PortoBay Flores — Hotel in Porto

They wrecked my vacation.

I had one of the top Suites booked many, many months ago - it was all part of a birthday celebration for my other half. I wanted the best room I could get, and this was it. We were really looking forward to it.

Fast forward to yesterday when I learn that "due to unforeseen circumstances", I am no longer able to have the room i.e. the room was given to someone else, presumably someone with higher status. Our vacation was only 11-days away. Now we were left scrambling for another hotel at a time when most good rooms in top hotels are already booked out (we didn't want to stay at the hotel after what they had done to us).

I find that insulting and unprofessional in equal measure.

Whilst I'm sure the hotel has many good things about it, I can only speak from the experience I have had to date. The idea that someone else can just be handed a room at another person's expense, even though we were the first to book the room, is morally bankrupt.

But that's what happened. It's pretty disgusting actually.

Update - replying to PortoBay Flores response to my view.

First, note that they did not dispute my central claim - that my room was handed to another person.

Second, they have also lied. In their response they said:

"However, we were not given the opportunity to assist you with this issue before your decision to seek accommodation elsewhere."

This is false. I was told at the time that I would be offered a lower-tier room with some free breakfast (see attached email correspondence.

However given the nature of what was decided against me and given how disappointing the alternative room was in comparison, we decided we could not possibly stay at a hotel that has the potential to take a room from one person, booked 6-months in advance, to then hand it to another person 10-days before their vacation.

For this reason, I cannot possibly...

This must be one of the rudest front staff at the reception and reservation departments I have come across. I called to ask if the couch in the Palace room can be turned into a bed. No. We can roll an extra bed in. "I will transfer you to reservation." Ok, great, we have two small children (baby and toddler) one adult can sleep in the double bed with the kids and my husband can sleep on the rolled in bed. We book the Palace room for more space. "No, you can't." "Why not?" "It's the rules book two rooms." "But the space works great." "Doesn't matter. 2 kids count as two adults." It wasn't only how illogical all this was, but how rude the staff was. I get it if my kids were 10 or teens, but toddlers? Who are combined not even half the size of an adult. Just rude talking, they felt so bothered I even called. We now booked the G. A. Palace. Rooms are so much larger and they didn't have this non-sense rule. I travel Europe with my kids 2 times a year. I have never been told your babies count as adults book two rooms. G. A. Palace was friendly, they are about the same price, and their rooms are so much more spacious. Funny thing is, I didn't even get to the point of telling PortoBay we are booking two rooms anyways as my in laws are coming too. We could have split the kids to adhere to the rules that toddler and baby count as full adults. But at this point, the rudeness turned me off so much, nah. I take my money elsewhere. Comments on here say the same thing. Your staff on the phone is rude. I have the name of the person I spoke with I asked for her name. Do something...

Amazing location, friendly staff, and clean, comfortable rooms!

The location is fantastic. Right in the middle of the central touristy area, which means it’s close to the train station, metro, great restaurants, etc. It’s easy to get around, but there’s a lot of traffic if you’re taking a taxi. It’s a very walkable area.

The staff is friendly and helpful, especially the bellmen and front desk - all were amazing throughout our long stay.

We had a duplex suite and the view was awesome! A 180 view of the beautiful city! The room was very spacious and the bed was comfortable.

The room service was not good. We made it clear that we were ordering for two people and they only brought one set of flatware. We asked for specific condiments and none were brought (they had to go back and get them, along with our flatware). No salt and pepper, bread and butter, water was automatically brought with our dinner tray, which is odd. And the food wasn’t great. The francesinha sandwich looked/tasted like it had been sitting around and then just reheated, the potatoes were good, the croquettes were fine.

We had a few issues with getting housekeeping requests filled (extra coffee wasn’t provided even when asked, once the toilet paper wasn’t replenished, the terrace wasn’t cleaned each day), but the staff was very friendly and did a great job overall.

Each time we had an issue, the staff tried to rectify it immediately, but there are definitely some small kinks that need to be worked out.

Overall we had a great experience and would definitely stay here when visiting...