Palace Hotel & Spa - Termas do Bicanho

Hotel un po' lontano dalla civiltà. Ma nel complesso buono.

Not at all as advertised. It might have been a 4star hotel 40years ago but without any reinvestment, it doesn't come close any more. Shockingly bad manner of management - something resembling Faulty Towers chaos, but without the humour. Having read other reviews complaining about the same things, to many years back, it's a shame they dont improve/change the things repeatedly lamented by customers. The air conditioning was fixed at 16°C or not at all. When I asked the staff to correct this, they said they would but didnt (apparently it was controlled from reception, and the staff didn't know how). The next morning when I mentioned it again, the manager got argumentative and defensive and tried to blame me for asking the person on duty in the evening at 10pm who didn't know how to adjust the AC control panel from reception. Both managers came across as rude and unprofessional, criticising their staff in front of us as guests which I thought very unprofessional and not fair on the staff (who are all clearly downtrodden and likely doing the best they can with horrible resources). The breakfast was very chaotic, with a lack of bowls and plates, insufficient seating - we cleared a table for ourselves to sit down and had breakfast cereal out of a cup. The coffee was on dispenser and the juice was artificial, a sugar drink. The bedroom was in a shabby state with the curtain completely ripped through - when I showed a photo to the manager she exclaimed (and a staff member told me they lost their maintenance staff a while back and were looking for replacements) but didn't offer a single apology once. The telephone in our room didn't ring to reception. The walls throughout the interior need painting. A hand drier and the shower head in our bathroom was hanging off the wall. A fire extinguisher has been ripped out of one wall leaving a hole. Seems like there never was an investment in the upkeep of this place, or a refresh. Pool which is very misleadingly advertised costs 13euro per person for 45mins. Check in took a ridiculous amount of time; fridge empty; shower not maintained or cleaned well

Have you ever been a guest in hotel without HOT water in the shower? it has been already 3 days that i don't have HOT shower. Just warm. Unfortunately, i paid in advance and need to stay in the hotel. The reception staff is very nice but most of them don't speak English. The cleaning is good. beautiful location, but far from everything and also very unpleasant to drive around during the dark hours.