Penha Longa Hotel and Resort is ideally located in the middle of a natural parc of Sintra, It's a five-star resort and probably one of the most beautiful resorts in Portugal.

Our stay from April 8^th to 15^th, 2017 was delightful but punctuated by small incidents due to a disorganised and an unstructured staff.

We spoke to Susana Mata, P.A. to the resort's General Manager, about those incidents and how a few little mishaps can spoil a great holidays for the guests. Below, are a few examples

of what happened to our family :

On our first night we were surprised to find our room without an extra bed for our six-year-old boy (even though we made a reservation through Expedia for two adults and one child) and when we asked for the extra bed we were told that there would be an extra charge of 40€ per night, which of course we did not agree to. Between the hotel and the travel agency, we don't really know who thought it would be OK for our son to sleep where? On the floor? With us? When we book a room for three, guess what: we expect the room to actually accommodate three.

One afternoon, we asked for a kitchen knife to be brought to our room, so we could peel an apple for our son. “Right away, Sir”. Half an hour later... we decided to go down to the reception to ask for it again.

When we checked out, our invoice showed a 73€ charge for dinner at the B-Lounge on our last evening on Friday the 14^th 2017 even though we actually had dinner at another restaurant in the hotel: LAB by Sergi AROLA, which also showed on our invoice. After we mentioned the discrepancy to the staff, they checked the receipts, realised the mistake and apologized.

We also had to wait 30 minutes for a staff member to bring the car around. It would have been quicker to just go get the car ourselves. Thank God our flight was much later in the evening.

As we mentionned to Susanna Mata, a five-star hotel should focus on the quality of the service – quality is in the details -- and each guest should be treated as a valuable member and not just a customer or a consumer.

We hope our feedback will help Penha Longa Resort's management and staff improve, restructure and refocus on a service based on quality, not quantity.

Penha Longa Resort

Estrada da Lagoa Azul Sintra - Linhó 2714 - 511 Portugal
T: +35 1 21 924 9011
F: +35 1 21 924 9007

www.penhalonga.com