In Gold Hotel & Spa

Arrived maybe 20 minutes early to be told we couldn't check in till 3 despite the hotel being pretty empty. The ladies on reception were friendly and efficient in checking us in. The rooms are adequate although getting the TV channels to work was an issue. One complaint is that there are no hooks in the bathroom for hanging towels or clothes while showering. The spa is a short uphill walk from the hotel and is ok but nothing special. Didn't eat in the restaurant but despite room service being advertised up till 11pm, after arriving back at 9.30 and ordering before 10 (received a message saying order was being processed) at 10. 30 had another message telling us the kitchen was closed and had been since 9pm. Very disappointing. Breakfast is ok except I do not recommend the coffee. Location of the hotel is good, just a short walk into Águeda which is well worth a visit. Would I stay here again? Probably not if the truth be known.

You have to pay extra for the pool, it is not included in the price. It is not wheelchair accessible, you need to ask the staff for help to get in. The spa was under maintenance and we went notified before paying the full price of the pool. The pool is also kinda small. It's a 4 star hotel with VERY rough edges, I hope they fix this problems, they would have made the experience a lot better.

TERRIBLE ! Poor not to say NO GUEST SERVICE. The hotel itself is ok, rooms are ni clean. Parking is a great plus Now let’s talk about the rest. Spa ? Spa ? What is the spa actually, a pool that is not even warm in winter and full of unsupervised children. The sauna is not included and the rest was closed. Waste of money. Then, the real problem: customer support is the worst I have seen in hotel management. We booked and paid in advance 2 massages, when we asked they said all was booked (mail to prove it that we send them) and the day of the massage we were told that the person was not available on a Sunday. You don’t know that in advance ? When the poor receptionist, that was already under pressure from checkout, tried to find a solution for us the managers were not able to help us or her. Indeed, they refused to talk to us, refused to understand that we do not live in Portugal so not able to come back. We wrote email and send the complaint by mail : after a month I can told you NO ANSWER. We filled the livro de reclamações online and at the hotel : NO ANSWER. The complaint is now sent to lawyers in the EU institutions that take care of customer service. It is a shame for a 4* hotel to not be able to answer an email or just apologize for their actions and mistakes. Just to let you know that they are not professional and they do not deserve this 4star service. Management is unacceptable and inefficient. Good for them the receptionists are awesome, tried to help and did their job perfectly. As well as the diner that was super. If you read this email, maybe take 2min to answer the email, letter or the official reclamation.

The photos are a bit misleading, everything is quite a bit smaller than expected. The rooms are all right, but do not justify the high price, and the "spa" is a teeny tiny pool in a different building that you need to make a reservation to use. The sauna is not available really, and I imagine that walking outside in winter in order to get to the pool would be rather uncomfortable. Not a great value for the price, I'm afraid. Polite staff though.

1. View. View in the rooms with balcony is not that advertised - you will have a view on the constructions only. And in the morning, when you open your window, you'll see how workers are looking at you. See attached photo. 2. Facilities. They advertise massages, SPA zone and everything you need to use it. But when we arrived, they said they couldn't provide any massage services during the whole of our stay. And they can't sell slippers and swimming hats that are required to use the swimming pool (but they advertised they could sell them). They told us at our check-in at 7 pm that we had to go somewhere (they didn't give exact directions or shops) to the shop and buy slippers and a swimming hat. 3. Staff and administration that are lying. We asked for a refund for the remaining nights (we don't need a refund for the first night) and decided to move to another hotel as they can't provide advertised facilities. They told us to ask for a refund through booking.com support, and they will accept it. But in fact, they started saying for booking.com support that we didn't check out! When I asked to provide proof that we checked out earlier, they sent me an invoice with the wrong dates and started completely ignoring my further emails. They only say "write to booking.com support" and support is saying "they don't confirm you checked out earlier". They simply stole the money for two nights that were left. 4. Breakfast. It is very poor, with tasteless food and coffee. It is better to avoid it and walk 15 minutes to great cafes and restaurants in the city. The only good things are quite modern rooms and covered parking.