Stayed here for a week during the Christmas break

Nothing to complain about regarding the room, it's modern, spacious and has everything you need. Cleaned everyday to a good standard and even better if you have a sea view

Nice reception area with friendly staff at the desk. A small golf shop can be found, but you can also buy local newspapers and souvenirs from there. Bar staff are welcoming and interact well with guests. "Happy Hour" is from around 18:30 to 19:30 and is worth going to just before the evening meal begins. In addition, there is a nice outdoor area with a pool and deck chairs

Unfortunately, the biggest issue with this hotel is the food, which is solely the reason why I'm rating it 3 out of a possible 5. While I could understand due to the fact that we visited out of season, I don't see that there is any excuse for the food to be cold and repetitive. On a more positive note, there is generally a fair amount of food to choose from so you shouldn't go hungry every night, but to see the same meats and fish out as a main course isn't exactly impressive. Also, some of the staff in the restaurant seemed either a bit unsure of themselves or just bored and wanting to grab your plate the moment you've taken your last bite. While there were some waiters that were professional and knew what they were doing, overall, the experience during our evening meal was average at best

Vilamoura itself is a lovely place with a beautiful Marina and great bars about a 10/15 minute walk away. This hotel is just as lovely, but would've been near perfect if the food didn't let themselves down so much

Note: This is not a review of the whole hotel, just of their spa and attitude.
We detoured from holiday in Lisbon, so that my husband could play golf for the day with friends staying at the hotel. I thought it would be a nice treat for myself and our adult daughter to spend some time together in the hotel's spa whilst the others played golf. The warning signs were there from the start, when I wanted to pre-book our massages - they couldn't do two people at once as they only had one therapist. We therefore opted to cut the length of massage from 60 to 30 mins each, so we could spend more time together. On arrival we were shown the changing room, merely a tiny locker room/cubicle. No bench, only really room for one. No toilet. No shower. Had to ask especially for towels. Not a good start. Pool small - 3.5 strokes to get to the end. Jacuzzi ok. Massages were fine; nothing special. Asked if there was any shampoo or shower gel I could use - no! Had to use the pool side shower to rinse the chlorine off and do without washing my hair. Changing was unpleasant in the locker room.
Worse was to come...I went to pay but the spa couldn't take credit card so the therapist called someone from reception to escort me back across the foyer to reception to pay. About 150m walk. I stopped mid-route to give my daughter, who was sat in the reception bar, my wet costume and my gentleman escort followed me. It was like being frog-marched - I clearly wasn't trusted to go to reception myself and pay - I felt like a criminal. My daughter was speechless when she realised why the man was with me. Awful experience all round. Poor value for money. Wouldn't recommend at all. We would've stayed in the bar for cocktails waiting for the men to return from golf, but I just wanted out of there.
I understand that we were day visitors and the spa is designed primarily for people staying in the hotel who can go back to their rooms to change, but there was nothing inviting about the spa or its service at all. There wasn't even a mirror in the ladies' cubicle to brush my hair on leaving the pool - even ladies staying in the hotel would appreciate a mirror before crossing the main foyer to their room! Spa lacks the most basic of amenities. Hotel totally needs to rethink their spa facility.
Hotel itself may be fine - but don't come here for the spa.

Nice quite comfortable room, good location, nice pool area. Food was average and staff were ok. The reason for the poor rating was I had a problem with housekeeping, which was dealt with by extremely unprofessional senior management, who accused me of causing the problem, so for this reason I would not recommend this hotel and would never stay here again.