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Reviews of São Rafael Holidays

4 out of 5
São Rafael Holidays
Urb. Sao Rafael Lote 26 Fase II, Albufeira

Reviews

9.0

Wonderful

Rating 10 - Excellent. 109 out of 175 reviews" "
Rating 8 - Good. 49 out of 175 reviews" "
Rating 6 - Okay. 7 out of 175 reviews" "
Rating 4 - Poor. 8 out of 175 reviews" "
Rating 2 - Terrible. 2 out of 175 reviews" "

9.0/10

Cleanliness

9.0/10

Staff & service

8.6/10

Amenities

8.8/10

Property conditions & facilities

8.6/10

Eco-friendliness

Reviews

10/10 Excellent

Ben

Stayed 5 nights in Oct 2023

8/10 Good

John

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
The area was lovely and it was close to a nice beach. The villa was spacious. The private pool was a bonus but we had to let management/maintenance know that the pool ladder was broken upon our arrival, so hopefully they will address that before the next visitors stay in the unit.
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2023

8/10 Good

Willard

Stayed 2 nights in Sep 2023

8/10 Good

lily, LOS ANGELES

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
This property is located in a very convenient area. You can walk to a few 5 star rated restaurants and even a local beach. No more than 10 min walk to any location. It feels very safe to walk at night, we really enjoyed that. Prepare to hear a lot of instructions with a map when you arrive to get to your hotel room and they don't assist with luggage. Although the hotel is located on a very beautiful and large piece of property the rooms are not up to date. The wifi is very spotty. We had a leak in the bathroom that left a big puddle on the floor our whole stay because nobody came to fix it even though they told us someone would come. This was very upsetting because nobody came to clean the room either so we were left with limited towels which we used for the puddle. These are things you do not want to deal with after a whole day of traveling. I really wanted to love this place but they have a lot of fixing to do. Staff was friendly.

10/10 Excellent

Maggie

Stayed 5 nights in Aug 2023

6/10 Okay

Vernon

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Disliked: Property conditions & facilities
Clean but not well maintained. Walls and woodwork scuffed, sliding doors damaged, cable inoperable, poor lighting in kitchen. Expedia advertised as no children however screaming child next door was allowed. Rating of 5 star totally is way off the mark. For the price look elsewhere.
Stayed 4 nights in May 2023
Response from São Rafael Holidays Management on 6 Jun 2023
Dear Mr. Vernon,Firstly we would like to thank you for your visit and for sharing your experience. All the opinions are very important to us so we can improve our services.Regarding the situation of child acceptance, we would like to inform you that our unit is not exclusively for adults, in all our accommodations (Villas, Apartments and GuestHouse) children are welcome.We regret the fact that your stay did not meet your expectations.We thank you once again for your feedback and please note that we will take some actions to improve our service.Kind Regards,

10/10 Excellent

Jonathan

Stayed 1 night in May 2023

10/10 Excellent

Ken

Stayed 4 nights in May 2023

10/10 Excellent

Shaunna

6/10 Okay

Carissa

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, amenities
Disliked: Property conditions & facilities
We stayed in a villa that was walking distance from two beautiful beaches. You will definitely need a car to get around, as this is outside the city center. The villa was nice, but felt like it had just been built and finished in a hurry. The upstairs bidet didn’t work, the downstairs sink was not caulked together, the closets didn’t close, and there were large scrapes on the walls and no decorations. There were also plastic mattress protectors on the beds, which seemed odd for a luxury hotel. There was also tons of noise with construction of villas next door and the walls are paper-thin, so you can hear your neighbors. Having a full kitchen and washer/dryer was very nice. The property, including the pool, was very nice and felt secure. The lady at the front desk was not at all welcoming and seemed unhappy to be there. I highly recommend the location, but would not stay at this property in the future.
Stayed 4 nights in Oct 2022

8/10 Good

Catherine

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities
We really enjoyed the studio private villa. The studio was clean and spacious. The pool was awesome! But the cushions outside were in bad condition, ripped and stained, was not impressed. Parking was easy and convinient
Stayed 3 nights in Aug 2022

