find alternate pet friendly accommodations as Tivoli was not worth the expense or...

After my stay at Tivoli Oriente Hotel, I’ve lost all the desire to stay at hotels of the GHA chain, despite my Titanium status. This is all thanks to the wonderful, helpful and attentive staff who has no clue what status benefits there are, who has no concept of timeliness, and who behaves brazenly by charging for the entire stay one week in advance (twice), hence blocking your card due to a suspicious transaction.

Right after checking in, I noticed that the room has no welcome box (one of the benefits of being a status member), no amenities whatsoever, no bathrobes, no toothpaste, no toothbrush, no water, etc. The only thing that was there was the towel. For one person. Even though the booking specifically mentioned two people. Right after the findings, I wanted to see the manager of this fine hotel, yet I was told that she’s not here. She was never there throughout my whole stay. Only about 5 hours later the staff acknowledged my problem and the amenities were finally delivered. As a result of the staff’s mistakes and general incompetence I was given 2 free vouchers for selected drinks at their sky bar, presumably to drink my issues with the stay away. A bar on the 16th floor with a comfy setting with a lovely price tag for their drinks, starting at €14 and €16 for some cocktails. But that’s not all - if you’ll end up hungry at night - be ready to pay €18 for a Caesar salad or €19 for a burger. This is quite literally London’s prices. And yet you’re in a suburb of Lisbon 30 minutes from downtown.

Speaking of, the location can be found suitable for some, as the hotel is close to the airport and the Oriente train station. If you’re a regular visitor or a tourist - do not repeat my mistakes and book something downtown, otherwise be ready to spend a hefty amount on taxis back and forth.

Moving on to the rooms themselves - they are physically worn out with defects and many scratches on the walls, furniture, lamps, light switches, even the sockets. The beds are quite comfy. The view can be nice if there is no fog from the ocean, otherwise you’re going to look at the bright red Vodafone logo the entire day and night.

The hotel also has the SPA facilities. Which were closed, and of course I wasn’t warned about it in advance. Yet when it comes to the monetary aspect, the hotel reserves the opportunity to prepay my whole stay without asking. Great business position! In the meantime of some unknown repairs in the SPA area, I had the opportunity to use their pool and jacuzzi, which turned off 30 minutes before the actual written schedule.

I’d also like to mention the other side of the staff which was quite helpful. It’s great to see and know that there are a few people working hard. Especially the madam from the reception who was helped me with the amenities, welcome box and vouchers, and the attentive housekeeping staff. If it wasn’t for them, this review would have 1 star.

Conclusion? Avoid Tivoli Oriente Hotel (as I will for the rest of my life) if you value your comfort, nerves and time. I regret not paying an extra € and opt for the Tivoli in the historical centre, where I stayed in August and had no complaints whatsoever. Where the staff actually knew what they were doing and knew their job.

Thank you for reading and never repeat my...

All of our arrangements in Portugal were made by Portugal Trails, and they did an excellent job.

Our driver picked us up at the airport and brought us to this hotel. Since there is no actual drop off point in front of the hotel, the driver paused by the curb, we got out and retrieved our luggage and walked inside to check in to the hotel. We did discover later that yes, on the opposite side of the hotel, there is indeed a driveway for vehicles to use to drop off or pickup hotel guests. I do not know why our driver did not use that driveway. But, no problem.

The lobby of this hotel is sort of small, but the staff was friendly and helpful and explained breakfast, etc. They did have a room ready even though we were checking in around noon, which was nice. We both needed a bit of rest and a shower after almost 24 hours of traveling.

This hotel is a favorite of airline crews, since it is close to the airport (relatively speaking). The location is quiet, yet close to a train station and a shopping center. The area around the hotel is one that has been 'renovated', as is explained in various guidebooks, so don't expect any of the same scenery that you see in central Lisbon. This area is nice, but it is not historic at all.

The area around the hotel is along the waterfront, so there is a museum and sculpture and great flat walking areas and an urban shopping center with possibly the best meal had while in Portugal. But, that's another review for later. Now for the hotel itself.

The room itself was good, with only one or two concerns. First, this room had a door for a connecting room. However, that door was apparently not in use, because when we opened that door, there was a piece of insulation between both doors (the door in our room and the door in the adjoining room). Those types of adjoining doors are conducive to sound transmission between rooms. Additionally, we felt that the walls themselves between the rooms were a bit thin, and we did hear people coming and going at various hours of the night. Remember, airline crews use this hotel a lot, and when they gotta go, they gotta go. We did not try the pool, but we did use the business center computer to check in for our flight to Funchal. Breakfast was generally good, with a nice and large dining room. We did not try the restaurants at the hotel, so cannot comment on them.

We must compliment the hotel front desk staff. To a person, they were courteous, professional and very helpful to us first-time visitors to Portugal. Thanks to them, our first hotel in Lisbon and Portugal was quite pleasant and enjoyable.

We would stay here again and we do...