Aqua Natura Madeira Hotel

Kaitlin Ashley11 months ago

2/5

tl;dr - Do not book this hotel through a third party (especially Agoda) because it's likely you will not get what you booked. In fact, if you booked a room prior to July 1st for this hotel, I would recommend checking in with them to make sure you're actually in their system and make sure they don't bump you to their Studios property. I booked a Sea View room through Agoda at Hotel Aqua Natura Madeira in late June for a mid August arrival. When I showed up at the hotel, they said they didn't have my information but that I was instead in their affiliated "Studios" property. The Studios are in a different location and away from the beach, so there was no Sea view (picture of Studio room received attached). Plus, they don't have air conditioning and rely on keeping the window open which would be fine if it had a sea breeze, but the Studios do not - their windows face an enclosed parking lot so it was quite hot. Other than the heat, the studio space itself was OK (clean, updated), and having access to the amenities at the other properties was nice (like the natural pools). The most frustrating thing was the staff just throwing their hands in the air about the situation, and saying they both never got the booking and that I booked the studios directly (?). This makes no sense because (1) obviously these two statements are contradictory (they never got my booking request but did have my information to book me in the Studios??), and (2) when I made my booking in late June, the Studios weren't even open (the staff mentioned they opened on July 1). The Studios still aren't even listed as an available property on Aqua Natura's site as of this posting. Overall: disappointing experience, didn't get what I booked, and didn't appreciate the staff's attempt to blame me for what is clearly a booking system issue on their side.