Aaron S.
Yelp
I spent three nights at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Lisbon - Fontana Park during my trip to the Portuguese capital towards the end of 2023. I was quite let down with this property for many reasons.
Starting on a positive note, the location of the hotel is good, it is a short walk away from two metro stations, Picoas and Saldanha, and from either one of those stations, you can pretty much get anywhere around the city, from the city centre to the airport. I was able to get around the city very easily using the Citymapper app and these two metro stations.
The staff at the hotel were also friendly, when I was checking in, I ended up chatting with a staff member who used to work at the Hilton Manchester Deansgate, and we recognised each other - small world!
I checked in, in the evening, and despite having a couple of staff members in the Reception area, it did take a long time just to get checked in to the hotel. I was told that I received an upgrade as a Hilton Honors Diamond member, and they made a point of saying the upgrade was from them, and not Hilton. I didn't receive a Suite, and the upgrade felt like a standard room.
The hotel has a very gothic, dark style with a lot of black in the decor, this looked nice in the lobby, but the interior of the room felt depressing, they had all black walls and cupboards walking into the room and the bathroom door didn't close properly.
Even the corridors leading up to the rooms were very dark and narrow, with the room numbers on the floor.
The facilities inside the room remained very basic, they had basic facilities to make tea and coffee and the bed was comfortable but that was pretty much it, the TV was very small. There was also a lack of storage space and coat hooks, which made it very difficult especially as there were two people in my room (including myself).
Due to the size of the room, the left side of the bed did not have a bedside table, it did have a desk, but this was far too high compared to the height of the bed.
Housekeeping was also poor, on one occasion they failed to turn up, after alerting the Reception staff, we agreed a time they would service my room, where I especially left the room in order for them to do so, and once again they didn't turn up. After sorting this out with Reception, upon my arrival to the hotel to an unclean room (for the second time), they promised to send someone up straight away while I had a complimentary beer, wine or soft drink in the bar - which I had to wait another hour for.
The rooms were very poorly soundproofed - it was so easy to hear noises from outside and other rooms, on my final night I had to switch rooms as the person in the room next to me wouldn't stop coughing - as a light sleeper, this would have kept me awake! Traffic noise from outside despite being on a high floor was also noticeable.
Despite changing to a room of the same type, there was a difference between the rooms, with the second room not having USB charging sockets while the first room did - I don't understand how rooms in the same category can be different. The cleanliness of the second room also was unsatisfactory with crumbs all over the desk chair. On the other hand, the second room had a small balcony which the first room did not.
The buffet breakfast served in the morning was also pretty bad if you wanted anything cooked, the continental options looked fresh and plentiful, however, the cooked options were sub-par. The scrambled eggs were cold, and bland, despite asking for fresh eggs they still came back cold. the omelettes were also too runny and cheesy despite asking to go easy on the cheese. The fruit juice just tasted of pulp, it was so thick and even stirring it wouldn't help - I did notice other guests having similar issues.
The bathroom was also basic, and had the shower inside the bath which is one of my biggest hates in a hotel bathroom as I much prefer a standalone shower.
2* - The staff are lovely but this hotel needs urgent help, a refurbishment of rooms to make them more comfortable, attractive and in line with the other rooms to avoid inconsistencies... and working on the essential services from the noise proofing, housekeeping and breakfast are a must. If it wasn't for the price of under 100 euros a night during my trip, and the friendly reception staff, it would be ranked even lower.