Memmo Príncipe Real — Hotel in Lisbon

This was a disappointing experience. Why? Housekeeping was lousy and the rooms are poorly designed.||The hotel is a small and very pretty boutique style hotel in Lisbon city. It is not quite in the city center, but close enough to walk to most of the sites if you are able. Lisbon has hills and steps everywhere, however, so consider treating yourself to an Uber.||The rooms are chic and modern in design. Space is a decent size for Europe. We had a terrace city view room booked, but the view was spoiled but a green tarp on a fence. I felt like I was just sitting in someone’s backyard. There was also a large construction crane with active workers on it that also obstructed our view. I would definitely NOT recommend upgrading to a terrace room and suggest choosing a city view room instead. It’s not worth the extra cost. It’s also not very private. Your neighbor can come walk along and sit in your terrace chair, or just chat to you from their terrace chair. There is not much of a partition between the terraces .||The room was VERY dim with all the lights on. Nice for a romantic night, but not great when you want to see your outfits for the next day etc. ||The bedding was comfortable. The TV was a nice size. But there was only one nightstand. The other side of the bed has the bar next to it. ||Outlet plugs are lacking! There was only one or two accessible outlets in the room, and nothing near the side of the bed adjacent to the bar. There was not even an alarm clock with plugs. Very very impracticable and surprising for a modern hotel. I had to charge my phone way across the room. ||We had a walk in closet in our room. It was nice, but I would have still liked a luggage rack since two suitcases cannot not fit on the shelf in the closet.||The hotel has very minimal amenities. There is no gym or spa on site, and the pool is a very small pool directly in front of a glass walled resturant. I do not know who would ever want to swim there with everyone looking at you! But I knew that going in….||Service was the biggest problem. We arrived in the evening, around 7pm. There was no doorman, and no one at the front desk offered to help us with luggage. Not 5 star.||Check in was a breeze, but it was not linked to the Marriott app. This is a Marriott affiliated hotel, but in name only.||Mateo at check in was very friendly. But when we got to the room, we only had one washcloth. We had to call 3 times before they understood what we needed. The next day, after touring all day and returning at 5:00 pm , our hotel room had not been cleaned. We had to call for housekeeping. Not 5 star.||On day 3, our room was cleaned, but we had NO washcloths! We had to call for washcloths again. That is just bad service. Even a 3 star hotel can do better.| |The room service menu I found limited. There are nice salads but no real entrees to have a nice dinner in your room, which is an option I like to have after a long day of touring….||We dined in the restaurant on our last night. I’m sad to say that it was my worst meal in Portugal. Not terrible, but just not enjoyable. We had the lobster soup and the beef filets, both of which were under seasoned and tasteless. Tell the chef it is ok to use salt!||I travel a lot. I am a Marriott lifetime Platinum and an ambassador elite member. I’ve stayed in plenty boutique and 5 star hotels. This one just falls short. It is not close to being 5 stars. Overall...

Good 5* Luxury Hotel capable of being the best but unfortunately plagued by poor customer service. You are welcomed by a sweet aroma which actually runs all over the hotel. I arrived and was led to my room which unfortunately was still being cleaned. I asked if a swap could take place but I was told to go back down for 5 minutes to wait by the pool side. The staff member said he would give me a free cocktail for the inconvenience. He returned 2 minutes later with the keys and told me I can go up myself and to my surprise, no cocktail. I think the bare minimum is to go up with me to ensure everything is now okay and deliver on the cocktail. Anyway, Memmo Principe is blessed with probably one of the best views I've experienced from a hotel. Just to add to that, there's a pool overlooking the scenery👌🏾. Decor is pure luxury even down to the Hermes toiletries and TV. By the bar area of the room, you are presented with ingredients to make your own cocktail on arrival which tasted nice. (I asked for ice which never came though) The room is a decent size with a nice view of Lisbon. You get a toilet seperate to the shower which is first for me. Definite bonus points for that. Rain-like showers on deck🤩. For the ladies, there's a mini walk in wardrobe. Location is central to most things so you are in the right place. It was a good stay that could have been better if the customer service was better. The breakfast is a must though, one of the best I've had.

You have the option to dine indoors or by the pool side. With this view, I recommend being outside even if it's a rainy day. I decided to order from the menu as opposed to the buffet. Eggs done to your liking and a variety of pastries to satisfy your breakfast needs. I really liked the eggs, the turkey sausages were okay and the pastries were well executed especially the pastel de nata which is the local favourite. Peanut butter pancake was huge and tasty, other flavours available as well. Drink options are also generous. I went for the detox juice and hot chocolate. 👌🏾👌🏾

I would recommend that you try the breakfast even if you are not staying at the hotel (if not exclusive to guests)

If the service was better it could easily be...

Disappointing Stay – Definitely Not Worth the Price

We booked a "superior 2 bed room" at Memmo Príncipe Real, which was advertised as having two bedrooms and two bathrooms. One of the rooms had a direct view of the parking area, with cars constantly turning around beneath the window — incredibly noisy and unpleasant. The other room faced... a wall. Not much better.

The bathrooms were small, poorly designed, and impractical to use. The only spacious part of the room was the oddly long hallway between the two bedrooms — hardly a redeeming feature. At €750 per night, this setup was absolutely not worth the price and should be avoided altogether.

The experience throughout the hotel was consistently disappointing. Staff seemed indifferent at best, no one cracked a smile the entire time. Breakfast supposedly opens at 7:30, but nothing was ready at that time. To make matters worse, the staff vacuumed around our feet while we were eating. Truly unbelievable.

The hotel also gives you restaurant vouchers — but they are barely worth using. The options are either a starter, a dessert, or a drink and the staff makes you feel awkward for even using them. We dined there on our first night: the restaurant was empty (understandably so), and the food was forgettable. The bacon on the burger was burned to a crisp, all black. When we used our voucher for a dessert, we were questioned about whether we had already used one for a starter — as if we were trying to scam them.

And if that wasn’t enough, after we left, we received an email accusing us of having taken a chocolate bar from the minibar without informing them on the last day — and that they would charge us €12. Of course, we hadn’t touched it. I replied to let them know exactly where the chocolate still was in the room (next to the chips), and only then did they backtrack and admit everything was fine. For a stay that cost over €2300, this kind of petty and accusatory behavior is just absurd.

In short, between the disappointing room, rude staff, unremarkable food, and absurd price, Memmo Príncipe Real was one of the worst hotel experiences we’ve had in this price range.

Absolutely not...