Brian M.
Yelp
This was a special and once in a lifetime trip for our 10 year wedding anniversary and my 60th birthday. It was ruined by having to stay in this hotel. I was embarrassed in front of my wife for booking this hotel. This hotel is almost uninhabitable.
This was the worst hotel stay I have had in hundreds of hotel stays in my life. The hotel website does not mention the incredibly loud and intrusive construction going on, right in front of the hotel. On top of the myriad issues the construction caused, there were other issues.
There was little to no air conditioning. The room was very warm, and we could not get the AC to turn on most of the time. When it did, it did not cool the room down at all. A maintenance person explained something about how the outside temperature was overwhelming the ability of the AC to cool the rooms. All I know is the room was hard to sleep in due to the temperature, and we did not get one night of good sleep during a 5 night stay.
The car traffic due to the construction right in front of the hotel makes taxi/Uber pickup and drop off dangerous and difficult.
The foot traffic due to the construction right in front of the hotel is overwhelming, and unsafe. There were hordes of people near the front entry of the building due to the construction.
Due to the construction in the front of the building we were told sometimes to exit in the back of the building to reach certain parts of the city. We'd walk through a maze of homeless and drug users in the back alley of the hotel. Very dangerous.
The room was not very clean.
Our safe broke with my passport locked inside! But it was fixed quickly.
The bathroom sink backed up due to a clog.
The shower stall had broken handles inside it. I could go on.
When I complained after our stay, they did not reply. When I followed up, 8 days later, they said a manager would contact me, and they added 20,000 points to my IHG account. According to NerdWallet's analysis, 20,000 IHG points are worth about $140. That is an offensive offer after they destroyed 6 days/5 nights of vacation. Those are important memories lost and ruined. This hotel should be closed until the construction is completed.
A manager did call me eventually, and left me a voicemail. At that point I was already back in the U.S. and a phone call would be diffcult, and I was too busy catching up on work to waste time on a phone call. I asked them to email me if they had any reply or solution, but I never heard back.
I am going to write off my 5 nights in Porto. Bottom line is DO NOT STAY AT THIS HOTEL UNTIL CONSTRUCTION IS COMPLETE! I hear that may not be until 2025! If you want to enjoy Porto, and a have safe and quiet stay, pick another hotel.