Octant Hotels Furnas — Hotel in Povoação

$357CAD TO SLEEP WITH HUNDRED OF ANTS

My boyfriend and I were SO excited to spend a night at this hotel. We read the reviews, the looked at the pictures and we decided to splurge and book it.

I have traveled A LOT but never, have I ever, had a more disappointing hotel experience as we did here.

I completely understand and appreciate the natural volcanic ecosystem which inhabits this establishment - a.k.a bugs are a thing. What I can't accept, is that upon waking up on July 14, 2018 - my side of the bed was covered in ANTS. Tiny little red fire ants... on my pillow, on the comforter, on the sheets.

I looked over at the chair, adjacent to the bed and there were more little ants, crawling ALL OVER the chair and all over my clothing. My boyfriend had to shake out each item of clothing I brought with me on this trip to try to get rid of the ants.

My suitcase - you guessed it! Covered in Ants.

In a panic, I moved my remaining items out of my suitcase and onto the dark colored ledge located underneath the TV. It looked as though the ledge was moving and I thought "okay, I'm loosing it"... NOPE! The ledge was actually covered in so many ants that it looked like it was moving.

The worse part - they got into my medication bag (I have an autoimmune disease so I NEED my medication - which was now infested with Ants - fortunately, they couldn't get into one of the bottles but still - gross and unsanitary).

Ants even got into my Lulu lemon bag and crawled into it. I had ants crawling out of the bag on the way back to our next destination. I had ants crawling out of my purse for TWO DAYS FOLLOWING.

When I checked out - the girl at the front counter had the audacity to make a joke about the situation by saying "you are too sweet" and the "ants didn't pay rent so they need to leave". I said I noted the sign in the room saying you may see bugs and she told me that sign is meant for people who leave the windows opened as they do not have screens and something may fly in but certainly not for the case as described above.

I hardly received an apology and I was so disgusted that I left the counter and had my boyfriend contact the hotel later that evening. The hotel said "oh you should have seen last week we had an infestation in the lobby". Right... but a) this was the BED I SLEPT IN and b) We paid almost $400.00 Canadian to stay there.

Then, he said we could come back for dinner and he would look into this and let us know what the problem was and discuss further. Why the heck would I want to go back to a place like that, nevertheless consume a meal there after that experience and also we are on vacation and didn't have the ability to go back to the Furnas for dinner.

We never did get a call back and we went back to Canada. I followed up with the hotel and again, they offered us a free stay - but again, GROSS. I can't stomach the thought of doing that again. Then he said we could have a dinner. WE LIVE IN CANADA. This isn't an option.

Lastly, I attempted to work with this hotel so I could highlight their customer service or ability to manage this complaint and "make things right for us" but then the manager, Jose, asked why I didn't ask to switch rooms and rooms were available - even though we already said WHEN WE WOKE UP the ants were there, not at night. Clearly, who would voluntarily sleep with ants? and since then , after asking multiple times for his supervisors information, information for Starwood as I understand they are affiliates and also how to file an official complaint in the Portuguese complaints book, I receive NOTHING back.

This is the worst hotel experience I have ever had. I have stayed in a lower star rated Cuban and Mexican hotel with far less bugs and way better customer service.

I wouldn't recommend this place to ANYONE.

It is not worth the money nor the headache of trying to deal with such an unhelpful and apathetic customer...

Three of us seasoned travelers booked spa services over the phone in English through Tiogo at the Spa Reception. Every detail from booking, to our welcome were all gently curated with his knowledge of the space and his understanding of the guest experience. We relaxed profoundly and the whole experience was incredibly enjoyable, world-class and exceeded our expectations.

We arrived 90-minutes early to experience the sauna, steam room & thermal indoor pools complete with 5 aqua-therapy features. The Laconia room was out of order, the side shower jets were not functioning either, but the rain bar shower with contrast therapy cold mist more than made up for these minor issues. When you are on any island, maintaining complex machinery and preventing the natural elements from beating up infrastructure is a challenge. The staff were always attentive, bringing trays of water refreshing towels and always smiling at every opportunity. While pristine it may not be, perfect for our 4-hour spa day it was.

My husband and I booked the massage/facial couples room combo. Tiogo and Carmen were outstanding therapists, our room was deeply relaxing with copious flameless candles and soothing scents and music to complement their intuitive touch. We were among the first to experience their new Azorian brand of Bam and Boo organic skincare products. The steam/shower afterwards, (with 6 well-functioning side jets) was a luxurious touch that brought us slowly back to a more relaxed reality.

The post-service relaxation lounge had more flameless candles and 3 huge leather lounges where we were again offered teas and water while we reflected on the rituals we were lucky to have experienced simultaneously (not easy to get on São Miguel).

We just couldn’t bring ourselves to leave so we went into the glass-roofed restaurant “Lounge” where local beef burgers, a really good chickpea burger, a pitcher of white sangria and their passion fruit chocolate mousse topped off our afternoon. Diogo our waiter worked seamlessly with his colleagues to provide great service and conversation while the Azorian skies kept a continuous procession of sun and clouds whizzing by overhead.

As a globe-trekking Spa Professional, Octant Furnas Spa does deserve its place in the book “150 Spas to Visit Before You Die.” I believe with a little more investment in maintaining its infrastructure and giving the dedicated Spa team the support to excel, it will retain its place of honor in the hearts of those who travel to this...

After reading so many positive reviews, admittedly our hopes were high for our stay at Furnas Boutique Hotel this past August. Unfortunately, our expectations were not met across the following key areas.

SERVICE The service was a mix between friendly and happy-to-help to inpatient, disgruntled, and unprofessional depending on the person of the day. Overall we expected more consistent, high quality service.

THE SPA Both my wife and I had terrible experiences at the overbooked, understaffed spa. My therapist had nails that I could feel digging into me the entire duration of my treatment - I’m shocked he did not have the awareness to realize this! Also, I ordered a sports massage and instead I received a Swedish massage with inconsistent pressure. It goes without saying, if I had known what I was in for, I would have never paid the 100 euros for the massage. Also the additional facial I payed 50 euros for afterwards was little more than cream applied to my face - no exfoliating, no face massaging, and not a facial! My wife’s therapist, on the other hand, was unprofessional, had a poor attitude, took too long between treatment sections for her to disrobe and lay back down on the table, and finished her treatment about 5 minutes early (despite starting 5-10 min late)! We booked Furnas due to the spa and we were quite obviously upset with our experience.

THE RESTAURANT Looking at the Furnas photos, you’d expect a near-fine dining experience at the restaurant, A Terra. Our experience was far from it! Breakfast was fine (though uninteresting and with especially weak service), while lunch and dinner were completely mediocre at best. We tried traditional Portuguese fair that we had elsewhere and it was either over cooked, under seasoned, or both! We also were excited to dine at A Terra given the online presentation, though in reality the quality and execution fell short.

On the positive, the rooms and housekeeping service were good. Keep in mind the “garden view rooms” have a view of the parking lot for the hotel and are therefore a bit misleading.

I will be sure to update this if the hotel management concedes and offers anything as a result of our below average...