AP Cabanas Beach and Nature

When we arrived at the Hotel after a 0230hrs start, very tired and thirsty we received no greeting from miserable reception staff, this attitude was the same on departure day, these members of staff have no customer care abilities, whilst we later found that arrival drinks were available these were not offered. No offer of luggage assistance was forthcoming for an elderly couple, a total lack of information on the use of room key for the use of the lift or bars did not give us a warm feeling for this hotel on day one. The rooms are small but with good Wifi, daily bottled water and fridge, safe, tv and clean bedding and towels, be aware that we paid £200+ for a pool view and as can be seen from the images we only had a side pool view, we were looking onto shrubbery. A very poor aircon system is in the room, it cannot be set below 20degC leaving the room at 25degC all day. They supplied only 6 hangers for 2 people, we therefore requested additional hangers, initially from reception, then the room service girl and after 2 hours a further request to Reception, thus finally allowing us to fully unpack. Some areas of the bathroom were not very clean with a rusty toilet holder as shown in the images. On the following day we had to request balcony and balcony furniture to be cleaned. On the positive side there were plenty of sun beds with shades but these also were not cleaned. There is a good sized pool with aerobics, however, the music was very loud and prolonged on a number of occasions. The buffet restaurant is like a cafe with poor quality furniture, very hot with no air con but had a good selection of quality food at all times. The Grill bookable for 2000hrs and the Main restaurant 1900hrs or 2100hrs have to be reserved 24 hrs in advance they get booked quickly, restrictive dining times in our opinion, with only a set Portuguese menu, no à la cart menu available, however the quality of food is very good. Various bars are available with a superb one on the roof, all available cocktails are poor quality, however, the bar staff we encountered in all the bars are the only enthusiastic staff we encountered. The entertainment we saw was very good but the chance of being eaten alive as the hotel was plagued with mosquitoes this spoilt the outside areas for both dining and socialising, lots of outside areas needed cleaning, the Roof bar has good quality furniture, and thick mattress sun beds. Why we have to wear an all inclusive wrist band constantly but still have to scan the room key for everything is annoying. The hotel is in a remote location with a 15 min walk to the little town, this has a nice wooden walk way along the river side and a number of small bars and shops. Uber provide a good taxi service for anyone requiring to go further afield. As frequent travellers we would not recommend this hotel as a 4 star facility due the fact the front of house staff require customer care training and the infestation of mosquitoes, if you do book this Hotel take your own spay as it is difficult to acquire locally,

Having stayed AP Cabanas Beach & Nature previous (same date ) this visit we noticed a few things had changed namely the roof terrace the bar was no longer open all day only from 5pm also there used to be a water station this had been removed which meant having to go down to the pool side bar to replenish water . Also noted that the plunge pool on the roof wasn't very clean the days I went up to see if any changes had taken place none had so we gave up wanting to sunbath up on the roof . We found a less popular place to sunbathe on the grass near the blue & white wooden boat ideal place with plenty of room to spread about . The area around the pool seemed to be over crowded with beds on top of one another I did in fact witness an heated argument between two couples over that fact
Where we chose to sunbathe we had access to lounge bar and very short walk to poolside bar and snack bar . In the two weeks we were there not one sun lounger or table was cleaned by any staff I personally cleaned the 2 loungers and table every day whilst I was there All bar staff super friendly but over worked at times my guess staff shortages . Room over looking the pool nice view but again not able to open the sliding door in the evening due to the mosquito problems . Rooms cleaned everyday and the water bottles replaced we took our own decent coffee for the room also on our first day we bought a carton of milk from the little shop next to the gym across the road from the hotel hotel doesn't supply any . This year Mosquitos were everywhere including the lifts , main lobby area and bar area also in the main restaurant . We always took our Breakfast in the lobby area which was less crowded than the main restaurant from 8.30am . Everyone was being bitten even the jungle mosquito spray didn't seem to work the bar area gave out citronella candles but these were ineffective . I know that the area is in a nature park but surly certain areas can be sprayed in fact need to be sprayed . We went AL which suited us I would say going AL PLUS wouldn't be worth the extra cost . We did go out to Tavira using uber both ways very good service and walked the short 10 min walk to Cabanas pretty lively at night loved it . Yes we would return as we did enjoy it with our friends but simple things need changed including the taping of your room card when you order drinks / go to restaurant my guess I mean you have a coloured arm band this never happened on our previous visit so maybe its a way they can monitor costs as to what you drink & eat . If we return it will be half board then we will go Cabanas more entertainment was pretty lack except when they had a really good band on , other times it was the DJ's playing music more to the sounds of Ibiza .

Another lovely holiday at AP Cabanas, a hotel where staff can never do enough for you, where it be reception, restaurant, bars or housekeeping, it really makes our holiday, which is why we keep returning, food is amazing, comfort is lovely and cleanliness is first class, see you in October, many thanks A.P Cabanas Tavira x