King David Suites 402 by Homie

The room was quite humid, and after returning with the windows shut, we sometimes noticed an unpleasant smell. The air conditioner helped. There was also nowhere to dry laundry, so things didn’t have time to dry properly. Still, we enjoyed our stay. The small, clean room was right for the price and well equipped, with a good quality stove, coffee machine and kettle. There’s a separate laundry room, and our balcony looked out over the port. The owners had left welcome gifts 🥰, and it was easy to contact the staff on WhatsApp. The location made it convenient to reach excursions, viewpoints and boat trips, with lots of good restaurants, bars and supermarkets nearby. Some reviews mentioned noise because it’s central, but we didn’t hear any after midnight during our stay.

Down in central Funchal, the place is clean and simple, with a sunny balcony and a lovely harbour view. The host was friendly, informative and helpful. We had a great stay, and I warmly recommend it.

Be warned, I feel this place is a scam. I stayed in July and later found out it’s a residence, not a hotel, so there’s no 24-hour reception. If you need to leave early, for example to catch the morning ferry to Porto Santo, there may be nobody there to speak with. The rooms were very noisy at night even with the windows fully closed. The main road is right in front, and old cars and loud scooters drive over the cobblestones all night. I couldn’t get proper rest for the next day’s hikes or activities. I changed rooms twice, but both had the same problem, as well as music and noise from the bar downstairs until 4am. They take a 100€ cash deposit when you arrive, but if you need to leave in the morning for the 7am Ferry to Porto Santo, there may be no one there to return it. They also don’t provide a receipt, making it hard to prove you paid. It took two months and a lot of effort to get my deposit back, with Booking.com mediating after the property stopped replying to my messages or calls. They weren’t replying to the Booking.com team either, until the team used a special option to require a response or close the listing. I also had a second reservation for a few days later, after a couple of days in Madeira, some days in Porto Santo, then back to Madeira. Naively, I’d booked the same place again. During my first stay, before checking out for the Porto Santo part, I asked if I could cancel the later reservation and get a refund because of the noise. They agreed in writing and told me to start the cancellation through Booking.com, saying they couldn’t do it themselves, while promising to refund me. They never returned that money, despite the written proof. They stopped communicating, then cited the listing’s no-refunds cancellation policy to the Booking.com team. Watch out.

Very clean, comfortable and well equipped, and a great location for one person or a couple.