"We have stayed at the Pestana Vila Lido hotel on 2 occasions now, once in February 2024 and December 2025 a 2 week stay each holiday
On the first visit we were upgraded by the Manager to a Side Sea View Suite Room 819 as there was a couple of minor issues with our initial Side Sea View Room, we thought at that time there was a strange odour in the Side sea view suite room, especially late evening, the odour can only be related to a sewage smell, something like a blocked stench pipe or similar, we didn't complain at the time as it wasn't too offensive, but is was evident.
This Hotel is branded as a 5 Star Hotel and it's unique architecture, grounds and position you would think it would warrant the 5 Star status, but sadly and more apparent on this holiday is that the odour is still present, but a lot stronger on this holiday, the room we stayed in was 820A a very expensive Side Sea View Suite, for which we had saved for the best part of the year, we arrived on the 30th November and on the 1st December after getting someone from reception to Investigate the smell, this was at 22.00hrs we were asked if we wanted to move rooms, initially to a lower floor and not the same specification side sea view room, but eventually we were offered the same specification room on the same level 8th floor, It was gone 23.00hrs by the time we got moved.
The new room was ok, the stench wasn't there but you could still smell it in the corridor at times, again mostly late evening, there is a definite sewage issue on the West side of the hotel, which the management team are very aware of but seem reluctant or can't do anything about it, our initial side sea view suite would be allocated to new arrivals the next day who would possibly go through the same routine as we did, what sort of 5 Star policy is this I ask myself, is this acceptable?
The other major issue with this Hotel is that it has no soul or atmosphere, the staff go about there work professionally but in the bar areas and restaurants there is no ambiance, guest artistes play to themselves mostly.
One or 3 other wrinkles which really bugged me personally is that we had to call reception to have our room cleaned which is not ideal when you venture out for a big part of the day and also in the Breakfast restaurant there was one rotating toaster, which unfortunately didn't rotate(we are waiting for parts, was the answer when the question was asked)with no warning notice in sight either, so people would pop in a couple of slices of toast and wander off to come back to their static burnt toast, this toaster was later changed to a non rotating open grill toaster, which took about 10mins to toast 2 slices of bread, with 14 to 16 Pestana Hotels and Residencies on the Island I would have thought there would have been a spare toaster to be had somewhere and thirdly, Be Aware, It is the Hotel Policy to add Service Charges on everything you purchase at the Hotel, say you go to the Pool Bar and order a coffee to take away - Service charge added, a beer at the Bar, Service Charge etc etc etc these add up, Tipping is optional on the Island of Madeira, we would like to make our own mind up on tipping for good service etc, the good news is is that the charges are not compulsory, it's optional so when you finalise your account you can get the charges removed, it's just another way the Pestana Group can claw every single cent out of you whilst on holiday, even the guy on reception said it wasn't right, whats that say about the company.
I'm not sure what else to say about this hotel really, we tried it for a 2nd time because it looks the part and is exactly what we want out of a holiday with the Pool and access to the sea to swim, but as the title of this review suggests(All is not as it seems)
We have stayed with the Pestana Group Hotels Madeira on 3 Occasions now 6 weeks in total, and each time for whatever reason we have had to change rooms.
The hotel for the duration of our stay wasn't very busy, and with storm warnings and flight cancellations on the 12th 13th December the Hotel was topped up with guests from cancelled flights, You could say that Pestana Vila Lido stepped up to the plate to accommodate these additional guests I would say to the expense of letting their guard down on room service etc for the normal guests as mentioned earlier, but with a Monetary gain to be had for the group, letting a few normal paying guests down doesn't seem to be an issue.
We won't be staying with Pestana Group Hotels again if we ever decide to visit Madeira in the future, It's possible that companies become that big that they lose themselves in what Holiday makers really want out of the experience.
The worrying part of this is that there are reviews of this Hotel on Trust Pilot stating more or less the same issues but nothing is ever done to rectify the Issues it seems.
Just Cut and Paste apologies from the Management.
This Hotel with its Uniqueness and enviable position should be one of the best on the Island but sadly it isn't only in our opinion of course, visitors will make up their own mind up I'm sure."
