"We recently spent three nights at YOTEL Porto and, unfortunately, it was a very disappointing experience overall, with only a few positives.
On arrival, we were placed in a room facing the busy flyover dual carriageway beside the hotel, which sounded like a Formula 1 circuit throughout the entire night. Shortly after unpacking, we discovered both the air conditioning and fridge in the room were not functioning and the room felt like a sweaty, stuffy mess. Therefore forcing us to pack everything up again and move to another room on a different floor. While the replacement room thankfully had working air conditioning and was quieter from road noise, we then encountered an even bigger issue. The hotel’s ninth-floor club restaurant, which we were told by staff is privately operated and leased by the hotel, made sleep virtually impossible. On all three nights of our stay, loud music and partying continued well into the early hours, including past 4am on our final night. The ironic thing is that the hotel advertises itself as “soundproof”, but that claim felt completely detached from reality. What makes this worse is the apparent lack of concern from reception staff. Complaints about the noise were met with indifference and no meaningful resolution. It gives the impression that the revenue generated by the venue matters more than the comfort of hotel guests.
Our first interaction with the ninth-floor venue was bizarre in itself. We went upstairs around 8pm intending to have food or drinks, only to be met by staff who were completely unwelcoming. Several employees were sitting on their phones, no one acknowledged us properly, fire extinguishers were being used as door stops, and the venue looked disorganised and chaotic despite being almost empty. We were then told it was “fully booked” while only two customers were visibly seated.
The breakfast buffet on our second morning was equally disappointing, it had a poor selection, low-quality food, and generally chaotic organisation. This hotel holds a 4-star rating, but in comparison to other 4 star hotels across Europe, this felt far closer to a budget hostel experience. To end the stay on another poor note, the receptionist handling our checkout just so happened to be the same staff member featured prominently in the hotel’s in-room promotional advert portraying the hotel as warm and welcoming. In reality, the experience was the complete opposite. She barely acknowledged us, did not ask how our stay was, avoided eye contact, and came across as entirely disinterested. Basic hospitality and courtesy seemed absent.
The only genuinely positive aspect of the stay was the housekeeping staff, who kept the room consistently clean and fresh throughout.
Unfortunately, between the broken facilities, relentless noise, poor service, uncomfortable beds, and overall lack of hospitality, this was not an experience we would repeat."
