Pestana Quinta Do Arco — Hotel in Santana

The hotel grounds are absolutely beautiful — lush, green, and full of flowers. The location is also great for those who is looking for a some quiet time. Unfortunately, the rest of the experience fell far short of what you would expect from a four-star property.

The rooms are spacious but outdated. That alone would have been acceptable, but the real issue was the cleaning. The floors were so dirty that walking barefoot left our feet black. The bathroom was never properly cleaned: there was hair (not ours) left behind, the mirror was streaked, and the bed was made only superficially — the top cover was arranged nicely, but the sheets underneath were left messy. On one of the days, we received towels with holes in them.

On our first day, we returned from a hike around 4 p.m. to find the room still uncleaned. When we asked, staff told us cleaning is done until 5:30 p.m. — which is unreasonable for a hotel of this category. By 6 p.m., the room was still untouched. At 6:05, they claimed it was done, but the quality was laughable. We had to complain for three consecutive days before the cleaning slightly improved. We took pictures, we showed the issues to the staff directly, they agreed with us that it was not done properly, but still nothing was changing. By day four, they finally mopped the floor and sprayed a ton of chlorine around. The bathroom mirror and shower cabin remained dirty. We gave up and took it as an improvement :) The manager did come to apologize, which was appreciated, but the very next day we once again waited until 6 p.m. for the room to be serviced.

The swimming pools were another disappointment. Both reeked of chlorine — unacceptable for a supposed four-star hotel, especially when so many places in Madeira offer saltwater pools or more modern filtration methods. The sunbeds at the second pool were cheap plastic, so old and warped that they were unusable. Unsurprisingly, that pool was nearly always empty. The main pool near reception was much more popular, but with only about ten sunbeds for the entire hotel, it was impossible to find space. Guests often arrived, saw it was full, and simply left.

Breakfast was passable but monotonous — the same spread every single day with no variation whatsoever.

Overall, we did not feel we got value for money. At best, this hotel delivers the standard of a 2–3 star property,...

A tranquil stay with room for improvement

Our recent stay at Pestana Arco da Quinta, a four-star hotel in a peaceful area, had a mix of positives and areas needing improvement. On the bright side, the staff was friendly and the cleanliness was impeccable, with daily housekeeping ensuring a tidy environment.

However, our cottage, number 18, felt quite dated and didn’t fully meet four-star expectations. The sleeping arrangements for the children involved a fold-out sofa bed in the living area, which meant there was no actual couch to relax on, and the sofa bed itself wasn’t comfortable, requiring an extra layer to make it comfortable for sleep. Inside, the seating was limited to a small table with stools that had no backrests, making it feel quite spartan, almost reminiscent of a winter sports lodge, which was unexpected for the price we paid.

The kitchenette was equipped with only two extremely small pans, making it very challenging to cook a proper meal. Additionally, the bathroom upstairs had a bathtub with a very low ceiling, forcing anyone taller than about 1.65 meters to sit in the tub to shower, which was quite inconvenient and a bit of a safety hazard due to the lack of anti-slip mats.

Another issue we encountered was with the hotel’s pre-payment system. Despite paying our bill upon arrival, the system attempted to charge our credit card multiple times during our stay, which was quite unsettling. The staff acknowledged this as a system glitch, but it definitely needs to be addressed.

Furthermore, the lack of air conditioning or fans, combined with windows that couldn’t be properly closed or screened, meant we had to keep windows open at night, leading to unwelcome insect visitors, like cockroaches, which was not a pleasant experience. It’s worth noting that other cottages on the property might be more modern and better equipped, so clearer communication about these differences would help avoid disappointment.

So, while the environment and staff were definite highlights, the overall experience could be greatly improved with some updates and clearer expectations, especially considering the...

PROBABLY THE WORST HOTEL I HAVE EVER STAYED AT||I was in a party of 13 who stayed at this Hotel for 4 nights ||On our arrival it was raining. Checking in at reception we were each given a strip of paper to guide/find our way to our rooms. No umbrellas for the route march in the open down slippery paths and over 50 steps to my bedroom. ||Once found my room I found that the toilet had obviously not been cleaned (faeces were still in the bowl.) Went to use the room phone to call reception NOT Working. Advised reception of the situation as we went out to our rearranged evening meal location. ||We had booked to have a meal in the hotel restaurant, less than an hour before our booked time One of our party was told that the restaurant could not accommodate us all. Luckily we found another restaurant open on Sunday in the village. ||The following night (Monday) our booking time for the hotel restaurant was changed at very short notice. ||Returning to my room after dark was somewhat scary with parts of the path not adequately lit by any lighting. ||The front of house/ house keeping were very poor. NO APOLOGIES, NO EMPATHY, NOT BOTHERED|| The towels were never changed during my stay even using the convention of leaving used items in the bath. One wonders if the bathroom was ever looked at all?||I enquired at reception if there were any tea/coffee facilities in the room Negative reply but they could send a kettle to the room. Needless to say nothing arrived during the rest of my stay.||Other niggles. Adjacent to the shower and wash basin there was a soap dispenser (bolted to the wall) The bath however had no soap dispenser and several meters from the shower or the wash basin (not ideal if you wanted a soak in the bath after a days walking) || With iPhones iPads and other electronic devices now part of everyday living I had to move furniture to gain access to electric power points!||I...