4 star hotel? 3 in my opinion. 2 star food! People moan about the standard of food in these places, but you get what you pay for. I agree about the lack of toasters at Breakfast! Only one and people had to queue, they must be very expensive in the local La Argos?? Same said for salt and pepper sets I guess?
Food generally OK for what you pay for.Some poor some very good actually.It got better and more varied as the week went on. We were there last week (May 19th)
If I have a gripe, it's the bar area! As a pool bar it's fine, but it is all you have in the evening time so no entertainment and when the hotel is full, not enough seats.
Staff were generally fine if laid back. Slap bang between the beautiful Old Town and The strip so good spot.
But Please!!! If you want top dolar All Inc food, go pay for it!!!
OH!!! There is no Gym, just an empty room that used to be a gym. Good idea to convert all that space into an evening bar/entertainment area??

Hotel rooms were clean upon arrival and I was impressed with the decor of the rooms it wasn't what I was expecting , The food was actually good for all inclusive I didn't like some of it it but too each their own, Staff were friendly and pleasent and I would just like to give a special mention to the barman Ruben he is a very lovely young man but very overworked by the looks of it. I suppose my gripes with the hotel would be it looks as though it is finding its feet I don't know if it has new management I am assuming as the hotel rooms looked like they were refurbished and work looks to be getting done down on floor but anyway only one two slice toaster for guests at breakfast time, Bar is lovely and stylish however small with lovely big leather seats so trying to get a set was sometimes hard but there is a little area outside, lack of entertainment like the Sister hotel the Paloma I think it's called had singers karaoke etc been there for a visit but wasn't too fussed but content to stay in The Varandas for the evening if we weren't going out, Not really a place for kids there is no kids club there is a games room but it has got the bare minimum really so they would be bored but like I said I think improvements are underway, Rooms were cleaned well however I think there should be more maids I think there was only two for the whole hotel but they did a good job on the rooms they were very clean.

Overall I liked my stay it has a relaxed feel definitely a place for couples at the minute, it is in a good location your just between the old town and new town which are easily accesible as there is a tram that takes you to these places and is very cheap to use and the stop is only up the street and there is a shopping complex just a very short walk away at the end of the street, anyway the hotel just needs a little more staff and some more toasters lol and if you don't like the food there is resturants close at hand with a Mcdonalss only a about a 5 or 10 minute walk away anyway it's always fun to eat at different places and see the place your staying, Don't be put off by some of the bad reviews they seem a little exaggerated to me it reallys is'nt as bad as some people are making out but if you go i'm sure you will like you very rarely find the perfect place to stay but to me I feel I got good value for my money with no major complaints the good very much outways the little bad points and if I ever return to Albufeira I would stay there again.

We stayed in this hotel for one week in may. We were impressed with how friendly everyone was (hotel staf and locals). It was good value for money and the meals for all inclusive were generally quite good. There were 2 days when it all seemed to go to pot when more guests arrived and they seemed unable to cope. The few gripes we have about this place are mostly not the hotels fault, noisy guests (British folk surprise surprise) and not great weather for a few days!! Major issue with towels and toilet roll however as they actually ran out at some point. This was resolved the next day. A special mention for the barman Ruben. He was there everyday from 11am-12am serving refreshments and snacks. He was always nice and when I told him we were leaving, immediately poured 2 shots for us to have together to see me on my way. All in all a great holiday and would go back to the hotel again.

just got back from a week stay here would never return, food disgusting we always go all inc and never had food like this every, unless you like sprouts and roasted tin potatoes, breakfast awful about 4 salt and peppers for the full restaurant, 1 two slice toaster for all the guest to use which we found funny, one morning a poor gent asked for some coffee cups and received a pile of soup bowls and some paper pepsi cups, fawlty towers has not got a look in with this place, never had a full night sleep in the full week we where there the screaming shouting fighting smashing rooms up, even woken with young ones in the pool stalk naked at 3 in the morn having sex and screaming. They have no security at this hotel so its not worth complaining through the night because the young person on the desk cant do anything about it, we payed a 25 euro fee to keep the room for few hours after our check out has they have no wash rooms when we went to check out they were saying we had not payed and denying they took the money from us which they sure did and put it in the book and then tippexed it out so make sure you get a receipt if you keep your room on, think i better stop now has i could go on for ever, we didnt let this spoil our hol we had a fab time and a good laugh about the place met some nice people and its a lovely resort.