Clube Albufeira Garden Village

The apartment felt homely, and I cooked almost every day. The pool was nice and clean, and there’s a bar and restaurant literally opposite us. The staff were amazing, and housekeeping cleaned our apartment every other day. We went for a walk around the village and it’s LOVELYYYYYY. We don’t leave until Wednesday, but I wanted to write this review right now. I was worried by the reviews, but oh my goodness, we’re definitely making this a yearly thing.

The setting is lovely, the place is cute, and our room was very spacious. Free options like mini golf, badminton, and basketball were a nice touch, though we didn’t have time to try them. There’s potential here, but our stay had several serious problems. The advertised heated pool was the main reason we chose this hotel, yet it was extremely cold and not really swimmable. It’s on a hill with strong winds, which made it uncomfortable to use. The weather can’t be controlled, but more thought should go into choosing which pool to heat so guests can use it. We also found broken glass, dead insects, and plants in the pool, which raised serious safety concerns. The room felt outdated and wasn’t cleaned to an acceptable standard. Nighttime was especially unsettling. For two nights, loud banging kept coming from the room upstairs. Once, someone knocked while my sister was alone in our room and the rest of us were out. She felt unsafe, so we came back early. The next night, close to midnight, someone knocked very loudly again. There were three of us women and we weren’t expecting anyone, so we didn’t feel safe opening the door. Reception said security would check after we called, but it shouldn’t have happened in the first place. It was extremely disturbing and unacceptable. Service varied. Some staff were helpful, while others were rude and defensive, especially on the phone. The safety issues, cleanliness, and misleading pool facilities need to be dealt with as a priority.

Ana, why don’t you check the rooms every day? Obviously you don’t, and you can’t just say, “Oh, I’ve informed the staff.” That’s your job. The rooms hadn’t been cleaned in weeks, there was no toilet paper or towels, and there’s no housekeeping. Maintenance has been going on daily, monthly, maybe. If you ran a bath, you’d drown yourself, never mind trying to run a hotel. The staff have no manners. You’re the manager. If I owned a hotel, I’d tell my staff that if the guests aren’t there, they won’t be either. It’s typical of this generation. Young people don’t want to know.

You have to be lucky with where your apartment is. Ours was near a small pool, but the pool area was very dirty and the toilet was disgusting. There was also a loud, drunk group of 10 men.