Sao Martinho Hotels with Gym

Rating 0/5 - Exceptions to this RATING - Are the polite & extremely helpful Jessica @ the front desk & Andre the Rooms Manager who went out of their respective ways to meet any requirements needed. Firstly, my reservation was booked 2 months prior yet NO NOTIFICATION that the Hotel name & brand had changed a couple weeks prior. With a few street signs & the massive New Name signage on the hotel marquis , I was not notified of the NH Re- Branding. I was told that ALL guests were notified of this Change of Corporate Re- Branding . When I explain this to the Day front Desk Manager his reply was nothing they can do as it all comes from Head Office (poor apology ). I checked all previous correspondence & no such emails were received by me despite being assured that notifications were sent to all arriving guests! After an 8 hour flight from Toronto Canada & driving past the hotel 3 times up & down one way streets, finally parked & asked where is the Tivoli Sintra Hotel? I was directed in its direction. Jessica @ the front desk walked back with me to my car ( got in with my wife & I ) & guided us through the streets to the hotel. Wonderful ! Andre was most attentive & any request was followed through with the expertise & care of a 5 star manager (a hand written note expressing his desire to be of service should we require anything) was in our room . COMMENDABLE! Now my rating is based not on these two wonderful caring staff But the other staff & room encounters. The shower head kept falling down on the bar so could only be used by hand . The evening front desk manager came to the room & apologizing said it would be repaired in the morning, still not corrected by next day. I asked for 4 towels as the shower floor was soaking wet ( said could give us ONLY 2 ) from the ill functioning shower-head, also the sink faucet spout that spewed water over the entire area (poor design) choice. The house maid came & cleaned entire bathroom that evening so we could still use it the next day - lovely lady despite no English we gestured what was required and she met our expectations. The following day we went @9:30 pm for a late light dinner. After being seated by a bus boy who did not provide us with table settings, we waited 10 minutes as the Waiter walked by us twice with no acknowledgment as to our presence (saying he would be with us momentarily would have been considerate). He proceeded to serve another table 3 feet from us, who were asking for additional drinks as they were obviously there for some time dining. We finally got up from the table & in dismay the waiter looked at us. We stated that being ignored & as guests of the hotel were upset with this level of disrespect & lack of hospitality professionalism. Lastly, I had sent an email at the time of booking advising of this being a special 70 th Birthday trip for my wife, to the hotel Manager that any niceties that could be offered would be appreciated. Not even a note ! As I am writing this in our Fig

We had a great time during our 5 night stay at the Vila Gale Sintra. I’ll start with the pros of the resort. The property itself is beautiful. The pools, the scenery around the hotel are amazing. The family room layout was great for us. It was essentially what appeared to be what used to be two rooms combined into one. The large balcony was great for sitting out at night. The sunset was spectacular from our room. The kids activities were great as my kids got to enjoy the carousel, playground and trampoline park. Be aware though that they only open these at certain times throughout the day. The breakfast was great and had a ton of selections. There were a few cons, the first was the buffet dinner. It was quite expensive at 29 euros per person and the options werent great. They only really had one meat and one fish that they were cooking and there was a line to wait in if you wanted it. We only ate dinner there the first night. The room was partially refurbished. The carpet looked older and the sliding door within the room kept coming off the tracks. And the bathroom was a little odd in that the vanity was open to the rest of the room. So if someone needed to use the lights for it they would light potentially wake up the person in the room if they were sleeping. Then the WiFi, while it worked well for the most part, kept having to reconnect to the network. This happened on both my phone and iPad several times each day while I was there. The location of the hotel has its pluses and minuses. It is a quiet resort away from the city of Sintra. And it’s also located in a place that makes it easy to get to the beach and Colares. But there isn’t anything else right around the hotel so you need to rent a car or take an Uber to get around. We took and Uber and it did work pretty well. Nothing is within walking distance and the nearest bus stop is a 20-30 minute walk away.