We booked couple of weeks before departure with lastminute, tour operator was Atlantic holidays, very good value. Location is very good. 10 mins walk to wonderful city centre of Funchal. The staff in reception are ok. We were not happy with our first room, following the refurb we were expectinga fully refub room it was not! asked to be moved and we were very happy, great size room. Indoor pool is fantastic, otdoor pool also very good, sometimes the sunbed areas felt crowded. breakfast less crowdy before 08.30. Go to the casino show, cable car to monte and a jeep safari! We love Maderira, very relaxed, safe and good value...

This was our fifth visit to this hotel. On our last visit - 2 years ago - we found that the hotel was overrun by conference clientele much to the detriment of the ordinary holidaymaker and, as a result, we debated whether we should return. However, seeing that the hotel had undergone a much needed refurbishment we decided to give it another chance - a major mistake as we experienced the same problems
- and worse.

The hotel definitely favours its corporate over its private clientele
- for example at breakfast the former is given the prime seating with
the ordinary holidaymakers being crammed into one end of the dining room - away from the food and at tables of 20 plus - took us back to school dinners! The conference clientele functions are not separated from the main facilities with the result that sitting at the pool you
are overwhelmed by the noise - singing and loud toasts - coming from the dining room where lunch goes on till after 4:00 p.m. The same applies in the evening sitting in the bar or the lounge when you have
to suffer the same noises from the “gala dinner” plus the added noise
from speeches and prizegivings.

Another problem we experienced was trying to get a drink in the evening. The bar staffing is a disgrace - the lack of organisation (waiters having to go behind the bar to get drinks), the quite inadequate staff numbers and the quality of staff. As regards the latter I have stayed in hotels all over the World and have never come
across staff with the ability to so comprehensively ignore customers.
When I stay at a 5 star hotel I do not expect to have to stand at a bar fighting to catch someone’s attention nor to ask a waiter to take
a drink order and be told he’ll get back to me but never does. After several evenings of this frustration we, like I imagine many others, decided to take our custom elsewhere and went to the Savoy Hotel. Within 5 minutes of sitting down we were approached by 3 different waiters all keen to serve us - what a difference from the Casino Park
- and the way it should be!

Despite its refurbishment this hotel fails to get the basics right and is never by any stretch of the imagination a 5 star hotel. Unless
you want to share your holiday with noisy conferences and put up with
dire service from rude and unpleasant staff then give the Casino Park
a miss.

I put all of this in the usual questionnaire which I left at the hotel with the added comment that I had probably wasted my time filling it in as I felt that no one in the Pestana organisation would be terribly interested in my views or would be concerned about losing our custom. As I have heard nothing from them since my return my comment was clearly accurate.

On a recent trip to Madeira, we were able to return to our favourite hotel, the Casino Park. This hotel has undergone a major refurbishment. As a result, the hotel now provides new facilities such as a gymnasium, spa with indoor swimming pool and jacuzzi. It also boast 4 restaurants. The rooms have been completely refurbished, and include modern LCD TV.
Everything that could be done has been done to maintain a high standard of comfort for hotel guests, held together by an excellant public relations officer and her assistants. What has always been a very good hotel, is now, with it's new facilities a superb place to spend a vacation.

John and Valerie Grounsell.

Stayed here for 4 nights with a Titan tour package - it was by far the best hotel of our 3, and overall was very enjoyable.

Recent reviews give a pretty good idea of what it is like, especially the September one by Ali (although our experience was not totally the same).

It may be worth adding a bit to those comments. It is not the prettiest of hotels, and although it looks as if rooms will be identical, they certainly are not.- there seems to be quite a lot of variation, so if you do not like your room, try to move (watch extra charges).

Best Points
* location - the best of the major hotels, and very handy (apart from a walk back if you skipped the taxis!).
* public rooms - big, well designed and quality fittiings, wonderful views. A pleasure to use.
* staff - a bit rushed in Reception, but otherwise very good (friendly, helpful bar staff etc).
* bathrooms - small but well equipped, separate toilet, decent bits and pieces.
* breakfast - excellent choice, good quality, lovely views, very enjoyable (they have now added an omelette chef)
* live music in bars etc - we enjoyed all this, including a big band one night! (justified the bar prices...)

Less Good Points
* views: some said "sea views rooms" (at extra 30-40E per night...) looked mainly over commercial port - our "mountain view" look over car park as well as mountain! Nice enough though.
* only one set of lifts, and then long walks to reach some rooms - one friend timed it at 4.5 minutes from their room to reception!
* our bedroom (471) was seriously small - it was fully fitted (lots of mirrors, shelves etc) but little room for cases, and we kept tripping over each other. Only room for one chair with table. Too small to be a 5*.
* room had kettle but no cups etc, and minibar with no contents (you have to order 6 drinks to start it off). Silly.
* we did not eat there in evenings, and heard mixed reports - some good, some poor (set meals seem to be about 36E). We ate out - 2 good meals in Casa Velhe next to hotel (about 30E inc drinks) , but two very indifferent meals elsewhere. Restaurants mainly full of ageing Brits!
* we arrived as a party of 48 - reception could not cope, and it took over 1.5 hours to get from coach to room with luggage. Not good enough!
* the "Tourist Office" in the grounds seems to be a front for timeshare. Poor idea in a major hotel.

Having said that, most people will enjoy staying here as it is well worth 4*. Funchal itself is mixed - it seemed crowded, mainly with Brits, and overloaded with coaches etc. Things generally seemed rather expensive (more than mainland Portugal for sure). - meals in local cafes in old town MUCH better value than on harbour side where we were shamelessly ripped off . Best part was catamaran trip to see 150+ dolphions (with babies) and 2 whales - great (althouh no commentary!!)!

Many people clearly love Madeira and return often - I doubt that we will, but if we did the Casino Park would be a potential choice.