Guest User
October 29, 2024
This was our second visit to Porto Sani having previously come during peak July season a few years ago. The hotel remains very impressive: - it is a very attractive hotel and resort throughout, with fantastically maintained buildings and gardens. - the effect of the multi hotel with their own identity/one resort concept is that it has the feeling of being a small town, with the marina providing a lovely focal point, rather than just another soulless hotel that could be anywhere. - the breadth of facilities and activities available is impressive. The football academy in particular wipes the floor with anything offered by equivalent hotels. - the number of restaurant choices is excellent, and the ability to make use of the options at the other resort hotels is a great feature. - the majority of the staff work hard to ensure you have the best stay possible. There was inevitably a slightly different vibe in the October half term to that experienced over the summer. The hotel feels as if it is in wind down mode, with staff visibility and service levels (around the pool, at the beach, in restaurants) a little slower than on show in the summer and we experienced a small number of other frustrations: - access to activities / facilities / restaurants: in the October half term, real time availability of many of the popular activities (tree top adventure, Bear Grylls camp, kids club, evening restaurants) can be stretched. - F&B programme: notwithstanding that the choice is great, the dine around/credit system (adopted in place of the all inclusive approach at obvious rival hotels) has its shortcomings. The 'included set menu' options are often limited with the superior a la Carte options priced unrealistically, meaning the 'credit' is insufficient to cover most main courses. - Cost: as several other reviews have commented, the Sani takes 'captive resort' pricing a bit far: no complimentary water at meals is a particular bug bear. All that said, its hard not to leave the Sani happy and thinking it does these types of holidays better than anyone else in the top tier price bracket.