"It was a fine hotel... Would certainly say it's 4 star, not 5 star. At first, I thought, "ok, so this is what a 5 star in Portugal is," but then I stayed at another 5 star in Portugal and now know it's not. The hotel was nice, don't get me wrong, but things were hit and miss, and the location really isn't that great unless all you want to do is shop. It's on the high-end street, and yes, techincally 15-20 minutes from everything, it takes forever to get a Bolt/Uber and getting out of the street takes 10 minutes on its own. It's at the bottom of all the hills so if you want to walk anywhere besides the tourist area on the water, plan to walk up steep hills! Doorment only offered helping certain people with their luggage or getting them taxis.
Certainly serves an older/retired crowd. The bar/loung/lobby was filled with them. If this is your crowd, rock on, but if you're in your 30s or 40s, may not be the vibe you want.
Breakfast at the restaurant is totally not worth 30 Euros, or even a la carte. Problem is there aren't many other options nearby (unless you walk up a BIG hill 15 minutes). First morning I did buffet, and there just isn't a huge selection. Next day I decided to do a la carte, I ordered coffee, an omelet, and yogurt... but also water and milk for my coffee, which were additional charges. So it came to 27 Euros.
The room was quiet on the back side of the hotel, so I liked that. The bed was comfortable but, certainly sank in certain spots and the pillows way too light and I got bad knots in my neck. Maybe that's me though. As far as the bathroom, personally I don't like a shower that doesn't have a shelf/way to put your own stuff (any form of face wash). And no light switches inside the bathroom, so you have to turn on the lights outside the bathroom... annoying if you are sharing the room with another person. The handheld head in the shower didn't stay in the holder. I get these are personal preferences, but annoying in my opinion.
But the real kicker was the housekeeping. After the first day, the shower gel ran out so I asked the front desk to please make sure they refill it. When I get back that day, they didn't refill it, but instead put a whole new bottle in the shower. Ok, fine... but then the next day, the housekeeping took the new bottle and hadn't refilled the shower gel in the original bottle!!! They also didn't refill the toilet paper one day (I called, and someone - 40 minutes later - brought up two roles and gave me a weird look), and never refilled the toiletry/ammenity kit (ie, cotton swabs) once on my 4 night stay. When I did request an iron and ironing board, they brought it quickly and were very nice.
Upon checkout I was planning to tell them about all this, but they never asked how my stay was. They also didn't ask if they could help with my luggage/get me taxi/etc. They just asked if I had anything from the mini bar.
If I were to do it again, I would stay in Principe Real at the top of the hill. OR at 'The One' - I went there for their wine bar, and it was immaculate and all of the professionals and clientele were certainly 5 star.
If Sofitel had labeled itself as a 4 star, I would have been satisfied."
