California Urban Beach Hotel

We enjoyed our stay at this hotel in Albufeira. We had a decent room with a balcony overlooking the town. Enjoyed sitting out, particularly on an evening listening to the live music and sounds from the street (although Sweet Caroline got a bit tiresome after a few nights!) The noise into the early hours wasn’t really a problem for me, probably because I’m hard of hearing anyway and also took my own silicone ear plugs. Room was cleaned every day, all staff were friendly and helpful. I particularly found Gopal on reception very helpful, he sorted out a couple of issues for us in a kind and professional manner, nothing seemed too much trouble. The sun beds around the pool area are very comfortable and the attentive bar staff provided for a relaxing atmosphere. I particularly enjoyed the small indoor hydrotherapy pool the soothing jets also very relaxing. Breakfast was excellent. Good choices, the food quality excellent particularly the healthy fruit and the not so health pastries! Great location to explore the local area, we particularly enjoyed a trip to Faro City using public transport and visiting some of the beautiful coves using Bolt. Nice beaches a short walk from the hotel too. Pleasant walk to the Marina area. All in all a lovely holiday.

Spent 4 days at this hotel last week and ended up Living out of a suitcase through out our stay due to not being aware that the cupboard was hidden behind a curtain. WiFi was extremely poor If your disabled or you have a baby who uses a pushchair , I had to pick up the pushchair and baby together and carry them up and down 10 steps in order to access the street. This hotel has certainly not catered for that.

Also emailed the hotel a few hours after checking out that I had left my track suit top in the room and could they please get a cost to post to me in the UK, 2 days later I am still awaiting a reply.

We stayed at this hotel for five nights, and unfortunately our experience was very disappointing.

We arrived in the middle of the night to find that there was only one bath towel between the two of us. As it was so late, we decided to wait until the following morning to ask for more. When we spoke to reception, we were told the towels were being washed and would be brought to our room when they were ready. After several phone calls throughout the day, we still hadn’t received them and ended up with one of us having to use the hand towel to dry off.

To make matters worse, when we used the shower, it flooded the bathroom floor and leaked into the room. Trying to clean up the water with just one towel and a hand towel was extremely difficult. We reported the issue to reception, but were told that maintenance had already left for the day, so nothing could be done until the following day. We were also still waiting for the additional towels.

The next day we finally received more towels, but when we used the shower again it was still flooding. We had to contact reception once more before someone eventually came to repair it.

On the third day, we returned to our room to find an infestation of ants crawling up the wardrobe and around the bin. Considering we were staying on the ninth floor, and the bin had been emptied daily, this was shocking and completely unacceptable. To make matters worse, we also noticed that the curtains in our room were covered in mould, which was both unpleasant and concerning from a hygiene perspective. The ant problem continued for the rest of our stay, and we repeatedly had to ask housekeeping to clean the room and apply ant repellent.

Overall, this was not the standard we expected from a hotel advertised as four stars. Between the lack of basic amenities, the unresolved maintenance issues, the mould in the room, and the ongoing pest problem, our stay was far from enjoyable.

To top it all off, while waiting in reception today for our transport to the airport, we overheard more than five separate guests making complaints to reception. These ranged from rooms not being ready until after 5:00 pm despite check-in being advertised as 3:00 pm, to other guests reporting ant infestations in their rooms. Based on what we experienced ourselves and what we witnessed from other guests, these do not appear to be isolated incidents.

Following my stay, I submitted a formal complaint to the hotel. They responded to say they would investigate the issues and look into compensation, but since then I have heard nothing further despite waiting for a response. The lack of communication and follow-up is extremely disappointing and only reinforces the poor experience we had during our stay. Customer service doesn’t end when guests check out, and the way this has been handled is not a good reflection of the hotel. I definitely won’t be staying here again or recommend this hotel to others.