Rajesh Goradia

Review of Hotel da Estrela

We stayed here for 7 days in one of their suites w...

We stayed here for 7 days in one of their suites while we were in Lisbon. Their service is reasonable and the breakfast buffet is fine as per what we have experienced in Europe. They don t seem to stock any basic medicines such as an antihistamine or an aspirin. Unfortunately we ended up needing both at odd hours. We don t know the norms of European hotels (this was the first trip we felt the need for medicines), but some premium Asian hotels do tend to have some basic medicines in stock, or would arrange for you on short notice.

The price of the suite was reasonable, considering that we visited in July. The place is reasonably well situated if you intend to take Uber to travel like we did. Most tourist places and malls are about 10-15 minutes away by Uber. For us an added advantage was that it is very close to Jardim Da Estrella, where our 4 year old daughter had a great time at the play area.

The suite is aesthetically pleasing and quite spacious, but frankly it feels like the designer had a degree in design, but not in practicality. The light of the room and the sitting area are linked (we could not figure any other solution) so when our daughter was sleeping, we had to make do with a small lamp in the sitting area. The shower area has transparent glass, hence you have to warn your child not to enter the room when you are taking a shower. The room has no lock on it. The bathtub is the only place for a shower and it does not have a shower curtain, hence if you don t want to get the whole bathroom wet, you have to settle for quite an uncomfortable shower.

I would have rated them 4 stars had it not been for the practical aspects of the room left out in design. But these are easily fixable issues and hopefully the hotel will take note.