Royal Orchid

The hotel has a beautiful location right by the sea, and our studio room was modern, clean, and very nice. Unfortunately, the positive points end there. The food was a big disappointment for a 4-star hotel. The buffet is very small and offers hardly any variety. Vegetarian options are extremely limited, even though vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free dishes are advertised. In some cases, dishes were even labeled incorrectly – for example, potatoes with sausages were marked as vegan. Canned fruit as well as canned mushrooms and carrots give a very cheap impression and were served daily at the breakfast and dinner buffet. Every evening there were almost the same dishes, many just with slightly changed sauces (e.g., pasta with a changing sauce). Everything seemed very unlovingly prepared. Some dishes, such as french fries, were hard and obviously fried long before and only reheated. Meat and fish dishes were sometimes unclearly labeled, and even the staff could not say exactly what was contained in them. The salad bar was also disappointing: There was only one pre-made dressing or mayonnaise, but neither vinegar nor oil to put something together yourself. Jell-O was available as dessert every evening. At breakfast, the coffee cups were often brown-stained on the inside, and the tables in the outdoor area were wet and dirty and had to be cleaned by us first. The vegetables, e.g., cucumbers at breakfast, were sometimes already wilted right when the buffet opened. Furthermore, you were not even allowed to take a banana from breakfast; everywhere it is pointed out that €5 will be charged for each piece taken from the buffet. Fruit salad with fruit from the previous day is served daily; often the fruit already tasted rancid and sour and was therefore no longer edible. In addition, I was served coffee with cow's milk at the bar several times, even though I specifically pointed out that it had to be lactose-free due to an intolerance. In my opinion, something like this should never happen!! You are constantly asked to pay for extras. The safe costs €2.50 per day and is actually still locked with a key. Beach towels are only free the first time; every exchange also costs €2.50. There is only one elevator for the entire hotel. At peak times, we sometimes had to wait 10–15 minutes. The signage in the hotel is generally poor; in particular, the path to the restrooms by the sea is hardly marked. In the outdoor area, there are too few lounge chairs with sun protection. There is only one straw umbrella permanently installed in the ground; the rest are fabric umbrellas that fly away immediately in the wind there. We found the stairs to the sea, which belong to the hotel, to be particularly dangerous. They were full of algae and therefore extremely slippery. There were neither warning signs nor measures to eliminate the risk of slipping. The biggest point of criticism, however, was the Wi-Fi. From about 5 p.m. on, it was practically unusable in our room. Not even emails could be loaded, let alone videos or other content. Near the reception, however, it worked without any problems. After we reported the problem, we were initially told that it was surely our devices and that nothing could be done. The next day, we were told that we should have waited for the technician at the hotel, which was a completely incomprehensible expectation for us, because we certainly do not spend our vacation waiting all day at the hotel for a technician. Overall, from our perspective, the price-performance ratio does not fit a 4-star hotel at all. Unfortunately, the beautiful location and the rooms could not compensate for the many shortcomings. We would therefore not book this hotel again.

Top renovated hotel with panoramic views of the Atlantic. Very comfortable rooms, absolutely quiet, and very clean. The hotel has excellent staff. After almost 10 years, many faces are familiar, and it feels like coming home. Excellent wifi in the building. Poor wifi reception in the outdoor area and no wifi at all in the lower bathing area. The swimming area could use some enhancement, for example, with a bathing island. Bath towels are provided. Recommended for solo travelers!

Hotel is overall nice and pretty modern. Outdoor pool was good too and plenty of sun loungers around the complex. We had to ask for towels for the pool rather than being informed or just given them at check in. Spa is very humid and noisy and the 2 times we used it, there were children running around and jumping in and out of the pool even though there is a rule for no under 16s in the spa pool. I never noticed any lifeguards at all in any pool either... I would have liked some music playing around the pool too, nothing crazy but maybe something light like they play in reception. Our room was lovely but far too hot and air con didn't cool it down as quick as I would have hoped compared to other experiences. Pillows could be better as well. Lovely views of the sea and the diving centre was a great addition to the trip. They have a shuttle bus that runs from the hotel to Funchal at €7.50 each but we used public buses which ran very regularly and that only cost €5.30 each and had way more options for departing and returning! Breakfast was nice but did get slightly repetitive by the end of the week. Wristbands are very annoying and can be sharp! The only type of entertainment is live music on an evening but nothing during the day, not even for kids. You also need to have your booking summary voucher printed out to give to reception when you check in which we wasn’t informed of so I had to figure out which email it was as it is not obvious so I could forward it to them but signal is poor and WiFi wouldn’t work on my email app.