"Our group of nine adults recently completed an 11-night stay at the Royal Horizon Ponta Sino in Cape Verde, hoping for a relaxing getaway. While this property is advertised as a five-star hotel and certainly has the potential to become one, it currently falls short of that standard. Compared to other hotels we have visited, it has significant catching up to do. To help future travellers, I have broken down our experience into specific categories below.
Rooms
We upgraded to a deluxe room with sea view (room 1646). The room was very spacious with plenty of storage room that was offset. A fabulous bathroom with waterfall shower and a separate toilet. The bed was huge and very comfortable, although mattress firmness will always be down to personal preference. The only feedback I would have here is that there were not enough hangers. We did ask for more, but they never arrived.
It is worth noting that towels are not changed every day, personally I do not think this is necessary and if you wanted clean ones every day, I am sure you could ask.
Food
The hotel features four restaurants: a main buffet, a beachside eatery, and French, Japanese, and Italian options. While the main buffet isn't Michelin-quality, it offers plenty of variety and is perfectly fine for a casual meal. However, our dining highlights were the French and Italian restaurants, which we visited during our stay. The food at both was superb, with the French restaurant being our absolute favourite.
In terms of the dining environment, outdoor bugs are to be expected. What is unacceptable, however, is the sheer number of small birds flying around inside the main restaurant. We constantly saw them pecking at the bread station and walking across tables to eat leftovers. This is a serious hygiene issue that management should be addressing.
Entertainment
All I will say on this is that the staff try their best, the entertainment team work day & night. However, if you are expecting LIVE bands/singers etc. you will be disappointed.
Drinks Package
Unfortunately, on this point I have nothing good to say about it at all. This is by far the worst hotel I have stayed in for the drinks on offer. The drinks being served are of very low quality and are served in hard plastic glasses which have seen better days.
The hotel was running out of various drinks, and this happened several times throughout our stay. This ranged from the alcoholic beverages to soft drinks.
The main lobby bar did serve premium drinks at an extra cost, however even the drinks on offer here were running out on a regular basis.
Service & Staff
As a relatively new hotel open for just over a year, this property has great potential, but major service improvements are needed. While a few staff members were friendly, our group found the majority quite rude. The service was highly inconsistent; the French and Italian restaurant teams were attentive and excellent, but the reception, bar, and cleaning staff provided poor service. We faced long wait times, often due to understaffing at the bars. However, frustration grew when the few staff on duty chatted among themselves instead of serving the long queues.
The "no stress" motto is taken to the extreme. Additionally, the property lacks enough self-service drink stations for its size, which would be an easy fix to reduce crowding. Unless future reviews show drastic improvements, we would not choose this hotel again if we return to Cape Verde.
Cleanliness
As mentioned, the service from the cleaners was not great, although I would say the room and public areas were very clean. What lets them down is when you have to ask for extra items such as towels, hangers etc. these simply do not materialise which is disappointing. We had a couple of occasions where they took our dirty towels off the floor, however, did not leave us with any clean ones.
Facilities
This is where the hotel excels, the hotel has got 3 huge pools, all saltwater but not to the point the salt stings your eyes/skin.
One pool had sand on the bottom, the other is a huge Olympic size pool which was great for lane swimming, the other was located near a pool bar. Due to this you never felt overcrowded.
Sunbeds are aplenty but not enough umbrellas which again is an easy fix for the hotel. This was one of the few places we have been that unless you are passionate about which sunbeds you have, there was no need to get up early to reserve.
The hotel is situated with direct access to beach. The beach is stunning, but unfortunately, we were unable to swim in the sea as the red flag was up during the entire stay. The weather is beautiful, but Cape Verde does have a constant breeze, now this can be very welcome, however at times this did become quite a strong breeze which made being on the beach uncomfortable.
Location
The location is great, the hotel is not far from Santa Maria, 5 euro each way in a taxi. Some lovely little bars and restaurants and the vibe is just fantastic.
Overall, there was nothing that spoilt our holiday, however the hotel do need to pay more attention to detail."