6/10 Okay

Stephanie

Travelled with partner
Disliked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Property definitely isn’t a 4 star by North American standards (I understand this isnt North America). It seems like more of a hostel to me. I stayed in the Superior double room with Sea view. Perhaps the villas and apartment styles are nicer; hence the better reviews? I saw the conflicting reviews when booking and decided to give it a chance with hopes it wouldnt have been so bad. Pictures were consistent with the room. The location is great, close to two nice beaches and away from the chaos of the old town of Albufeira. The staff are nice but don’t expect anything over the top/ them to go above or beyond in terms of service. Breakfast is generic with very basic breakfast offerings - fruit, cereal, bread, eggs, bacon, coffee, tea. The property could benefit from a little more attention to detail. Common areas seem clean and modern. However, I thought my room could have benefitted from a little extra cleaning, especially in the bathroom. The walls need painting, the shower walls could do with some scrubbing (with bleach) and the baseboards need dusting. Overall the room was comfortable. If you’re looking somewhere to sleep and don’t care about the extra details then consider this property because the area is nice. If you’re looking for a higher level of experience consider elsewhere.
Stayed 4 nights in Jul 2022
Response from Ana Loureiro, Director at São Rafael Holidays on 18 Jul 2022
Dear Mrs. Stephanie, First of all, let us thank you for choosing São Rafael Holidays and for sharing with us your feedback. We wish you have had the experience that you had in mind and hoped to. Please know that we work everyday to provide our guests’ the best stay possible. Our service at São Rafael Holidays, including our breakfast, a continental breakfast, is meant to be coherent with our category of local accommodation. We are sorry that we were not able to meet your expectations in this sense. It was a pleasure welcoming you at São Rafael Holidays. Kindest regards,

10/10 Excellent

barry

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Amazing villa, will definitely return and would highly recommend
Stayed 5 nights in Jun 2022
Response from Ana Loureiro, Director at São Rafael Holidays on 18 Jul 2022
Dear Mr. Barry, Thank you so much for sharing your review regarding your stay at São Rafael Holidays. We are glad to know that it was a good one, and that we were able to meet your expectations. It was a pleasure welcoming at São Rafael Holidays, and hope to see you again! Kindest regards,

8/10 Good

Jakub

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Great location, villa was great, for the last few days had noisy neighbours and in these buildings sound carries a lot
Stayed 13 nights in May 2022
Response from Ana Loureiro on 27 Jun 2022
Dear Mr.Jakub, We appreciate your preference for São Rafael Villas, Apartments & Guesthouse and the time spent leaving your comments. The opinions of our guests are important, as they contribute to the constant improvement of our services so that the aspects mentioned deserved the best attention and will be forwarded to those responsible. We hope to be able to receive you again soon. Best regards,

10/10 Excellent

Naela

Liked: Staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 8 nights in May 2022

10/10 Excellent

Josephine

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
A beautiful place to stay clean with wonderful staff thanks for having us
Stayed 3 nights in May 2022
Response from Ana Loureiro on 27 Jun 2022
Dear Mrs. Josephine, We appreciate your preference for São Rafael Villas, Apartments & Guesthouse and the time spent leaving your review. We were very pleased to hear that the experience was to your liking. We hope to be able to receive you again soon. Best regards,

10/10 Excellent

Jessica

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great service! Everyone made sure we had a nice stay. We arrived late at night and checking in was fast and efficient. Communication was great! Highly recommend this place!
Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2022
Response from Ana Loureiro on 1 Mar 2022
Dear Mrs.Jessica, We appreciate your preference for São Rafael Villas, Apartments & Guesthouse and the time spent leaving your review. We were very pleased to hear that the experience was to your liking. We hope to be able to receive you again soon. Best regards,

10/10 Excellent

Danny

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great service
Wonderful staff in a quiet location. Staff was able to accommodate a late check in and packed us a breakfast for an early checkout. Bed is not the most comfortable but we had a wonderful 2 night stay.
Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2022
Response from Ana Loureiro on 21 Feb 2022
Dear Mr. Danny, We appreciate your preference for São Rafael Villas, Apartments & Guesthouse and the time spent leaving your review. We were very pleased to hear that the experience was to your liking. We hope to be able to receive you again soon. Best regards,

