HF Ipanema Park

"On the face of it this is a stunning hotel! On arrival you walk into a very beautiful reception area with a lovely bar to the rear. The reception staff were nice and friendly and we managed to get into our room 1hr early. Our room was lovely and spacious but did not have enough hangers for 2 people staying for 1 week. The rooms were cleaned daily but the floors were filthy my feet were black after unpacking our cases. First day and our toilet unit was coming away from the wall and the huge tile cracked behind it, we went out for the afternoon and when we came back the issue had been temporarily remedied so we didn’t have to move rooms and it solved the issue until we left today. Couldn’t grumble with the speed it was dealt with. The negative rating mainly involves the swimming pools/ sunbathing facilities. The rooftop pool has no proper sunbed only around 8 silly waterproof bean bags which are totally impractical for any sort of comfort or for older people. Yesterday was a very hot day and lots of people having to sit on silly style bucket chairs to sunbathe you could easily fit 20 - 26 proper sun beds around that pool and still have room for seats with tables! The indoor pool the water was freezing so cold my legs went numb after 5 minutes. I didn’t stay in long! I couldn’t try the jacuzzi as children were using it as a kiddies pool. There was no music in the background and no relaxing loungers to chill out on. The robes provided in the room to use to and from the pools weren’t fit for anyone over a size 14. Massages were totally over priced £100 for an hrs massage is ridiculous!"

"Hotel HF Ipanema Park is listed as a 5 star hotel the reality is very different. It is located in a part of the city with very few options for both dining or entertainment. Down the hill from the hotel is quite an unsightly part of the city with many addicts strolling the streets openly using drugs and often begging . The pool is very small for a hotel of its size with just 11 bean bags operating as sun loungers allied to some bucket seats and some plastic bar stools. There is an inside pool which too is quite small and get very hot. In comparison to local pricing the pool bar is way too expensive charging €10 for a toasted ham and cheese sandwich, €5 for a coffee with milk and €3 for a small bottle of water. One can not fault the cleaning staff who work tirelessly to keep the hotel exceptionally clean. Sound from the road is minimal but noise from other rooms can be clearly heard. The inside of the hotel lacks atmosphere with most people choosing to get an Uber into town which, depending on what part you go to costs between €4 and €12 euro to walk to the city centre takes approx one hour 20 minutes. Overall a very clean hotel with limited facilities in a bad area."

"I stayed in this hotel for 6 nights due to a business trip. The hotel is far away from the city center that meant that I had to take either uber or the bus each day to go to the university. Although I asked to change in another HF Hotel, I couldn't. I had breakfast twice and the quality was average. Not what I would expect. Also, I was asked to pay a tip BEFORE having the breakfast in the first time. And i thought that this was rude and unpropriate. The pool was out of order due to reconstructions. For all these reasons, I didn't have a positive experience and I would not recommend to anyone who would like to visit the city centre of Porto."