Jupiter Algarve

4/5 Stars – Always a wonderful stay at Hotel Jupiter Praia da Rocha I return to Hotel Jupiter Praia da Rocha year after year because I simply love Praia da Rocha and have no plans to change where I stay. This year, I found the mattress a little too firm and uncomfortable for my liking. Age might be catching up with me, but I managed to make it softer by improvising and using a spare duvet from the cupboard. Breakfast is still good, though I think it could be improved in a couple of areas. I miss the old days of table service and teapots, even though I know it adds pressure to the hard-working staff. It would be wonderful to see a selection of fish and more fresh fruit added to the buffet options. On the bright side, the fresh orange juice machine is a fantastic addition, and I love having the chef cook eggs fresh to order just the way you like them. Despite a few minor points with the room and breakfast, I always find plenty to eat and genuinely enjoy my time here. The location and the hotel remain a great choice, and I will definitely be back again.

We travelled with Jet 2 in early September for 11 nights stay at this hotel, we originally had booked half board plus and a see view room. We arrived at Faro airport ahead of time however was advised by the Captain that there were some slight delays with Passport control, 2.5 hours later having gone through passport control where there was one person checking passports and doing the new procedures for everyone, we then had to go collect our suitcases where due to the delay, our cases and everyone else’s had been dumped in the middle of the airport with no one anywhere (especially Jet 2 staff telling us where the cases were, not a Jet 2 person in site, having got outside, I had a text message asking if we still wanted the lift ….! Well if a member of your team was inside the airport you would have known the problem, when we finally found where the Jet 2 staff were hiding, we got on our coach)

We had booked a see view room (premium prices) however after my wife having a very difficult year, a stroke and thyroid operation we wanted to relax and enjoy the views, Please note anyone who has booked these rooms, floors one and two you can’t see the sea and the third floor just, all you do get is the noise of a vendor outside the hotel with his speakers on full blast spraying pictures with paint cans, On booking in we were offered the second floor and after saying we had emailed in advance on several occasions asking for a higher floor, we were told that Jet 2 would have told them ( I had also asked Jet 2 when booking) I said I had emailed their reception team asking for a higher floor floor showing them the emails, we were eventually offered the 3rd floor then a few days later moved to the 6th,

We had booked half board so went for our evening Meal which to ourselves compared to many other similar hotels we have stayed in the options available existed of carrots and peas with a meat of some type or fish, the sweet options on our first night was ice cream or an Almond cake, half board plus allows you free drinks so after having a glass of wine poured at the table, I did ask if we could have an ice bucket and the bottle, we were told they don’t do that and having waited some time for a second glass we gave up, when leaving the restaurant, I asked a member of staff why so little choice and was told that due to so much waste they have reduced the options down considerably.

We then spoke to reception the same evening to ask for bed and breakfast from then on for the last 10 days, they said they would let the morning staff know in their handover.

I tried contacting Jet 2 on their website to be greeted by a robot asking if they could assist and have a great holiday, we still didn’t have the rep for Jet 2 who looked after this hotel so I used the number of the person from Jet 2 who had contacted me at the airport ro ask where our rep was, I was told that he would contact me the following day ! The call arrived saying he had sorted it and why did we want to downgrade..as they call it, I asked if he had ever been down to the evening meals in the hotel to see the options and he said no.

The following day, I received a call from Jet 2 ‘in resort customer service team’ to say great news … from the 5th which was the following day, we were bed and breakfast, I asked the advisor that it was the 4th and this has happened on the 3rd and I had complained on the 3rd he said oh.. we will need to speak to the hotel, I said I will as I’m in reception at that moment, the receptionist couldn’t do anything and the hotel manager came out to speak to us and after explaining to him that we had complained on the 3rd and you will only downgrade us from the 5th didn’t make sense, he said he needed 24 hours notice and that is final, I said you had 24 hours notice as it was all documented by your reception team the day before, after smirking and saying you want some more food.. go get some, I said no, your not doing us a favour we are not eating the food as we are complaining about it, finally he said tell Jet 2 to email me and I will sort it, this is us on holiday our second day and still no Jet 2 rep to be seen.

The following day, as expected a call from the ‘ in resort team customer service’ saying they had sorted it, I said no you didn’t, it was me. She then went on to offer us a rebate of £400 for the last 10 days difference between breakfast and half board plus, I said that’s £20 per day difference each, Which was insulting to say the least, as expected we were told that’s Jet 2’s only offer so to complain when we got back to England and they are closing the case, remember we are on holiday or supposed to be ! We ate out every night after that still no contact from the Jet 2 rep from the hotel. People complain about the size of the pool but we always got a sunbed however there were the usual people filling up 4-6 sunbeds with towels and disappearing into breakfast and then coming to their sunbeds late morning.

We have to say all of the staff except the one I mentioned were extremely helpful and professional

The beaches were great, sunbeds for 2 were 17 euros per day, also lots of Spars to buy your cheap snacks and drinks for the beach . Our plane was delayed for over 6 hours flying home, the Jet 2 staff at the airport said originally the delay could be up to 50 minutes and after the 50 minutes we needed to keep going back to ask for an update as nothing was appearing on the notice boards, We were allowed 8 euros to purchase some food using our boarding passes which when going to a sandy shop didn’t work so you ended up purchasing them yourself, please note a bottled water is over 3 euros and a sandwich is 9 euros.

In summary we feel we have been let down tremendously by the Jet 2 customer service team both in the resort including the reps as well as the staff at the airport, I have logged my 2 complaints a fortnight ago and still not heard anything and when I phoned up the customer service team having been on hold 40 minutes I was told that they had received my 2 complaints but were exceptionally busy so just be patient !!! Please note also, when try to write out your complaint on the Jet 2 website form where it asks you to put as much detail, it times you out so you really can only bullet point your complaints as I found out having spent 30 mins trying to detail everything . Jet 2 are great when your booking your holiday but want very little to do with you when your raising a complaint

We have just arrived home after staying a week in this hotel. A couple in our early 30’s.

The location of the hotel is perfect, it’s at the end of the strip which is full of restraunts and bars. Highly recommend the rock sports bar and eating at the Hollywood steakhouse. It’s less than a 2 minute walk from the beach however there are lots of steps down to the beach so if you aren’t good on your feet this wouldn’t be ideal for you but no issues for us.

The hotel grounds and rooms were spot on. The hotel is so clean and spotless. We did have ants in our room on the first night. Unsure why as it was spotless. I let the staff know and they sorted it straight away and we never saw another. The beds are hard but comfy. The air con is very good. Rooms were cleaned every single day. We were in room 101 which is right above the area for entertainment over the pool and we didn’t find it too noisy.

We had half board plus and the food was lovely, a wide variety every night and tasted lovely. I personally don’t think the ‘plus’ is worth it as it’s only drinks at dinner. This worked out an extra £48 per night for 2 people and we only had 1 soft drink and 1 beer. They don’t come round asking if you’d like more drinks even though you can have as many as you want but realistically you wouldn’t spend that much on the drinks so half board would be fine, don’t bother with the upgraded plus.

All staff were lovely and couldn’t do enough for you.

There was plenty of sunbeds. Nobody put the towels out and didn’t use the beds. Most of us put our towels on and went for breakfast and came back and there was sunbeds available throughout the day all day. The pool is beautiful and clean and very refreshing.

10/10 and would come back, we are already planning coming back for next year.