Conveniently located across Praça do Comércio in the Chiado district. This hotel deserves all the…read morepraises. Pros and cons with luxury hotels- there's no loud and gaudy signs to alert itself; just a small subtle golden sign outside. Hahaha! The hotel blends so well with the area around it that it was honestly hard to find the hotel. We went around the square like 3 times; even the locals and the workers working around the area weren't sure where it was despite showing them the address. Nonetheless, I truly appreciate it when designers respect the surrounding areas and try to maintain the original parts and history of the place; choosing to inconspicuously blend instead of obnoxiously standing out.
Walking into this beautiful hotel is like walking into a museum. I love the old things they choose to display and showcase. I commend the designers who try to mantain the beauty of old buildings and incorporate to meld history instead of choosing to modernize things. Our stay here was literally and figuratively on a whole 'nother level. Our room was in one of their mezzanine rooms- so it felt like we were in like a mini townhouse since it was a 2 level room. One is greeted with a small foyer and then stairs that lead to the bathroom and then the topmost landing to the sleeping area. We loved how it felt like we weren't in a hotel. Upon the arrival to our bedroom, we were greeted with a nice amuse-bouche of Lisbon's quintessential dessert, pastel de nata and a souvenir of the iconic azulejos. The attention to detail is apparent in every corner.
While the impeccable accommodations were stellar, there was some thing that made our stay inhospitable.
Unfortunately, the people in the front desk left quite an unpalatable impression on us. Most would consider it wise to put a friendlier face at the front end of such an establishment. A welcoming face and an affable and understanding demeanor to weary and confused travelers would be a wonderful warm welcome!! However, this was not the case. The front desk people need some refresher course on their pleasantries and welcoming skills.
Good thing this was not the first hotel we stayed upon arriving to the country!! We immediately wished that we had gone back to The Lumiares Hotel & Spa in Barrio Alto. Despite that place being busy and at the center of Barrio Alto, the staff there truly were hospitable and engaging; night and day difference compared to this one.
I understand that the hotel could be busy but there's a difference with attentive staff on busy hours and just plain aloof. There were 2 gentleman and a lady who were in their desks. I observed all 3 of them sitting coldly in there while they were ent about their routine. There was another elderly couple standing with us when we were waiting for our turn to get checked in, and the guy on the other desk just sat there while his other colleagues were going about their work. Let's give him the benefit of a doubt... He could be busy or maybe not able to check any of us in, but one could argue that it's still not hard to provide some friendly support or maybe asked the other guests if there was anything that he could help with while we stand there. I mean offer the poor lady with a cane a chair perhaps while her poor husband was trying to coral their luggage's, the guy could've called a bellhop to help them. Regardless, the lady who checked us in was business as usual; all cold and quite unwelcoming that she couldn't even be bothered to try and work up a mere smile so she could appear acutely affable. After all, you are in the hospitality business and the face of the establishment being situated in the front. Thankfully, interacting with the front desk was a short one.
Despite all that, I hate to highlight that debacle because the rest of the staff were wonderful! They were welcoming and friendly. Whenever we had our breakfasts, we were always pleasantly greeted. The servers and the kitchen staff were attentive. Despite being busy, they took their time to answer and explain some of our questions and sincerely asked us about our stay. Our server was delightful & genuinely curious about our trip and was kind to give us ideas and suggestions. We heard her have the same pleasant interactions with the other guests and impressively in other languages. Overall, besides our front desk fiasco, we still enjoyed our stay here. Fortunately, our interactions with the rest of the staff thankfully overshadowed the unpalatable experience we had with the front. Shout out to the security, our bellhop and the servers at breakfast.
