10 Nights Lisbon, Algarve & Porto Multi Center Vacation W/Air & Tours

The hotel is a 4 star category but there are things missing which are supposed to be standard. We stayed for 4 nights and though the experience was very good we always got the feeling something was missing. First of all, the hotel room does not have a coffee machine nor tea or even a small bottle of water for welcome. As we arrived we did not find any slippers or bathrobe and we had to ask for them. The pillows are also a little hard, but I guess this is not to be told. As for the breakfast, the buffet was very minimal with few and same option every day and it was not refilled on time. It is worth mentioning that the breakfast room is in the basement, so the feeling you get is a little strange. To the positive side, all of the staff was very helpful and kind, plus the cleaning was at very high levels. To sum up, the hotel is more like business style, good and very clean with excellent service, but not as cozy as you expect so that you enjoy an afternoon or evening after a big city walk.

Enjoyed our stay at the Olissipo. Bed was very comfortable. We liked the location out of the core of the tourist area of Lisboa. This is in a more modern area of the city. We were within 10-15 minutes of the museums and downtown near the water. Uber was there to pick us up within 5 minutes every time. There are some small upgrades that could make this a 5 star review: Screens for the window and slider to the deck - we had the window open every night for air-flow. Drapery hook to hold the curtain back - had to drape the curtain over a nearby light fixture. Chairs on the deck - they no longer provide them and there is only 1 movable chair in the room. Staff is super friendly and speak very good English. They can also arrange for driver/guides for a reasonable price. We would use this hotel again.

Excellent location close to bars, restaurants, shops and the Metro, in an area of Lisbon that I prefer to stay as it's away from the main tourist areas but still has everything we needed. We stayed in room 304 which is a superior double room and being on the corner of the building, it has a balcony which I used on a few occasions. The room was fabulous - bright, airy, spotlessly clean and very comfortable. The electric shutters on the windows kept the room very dark at night and I slept better there than I do at home. The room had excellent air conditioning which was very much appreciated as ther outside temperatures were quite high during our stay. There were 2 televisions in the room - one for when you're on the sofa and the other for when you're in bed. There was also a minibar and kettle. The bathroom was well appointed with a powerful shower and twin basins. The bathrobes and slippers provided by the hotel was a nice touch even though my daughter and I didn't use them. Breakfast was of the buffet variety with enough choice of fresh pastries and breads to keep us happy along with the usual collection of yoghurts, fruit juices and so on. I found all of the staff friendly, efficient and helpful and housekeeping kept the room lovely and tidy for the 6 nights we were there so a big thank you to everyone for helping to make our stay so enjoyable. If you're looking for a good quality, quiet and clean hotel in a convenient location, I definitlely recommend the Olissippo Saldanha. I've stayed in a few Lisbon hotels over the years and this is my favourite.

