This hotel has very good facilities for the price we payed, Gym, Sauna, Steam Room, Indoor and outdoor pools. The room was comfortable and the bed enormous. There is nightly entertainment, there are multilingual staff. We found all the staff were very good especially considering we were here over the new year. I'd get a bit grumpy serving a load of drunken foreigners while my family were living it up at home but everyone was brilliant.

However having stayed at other Pestana hotels, if I had paid the full rack rate and was expecting their usual standard I would be less happy. The room was always very well cleaned but the paint on the balcony was peeling and the bathroon could do with a regrout or steam clean, the small kitchenette had a damaged work surface. All tiny flaws but you go to Pestana for something a bit special.

Another odd thing is the room guide didn't show any kind of room service info apart from how to order a pizza delivery. We weren't in the hotel enough to find if there really is no room service or just nothing in the guide.

That said, the deal we got from Easyjet made this amazing value.

The hotel itself is very nice and well located within walking distance from the city center, and as a guest of Pestana Village Hotel you have free access to the swimming pools and Atlantic Ocean bathing facilites of the 5 star Pestana Carlton Hotel accross the street. We went swimming in the ocean three times - the water was 20 degr. celcius mid December - very, very nice. The breakfast buffet is also nice, especially when the female cook took over and made thin, warm pancakes, in stead of the male cook's thick, cold ditto. Do not count on making very much food in the spartanic kitchen facilities in your room.

Do not mail your postcards at the reception of the hotel - we handed in approx. 15 postcards during our stay two weeks ago, and not one single of them has yet arrived with our friends in Denmark, France, and the UK. Of we do not know whether it the fault of the hotel or the Madeira Post.

It was definitely low season 8th to 15th December. The hotel was only approx. 20% full. But perhaps also the financial crisis and the fear of the Denge moscitos had their impact,

The Pestana Group seems to be owing a large proportion of all the major hotels, a number of time-share investment projects, and even some restaurants in Funchal, and whereever you go, you are confronted with their "professional" marketing efforts - "come and see our new hotel and get free tickets for a show, money to play in the casino, or go on an excursion at a discount price". It was just too much. And it doesn't stop when you get back.

Overall very good -- room , facilities and location all very good , the only negatives are the breakfasts and some of the catering staff (note this does not apply to reception or other staff who are excellent) A point to watch is what you book and where you are put -- we booked Pestana Miramare but were put in Pestana Village. We were told that the two share the same site and facilities and are classed as one hotel. This is no doubt true and we have no complaint about The Village which was very good but it appeared to us that The Miramare is superior. However we were very happy with the overall package and would return

This was a cheap deal purchased through Easyjet. On arrival we were shown to a very depressing rear room with a balcony next to 2 tall trees and no sun. However, there was no problem when we complained ( maybe because the hotel was under occupied) and we were shown several alternatives. We chose a south facing room overlooking the ocean.
The accommodation is to a high standard with very comfortable beds although the equipment level in the kitchenette was rather inadequate and unsuitable for anything but basic cooking.
The breakfasts were ok but rather samey and the food was sometimes cold. The provision of a microwave would have sorted this out but there was none.
The hotel itself is was well maintained with lovely gardens and a nice indoor pool/jaccuzi. The only problem was the lack of atmosphere as the bar was usually closed, as were two of the restaurants, and there was no entertainment. These were available at the adjoining sister hotel if you could be bothered to walk there.