Dona Filipa Hotel

This is our second visit to this hotel and both have been wonderful. Lovely staff, great comfortable rooms and excellent food. I really struggle to understand some the the negative views. Is definitely 5 star for us. The rooms may not all be sparkling newly decorated, but are large, clean, very well equipped and maintained. Had good bar food and our one night in the restaurant was excellent. For our second week we are staying in a 4 star Pestana hotel also in the Algarve and it’s like a tired basic Travel lodge in comparison.

The staff were excellent but the bedroom, especially the bathroom and toilet, were in need of an upgrade

By far the best thing about the hotel (if you have children) is the superb Kangaroo Club. Beatriz who oversees the operation is an absolute star who the kids gravitate to because of her warm nature and enthusiasm. Our five year old daughter is usually hesitant about going into kids club but was extremely keen to do so every day. There were excellent crafts, activities, computer games/movies, an outside area with games and a trampoline.

Staff very helpful and attentive . Clean rooms and fab location

Staff were very friendly but not very efficient. They failed to book our golf lesson on the first day, despite confirming by email that they had. Service was very slow in the restaurant and staff failed to inform us that several of the limited meat choices were not available at dinner, until 20 minutes after sitting down. Only one of the two restaurants was open and we were not informed about this is advance. While the rooms were clean, there were regular problems with bad smells from the drains and our key cards kept failing and had to be re-programmed.

Had a great 4 night stay in October 24, very spacious comfortable hotel, friendly helpful staff, special thanks to Racquel who made our dinning experiences in the Kamal restaurant very enjoyable. Spacious room with wonderful views from balcony

I am also amazed at some of the negative comments below about the Dona Filipa Hotel, we stayed for 4 nights in mid-September and I absolutely adored every second of our stay. The hotel's is brilliantly located in such a quiet and tranquil area, literally a two minute walk from a lovely stretch of beach with a boardwalk, equally its proximity (one minute walk) to the Praca where there is a great selection of dining choices couldn't be better. We had a premier room with a view over one of the fairways and the sea in the distance, we loved sitting out on the balcony relaxing and watching the golfers after being at the pool each evening before going for dinner. Our room was fantastic, super spacious with a huge bed which was extremely comfortable, if you were to be very picky the bathroom wasn't the same high standard as the bedroom but there was nothing wrong with it, everything worked brillantly and I have no complaints at all. We didn't eat dinner there, but breakfast was fabulous each morning, so much choice and replenished constantly, there seemed to be an army of servers to clear away plates, cups and also re-fill extra coffee and tea as required. Having breakfast overlooking the lovely pool area was so relaxing each morning too. The pool area was lovely with a small pool bar, again really friendly attentive staff there, the pool wasn't heated during our stay and made for a chilly first few minutes but once you were in it was lovely, yes a few of the decking boards were a little wonky but surely they are an easy fix during the winter months. Melani the Guest Relations Manager couldn't have been more friendly and made sure to have a word with everyone.

I am perplexed by some of the comments left on here especially regarding the pool and pool area being filthy. We stayed at The Dona Filipa and as a very fussy person I can assure you that the hotel and pool area were spotless. There was a young women everyday cleaning the shower area around the pool and I certainly did not see any black grime. There were more than enough sun beds and Edi a young man working at the beach bar was always on hand to help, especially putting up the sun umbrella which I struggled with without me asking. Any glasses use by our sunbed or plates from lunch were quickly taken away. As for the breakfast not having a great choice I wonder what people eat at home! There was a massive selection of cereals, fresh fruit, yogurts , freshly made omelettes to your choice plus cooked breakfast, breads and juices all beautifully displayed. My husband and I commented on the service we received from everyone we encountered. Our room as you would expect was spotless with a lovely bathroom and with the hotel a five minute walk from the hotels beach it was a lovely break for us and we will be back.

We’ve been coming here for around 15 years and it is sad to see the hotel”s decline and listen to others complaining around the pool and say they are not coming back anymore, which sadly I have to agree with. We had a Premium room as always but I think the complaints about the classic rooms are fair. In all these years of coming here we’ve never once been given an upgrade so it’s pretty annoying to hear them being given to others every time we come. We came for our 20th anniversary, we didn’t even get a card! The pool area is massively in decline. Heating from the 1st Sept is virtually non existent as it’s set to 27, this is not enough to claim you have a heated pool, complained during our visit twice but no change in temperature made and therefore rendered the pool unusable for me and many others. The pool was rebuilt about 8 years ago it’s not been maintained. It has lots of black mould and grime. The boards by the pool area are broken and dangerous, many older people walking around lose their balance when one of the boards collapses under foot. This should be a constantly maintained area and it’s not. Maintenance was allocated to painting the yellow stripes on the hotel to blue instead. The pool area is filthy. The same rubbish sat on the floor all week, tables don’t get wiped and glasses lay rolling. Not enough staff apparently! To hear the staff asking if you want to leave a tip for Reception when you check out is dreadful!

A real Gem of an hotel and our visit was made enjoyable throughout..... The hotel is lovely with a touch of grace and in a great position for acces to the beach and restaurants in Praca The staff are friendly and helpful throughout Our only frustration would be the complex air conditioning in the bedrooms which is a small issue in the entire scheme of things Look forward to our next visit