My wife and I stayed here for the second time Sept 2008, our first visit being our honeymoon in Sept 2006.
Our stay in 2006 was excellent and so we returned this year with our expectations high. I had emailed the hotel to ask for flowers and a bottle of "sparkly" to be placed to the room for our anniversary. Full credit to the hotel here as they automatically provided us with a room upgrade, fruit basket, complimentary Madeira wine, a note of congratulations and the flowers were absolutely stunning - perfect start, couldn't have asked for more!
The room decor and furnishings looked unchanged since 2006 but were tidy, clean and up to the mark.
Reception staff were very friendly and polite and this was true of the majority of staff. One not so good point was that the dining room staff quite simply looked as if they didn't want to be there. I am not sure if they make the mistake that for professionalism a dour outlook is required - they really do need to improve their warmth and welcome in this area.
The second bad point was the length of time it took (on some occasions) for food orders to arrive, even at quieter times of the day. In one instance it became clear we had been forgotten about altogether but there didn't seem to be a commonsense approach to check up and find out why we were still sitting around with a table clearly awaiting food when the same staff that took the order continued to walk by and ignore us for about forty minutes! Yes we should have reacted sooner but this is a five star premises.
Apart from these relatively minor problems though everything else made our stay thoroughly enjoyable and relaxing.
The lovely warm infinity pool is fantastic for just relaxing in and taking in the super view. The pool area is as good as it appears in all the photographs and unless you really want to "work out" the main pool is plenty big enough.
Location will be an issue for those who are unable to cope with steep hills. You can walk right to the centre of Funchal and only the first road is without a pavement. This can be a bit scary with the proximity of the traffic but the taxis are very good and very reasonably priced if you compare to UK prices! The walk back from the centre to the hotel is not recommended unless you really do want to work out!!
Having been to Quinta Das Vistas twice I would have to say that this year it didn't feel quite as good but the pros still far outweigh the cons and these could I'm sure easily be put right. We would stay again but I think a little bit short of 5 star on this occasion.

We recently returned from our honeymoon in Funchal. We stayed at the Quintas Das Vistas for six nights and were very disappointed with the hotel and restaurant service.

The rooms need updated - the carpeting, curtains and bedspreads were old and stained. In our first room, we found two large roaches. We were later moved to a new room upon request.

There was no iron in the room and we could not get one upon request - they suggested that we use their laundry services which were very pricey. We had poor service in the restaurant - the staff was slow and unresponsive. There were several mornings that we arrived for breakfast and were not immediately waited on - we had to approach the staff to ask for napkins, coffee, etc.

We had two twin size beds pushed together in our room - with separate sheets and blankets. This was a surprise. We later found out that they only have a limited number of Queen/King(?) size beds and you must request them in advance.

The spa was the only nice thing about the hotel.

I put a lot of store in TA reviews but took a gamble on this hotel as despite not being high up the TA Funchal hotel "league table" does get very positive reviews here and on other web sites. We were not dissapointed. Although a little distance up the hill from the main town the huge upside is the quiet location and the to die for view from the terrace/pool. Having been down to "the hotel zone" I'm glad we chose here. Very friendly helpful service, nice spacious garden facing bed room and classy public rooms. No tacky entertainment at night just the odd tinkle of a piano in the main lounge. On advice elsehwere on the TA forum we did not have dinner in the hotel as it is relatively expensive compared to town prices but had a few lunches which were fine.

My Mother and I stayed here for a week in September in a Panoramic view room. The room was lovely with fabulous views over Funchal very comfortable indeed with a mini bar but no facilities to make tea or coffee which was quite expensive to buy in the hotel.The bed linen was changed daily as were the towels even tho it was not necessary,the bathroom was very dark with not enough lighting but this was our only complaint.The staff were very friendly and attentive.The restaurant for evening meals was very good although if you are a vegetarian as I am the selection was limited.The pool area was very quiet and there was no searching for a sun bed or 'brolly' as there were plenty available.I dont know how other guests can say it was an easy walk to Funchal as it most definately was not the road down was very steep and there were no pavements so you took your life in your own hands,taxis were plentiful and cheap.I would recommend the private transfers to and from the airport which the hotel can organise we had a lovely driver and a top of the range Merc.....All in all a lovely place to stay if you want peace and quiet and you want to unwind,not a hotel for frantic nightlife.