Wyndham Grand Algarve

This was our second visit to Wyndham Grand and I’m pleased to say we were not disappointed. It was lovely to be greeted on arrival by Vitalli, who remembered us from our last visit and shown to our suite which was clean, spacious well decorated. This is a classy and prestigious hotel and there are a great many good things to list including comfortable loungers by the outdoor pool, a rather decent indoor pool (handy in November), a small but lovely bar and a fantastic upmarket restaurant. Moreover, most of the staff are attentive and very professional. For the sake of balance, I will highlight a couple of areas that are not exceptional (and the reason I didn’t award five stars). Firstly, although the buffet breakfast offers a good range of hot and cold dishes, the hot food is just not hot enough! This is a problem in so many hotels and less than tepid is not really acceptable. There is an egg-chef, the effervescent Jorge, but there’s often a long queue for his service… Secondly, if you are on the ground floor, you will have to deal with the ants. Fortunately, housekeeping come very quickly with the bug-spray, mop and bucket! In summary, the Wyndham Grand offers a quality experience in the heart of Quinta do Lago and we will return.

This review is for families travelling with small children / kids out of season - March / April / May - September / October/ November. I would strongly recommend not booking due to there being no swimming facilities for children. We booked a last minute October half term break to this hotel. We'd stayed for a night the previous summer and thought we knew what we were getting (one bed suites w kitchen, free kids club, indoor and outdoor pools, good location). Despite booking last minute with a weather forecast of full sun it very quickly changed and we were faced with a week of full rain. Nevermind we thought, we're in a nice hotel and our children who had recently started swimming lessons will love being able to swim every day. Not so. Despite it being half term and the hotel being full with around 90% families we were told that use of the indoor pool for children and been retracted since April 24 as adults needed an adult only space and peace for their treatments. I counteracted that as the majority of the hotel this week were families and surely allowing an exception for the week - an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon wouldn't impact anyone? Reception told us numerous other families that week also asked for the same thing (so why not please your majority customer)? The total lack of flexibility or focus on customer happiness for a supposed 5* hotel was honestly shocking. Even more irritating was that when I went to the indoor pool by myself at various times over the week I often had the whole thing to myself. The most amount of adults in there when I visited was 4 and treatment rooms were unused (clearly not a lot of demand). My children braved the outdoor unheated pool wearing wetsuits just once and lasted 10 minutes. When I asked about swimming elsewhere we were directed to the local leisure centre with outdoor heated pool at a cost of 128 euro for a 2 day pass. Yes that's right we're staying in a supposedly family oriented 5* hotel with a near empty indoor heated pool and we are told to pay to go to a local leisure centre to swim! Honestly you couldn't make it up. We took them swimming at aquashow instead (120 euro) as at least it was inside. With another 2 full days of rain coming we realised 2 more days at aquashow was the price of a hotel in Lisbon so off we drove for 2 days one night getting a room at Martinhal Oriente in Lisbon (would thoroughly recommend) where finally we were able to leave our hotel room and jump straight into a warm indoor pool which our children had so much fun practicing their swimming in as well as exploring the city. Our little mini break to Lisbon was the best part of the holiday! The hotel has a lot of good points for families- the rooms set up, kids club, great breakfast. It's a shame the management couldn't adapt and be flexible considering the situation and considering their service standards to make the majority of their guest's experiences a pleasant one.

Came here for one week as a family of three - mum, dad and 7 year old daughter. We had a really lovely stay. From the minute we checked in, the service from the staff on reception was excellent. The room was nice - spacious and comfortable, with all kitchen amenities for those who wish to cook for themselves. The breakfast buffet was good. A nice selection of food and drinks. Again, the staff were friendly and attentive. A big positive for us was the kids club. Our daughter loved going there and was sad on the days she couldn’t go due to a day trip. It was Halloween while we were here and the kids club really put on a great program of activities for the children. The spa is a nice place just for adults. The massage and facial was very relaxing. It was my wife’s birthday while we were here. When we returned from a day out there was a bottle of Prosecco and a delicious birthday cake waiting for us. This was next level customer experience. Overall, the whole hotel is very clean, we were always made to feel welcome, and we very much enjoyed this stay for a relaxing week during the October summer holiday.