Hotel Mesra Haiwan Peliharaan di Santa Luzia

After a day or so staying here, you pickup a theme that this place just needs a big chunk of investment. The villas are rather run down and not matching the decor on the TUI site. Lots of little bodge repairs with exposed mains, lights fittings hanging on by 1 of the 4 screws, missing cupboard doors etc. some of the pictures are also of an unrelated restaurant business down by the beach. The beds themselves are terribly soft and uncomfortable and the “sofa” is just a single bed with two pillows. Unlike other guests, we were lucky enough to get aircon but only on one floor. Would have been unbearably hot for anyone without this! While the cooker was obviously a recent replacement, the kitchen utensils aren’t complete. No bowls, no coffee jug, no kettle, no tumblers or wine glasses, corkscrew not the right size to extract a cork etc. the list goes on. If you’re looking to have breakfast or an evening meal in the villa, you’ll struggle. The pool itself is a lovely temperature but very cloudy and remained so all week. Looks like the filter isn’t up to the job at hand and needs upgrading. While there’s a lovely area for lounging round the pool, there’s a chronic shortage of seats and parasols. You really need to be at the pool before 9:30 to reserve a parasol or you won’t get one all day. There’s easily enough space to triple the number of loungers and parasols and each day you see a steady stream of disappointed faces looking for shade. Some other reviewers have mentioned paying for loungers. This is no longer the case but you need someone to be poolside when they setup and unlock the loungers. The Nora eating area serves basic food but be prepared for a really long wait for service. The staff don’t seem to scan the room so you’re best off walking up to the bar to order and pay. Overall, I think we were lucky with the room and looking at other reviews and pics, I can understand guests frustration and it could have been worse. As a family, we enjoyed the week and learned how to work around the issues but it’s not somewhere I’d recommend and won’t be coming back. We’ve been to similarly priced accommodation in the Algarve on previous years so it’s definitely possible to get better value for your money