Lopesan Villa del Conde Resort & Corallium Thalasso

Beautiful hotel, nicely designed and the staff were a delight. We had a standard double (not the economy double) and the room was spacious and well located, overlooking well kept gardens. The pools were many and again set in well kept gardens - sunbeds a plenty! The views to the ocean were fabulous. But.... hot food at breakfast was not hot, it could barely be described as warm. Who eats Luke warm bacon, egg and beans? We didn???t eat other meals at the hotel. We asked for a kettle for the room (they don???t have them in the rooms), this was provided but when we asked for a cup/mug we were told room service would need to bring this and they???d charge ???5 for delivery! We bought one at the supermarket for ???2. So it may be worth packing one if you like a hot drink in your room. The tiles in the pool need attention with many missing, and the fountains in the large pools never worked the whole time we were there (10 days). Twice we returned to find our room cleaned but no new loo roll, leaving us with insufficient paper and the need to contact reception - it seemed toilet paper is rationed. The final hurdle was the bill - the hotel pre-charged our credit card for ???400 and you then simply tap your room card when buying drinks, snacks and meals that are not already included - fortunately our bill arrived via email just before we left the hotel and we found it had meals and drinks on it that we hadn???t had (hubby is a fussy eater and the hotel didn???t sell the type of food he???d eat), the reception were disbelieving and made calls to the lunch restaurant to check we hadn???t eaten there and then had the audacity to come off the call and ask if I was sure? They refunded the ???81 costs (Far more than any lunch would cost for the two of us) but if you choose to visit the hotel you need to push for them to demand a signature or identification for anything added to the bill, if not you may find yourself funding someone else???s holiday. I???d visit again, but would need assurances regarding the billing arrangements and maybe take my own microwave to warm up the luke warm breakfast food 😂

Me and my wife stayed in the hotel during our honeymoon. It was an amazing time. The hotel is wonderful. The best things are 1. amazing food, 2. beautiful garden, 3. big room, 4. nice pools, 5. very kind and helpful staff. Our expectations were exceeded and I would recommend the hotel to all.

Pluses: ??? Great view , great location. ??? Big rooms, clean and well maintained. We had a seaside view and it was worth it. Balcony is large and it's a nice place to spend the evening with a glass of wine/Sangria and just enjoy the incredible view. ??? Beautiful architecture and building design. This is subjective of course, but we love buildings that respect local architecture and fit well within the cultural story of the place we visit. ??? Excellent staff: friendly and proffessional. This is most likely not an ideal situation for any in the hotel business and the added stress of having to deal daily with potentially infected tourists (and not all respecting pandemic control measures) I'm sure it's not making it easy. Considering this, we loved the staff as they were always helpful, informative and friendly. ??? Steaks, if the rest of the food experienceat this hotel was average, the steaks were excellent. I have no idea how they manage but almost ay piece of beef, no matter what cut they had, cooked was close to perfect: medium rare, tender and full of flavor. ??? COVID prevention measures are well implemented and professionally maintained. Minuses: ??? Biggest issue: the Lopesan videos mentioned special measures in place for Hotels. However, the videos made no mention of gym and sauna facilities and, at arrival, we found out the gym was actually closed, as was the Spa section. We did not like this since these are points that should be clearly described on the Lopesan COVID information material. Feels like a lie by omission . ??? Wifi coverage is bad, for a 5 star hotel it's very bad. The only place we could get adequate signal on any of our devices was in bed . ??? Room furniture lacks functionality (no drawers), very few power plugs in the room. The existing ones are badly placed. For example, charging the phone overnight means having it across the room from the bed. ??? Food quality is variable. This is actually worst than having a clearly good or bad experience because you actually loose trust. Over the course of the week, the food quality started high , but quite quickly became less well prepared and less tasty. Except for the steak section. In the beginning the dining experience was actually a gourmet experience, delicious dishes and very nice plating . However, over the course of the week we noticed a slow quality decrease (and not simply our adjusting to the food ). ??? The dessert section is the worst in any 3 to 5 star hotel we visited. I am not sure if they make these in house or it is catering, but it was terrible. I would suggest reducing the number of dishes and concentrating on a handful that are well made. ??? Room sound-proofing is bad. We were lucky we had no adiacent neighbours but we could still hear the our neighbours from the floor below talking, as well as the neighbours from 2 rooms over :). Things we think may be awesome, but sadly could not sample: ??? Spa area looks like it probably an incredible experience, set directly below the seaside promenade, ovelooking the sea. We could see glass walls that probably make for an incredible experience when in the sauna or the inside pools. We'll probabably want to re-visit just for trying the spa section.