Hotel Santa Maria

There are some very nice people working here, bless them, but this is a bad hotel and I strongly advise against staying. The location is fantastic, but the room key was blocked twice for no reason, and they wouldn’t let me bring a guest to my room. The internet was unusable, the aircon noisy, and the furniture uncomfortable. The mattress was too hard and hurt my hips, even though I had the most expensive room. Breakfast was awful. There was jackhammering on the first morning, and the hotel is poorly maintained, with broken and damaged fixtures.

The hotel is fairly new, but very badly kept, and the beach isn’t looked after. Reception staff seem unqualified to handle minor complaints, often consulting other people behind the desk, and they’re rude. Restaurant food was bland, with the same dull choices. The rooms’ best feature is the shower, if you can put up with sharing them with cockroaches. Tui staff here seem out of touch with what visitors need. Whatever the hotel’s rating, I’d strongly suggest looking elsewhere. It wasn’t a good holiday.

I had planned to stay two nights before a trip, but my travel plans changed during the first day and I realized I couldn’t stay the second night. I politely explained and asked management for a refund for that night. They said there was a no-refund policy and showed little willingness to help. The receptionists at both Santa Maria and Deluxe were professional and kind, which I appreciated. My difficulty was with management, whose approach felt unprofessional and disrespectful. I can’t be sure whether being a local immigrant had anything to do with it, but I did wonder if the response would have been different for a Portuguese guest. I travel widely in Cape Verde and other countries and have stayed at many hotels. There are plenty of places in Praia with better management and customer experience. This was my first stay here, and I’m hesitant to return. I hope the feedback helps improve how guests are treated.

The restaurant looked nice. We sat down, a waiter brought us a menu, and we ordered two beers. When we tried to order food, he said the kitchen was already closed. He hadn’t warned us when handing over the menu that it was about to close, and we tried to order within 3 min of another table placing theirs. Even though we protested that this was ridiculous, the kitchen refused our order. We sat drinking beer and watched fried shrimp dishes come out, then two more dishes, meat and fish, about 20 min later. It was so disappointing. The service felt stupid and illogical.