spending new year in madera is always enjoyable
the weather is just perfect around that time of the year, not too warm not too cold.
madera is a beautiful island which I believe makes people forget about the tiny details that are still important when reviewing hotels. Thus reading the reviews for Madera should be done with careful attention to details, otherwise we quickly end up all cheering for the same hotels with no constructive criticism, and I have to say I would personally be quickly misled in an island as beautiful as Madera. I love Madera but I'm convinced its hotels could do a better job in the maintenance of their infrastructures and in the end would help them go through the crisis they are going through at the moment.
Quintinha Sao Joao gave me a mixed feeling. On one side, the service is impeccable, really great staff that is literally trying to make your experience better everyday. In this hotel you don't feel like you're a client, you feel like a guest. On top of that, they have a really good restaurant
with a michelin recommendation for (2011 and 2012) and very fair prices. I also liked the breakfasts which had literally everything.
Now the problems starting with the room. I was unlucky about the room since it was the one just above the bar which was quite noisy some nights when the hotel invited musicians to perform. I am actually not that sensitive about background noise but this was really loud. To be honest, I don't find it to be a great issue but I can imagine this would be a deal breaker for certain people. The other problem was the bathroom very small, not really clean to my standards (at least not to a 5 stars standard). the shower in the bathtub was not to my height and thus I had to take a bath every day (I'm actually not that tall, it's just that the ceiling in the bathroom was way too low). The wooden floor I believe was made of quickstep and as a result looked quiet cheap. The walls were quite damages in some area and the bed was averagely comfortable. The security guidelines were badly translated (probably through google translate) which I find problematic, I don't think a hotel should disregard those security details, it's not serious. also the eco lightbulbs are rather ugly, I'm not saying they should not use eco light bulbs, they should but they should avoid those industrial white color bulbs, we can do much better nowadays. Other tips would include better room internet, minibar with more choice and maybe some new acoustic floor isolation for the rooms above the bar.
well all in all, I found that this hotel did not put enough attention in the details which is a shame since they have a great potential.
I believe an economic crisis should push hotels to invest in their buildings and not save money on maintenance hoping that the crisis will eventually fade away. With a location like madera which is pure touristic gold, I believe the future leading madera hotels are the one that will make the difference for tourist which I have to say are mostly from middle/higher class and thus have some money to spend.
This rating has been done on the basis of a five stars hotel and in accordance with the price you pay (about 200 euros a night). On a personal note, I actually had a great stay thanks to the service, the food and the magic of madera.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
3 February 2012
I must admit that I am rather confused as to when you actually stayed at the Quintinha de São João – at the bottom of the review it says that you stayed with us in August, yet you begin by talking about how enjoyable the New Year is here in Madeira. The only reason for wishing to establish this fact is because the majority of our refurbishment has been carried out towards the latter part of the year.
You have criticized the Quintinha for its lack of maintenance. 2011 saw an immense programme of refurbishment throughout the hotel – all with the total comfort of our guests in mind. We extended the restaurant space, thus affording more comfort and privacy to our diners, we painted the entire outside façade of the hotel, we made various improvements and repairs to the Spa, we changed the flooring in 19 of the 42 rooms (with high quality, expensive wooden flooring), carried out major structural and esthetical work on our balconies, bought new furniture for our bar terrace and are in the throes of completely updating the soft furnishings in all our bedrooms. In terms of cost for this maintenance we have invested at least 15% of our total revenue of the year solely on the aforementioned changes. Contrary to the comments in this review, our regular guests who have been coming for a long time are delighted with the improvements and we are congratulated on keeping ahead of the times. In addition, we employ a full time Maintenance Manager who is available to make repairs on a day to day basis. We can assure you that the investment in our building and maintenance is well and truly above the norm.
We bend over backwards to ensure our guests are happy and, as far as the mini bar is concerned, we would have been delighted to have provided you with whatever you may have required from our bar menu. We use eco-friendly light bulbs, not to offend the eyes but because they are extremely important to the environment. Our choice of models of eco-friendly light bulbs are perhaps not as extensive as in other countries but we do try to make them more attractive by placing embroidered lamp shades over them. On inspection of the English translation of the Fire Notices behind the door that have been in situ for nearly 14 years, it does seem that some improvements could be made, although this is the first time this has been brought to my attention – our apologies. As far as internet in the rooms is concerned, the facility is not as efficient as we would like and hence we do not charge for it. Having said that, we are looking to improve this as soon as possible and we do have free internet in the bar, terrace and reception area
Our bathrooms are 2.35m high from the floor to the ceiling and 2.10m from the bath to the ceiling. As far as cleanliness is concerned, we do not measure this by star ratings as we would expect the highest level of cleanliness however many stars an establishment has. We pride ourselves on the cleanliness of our hotel and have been praised thus. We are sorry that we have not come up to your standards but would, however, have been most grateful if you had mentioned your dissatisfaction in this area at the time and we would have been able to right the problem.
We are gratified to hear that you had a “great stay” and that you enjoyed our service and food.
Yours sincerely
André Barreto
Report response as inappropriate
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC
