Dorisol Buganvilia

Okay, so I understand it's a 3 star hotel which is supposed to be mid range, not budget, like many people are saying in their reviews to justify the obvious basic flaws and numerous issues the hotel has.

Anyway, here is my honest experience.

1. Noise.

Firstly, the hotel failed to notify the travel agent of internal and external building work going on in the area.

As a result we had to move rooms 2 times. Firstly to move away from drilling and banging inside the hotel but then because of the building site noise opposite but building work was being done on both sides of the hotel so we had to listen to pneumatic drilling from 8 to 6 on some days.

All of the rooms are panelled floors so when people were walking or dragging furniture across the floor the noise was awful. Had this happen at 1 in the morning from people above too.

Also, I've never heard doors being slammed so loud in a hotel.... Ever!! A significant number of times, it was the cleaning staff. It would reverberate throughout the entire hotel.

The hotel also hosted parties for local people and the noise of the music went on into the early hours of the morning on occasions.

2. Smoking. 

We had several occasions when our room was polluted with cigarette smoke. This was from other balconies, through the bathroom vent, throughout the whole of the common areas too, especially when the hotel hosted parties and allowed the attendees to smoke right by the reception entrance so the smoke filtered up through the staircase.

3. Breakfast. 

We were given child size cutlery for breakfast. The estrelicia has adult cutlery. Would love to know why. The breakfast items were often cold. They seem to bring it out cold and hope it would warm up in the trays. The choice is very poor and the quality low.

Alternative diets are poorly catered for. They only provided soya milk and one type of gluten free bread role. We often had to take our own food down for breakfast.

In the estrelicia pigeons and seagulls often swoop on breakfast plates and the staff do nothing to prevent it.

They also allow people to smoke on the breakfast veranda while people are trying to eat breakfast. It's absolutely disgusting and shouldn't be allowed.

4. Room Service 

Several times we returned from long days out to find our room had not been serviced.

5. Staff. 

A few members of staff did try to help on occasions but on the whole, they were ineffective at solving issues. So when the general manager comes on to trip advisor to thank you for your review and promise they are actioning improvements, I would take this with a pinch of salt, because they resolved or changed very little to improve our stay. I know it will sound petty but something as simple as asking for a parasol for the pool area and being told to go to the estrelicia pool area is indicative of the lack of care and professionalism.

6. Fire Alarm. 

The first night we stayed at the hotel, there was a fire alarm in the early hours of the morning. The organisation was shambolic. There were guests ambling back to their rooms, nobody knew what was going on, they shepherded everyone into one corner of the ground floor to do a person count so we were stood breathing in smoke fumes. Thank god it was an external bin fire or something similar and not a fire in the confines of the hotel.

You understand you won't get a 5 star environment and the hotel is dated and you can accept that but not when they are getting so many of the basics wrong when it comes to looking after guests.

We experienced several events the hotel hosted for locals and the feeling was they received preferential treatment.

All in all, the hotel has far too many failures for me to recommend anyone stay here.

I hope people find this useful before deciding to choose this hotel for a holiday.

Its dated, needs a bit of a smarten up but all in all a great Christmas we had. Silly things like the toilet seat moving, edges off the units, ceramic sink cracked etc but they were just little niggles. I mean we weren't paying for the Ritz so i didnt expect the Ritz. Thats all that can be said really as with most holidays we only use hotels as a base so we are out most of the time. Cheers all.

Positives, the room was absolutely fine, nice size, very clean. Cleaners came in whenever requested. Its about 15-20 mins walk to central Funchal. We were late bookers so it was cheap so I suppose you get what you pay for. Unfortunately there is no bar, you have to walk to sister hotel up a steep hill. Even then its more like a cafe, probably OK in summer months. Staff ( apart from a friendly English speaking lady, the lovely cleaners who were always friendly and the barman) barley crack a smile or say hello. The breakfast is terrible, cold,cold,cold, no microwave to reheat. Bananas brown. Toaster takes ages. If you ask for anything staff point in the general direction and you have to hunt for it. Overall it was ok. There are some nice bars and restaurants close by. Dont go if you have mobility issues as steep walk to the hotel and sister hotels though I did see a buggy. Also, steps to the lift.