This is the first time we have been to Madeira and were not sure what to expect, we flew with Thompson Airways, which was really good, efficiant and proffesional. At the Hotel, the staff at the reception desk were excellent, and booking in was smooth and easily done. The first impression we got was that the decor of the hotel was very dated (60's-70's), but it does grow on you, and we concluded that it was retro stylish. We had a 5th floor room, sea facing, which means that you look along the coast towards the west (lovely sunsets). The port is right below the hotel, and occasionally we did hear noise from there, it added to the general feel of the holiday. The room was clean and quite big, more of a junior suite and the housekeeping very good. Once again quite retro, but a very pleasent place to stay. We stayed HB, and the breakfast was the usual fare in most large tourist hotels, nothing to write home about. On the first night we had a very nice dinner, but found that the wine list was rather expensive. Unfortunately, the food is not 5 star, probably 4 if the kitchen are having a good day, on one occasion I actually had to send my meal back as I couldnt eat it. The leasure facilities are excellent, especially the refurbished and modern pool and spa area, and the small gym. In all, I would go back to this Hotel, but on a B&B basis, because it is so close to all of the cafes and rastaurants in Funchal, and most of them are very good value

We staid here over the New Year 2011/2012. The public areas of the hotel are very open, modern & airy. The rooms are o.k, nothing to get excited about in either direction. The hotel has a 5 star rating, but not really 5 star prices to be honest, so I prefer to judge value for money rather then the rating itself.

Positive notes are no doubt the excellent location, the staff and the indoor pool-area. We did not spend much time at the outdoor pool due to the weather, but if felt a bit more dated in style and size then the indoor one.

The downsides are they probably need to wake the food and beverage manager up..

Again, the service and staff by the pool was very nice, but the price versus quality at lunch was very low. Had a pathetic Caesar sallad at a ridiculous price, rest of us not happy either - avoid if you can.

Also the room-service was a bit poor and basic compared to what you pay for it.

Lastly, the breakfast was the biggest disappointment, if ANY ambitions to be a 5 star hotel for real, they need to enhance the overall quality of the breakfast, better quality cheese, ham/presunto, maybe offering some smoked salmon, less of bake-off breads etc. The breakfast felt really low quality.

We did have any regular dinner at the hotel as there are better alternatives nearby, but the New Year´s Gala dinner was not bad, so I think their kitchen & chef´s has it in them if given the chance. The Gala Dinner was nice and they must have spent a great deal on it as entertainment was not bad at all - bravo to that! Also liked the gesture with the servants cruising the garden at midnight with glasses of free-flow bubbly to make sure everybody could make a proper toast for the New Year.

So would I recommend this hotel, well I just might if they price is decent. Would I go again,
not really as there are plenty of other choices with a bit of more character and quality.

This hotel has an enviable position close to the centre of Funchal. Rooms on the land side of the hotel are rather dark and overlook a demolished hotel site ... Avoid! The rooms are basic for a 5 star establishment. The management did move us after complaining about location and dusty rooms. There are plastic shower curtains over small bath / showers... Improvement needed. Lifts are woefully inadequate for large numbers of guests. The public areas are spacious as is the pool area. It was unfortunate that the hotel closed most of the gardens for a while day for a private party during the stay.
Thus is not a gourmet hotel. Breakfast was good but that is as far as it went. Dinner brought the sad salads and tasteless puddings in self service. Other food stewed for hours in self service tureens. A billed 'italian' dinner manifested an over cooked lasagne and another pasta dish stewing in it's sauce... No sign of any recognisable Italian style desert. On being offered something from the carte a tough fillet was presented cooked straight from the cold store ... Inedible. The food is poor for a five star establishment. The breakfast clearing station saw waste slopped on to the carpets.
A pleasant hotel but there are far better hotels in Funchal deserving a five star accolade. The experience was capped by being informed on arrival home by email that the hotel had made a mistake on the restaurant bill. In spite of my credit card being closed on settlement of my bill and with no permission my card was charged! Beware!

Should you be of a persuasion whereby silence is not “golden" and you dream of perfect sea views and beautiful gardens to boot, then maybe this is the hotel location for you. Should you welcome traffic pollution, from not only the main road, but from the harbour, the working port (relish languid days reading in the gardens accompanied to the sound of road works and pilling excavators), be excited by business conferences held in meeting rooms, maybe next to your room, with access to the sweeping hotel dining veranda and enjoy a free nicotine fix from the inhalation of the smoker's cigarette smoke; savour the banging corridor doors and the conference staff chit chat who leave the meeting room doors open for, maybe, your added enjoyment and entertainment. Marvel as the noise channels effortlessly from the ground floor ocean view dining room and from the cabaret evening acts all the way up the award winning architecture of the open plan sweeping staircase which acts like a funnel conveying sound like a Roman amphitheatre: maybe designed for your comfort so that one does not need to leave the room (which is sumptuous incidentally, if not with an overly small bathroom unlikely to enhance any romantic tryst; think health and safety) last but not least, the grand crescendo of building works (note: Sunday is a day of rest of which you may like to take advantage and have a sleep beyond seven thirty a.m.): pilling excavators to cranes to lorries to drills to harbour tools to cruise liners with hooters louder and larger than those of The Titanic with their five p.m. exit to deep booms more throaty than the song birds and to tunes expected of The Love Boat with that old Rod Steward favourite, "We are sailing ........" Noise? Development? ..... Could be for you then? ...... Quiet! Restorative! Romantic! ........back to Scotland for us then .... and never again with Thomson or First Choice.