Pestana Royal Premium All Inclusive Ocean & Spa

Recently returned from holiday on the beautiful island of Madeira. We stayed in the Pestana Royal all inclusive which is about a ten minute bus ride from Funchal centre. The hotel provided a shuttle bus to the dock area twice a day. The hotel is in a good position on the sea front. Most of the rooms have a full or partial sea view. however the type of balcony varied from room to room. Some having a solid wall on the balcony which meant that when sitting down you had no view of either the pool or sea. Other rooms had either a half height wall with railings or just railings. We were initially allocated a room with a solid balcony wall but were fortunate to be moved to a better room when we requested it. We are very grateful to the reception staff who arranged this for us. The overall appearance of the hotel is very nice with lots of tropical plants and trees. The pool area was very nice with plenty of sun beds always available. Food in the restaurant was good with plenty of options for starters but rather limited in the choice of main meals. Also very busy in the evenings and as food was buffet style it meant lots of people walking about carrying plates back to their tables which were quite closely packed together. The staff in the restaurant however worked tirelessly clearing away plates and serving drinks and should be complimented. While the hotel is marketed as all inclusive this did not cover some of the premium drinks which meant the cocktails available were fairly basic and only one choice of beer. Entertainment in the evenings apart from a couple of nights when a 3 piece group were playing and also a solo female singer, was fairly poor. A few children running around on stage on a Saturday night was not my idea of evening entertainment. Unfortunately due to the Hotel location there was nowhere to go to nearby apart from a small bar on the beach below the hotel. This meant you would need to get a bus or taxi to get to Funchal town centre. We would have expected something better to do in the evenings from a 5 star hotel. Overall we enjoyed our stay at the Pestana Royal but feel there are a few things that could be done better.

Well what can we say, simply an amazing hotel!!! This was our first visit to Medeira and our first stay in a Pestana hotel, and honestly it will not be our last. The Pestana Royal is a beautiful hotel with amazing and helpful staff. We booked the front sea view room (703) which was like a huge suite with so much space and a bath (bonus). The bed was huge and so comfortable with super soft ben linen. Extra shout out to the hard working maids who toil hard to ensure the room is clean and towels are fresh everyday, these ladies are worth everything they earn! It was my wife’s birthday whilst here and the hotel guest manager left us a surprise cake and bottle of sparkling bubbly Prosecco in our room which was so thoughtful and lovely for my wife. Thank you Pestana for a fantastic week in your wonderful hotel in the most beautiful location. Mick & Kerry, UK

Nice hotel , staff very friendly and helpful. On the down side rooms were outdated for the price you would think you would get a lot better. We loved the little park outside and pools were nice . Restaurants are nice but the food is not a 5 star I’m afraid , wasn’t much to choose from the dessert section and felt like it was just basic and the same everyday. I’ve had better food in a 3 star hotel overall we did enjoy the stay for 4 nights but we won’t return to this hotel

i am rather critical (if necessary) and very thorough with my reviews..before you read on! Beautiful hotel, very pretty, Madeira is lovely. location: in the capital city, access down to the beach (rocky, black sand), nice walk along the sea front for miles. Lots of steps in/outside hotel . Staff: on the whole very friendly and helpful especially in the restaurant. We encountered a couple of miserable bar tenders and a disinterested receptionist but otherwise they were great. Housekeeping: full marks here, came every day, nice and early, super clean rooms. Room: we were in no. 733 ..I believe at least half of the rooms were like ours, a superior sea view deluxe room which we had twin beds in. NOT NICE! perfectly lovely if you dont mind using the toilet in front of your other half (or friend) and enjoying the wonderful aromas after using the toilet, throughout your room as there is no door on the bathroom! they have made the rooms very cheaply by not building in a bathroom but instead placing two glass panels with roll down blinds (a couple of inches short of the glass sides so you can see whoever is on the loo) the "bathroom" is right by the entrance door so when anyone comes into the room..and the housekeeper didn't always knock first, they can see you sat on the loo! we hated it. asked to change rooms but were told everyone asks for these rooms and anyway they were fully booked...totally ruined it for us and many other Brits we talked to...so choose your room wisely. The beds were hard and very uncomfortable, grubby bases and no mattress protectors on them. In their defence they did send mattress toppers when I asked at reception so do ask if you're uncomfortable. The linen was beautiful, crisp white sheets and beautiful pillows . Towels in our room were dingy grey sadly but decent size . The "bathroom " lacked a proper towel rail, there's nowhere to hang the bath towels or any clothes should you want to. Shower was excellent. Noise from what I can assume is the soil pipe from upstairs..every time anyone used the toilet we heard the flush..annoying at 2am but minimal disturbance Sleep: good, some noise from people congregating in the bar area after 11pm when the bars inside were closed. Drinking water: not a nice set up, they leave you an opened bottle of water which you have to refill yourself daily from the bar (quite a walk and only a lite bottle per room) the lid on the bottle was sharp and who knows if people before you had drunk straight from the bottle?? could do better. Bars: interesting one...the pool bar closed at 6pm?? no outside bar after that. odd selection of "allowed/inclusive cocktails..did not include a mojito yet you could have rum and coke?? when asked the bar tender said its not the alcohol but the bosses didn't allow it as the ingredients take too long to make...rather annoying but they'd make it for you if you upgraded at 75E per person per week!! Information : massively lacking!! they said to scan the QR code for all info but it gave you virtually nothing. no leaflets on trips, no info on Madeira , reception didn't even tell us the annual flower parade was on in the town. The concierge/travel advisor for the hotel was the most disinterested person we met, we booked one trip through her. To be honest if i went again Id book through a travel company like Jet 2 who had reps in the hotel, we booked independently but you could do with a reps advice if you've not been to the island before as you will otherwise miss so much. Food: buffet..what can I say, fairly god quality, quite hot food..nobody used the hand sanitizer, people dont understand queuing. Its just buffets in general, personally didn't like it much but the restaurant was nice . There are two themed restaurants, a local one and an Italian one...both better than the buffet, the Italian one was superb. Again nobody told us you can only go to those once during your visit...real shame! tips: our side of the hotel got no sun until late afternoon. bus stop no. 15 stops outside the hotel, if you get the hop on hop off bus tour from the centre you can get off there. There's a supermarket should you need it outside the hotel across the road. Dont miss the walk along the beach turn left and walk as far as you can it takes you through a cave to a fabulous fish restaurant where you can pay to spend the day in their private decked area and sea pool. overall im not sure I'd return to this hotel but I may do if I can get a room with a bathroom (DOOR!) and I'd probably hire a car and go to some local restaurants.