Altis Grand Hotel

We stayed 5 nights in Altis Grand Hotel in Lisbon. We appreciated the extreme kindness of staff and their willingness to help. Rooms were “normal”, windows could be opened, breakfast was very good, with lot of food, fresh fruit, cooked dishes … The hotel also has a swimming pool, a sauna and a Jacuzzi. Accommodations are globally comfortable but not that luxury you could expect from a 5 star hotel. We particularly appreciated the attention of staff bringing us a bottle of champagne and a piece of cake for my wife’s birthday. This was unexpected and very well appreciated.

We were especially disappointed and even irritated by the following : • only 3 elevators give access to the rooms and to the restaurant at the upper floors. This should not be a problem if they were correctly programmed. We experienced very long waiting times (when I say very long, this was often more than 5 min). In addition, one of the elevators was regularly out of service. The last day of our stay, when leaving our room to have breakfast, all elevators where stuck. We looked for the stairs, but these where reserved to staff. As we were blocked on our room floor, (even the two remote elevators on the other side of the building didn’t work), we entered a staff only room and asked for help. An employee brought us to the restaurant and we had the high privilege to walk thru the kitchens, machine rooms and other logistics. Lots of guests where desperate regarding this unusual situation. • Another subject of concern is the obligation to wear a swim cap to access the swimming pool. This was not mentioned and guests are virtually obliged to buy one at the reception (2,5 € per person is charged for this). We understand this is for hygienic reasons. But on the other side, there is no rule for using the sauna, hamman, and other spa facilities. So, we saw guests leaving the sauna, sweating and steaming, going directly in the swimming pool or in the Jacuzzi, without taking a shower. In addition, as bath suits are required to access the sauna (this is another bacteria concentration area), you can easily imagine the hygienic problem… Where is the logic ?