Read on if you wish to understand why I have given a 0 score. I'll start at the beginning. The reception staff were very accommodating and polite on arrival and even gave us room access early. The room was dated but clean, the mattress was comfortable and we were happy with our choice at that time. Only negative to say is that the power from the overhead bath shower was poor. Day 1. We decided to use the hotel pool. The pool itself was lovely but was ruined by the foul language and unruly behaviour of a group of approximately 6 English males. They were drinking alcohol and it was noted they were actually served shots on a tray by bar staff by the pool. There were families around the pool for which I felt sorry for having to witness their behaviour. We hoped it was a one off and refused to let it spoil our holiday. The mess they left around the pool once they had left was disgraceful. Day 2. In the evening, after a lovely day out, I sat on the bed and the bed base collapsed resulting in one side completely breaking off. The MDF was crumbling and the connecting dowels had come apart. We contacted reception and the manager on reception came up to the room to see what had happened. Between the manager and my partner the bed was temporarily repaired until it could be fixed properly the following day. The manager was very apologetic. The following day the bed was repaired. The manager did offer to change our room but we were happy that the problem was resolved and stayed where we were. Day 4. After a lovely day in Seville we came back to our room to find that the electronics had broken on our room door and nobody at the hotel could gain access. Whilst we waited patiently in reception the staff rang around other hotels in a bid to find someone who could fix the problem. Eventually an engineer arrived, fixed the problem and we were able to gain access to our room. Again the staff were very apologetic and offered to change our room. Again as the problem had been solved so we were happy to stay where we were. On gaining access to our room we noted that we had been left a complimentary bottle of MGM wine to apologise for the bed fiasco the previous day. Day 5. Arrived back at our hotel room around 5pm. The pool outside our balcony was full of the most loud foul abusive mouthed, anti-social behaved males I have seen. There were approximately 6 groups of all males ranging from 6 to 14 per group. They were all drinking alcohol around the pool. There was a burst rugby ball on our balcony which I took down to reception to complain about as well as the anti-social behaviour which was ongoing. The staff on reception apologised and said they would sort it. We returned to the room but the behaviour still continued. The groups by this time were engaged in kicking a football high in the air and bouncing it off the balconies. The language was excessively abusive, the noise unbearable and the anti-social behaviour atrocious. By this time we had had enough. We called Jet 2 holidays and explained the situation and requested a hotel move. We were informed a rep would be in contact from the resort to discuss our options. In the meantime we approached the hotel management and spoke with a female MGM representative. We had carefully researched which hotel we booked particularly taking note of no stag/hen dos and no all male groups. We explained to the female manager that they advertised the hotel as no all male groups and it was totally unacceptable what had happened that evening. We explained we were not prepared to stay at the hotel any longer and that we had already contacted Jet 2 to rectify the situation. After a long conversation regarding all male groups the manager eventually said she would see what she could do to move us to one of their sister hotels. We were later contacted by the hotel management and told that there would be a room available at their sister hotel ‘Club Praia Oura’ the following day if we wanted to move. We were happy to accept the switch. We liaised with the Jet 2 rep over the move who was very helpful in explaining the options available to us. The same night once everything was sorted we decided to open the MGM bottle of wine we had been given to de-stress from the whole fiasco that had enfolded. The MGM wine had a cork top so my partner decided to go down to the bar within the hotel to ask if they would open it for us as the room had no corkscrew available (we were self catering). The bar staff said they would at a cost of 5 euros. My partner actually laughed and said it's a MGM wine and we are hotel guests. They were insistent on the 5 euros which my partner refused to pay. My partner stood his ground and eventually the bar staff opened the bottle for us!!!!! Day 6. After a slight delay we eventually moved to our new hotel. MGM provided their own transport for us. We were also given complimentary breakfast for the rest of our holiday stay. As an afternote we would just like to say thank you to the hotel reception desk who were all very polite and accommodating in trying to give us a good experience despite the adverse situation. However the female MGM representative needs to accept that a business cannot make excuses when they state in black and white on their website that they promote a specific policy. MGM cannot blame Jet 2 or any other travel company for sending all male bookings when they will have a say in who they will or will not accept as guests. If this is a policy in which they are willing to bend the rules this should be made clear in their advertising so that guests such as ourselves have then a choice as to whether to accept these conditions or not. We would also like to thank our cleaning lady who kept the apartment immaculate despite its dated appearance. I feel sorry for all the cleaning staff after witnessing the disgusting amount of trash and filth left around the pool after these males had used the pool area. Goodness knows what their rooms were like! Also thank you to our Jet2 rep Alex for your continued support in making sure we enjoyed the rest of our holiday. As per chance a few days later we were having a lovely drink in the piano bar at our new hotel, when a lady sat on the next table to us. She began picking up litter off the floor complaining about litter louts. She then started talking to us about the unacceptable behaviour of English males within the resort. She said she was embarrassed to be English after witnessing their behaviour. We agreed and explained we had to move hotels because of it. It turned that she was actually a owner of the hotel. She apologised over what had happened and asked if we were OK. She stated that things were going to change. Lets hope she keeps her word. Copies of this will be sent direct to MGM and Jet2 holidays.