Melia Lisboa Oriente — Hotel in Lisbon

We stayed at this hotel for 2 nights while visiting Portugal. ||The hotel is located in a central area of Lisbon, which is not the city centre, but it is a very nice area to the east of the city, which on the occasion of EXPO 98 was completely redeveloped. It has many free spaces among the buildings, wide streets and parks, and of course metro and buses to get everywhere. ||The hotel building has 16 floors, and our room was on the last one, with a very nice view, as we had requested. A rather spacious room, very well equipped and relatively quiet despite the many groups staying in the hotel. Both days we stayed we were offered small bottles of wine and sweets in the room. Breakfast was satisfactory, both in variety and quality. ||All these positive comments alone would be enough for a very high rating. Unfortunately, however, there are also many negative points. ||The first is the lack of adequate common areas. And I am not only referring to the small reception area, nor to the inadequate and inconvenient garage space. I am also referring to the elevators, which are only two to serve this entire building. Mostly, however, I am referring to the totally inadequate breakfast area. ||There are queues in these places, which are not up to the level of comfort that guests of a hotel of this category expect. I did not feel good at all when I had to wait in line for at least 20 minutes in order to squeeze myself into a small area to drink my morning coffee and have my breakfast. ||In my view it is obvious that larger common areas need to be created, by restricting a number of rooms. Of course this is not at all desirable for a business that logically seeks to maximize profits. But it is essential that along with profits, full customer satisfaction is achieved. Because customers pay a high price, and the lack of expected satisfaction probably will lead them to other similar hotels that do not have these problems. ||The second is the imposition of strict rules and the lack of flexibility. I cannot understand, for example, the reason of not allowing the customers to charge their room account even for a coffee that they take in a hotel bar, and the obligation to pay for it on the spot with their debit or credit card. As well as why the reception desk refused to meet my request to check out at 14.00 instead of 12.00, saying that it was not possible, although they did not even ask which room it was !||All the above constitute, in my opinion, an unfriendly treatment of customers and confirm my initial negative impression, when upon our arrival we were asked to prepay on the spot the total amount of our stay. I note that our booking was made through the booking.com platform, in which all information on me, including my credit card’s number were entered. This is something that has never happened to me before, in the numerous hotels of this category that I have stayed in. A four star hotel cannot treat its guests as if it collectively considers them as dishonest. ||In conclusion, for the price I paid - quite high - there are many hotels that provide these services. I don't understand why I should go to one that doesn't view me in a friendly manner, and on top considers...

Two nights second week in May 2022. Excellent location 100m from the Oriente station with rail, metro and buses and easily found driving from Spain. Arrived earlier than expected at 1300hrs but check in was good and our room available ahead of time. Superior sea view was a good size room with OK bathroom all very clean BUT the sea view was mostly taken by the offices opposite, we were on the tenth floor [I had emailed for the highest floor possible] of 16. The windows needed a good clean too. Disappointing. Given how much time we actually spent in the room a basic room would have been fine in retrospect. Breakfast was disappointing too. Arriving at 0730 when the service began there were a few people present and we were ahead of the rush of mostly single guys going to a trade fair. The quality and selection of meats was poor. Few bread choices and placement a distance away from the toaster which was strange. On both mornings the cereal available consisted of three jars, cornflakes, chocolate somethings and muesli. The first two half full and the muesli two spoonfuls in the bottom both days. Someone had put the muesli out, twice, but not filled the jar. An attitude perhaps indicative of the lack of attention to detail or complacency. The Pastila de Nata were OK but when they ran out it was 20 minutes before they were renewed. The staff were great at clearing and sanitising table but maybe checking levels of food available not so great. We were visiting Lisbon and having a leisurely breakfast . Most were dashing in and out within 10 minutes but the quality should not reflect that surely. This is a four star hotel and compared to the same level Melia at Madrid airport it fell very short in this area. And beware the car park. Easy to find and once inside plenty of space but getting in requires a hairpin turn and our Freelander had inches of clearance on our last of 4 attempts. Disappointing, and would we would I stay again? Easy to find and excellent placement but attention to detail and breakfast, in my view, did not reflect the price, 4 star status or Melia brand. As an aside there are plenty of small cafes nearby including an excellent on first right out of the entry door. Maybe we'll stay in a basic room and eat breakfast next...

I recently stayed at Melia Lisboa Oriente and have mixed feelings about my experience. While there were some positives, there were also several negatives that left me feeling less than satisfied.

One of the biggest issues I had was with parking. While I understand that it is based on availability, I believe that if having a parking spot is a necessary condition for booking a hotel, then the hotel should provide a way to prepay or preauthorize a card for the service and then guarantee a parking spot.

Another issue I had was with the reception. While the staff was generally polite, I did not feel like they went out of their way to be friendly or courteous. I also had some issues during checkout when trying to pay with my Amex card.

The service in the room was also disappointing. I was asked to pay for the food at the time of delivery, which is something I have not experienced before. I am used to having everything charged to my room and then paying for everything at checkout.

I also had some issues with the payment process. When I arrived to drop off my luggage and wait for the room to be ready, I was asked if I wanted to pay for everything upfront or later. When I returned to finish the check-in process, I was again asked if I wanted to pay upfront or later. I would have preferred to simply preauthorize my card and then pay for everything at checkout, especially since I needed a receipt for my company.

Other downsides to the hotel include the lack of a gym or spa and its distance from the city center. While these may not be deal-breakers for everyone, they were certainly factors that affected my experience.

On the positive side, the breakfast was good, although there wasn't much variety from day to day. The room itself was spacious and comfortable.

Overall, I was not completely satisfied with my stay at Melia Lisboa Oriente. As a gold member of the Melia chain, I had higher expectations for the level of service and amenities provided. In the same price range, I believe there are better options available and I will be testing those...