Altis is a nice hotel, I think it would be a really good 4 stars, but unfortunately it doesn't live up to its 5th star.
The building looks a bit dated, but the interiors, particularly the rooms, are very modern and comfortable. Large mirrors everywhere, slippers and nice toiletries, an entertainment system and big fluffy pillows on the bed, are some of the things you can expect.
The staff is pleasant enough, especially the barmen and the reception clerks, but I found some of the waiters to be very clumsy and almost rude. During breakfast service, for instance, the inexperience of some of the staff would show through and you'd also see them bumping into tables/chairs without even acknowledging it.
The breakfast buffet is also a bit disappointing, plenty of choice, but everything's very basic. Again, it wasn't what would expect for a hotel in this range - other similar hotels in the area are much better, so Altis doesn't compare well.
We had one event with catering at the hotel and that was also not up to scratch, I couldn't believe how disorganized the service was, the food served was not very tasty or well prepared and we had a disproportionate amount of desserts versus mains/starters. So I wouldn't recommend their catering, even though the venue - the D. Fernando Grill on the 12th floor - was very accommodating for a that big number of people - there's also a covered balcony that runs around this floor, great for al fresco socializing.
There are a lot of smoking areas indoors but they're not overly intrusive - I sat on the lobby bar working for a while and only felt a very faint smell of tobacco. However, if large numbers of people gather in one of the bars smoking, it may become discomfortable.
Wi-fi is free, but the list of freebies ends there. We were supposed to get a complimentary bottle of water every day in our room, but that never arrived - for what it's worth, we complained on check-out and they apologized profusely. Still felt very stingy on their part, they were charging a whopping 4€ for mere bottled water inside the room. There was also a Nespresso machine and coffee capsules, but each of them would cost 2€. I understand things are more expensive at hotels, but this just felt excessive.
In summary, Altis certainly has the infrastructure of a very good hotel, but it needs to rethink the way it treats their paying customers, how it trains the staff and definitely what kind of food standard they're aiming for. As saving grace, they seem to be geared towards a business audience and they have good facilities such as the business center that you can use for free even for printing some documents. read more