Hotel Pontao

Nice hotel close to the Main Street in the town and short walking distance to the beach. Stayed here for 2 weeks bed and breakfast. Nice to have the use of the pool and free wifi in the reception area.

Convenient hotel to stay in. Good location - beach nearby as well as bars, restaurants, taxis, car rental company, shops, supermarket. Breakfast lovely but if you come after 9 am, the choice seems to be limited. If busy during breakfast, no cups, plates, cutlery available for a while. No WiFi in the room. The downside of this place are hotel guests leaving their beach towels on sun beds around the swimming pool when not occupying them. It is almost impossible to use a sun bed if you do not 'reserve' it during breakfast time.

The initial reception was welcoming and as we arrived early we were happy to wait for our booked "superior room with garden view" to be serviced while we walked to the town for lunch. On our return we were allocated what must have been the worst room in the hotel. It had no balcony, was small and dark and looked out on what must be the busiest, noisiest road junction in the town. The reception MUST have know that this was not the room we booked. We complained and were eventually offered and accepted "the last available room". This was a quiet and large family room. It was, I guess, "superior" but was not garden-facing and had no outside space, terrace or balcony, for relaxation. The worst experience was breakfast. This must be the worst organised breakfast buffet experience we have ever experienced. All the food and drink was in one corner and as there was only one hot drinks machine there was always a queue making the area too crowded to access food. The food was generally of poor quality and not systematically replenished. The hot food was mostly gone. The staff work hard but are not properly trained and managed so work very inefficiently. This whole breakfast experience made for a very stressful start to every day and is the main reason we would not recommend the hotel to a friend.

Our stay in the hotel was lovely! The hotel staff was very helpful and kind, a the entire hotel was really neat and tidy. There was a decent breakfast buffet every morning with fresh bakery product, some cooked stuff, fresh fruits, youghurts... The dinner menu is very short, actually a choise of tuna or chicken, but you have plenty possibilities around in the area. On Fridays they organise barbecue parties with really nice food though. The ocean is just a few minutes walk. Enjoyed our holiday a lot. Glad about choosing Pontao to stay, fair trade for friendly price. Thank you guys!

If you want all inclusive 500 bed luxury this is not the place, there are however a lot of positives about this 2-3 star hotel. It is very clean and the staff helpful. The buffet breakfast is certainly adequate with fruit, fruit juice, yoghurt, lots of fresh breads to toast with jam and honey or with cheese and cold meat. Fresh omelettes or presumably fried eggs, if you wish. Good coffee from a machine, just help yourself. They do serve a set evening meal at 12 euro and the Friday night 'barbecue' (although no actual bbq in sight) was dearer at 22 euro, but included a strong alcoholic fruit punch and ½ l carafe of wine between 2. The food, especially the fish and salads is very good. The staff made it attractive with tables round the pool area. The pool in the centre of the building is attractive with several large trees and greenery and sunbeds. You do have to chase the sun around, but sometimes shade is good. The superior rooms are of a reasonable size, good bathroom and modern. It had a fridge, but unfortunately not a kettle. Our room was on the ground floor, which was handy for the pool, however you are at the mercy of other guests who stay up late talking loudly on their outside area. Our only disappointment was the bed, which was very hard so not very comfortable. Otherwise a good value hotel situated at the edge of the main streets and 5-10 minutes walk to the beach.

Upon arrival the staff were very welcoming and enthusiastic except for the manager. The pool/breakfast area were kept in a pristine condition throughout my stay. I payed for the superior room which was definitely not superior by any means... their was stains on the wallpaper, curtains and the mattress. This greatly stressed myself and my partner. The shower was extremely unreliable it only had cold water until we mentioned to the staff and they fixed it. The manager was very reluctant to answer our queries. I would recommended staying at another hotel personally unless you want to be close to the centre of the town.

When I was booking the hotel no mention was made to the ongoing building work within the unit. I was also without hot water for the first 2 days of my stay.

We stayed for 4 days - the hotel is a building site. Constant noise from 7.30am until 6.00pm. The pool area cannot be used due to building works going on. We had to step over rubble to get to our room. After 4 days we checked out and checked into a decent hotel.

stayed 10 days,not worth hiring a car ,only a few roads fit for normal cars. an island tour at 15 euros was very worth while. For 7 euros there was 2 loungers and an umbrella for hire on the fantastic beach We took a flight to Santiago, for the day, very expensive, and poor value. Excellent fish restaurant opposite the hotel called the "fisherman" It's better value to use the local currency, but be sure to use it all , as it's worthless anywhere else there are no newspapers on the island, and our TV had no english channels Take some warmish clothes for evening, as it gets quite cool. Try to avoid hotel rooms overlooking the adjacent roads, as on Friday and Sat all night parties are held on the waste land in front of the hotel, very noisy. It was sad to see so much rubbish left in the town. Many of the local shops owners were irritating, as they tried to get you to visit there shop, and didn't seem to understand " NO THANK YOU" although the local people were very nice in general.

Rooms and amenities are very basic, staff were scarce but polite