Really friendly and helpful service at reception. Rooms are big and very quiet and breakfast very good with fresh pineapple and other fruits. Only disappointment was so called gym, almost all equipment were broken. Hotel is very big and I can only imagine what it's like in rush-season...

Nice, clean and quiet. The only negative thing would be that the souroundings/the walk inte the sity centre are quite booring and that there aren´t many resturants near the hotel. Very positiv that we didn´t have to pay to use the garage for our rental car.

We made the fatal mistake of not checking TA before we booked this. I'm not sure what I expected from San Miguel. Relaxed, laid back, old world charm, warm but not hot etc. Sadly not. Wet, empty, seriously boring (unless you like walking around water-filled volcanos but honestly, when you've seen one, you've seen 'em all. Hotel wise, we were actually staying somewhere else on the island but during winter basically EVERYWHERE is closed, other than Ponta Delgada (and that ain't saying much......). So we moved here, expecting a little bit of luxury although not the Dorchester. But ot was a total disaster. The room was huge but very very uninspired. Looked like a dodgy airport hotel (we had checked around the whole of Ponta Delgada before choosing this hotel - it honestly seemed the most likeable). The spa treatments I planned to take my mind off the infernal rain and general misery about the place were not good. The hydro bath thing actually had a scum line around it. I noticed it as I lay in the bath (doubly not good) and told the therapist, who proceeded to rub the dirt into the bath while I was still in it. Vile. The pool showers smelled extremely unpleasant. The tripper-y breakfast room was like god's waiting room. Since the whole island was like a drive through cemetery, we decided to indulge ourselves with the 'Gala' (never trust that word) dinner at the hotel, at a not insubstantial price of $125 each. It sounded nice enough. It wasn't. I'm fairly greedy, as is my husband, and can chow down most stuff if required. Actually couldn't eat any of this. A smorgasboard of filth. We walked out when we realised we couldn't actually even laugh at the awfulness of it all and immediately complained to the reception, saying we hadn't eaten or drunk anything (we really hadn't) and we'd like to discuss the problems with the manager in the morning. He never called. We went to see him, He didn't speak to us. This went on for a couple of days. If he'd just knocked one of the dinners off the bill we could have handled it but no. We were LIVID and in the end walked out without paying (only for the dinner, we'd paid everything else) as the manager REFUSED to discuss it with us. They called the police at the airport and we had to wait for the hotel bird to come back and then pay her in cash or we weren't going to be allowed to leave the island!!!! At this point, I would have sold my mother to leave the Azores so we cashed up. The policeman was incredibly understanding, said this kind of behaviour is why the Azores is basically going nowhere fast (he was from the mainland) and gave us the number of the British Consulate or something in the Azores and said we should complain. We followed it all up with the hotel and their main offices in Lisbon or wherever they were and they refused to respond. In the end we just gave up. Please do not stay here. Avoid the Azores altogether if you can. But if you have to come, go to the Hotel Colegio. Looks charming (mind you, a young offenders institution would have looked like the Savoy at that point). It has a really good restaurant (honestly). Of course we found that out on the last night (typical). I think I'd rather chew off my own leg than spend another New Year's Eve like that. Avoid at all costs.

We got a last minute deal on this holiday and for what we paid I wouldn't have complained about a thing. As it happened there was nothing to complain about and, from the night we arrived by minibus in the middle of a political function to the sad morning we left in the rain, we had a fantastic holiday and would recommend São Miguel to anyone.

The hotel is large and the communal areas and central garden have a Japanese theme. All the rooms have balconies, mainly facing in towards the garden. There weren't that many other people in the hotel for most of the week that we stayed; we saw one tour group of retired Swiss people every morning at breakfast then midweek they were bussed off and another group arrived. One evening Pauleta the footballer received an award in the dining room and we alternated between watching the coverage on the TV and watching from our balcony with a glass of wine. We struggled to earwig what Carlos Queiroz was saying on his mobile phone below our window.

Our room was very comfortable and everything was of a high standard. Our one little disappointment was that the double bed was in fact two twin beds pushed together but everything else was lovely. We stayed on a bed and breakfast basis and had some wonderful moonlit picnics on our balcony. On the one day it rained non-stop we found we had the indoor pool, sauna, steam-room and jacuzzi to ourselves.

Breakfast was a very impressive hot and cold buffet with a wide selection of everything. The staff at breakfast were really friendly and all the staff we met were brilliant.

The hotel is a pleasant 5-10 minute walk from the centre of Ponta Delgada. The bus timetables are tourist-friendly and it's easy to take day trips to other parts of the island. We visited Sete Cidades, Nordeste and Furnas where we swam in the hot springs swimming pool in the botanic garden. Until they get promoted, Santa Clara football team play their home games on a Sunday in the 15,000 capacity Estádio de São Miguel. The Santa Clara barmy army provide an entertaining flag-waving, trumpet-playing accompaniment to the game and a huge variety of snacks can be purchased both in and outside of the ground. We can recommend the tremoços for half a euro.