Hotel Mar Azul

My room at Hotel Mar Azul was spacious and was right in the middle of Old Town Lagos. (A few meters walk from the plaza lady statue). The bed was comfortable , the room had TV with English channels like CNN, etc. The bathroom was really big too, with the essentials like hot shower and hair dryer. I thought it was a really good value for money- It was a nice stay and would definitely go back to this hotel when I go back to Lagos, Portugal.

Room with an excellent sea view. Room has kettle, instant coffee and tea. Only downside is there is no elevator. Hard to carry up our big luggage. Overall a good stay.

travellers beware! before i stayed in this hotel i was in madeira. that day the earliest flight i could catch to faro from madeira was at 1235h with TAP portugal. there wasn’t a direct flight so i had to transit in lisbon airport. when i arrived in lisbon i was notified by the airline that there would be a delay and my takeoff would be pushed back by an hour. at 1430h when i landed into lisbon, i immediately texted the hotel through agoda that i was expecting a delay. i even sent them a screenshot of the airline’s email to me. the airline continued to push back its takeoff time. i was initially scheduled to arrive in faro at 1720h. with indefinite answers as to when i’ll takeoff, i got increasing worried as i had communicated to the hotel that i would arrive by 2000h. when i finally got on the plane and ready for takeoff it was 1950h. the plane landed at 2030h. there was no reply until when i landed that i saw that the hotel asked if i would reach by 2030h. there clearly wasn’t data on the plane so i couldn’t reply promptly. needless to say my anxiety was skyrocketing and i was apologetic to both the hotel and car rental company for their wait. i had to collect the car, do the paperwork and the drive to lagos was an hour away. when i arrived i was greeted by the most unfriendly, fuming mad receptionist. i told her that i was sorry and that the situation was unforeseen and beyond my control. she was evidently very upset, spoke to me in a very harsh manner, quoted that if it wasn’t her and her colleague i would be shut out from the hotel. i saw that my booking was cancelled from their end. it was 2230h at this point and i was drained by the hostility. she proceeded to continue blaming me for not understanding portuguese culture, for not knowing that historically the flights are always delayed and implied that i intentionally took my time to drive from the airport to the hotel. mind you i collected the car keys at 2150h and i sped down and got to the hotel as soon as i could. after the whole thing blew over, she told me the hotel had shut down its computer systems and had to issue me a temporary card. the next day i left the hotel early at 0730 as i had scheduled a tour at 0830. in the afternoon i received a call and told the staff that i was driving and that it was inconvenient to speak. i mentioned it THRICE. the person ignored me and continued speaking. they wanted to know what time i would be able to get to the hotel to collect my keys. when i made it back to the hotel i was lectured and the same lady sarcastically told me that she thought i would be late as usual. she then asked if i was mad and explained why as a small establishment they can’t afford to accept check-ins after 2000h. then, she continued blaming me. she said i was bad at communicating, i should do better to be careful? and then accused me for leaving the hotel at 0730 and not seeing me leave(?) my word. end of day, this is the most unprofessional, rude, unempathetic hospitality staff i’ve ever encountered. whilst i understand their situation they did not offer any form of understanding towards my plight. all i can say is that it’s left a terrible taste in my mouth and i think they’re in the wrong line of business. if they would like to educate me regarding portuguese culture and strict adheration to their rules, perhaps on their website they should state that they will not accept check ins after 2000h and that we should book elsewhere (to which i would happily do so). the room had dirty rags left in the toilet, the aircon was making the loudest noise…. needless to say this was by far the worst establishment i’ve ever stayed in my life.