My wife and I booked into the Pousada after reading some of the reviews here - we decided to push the boat out and go for a few days of 5-star service.
The hotel looks lovely from the outside; a well renovated convent about a mile outside the local town that gives it its name. I'm not sure about it taking 10 minutes to walk to the castle, though: perhaps I'm getting old and unfit! The room was functional; no balcony and a strange set of shutters. There was some minor damage to the furniture and a towel hook had been damaged and not replaced - nothing major, but not 5-star. The cleaning staff did an excellent job.
There is a nice pool; although it was not cleaned during our 3-day stay and was quite dirty. Towels were available from reception - at the other end of the hotel.
The breakfast buffet was reasonable; the scrambled eggs were excellent, the fruit juice did not appear to be fresh and I could not get a decent cup of tea. Dinner was excellent.
The staff on duty were friendly and relatively competent. However, there were never enough of them to provide 5-star service - my major issue with this hotel. During our stay, there were only ever 3 people on duty; one on reception and 2 in the dining room. No concierge, no bell boy, no barman, no bar staff, no pool staff, no staff on the terrace - or anywhere else that was available as a 'sitting' room. At one point, after waiting for 40 minutes to order a drink on the terrace, I went to the bar where there was a phone and instructions to phone reception. I phoned reception and, after no answer after 5 minutes I went to reception - there was no-one there. I eventually ordered through the dining room staff and, after an hour, received a drink. This was not a one-off event. The service provided by the staff was well below the standards expected of a 3-star hotel; let alone a 5-star hotel. I feel for the staff on duty, they tried as best they could; there were simply too few of them on duty to provide the expected level of service.
One other, minor niggle: you can't lock the room from the inside and retain electricity unless you dismantle the room key!
I would not return to this hotel unless I could be completely convinced that the level of service had improved dramatically - they need to double (at least) the number of personnel on duty.
- Pousada De Hotel Arraiolos
- Pousada De Arraiolos