4/10 Poor

Louisa

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness
Stayed 3 nights in Oct 2021
Response from Edy on 14 Nov 2021
Hello Mrs. Louisa, Thank you for your message, we are hope you like your holidays with us. Best Regards, Edmir Semedo

10/10 Excellent

Nigel

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, room comfort
Location location location
We have always visited São Rafael beach in the past so to stay so close to it in such beautiful accommodation was a real treat. Literally a few minutes walk away you have the choice of two wonderful beaches and there are also two pools to choose from. The pool at the villas is small but beautiful especially in the morning. In the late afternoon the pool at the nearby GuestHouse gets the sun and is more spacious. Our 3 bedroom villa was very spacious and had an amazing balcony where we had breakfast every day. The day bed is also a cool feature and we were tempted to sleep out under the stars on it but never got around to it sadly. Apolonia supermarket is about 6 or 7 minutes drive away and has all the groceries you'd need. Margen Sul restaurant is a short walk away and has excellent food...also cater well for children. All in all a great stay and would return in a heartbeat ❤️
Stayed 10 nights in Sep 2020

4/10 Poor

Morgan

Liked: Cleanliness, room comfort
We liked the room however the staffs did not communicate well. The day before check out, I’ve spoken with the night shift receptionist, and he allowed us do the late check out at 12:30pm but then the morning shift forced us return the room on time. The reason is the next guests heading to hotel so they need to have enough time prepare the room. Well I believe if they really have next guests check in on the same day as my check out, the night shift staff would tell me about this and reject my request.
Stayed 1 night in Jun 2020
Response from Ana Isa Figueiredo/Manuela Trigo on 30 Jun 2020
Dear Morgan, Thank you so much for your comment. In regards to the late check-out, as you may understand, we receive reservations constantly. On the morning of your check-out there was a new reservation for your room. Unfortunately we were not able to offer you a late check-out. Thanking you so much for your understanding. Wishing you the very best. Kind Regards, The Management of São Rafael Villas, Apartments & Guesthouse

10/10 Excellent

DANIEL T

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Fantastic place for families.
Our best vacations in years! Lost of space, comfortable beds, great amenities. Only minor complaint is that the internet is very slow. So don't plan to do Netflix. However, there were several English TV options for movies and other shows.
Stayed 7 nights in Dec 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Such a beautiful location, the staff were amazing especially the receptionist with lovely curly red hair. So friendly and accommodating
Stayed 4 nights in Dec 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 1 night in Nov 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Well-designed, deluxe accommodations for very reasonable off season prices.
Stayed 1 night in Nov 2019

8/10 Good

Fiona

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 7 nights in Oct 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great stay, safe area hard working friendly people
This was our second visit, we stayed in a 2 bed apartment it was spacious and had everything you needed. Plenty of toiletries, clean towels and a pack for washing up dishes. The house keeper attends every day to empty bins and do a general tidy up. We found the large bed firm and the smaller beds softer. Sadly my coat disappeared whilst we were staying there which made for a cold and soggy journey home, I have to say the Guesthouse staff and wider team were very helpful trying to locate it, it may well turn up at some point. On the whole another great stay, lots of friendly people and some great places to eat around the area. There is a sparkly new Italian restaurant within ten minutes walk, you can watch the chefs work, and further on Dom Dinis classic Portuguese restuarant never disappoints.
View from the Apartment
Stayed 7 nights in Oct 2019

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 3 nights in Aug 2019

4/10 Poor

Victor

Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Not happy. Shower had mold
Was. It happy with the shower. Saw mold on it. The villa was old but ok I would not book a room again there fir the price per night
Stayed 1 night in Aug 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Great option for big families. It is clean and comfortable for families with kids
Stayed 3 nights in Jul 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Location was great, property was excellent, staff lovely
Stayed 3 nights in Jul 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Spacious, clean, beautiful ocean view, a five minute walk to the beach, two small pools, a lot of parking but 15 minutes drive into Albufeira.
Stayed 7 nights in Jul 2019

