Pestana Blue Alvor Beach - All Inclusive Hotel

Arrived and was greeted with smiles etc, a warm welcoming which was nice. Went for lunch straight away as our room wasn't ready yet . Lunch had a variety of options . Was quite nice. Wandered around the site and got drinks and snacks. Once our room was ready we got keycards and checked in the family room was quite basic. The lift system is absolutely a super mess. Super super slow and seen so many people utilise the stairs instead. What i did like was other party members couldn't go to our floor without a keycard. 2 x single beds , a sofa bed 2 fit 2 children, which was rock hard. The blankets for the kids bed was so thin. We had to request for thicker covers. The toilet door had no lock. Fridge had 2 x juices and a bottle of water which I believe is tap water as I was able to see things floating inside. Then dinner time arrived. There was no mention of being able to book for the restaurants during check-in. Checked on the system and all the bookings were full which was such a shame. Information was on the flyer provided but would of been a nice touch to allocate dinner during check in. So we had no choice than go to the generic Acqua. Dinner meal time , get there early if you get there late their main daily theme maybe all gone. The lunch / dinner was more or less the same and by the end of the 1st day I felt disappointed because the food selection was more or less the same . My kids were excited day for food by day 2, they were sick of the selection. Maybe its a sign for us to go on a diet and eat less. Booking excursions the staff seemed a bit fed up , probably thinking we weren't going to book anything. But when we got all the details we booked a trip and the staff member seemed to be slightly happier. Room cleaning we didn't get it cleaned daily. As we didn't need cleaning but the cleaning lady was nice and gave us supplies we needed. The pool outside was freezing. Overall. I don't believe this is a 5* , 3* if I was being kind. Alvor is such a nice place shame the hotel expectations isnt what we wanted.

We came here in 2015 and loved it. We decided to come back 2024 and it’s all been updated and I ha e to say looks amazing. The rooms are gorgeous and light. Location is also great right near the beach and short walk into the town with all the quirky streets with bars and restaurants. I will definitely come back here staff are lovely. My only down side not enough choice of food but overall a fantastic few days can’t wait to come back x

Overall, a nice hotel (probably 3.5/5 as someone else said), with great staff, which would be excellent all round with some minor changes. I’ll also say the weather was patchy during our stay, split equally between sunshine and torrential rain, which tends to influence any review! Upon arrival, after a near 2 hour coach transfer, it was clear our booking was missing, which was sorted quickly by reception, but also meant Tui hadn’t passed on our requests for a high floor room, a double bed, and a note that we were there for our wedding anniversary. We ended up on the very front of the hotel with a big double bed, and a pretty good view of the sea (which we had paid for anyway) and Lagos in the distance, but also only on the 3rd floor which meant we were on the very first tier of guest rooms, and just above Bubbles Bar. Fortunately for us the entertainment (the hotel’s term, not mine) finished at 11pm every night so we weren’t disturbed too much by the wailing from below. We didn’t get any special surprises for our anniversary, other than an afternoon of sun, but that was still a bonus! Onto some (hopefully) useful detail for others then, and apologies in advance for the length of this review. The bedroom was large and well furnished with a very comfortable bed, air con which we didn’t use, and a ceiling fan which ran silently to circulate air overnight without any disturbance. The patio was large with nice comfy chairs, a sofa and coffee table, and faced south-west so was lovely even when the weather was damp. The new patio doors kept out the weather and noise well other than the thumping from below. The bathroom was not so good, an odd shape, and despite a recent repaint was a bit mouldy in places and had a constantly running toilet and no forced ventilation. Guest services sent someone to fix the toilet but they failed in the task of a first-time fix – something that was very evident in other areas of the hotel as well. The staff overall worked really hard and were always obliging and happy to help with anything, but again as others have said are fighting a losing battle against the flow of guests. They simply need more staff in key areas, particularly the bars, with some big queues at times despite their best efforts to keep on top of things. Often it seemed one of the bar staff were off collecting clean glasses and more bottles from the store rather than serving – so simply having someone to help doing the general running around would make a massive difference. Cold drinks quality was generally excellent with branded spirits, nice beer, and reasonable wine, but it was sometimes a challenge to get the cocktails consistent (and even correct) due to the pressure they were operating under. No blame at all to the staff for that, and to be honest I tried a few things I wouldn’t normally drink as a result – so no issues for me. Coffee and tea on the other hand was hopeless, with lots of chasing around to find a machine that was working or