Ajuda is the area (a couple of miles out of central Funchal), so there are one or two other hotels with that in the title (Jardins d'Ajuda, Musa d'Ajuda, for instance).

The Ajuda Madeira is a pleasant enough hotel with generous room space and extremely helpful staff. Guests were a mixture of English, French, German and Dutch. Breakfast is expansive, dinner is buffet-style, with a usual choice of two fish and two meat dishes (My wife and I are not vegetarian, but there didn't seem much on offer for those who are -- apart from salads). There's a floor show on a couple of evenings during dinner.

The pool is quite small, with beds (free) and umbrellas (1 euro 50 to hire). We went slightly out-of-season (September), so space wasn't a problem. The pool man keeps a close eye on activities.

There's a courtesy bus into Funchal centre and back. One pleasant surprise was the rather stylish shopping mall a short walk from the hotel. Another was that we were assigned a holiday rep., even though we booked independently through lastminute.com. Joanna was able to arrange excursions and a much cheaper option of getting to the airport at the end of the holiday.

To sum up, a relaxed and comfortable hotel that will probably appeal more to couples than families. Happy holiday!