8/10 Good

Canda

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 4 nights in Jul 2019

10/10 Excellent

Harjot

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Family Getaway
Excellent front desk ladies and customer service overall! We were late from our flight at 1130pm and Manuela emailed to check on us and waited after hours! Property was clean as I’m picky and overall all amenities were great! Kitchen was fully equipped with all utensils etc Pool could be bigger and nicer., but that’s in the images when selecting! Villa was huge more than enough space.
Stayed 3 nights in Jul 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Lovely big and clean property. Loads of kitchen utensils. Great access to the beaches.
Stayed 5 nights in Jun 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Amazing
Amazing location, staff really helpful, the villas where amazing, wish we had stayed longer will definately be back 😊
Stayed 3 nights in Jun 2019

10/10 Excellent

Stuart

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 3 nights in Jun 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Spacious, clean, quiet, great beaches and restaurants within walking distance
Stayed 7 nights in Jun 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Stayed 3 nights in May 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Stayed 1 night in May 2019

10/10 Excellent

Dora

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
A wonderful break!
Very good communication before arrival. Helpful and friendly staff, very nice villas and surrounding areas. Safe underground private parking. Kitchenette equipped with everything you need. Villas are serviced daily, beach towels and toiletries supplied. S. Rafael Beach is just downhill as you can see from the attached photos. A very enjoyable break, thank you :)
Stayed 7 nights in Apr 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
This property was a spectacular choice. The receptionists were very helpful with any enquiries that were asked and delivered them in a fantastic way. The choice of the room was wonderful this property gives a feel that you are at home. The view that São Rafael properties gives is outstanding. I would definitely without a doubt recommend it and would and will be back very soon for another holiday at São Rafael.
Stayed 4 nights in Apr 2019

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
Everything was perfect, the staff were lovely the only thing o would suggest is a kettle/ tea making facilities in the room
Stayed 3 nights in Mar 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
It was great to have a full sized kitchen and they even had a juicer. We made freshly squeezed ok everyday.
Stayed 10 nights in Jan 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Very friendly staff. Lovely location near a quiet beach.
Stayed 3 nights in Jan 2019

10/10 Excellent

Bernardus

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Super place for a quick sun injection with family
Super place if you need a quick sun injection with your family. Many private rooms and showers. Parking space of your car under your own apartment. Direct access to the unspoiled land with a 7min walk to the (rocky) beach. Kids loved it.
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2019

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Situation and views very good the only setback was size of balcony only catered for 2 adults not 4 and seating in lounge area too basic and uncomfortable kitchen facilities were good upstairs all round brilliant. Staff were lovely will probably book in guest house next year. Loved Portugal and people.
Stayed 7 nights in Oct 2018

8/10 Good

Tawanda

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 3 nights in Oct 2018

10/10 Excellent

Bara

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
The best stay in Portugal
This is one of the best hotel apartments I ever been. The cleaning is absolutely outstanding and the receptionist so service minded. We wanted to change a room due to my allergies. She was very understanding and helpful. We decided to come back to the same hotel after few days in Sagres. The receptionist again very welcoming, top service as the first time. The hotel is located near few amazing beaches - walk distance. Highly recommend this place.
Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2018

10/10 Excellent

Sharon

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Fabulous stay
We stayed here (mid October), the weather was good, we hired a villa it was very spacious, lots of toiletries, 2 good showers and plenty of towels. We didn't expect three bedrooms, but that was a bonus. Kitchen was equip with all essentials. One massive plus point were the staff, they were all lovely people, and very helpful. Anything we asked for they did their best to help and accommodate us, in my opinion they went above and beyond what you would expect, they are a real credit to the business. The area felt safe and clean, not far from beautiful beaches, and plenty of good places to eat. City Bar does a good breakfast, there's a pizza place at the top of the road, we dined one evening at Dom Dinis a restaurant, about a 20 minute walk away it was a really good meal and reasonably priced too. I didn't want to leave, I will be back!
Stayed 4 nights in Oct 2018