Seaside Grand Hotel Residencia

Not long back from second stay and have booked next years visit. Hotel is exceptional an oasis in the middle of gardens and palm trees which shuts out the rest of the world and makes it very quiet. Beautiful swimming pool which is very well managed. There is never a problem finding a lounger as the pool manager dealt with all your needs. Food is one of the main reasons we are going for a third time not to forget the wine list. Rooms are clean, well cared for , spacious and nicely decorated with high quality toiletries , daily water and fruit. The service supplied by all staff would be hard to beat and possibly the summary is "total attention to detail" Glad we are going back

It would be churlish to not give this hotel 5 stars. There were some things I did not like but I was aware of them before booking so they came as no surprise - sardine sun loungers that are booked every morning. But we accepted that as part of the holiday and got on with it. I also feel that the rooms do not offer the sort of privacy that we prefer on holiday although our room itself was comfortable and relaxing. We went half board. I can't understand staying here and not going half board. It would be like booking a room and not bothering with a bed. It's a key part of the joy of staying at the hotel. We found the dinner choice, portion size, presentation and service to be all excellent. I skipped the second course each evening and tried hard not too eat too much of the delicious bread and never felt that the meal was too much. We also never had a problem getting a table on the terrace. We were very relieved to find that the terrace is separated between smoking and non smoking. Breakfast had a delicious choice of fruit and yogurt, breads and preserves. We didn't bother with any cooked food, as we found the cold buffet was more than adequate. If you have a very sweet tooth you may be disappointed at the lack of cakes/muffins etc. Again, it was a blessing as I was saved from having to try everything. We enjoyed glorious weather so spent most of the time around the pool, which was large enough to enjoy a decent swim. At times the pool would be busy (first thing in the morning) but generally I had the pool to myself at various points throughout the day. The pool attendants kept the area around the pool absolutely spotless and worked non-stop. It was difficult sometimes to get the attention of a pool waiter - but I think that is just because they were so busy serving in the pool caf??/restaurant. The gym is ok. It is open air (no airconditioning) and has noone on duty but I used it a couple of times during our stay. It was nicer to go for a run in the morning along the promenade which is about 5 minutes from the hotel. We booked the hotel because we wanted a very relaxing easy few days away and on that basis the hotel ticked every box. We booked the hotel car to and from the airport as it was easy and a nice way to arrive/depart. I would suggest that the hotel reconsiders its policy towards guests celebrating their birthday at the hotel. My birthday was our last day before we left. At 5pm on the day of my birthday we returned to our room to find a lovely cream cake. We had had a late lunch, (we had been in the room @3pm when there was no cake at that time) and were going for pre-dinner drinks @7pm. As we did not want to eat the cake at 5pm, I phoned reception and asked if they could store it for us. When we checked out the following morning, I enquired if we could perhaps have the cake boxed so we could take it but I was told that the cake could not be boxed and couldn't be taken away. So thanks! Perhaps the type of cake they offer could be one that doesn't have to be eaten immediately. Even if we had known about it at lunchtime (we ate at the hotel pool restaurant) we could have enjoyed a slice with our coffee and shared it with other guests, which would have been nice. Bit of a disappointment. Many guests are regulars who have been coming to the hotel for many years and have already booked to return. Although we enjoyed our stay, we will probably not return as I like to try new places. We did discover when we checked in that there is massive construction work going on across the road from the hotel. A huge hotel (Rui?) is being demolished and something else is going up. The construction noise prevented us from enjoying our balcony - but as there was no view from the balcony we may not have used it anyway. The construction noise could not be heard from our room with the door shut, nor anywhere around the pool area, nor, I would imagine, any of the rooms facing the pool or away from that side of the road. We did not have any reason to voice any complaints while we were staying at the hotel but I have no doubt, that had we had any issues, they would have been dealt with 5 star efficiency