This hotel is not a 5-star. THe area in which it is located it very nice, as is the postioning of the hotel- high ground overlooking the beach. The pool is also lovely. However the hotel itself is not.

There is a constant smell of disinfectant in the hallways and the cleaners cleaned our rooms at around 5pm- when we just got back from our afternoon out.

The rooms themselves are not 5 star quality. There is no iron in the entire hotel (when asked for one we were told to use the hotels dry cleaning service, which we had to pay for), the doors have to be slammed to get them to shut as they are run-down and there is no carpets in the rooms: just ugly terrocota tiles. However the bathroom is 5-star: clean and tidy.

Facilites at the hotel are limited.To use the Sauna or Jacuzzi you have to PAY for an hour session and book in advance- and they are both very small in size. The breakfast choirce is great however the food in the evening is horrible. Despite having 3 resturants they had the same menu in all 3 on different days- yet what's more bizarre is that the prices are different- one resturance over-pricing by a large margin.

Another criticism is that there is no information in the hotel about the area and what to do- nor do the staff recommend much or have sufficent knowledge- we were told a shopping centre was 50 euros away in a taxi one-way therefore decided not to go, only to find on the last day that it was just 30 euros away (by a taxi driver)- too late to even contemplate a visit though.

On the whole the area around the hotel is very nice, and its outer facilities aswell, but inside the hotel is less nice- with very high prices and limited faciilities. It is a quiet hotel where you find it difficult to see other people in it. Not recomended if you want a 5-star with everything included

I have just come back from the algarve casino after a weeks holiday. I wouldnt class this hotel as a 5 star hotel at all, even though from the outside it looks really nice.
On my arrival checking in was a nightmare we were given a twin room instead of a double. When i complained they said we can push the beds together and put double bed sheets over to make it into one. I thought what kind of service is this. In the end they offered me a decent double room on the 3rd flr with a seaview room as originally booked. First impressions of the room it was very dated could do with modernisation, dark and dull. The mats in the rooms on the tiled floor did not have any gripping on which i slipped on. Health and safety terrible. On my last day of the night on using the bathroom, as i closed the door behind me their modernised bathroom ceiling collapsed on me. The cladding had just been put up on the ceiling and supported with bricks so as you can imagine i had alsorts crashing on top of me leaving me in shock. The best part is the hotel would not discuss my incident any further which i was very cross about. So i came back with injuries, great way to end my holiday.
Cleaning of the hotel not so good, my room the floor hadnt been cleaned for days it was gathering dust, bathroom looked like it had just been rinsed down daily rather than any detergents used.
We were charged for a bucket of ice that we orderd to our room, The prices are outragious.
Hotels pool area outside is very nice apart from it closes to early and outside when you look of your balcony its like ghost town..
As for the algarve itself it is a beautiful place to be in. lovely friendly people, a great place for kids too as well as couples.
lots of places to eat at, itnernet cafs, Taffys the welsh bar to go and watch the footie in..
i would go to the algarve again but would not stay at the algarve casino as after my incident i had no one ask me how i was.

On arrival had problems with my room allocation, Had booked a interconnecting room because of young children, and was given two twin rooms. was told by management that the hotel only has interconnecting rooms on sea facing rooms only. Had to pay extra money to get these the next day. Even on paying the extra cash we did not get what we requested. we asked for a double and twin room, and ended up getting two twins, which ment my wife and i slept on single beds for the course of the holiday.
For a five star you do not get a Trouser Press in the room, a kettle, iron or complimentary tea or coffee. Even on requesting an iron we did not get it. The mini bar is locked, so you have get a key from reception to use it. The equpiment in the GYM is very dated and limited. You cannot use the Jacuzzi or Sauna there is a cost for this. The complienentray drinks voucher you get for the casino is not really complementray because you have to pay 10euros entrance to get in the casino. The internet is slow and expensive 2euros for 15mins. . May have been a 5 star once upon a time but not anymore. On the one day it rained during our stay, we were hotel bound and there is not entertainment for the kids, not play room with pool table or table tennis which other 4 star hotels nearby offered , no large screen etc, etc only two pc for internet access. The TV channels in both our rooms were different, in our kids room thet got all the SKY channels and we got none. The Phone only worked in one room. The staff we were not very helpful when we pointed out all these issues. They didn't go out of their way to resolve things.
All in all an AVERAGE STAY.

we stayed here from 27 dec 2007-3 jan 2008 over new year, the hotel is ongoing with some renovations to the rooms initially we were given room 844 which is in need of modernisation however we asked if we could be moved higher up in the hotel & we were given room 530 which was more to our satisfaction &an amazing seaview! all rooms on this floor seemed to have been renovated!

I cannot fault the hotel the staff, service were excellent & the hotel reception area is lovely! however it is no smoking in the reception bar now as from 1st jan 2008 due to new laws in portugal,much similar to england except portugal have a choice providing they have extraction!

Praia Da Rocha
at this time of year the bars restaurants ect were really quiet,however come the 30 dec for about 3 days all the portugese
seemed to visit for new year celebrations&it felt like a different resort which is what i imagine it would be like in the summer months! the 81,110 firework display was amazing which was set off from the beach,we watched from our balcony in the hotel&had a fantastic view!!!!! the beach itself is definatley the biggest,cleanest,beautiful beach i have ever seen.

Weather
we had 5days of lovely sunshine in the day,warm enough to sit outside if you keep out of the breeze! however it does turn cold at night&we did have the last 2days cloud,wind&rain which was cold,but we landed back to snow in england,so i think we had been lucky with the weather there!