NAU Sao Rafael Atlantico

From the moment we arrived at the Kimpton Atlântico Algarve, we were made to feel genuinely welcome. The reception team were warm, attentive, professional, personable and set the perfect tone for our stay. As an IHG Diamond Elite member, I was delighted to receive an upgrade – a thoughtful gesture that elevated the whole experience. The room itself was beautifully designed, spacious, and full of those unique Kimpton touches that make you feel right at home. We had read a couple of negative reviews, so we’re a little concerned, don’t believe any of them as they much have been talking about somewhere else. The hotel offers a wonderfully calm and relaxing atmosphere. Whether enjoying a slow breakfast with a view or simply unwinding in the serene surroundings, everything felt effortless and restorative. The pool area is another highlight – stylish, immaculately kept, and the perfect place to soak up the Algarve sunshine. Comfortable loungers, a tranquil vibe, and plenty of space made it the ideal spot to relax. Overall, the Kimpton Atlântico Algarve strikes the perfect balance of luxury and warmth. It’s a property that feels both refined and inviting, and one I would absolutely return to even though we have only been here a couple of days. Highly recommended for anyone seeking a sophisticated yet relaxing escape in Portugal

Do not waste your time or money on this overpriced and mismanaged hotel. It is nothing like other IHG hotels in other places. The problem stems from the lack of experienced management as the manager doesn’t seem to know how to deal with issues. She simply ignores or doesn’t offer solutions that work for the customer. She doesn’t believe there are problems even when presented with proof of the problem. The air conditioning doesn’t work properly and you will waste hours dealing with the techs for nothing, ruining your vacation. If you request room service it never comes. Some days there’s no hot water for showers. Noone tells you about free breakfast or drinks when you arrive. The pool water is cold, no access to beach, food is overpriced and mediocre. The workers try their best but a change of manager is sorely needed if this place wants to reach a 5 star rating. We paid for 4 rooms for 3 nights and requested a complimentary lunch for all the inconveniences and the manager refused. She has no customer skills.

I made a complaint directly to the hotel general manager (Catarina Simoes), and she barely responded and certainly did not act to resolve the issue. Having gone to the most senior person at the hotel, I contacted head office (in the US) and was told that it's best to contact the hotel (which I'd already done). Essentially, my complaint was ignored, and then I was referred back to the person who had ignored my complaint.

This is a fantastic resort, full of energy. We had a garden view balcony room, which was very comfortable and spacious. Breakfast was very good lots of options. The gym is really good for a hotel. The staff were very attentive especially Rui, Fabrício, Emerson, Diego who provided a great customer experience. Just one thing: the hotel doesn’t give staff name badges which makes it hard to identify them if a customer wears similar clothes. I’d like to mention one of the staff (Elizabeth) who approached guests around the hotel, asking room number and what they were doing without identifying herself. She also liked to sit with guests during breakfast etc and would sometimes shout (friendly) greetings across the public areas. I am sure she meant well but we found it a little too much. The hotel has direct access to a nice beach, a lovely roof top bar and is a short taxi ride to Albufeira. The pool area is nice although could do with being a little bigger as when the resort was busy there was not always space available. Overall an excellent staff, great staff and I am sure we will return.

Had high(ish) hopes for this hotel - newly refurbished and past stays in Kimpton brand hotels have always been good. Sadly, however, this started to go wrong from arrival and didn't improve during the stay, or post stay though it would be unfair to say there were no positives - I can only hope the hotel is able to build on these for the future. Arrived slightly ahead of check-in time, roughly half an hour, and room was not ready (fine). Was suggested that we wander round the hotel and we would be called when the room was ready. After 2 hours, no call, and returned to reception - the room was ready and had clearly been so for some time. No apology offered, though showed to and around room by efficient member of staff. Suspect we were given a slightly upgraded room to the one booked as IHG Diamond members, though was never mentioned. Room furnished to a reasonably high standard and spacious; nice range of toiletries too. However, suspect fitments on the cheap side and although look good now, unlikely to ware well. Breakfast started well with friendly and efficient host taking us to a table. Thereafter went downhill - waited for over 20 minutes for someone to take a drinks order, by which time had to grab a waiter for these. Food offer was okay, though key items slow to be replaced on the buffet. Cooked to order items were good to be fair, but again very slow service and staff clearly not well-versed in basics of serving food, e.g. drinks delivered to the nearest seated person to waiter's arrival (if that makes sense) and given to them to pass to rest of table! Other days were the same, and also included ordered drinks never arriving, wrong drinks arriving and very slow service. The experience at breakfast ensured dinner was never taken at the hotel - a shame as the menu looked interesting. All rates included breakfast - this was the basic buffet and some egg dishes, other cooked to order items were extra. The IHG Diamond welcome amenity includes the choice of free breakfast - the hotel was unable to confirm whether the cooked items were covered by this, or not, and so ended up receiving no welcome amenity of any sort. More generally, the hotel is near a beach (well, two), one with sunbeds and a beach bar (unrelated to the hotel), which was not really my vibe as music too loud. Further along, behind some rocks was a quieter beach with no sunbeds which suited us. The hotel itself has a pool/s, however there are nowhere near enough sunbeds for the size of the hotel. At check out, a customer jumped the queue in front of us and was happily served until I raised this. There was little in the way of apology and it was clear they knew this had happened and were just not willing to ensure people were seen in order. Post stay, the hotel whs failed to credit they stay to IHG One rewards correctly, and after 2 months of communications I have given up them ever honouring the scheme they sighn up for. Prior to the re-fit and re-brand, the hotel seems to have been a 'locally branded' package holiday style hotel, and I believe is still run by the same group as before. Kimpton as a brand is very different to this, but the reality of our stay is that while the hotel has had a good facelift, it still seems most comfortable signed up to that previous mindset and unwilling to meet Kimpton and IHG brand standards.