Pensão Londres — Hotel in Lisbon

Our visit was a disappointment. The first warning sight was a broken power socket without covers in the hallway. I didn't dare to test if it was live. Painting was flaking off from balcony doors.

Overall the room was old with a nice decorative ceiling and the air conditioning unit was working, as well. However, this is more or less the extent of positives.

The double bed was clean, but there was no mattress topper and only one blanket. We found a drug pill on the floor, left by a previous guest. Things only got worse from this point onward.

The shower room was filthy and there was a thick layer of dust on the surfaces. The shower head was barely secured to the wall, and the tap next to the bathroom sink was loose. The window frame was visibly rotten and caked in a thick layer of dust.

Breakfast was a bare minimum offering. Cheese and cold cuts were displayed on a warm table. The coffee machine was mostly broken, only a few buttons were lit. After a quick attempt at service it worked briefly.

The lift worked on our first day, but then it broke down.

Apparently the upper floors were renovated, but we didn't get to see how they looked like as after two nights we’d had enough and left, losing payment for 4 nights.

The hotel management never bothered to respond to the two emails that I sent them. I'd have been happy if they offered an apology, a word of renovated other rooms and maybe a 50% refund or something, but I waited in vain. The hotel staff were friendly and appeared to be doing their best with limited resources.

I wish that I had read previous Google reviews before picking this hotel...

When I read the other reviews of this place, I feel like some of the reviewers aren't being realistic with their expectations. For the price, you absolutely cannot beat the location of this hotel. Sure, the rooms may be old (I mean, the building is 100+ years old), but they serve their purpose. The beds are fine. The shower is fine. The AC is fine. Personally, we're too busy exploring this wonderful city to worry about cosmetic appearances in our hotel. The guy at the desk (I forgot his name) was very helpful and friendly, and we even saw him hanging out in the neighborhood later in the evening. The hotel is within walking distance to ANY part of "downtown" Lisbon (Alfama, Baixa, Chiado, Bairro Alto, waterfront). There's a beautiful miradouro just down the street, that had parties and food while we were there. There's hundreds of restaurants, bars, stores, parks, ANYTHING, within an easy walk. So don't let the negative reviews scare you away! If you're not a primadonna and you value authenticity and unique experiences over creature comforts and familiarity, then you will love this place as much as we did. If you are opposed to using your legs, then, yes, maybe stay somewhere...

This hotel gets some very unfair reviews, but it doesn't pretend to be something that it isn't. Weaknesses? It's a little decrepit (inner lift door partly broken, but lift working fine, balcony distinctly decrepit, and not to be trusted), and it's better to eat out for breakfast, because it's limited. It is also in party-land, so noisy in the earlier part of the evening - and because people can easily access the lobby and staircase, don't leave valuables in the room.||Strengths? It IS incredibly well-placed for easy access to a lot of Lisbon's best places. The air-con does work, the fridge worked fine, as long as you left one of the key cards in the slot in the room all day. Linen was clean, bathroom facilities were fine, and a decent breakfast is available across the street (turn left, about 100 metres, opposite side of the road). Our 4th floor room looking onto the main road was light and airy, and because we could shut the windows with the aircon, not noisy at all.||Just don't judge it against the 5-star offerings that charge considerably more - provided that you go in with your eyes open, this is a hotel that I would...