Just come back after a week booked through Lastminute.com:
Hotel:
- Location - about 1km west of the Old Town and close to the Casino, but down a relative backstreet and not known by many of the taxi drivers!

OTOH at least 6 decent restaurants within 5 mins walking distance (inc. 2 Italian, Indochinese, Turkish, Madeiran, etc) - but no real "nightlife, except for the Casino, which has a pretty good floor show, with good food/wine, 4 nights a week but make sure you don't get sucked into playing the machines afterwards unless you want to. (and watch out for the unofficial "tourist information" booth on the forecourt near the road as it is actually touting for the hotel chain and something that sounded like timeshares!).

- Hotel itself is modern and generally quite adequate; staff generally very helpful indeed (got us out of trouble on at least one occasion). However, whilst the beds look good and are comfortable, they can creak an awful lot due to very poor construction - to the extent that we virtually demanded a room change after the 1st night, and got moved from a rear 1st floor room with no sea view (TBF, we had conciously chosen the cheaper room!) to a bigger and much better 2nd floor room for the 2nd night onwards, and this did have a seaview!

Breakfasts are OK as others have mentioned, but repetitive, and take your own teabags if you want a decent cup!

Wifi - but no reception other than in the Reception area.

Due to the orientation of the building, the swimming pool is only in the sunshine (WHEN it does shine - there was a lot of cloud and rain last week) during the afternoons but looks reasonably well equipped with sun-loungers.

On the whole, the hotel can't really be faulted much at the price and the location (there looked to be far worse locations further out to the west to stay with a lot of travel to get anywhere and few visible restaurants or other amenities.)

OTOH, the taxi shuttle service, laid on by LastMinute, from/to the airport was nearly a bloody disaster for the return trip: No information at hotel until late on the evening before departure and then only after many phone calls to the taxi "emergency number" (typically got a recorded message!) and then to LastMinute in the UK, and then they picked us up only about 2.5hrs prior to nominal takeoff time. Then, when we got to the airport, we were given no instructions on where to go/what to expect and spent nearly the whole of the next 2hrs queuing (Easyjet check-in = 1hr+; Security check = 20mins, boarding gate queue 20mins!). No time for any shopping/eating and hardly enough time for a pee (when you could eventually find the loos - the layout of the place is one of the worst I have come across in years!)

John & Suzanne

Nice location between Casino Park and Pestana Carlton with great seaview and fine breakfast. Short way to every thing in Funchal . Friendly staff and 4* treatment all over . We are looking forward to go there again soon . And that will be the 1st. of dec.his very year for our christmas celebration 2012 .

After reading the reviews we were a little apprehensive, despite most of the reviews being two years old. The rooms were clean, linen and towels are changed daily although the bed is a little hard and the pillows a little lumpy! The breakfast served was of an adequate standard, I have definitely eaten a lot worse. There was a choice of cereals, yogurts, and a variety of fresh breads and pastries. There was even an option to have cooked food such as bacon and eggs etc. at no extra cost. The location was great as we could easily walk to the main centre and old town as well as the larger hotel complexes. The pool was basic but it had a lovely sun terrace area where you could buy snacks and drinks. All in all a pretty nice place and would recommend it.

This small hotel is perfect location for the port and probably the closest on foot. Perfect for the ferry to Porto Santo. I stay here because it is great value, the rooms are big with great balconies of approx 12ft. It is a good simple well run hotel. It has a small pool and small garden but hardly anyone uses them.
Views from your room are across the car park of the Quinta Da Penha Da Franca hotel and out to the sea on your left handside. Behind the hotel is the Pestana Casino Park hotel.
Breakfast is served in the funky breakfast room and a good selection is available (for the hotel size) from the cold buffet table. Staff are helpful and will assist wherever possible.
Its not for everyone but it works for me and is simplistic (think Premier Inn). Air conditioning not the best so have the balcony doors (floor to ceiling glass) open at night with the nets across and it is fantastic. Hard to get better value for money than this property for what it has to offer.