Pestana Grand Premium Ocean Resort

Just returned from 10 days staying at The Pestana Grand Hotel with my Husband.

The room was clean and spacious, great location backing onto the promenade along the sea front. Takes about 50 minutes to walk into Funchal.

But the Food, Water cost and Service charge really lets this hotel down.

It’s not a 5 star Hotel, more 2-3 star at best.

You have to pay for Water regardless at 4.50 euros for 500ml, Just shocking.
Added to this and everything you purchase in Food and Beverage has a standard service change of 12% on top of the cost.

We booked Full board. The Breakfast options were very poor, No healthy cereal or plain yogurt options.
Hot food very basic with long queues in a small hot plate area. The coffee was like bitter sludge, as its a powder based form and preserves came in a pump machine format (which was sugary liquid).

Dinner selection was extremely poor, with lukewarm options and again lots of queuing.
We ended up eating out every evening as it was very poor quality.

5-Star Hotel in Madeira — A Major Disappointment
Paying for water at dinner in a 5-star hotel is simply absurd. Every glass comes with a receipt, a signature, and a queue. Breakfast is technically included, but the quality matches a 2–3 star property at best.
Dinner selection is extremely poor. The menu only changes twice a week. Everything is served as pre-mixed salads with no fresh, individual ingredients. Vegetables are virtually non-existent — no cucumbers, no tomatoes. When you ask the staff, the answer is always the same: "We've run out." Dessert table is large in quantity but zero in quality — the same puddings and colourful jellies day after day.
Breakfast is a disaster. Service runs 7:30–11:00, yet by 9am there are no plates and no cups. No vegetables whatsoever. No Nutella for kids. Same story with cheeses and bread rolls — empty tables surrounded by crowds of guests. The egg station has a queue of up to 15 minutes.
The hotel has clearly not been renovated in at least 15 years. Walls and carpets are visibly worn and in need of replacement. The pillows feel like they haven't been changed in decades — not soft at all, just lumps of hardened filling.
Upon arrival, the overall feeling was closer to an old care home than a 5-star resort. Madeira itself is beautiful — this hotel simply has no right to call itself five stars.

I stayed at the Pestana Grand with my husband for 7 nights in late March. The hotel is advertised as 5* and it is very comfortable with many good features. But it is let down by its restaurant and food. Breakfast was fine, except there was no bacon in the hot food section. Turns out you have to ask for it at the omelette counter. The dinner buffet had the same salads in much the same positions every evening, with very little variety over the 7 days. The hot food did not look appetising, there was nothing roasted or grilled except burgers one evening. And the whole buffet section is cramped and confined to a narrow area, which created queues and bottlenecks. The soup recepticle was next to the cheese and biscuits and puddings. Such a shame for a lovely hotel.

We spent 7 nights here and a further 4 nights after our flight was cancelled. So we had two rooms overall.
Somethings were very good. Our room was large and spacious and the full sea view was lovely to have. The side sea view was over the street entrance area and not so good.
The beds in both rooms were very uncomfortable and when asked, I reported this and the mattresses were greatly improved with support and mattress toppers added. This was a huge improvement.
A leak in the bathroom tap which threatened to flood the floor was fixed late afternoon at the weekend. We were impressed.
Pool towels, robes and slippers were provided as were a kettle, cups and minibar.
Wifi good.
We used the swimming pools every day.
Breakfast was good, but the coffee far too strong. The only good coffee was in the bar.
The evening meals are generally good although it can be busy and the waiter service is very brisk - hang onto your plate or it will disappear in seconds!
The Italian restaurant in the hotel was good and much quieter than the main restaurant. You have to book at a machine in reception. We were unable to book the others as they are in demand.
Reception very helpful and will arrange trips if you want them.
A good location, with regular buses to the town centre and also near The Forum shopping centre.
Overall a pleasant stay

Having just returned from this hotel I want to say how disappointed we were with this hotel. We opted for half board but the buffet restaurant was no way up to 5* standard, we found ourselves having salads nearly every day as the hot food was very unappetising. They list à la carte restaurant but there is only one open each night with a very limited number of covers. The Italian was very nice but only open 3 nights, the restaurant serving skewered meat or fish was a set menu with the only choice being a meat skewer or tuna skewer, the rest of the meal was a set menu. This was open for 2 nights and if you ate there for the 2nights it was the same set menu, there was then 2 nights of Tagine which has limited appeal. There was an a la carte restaurant at another in the groups of hotels but that was at least 30 min.walk or à taxi ride away.
Because of the limited option of a small restaurant open each night the main buffet was very crowded, noisy and the seating was very close together not a relaxed eating environment at all.

The breakfasts were better with lovely fresh bread and rolls available every day, and a good selection of fruit, cheese and preserves but for those wanting eggs and bacon my husband didn’t find the bacon until the third morning when he realised he had to ask for bacon but even that wasn’t proper bacon it was reconstituted bits of bacon, not proper rashers.

This was meant to be a special week celebrating an 80th birthday but I am sorry to say proved to be a disaster. Needless to say we will not be returning, we will be returning to another hotel where we have previously stayed and enjoyed a lovely break served by friendly, helpful staff in a calm atmosphere

Cool place, loved the hotel and the staff

Just returned after a 5 day stay. Terrible customer service - most of the staff were rude and unresponsive particularly at reception. We had prepaid for a full week but were only able to arrive 3 days late due to winds which prevented planes from landing. Despite notifying the hotel twice that we'd be arriving on a later date they claimed that we had been "No shows" on those days. They were completely unsympathetic to our plight and wouldn't consider any reimbursement for the lost days. To add insult to injury our rooms weren't ready when we checked in despite the fact that we had paid for the rooms and should have arrived a few days before.
For a so-called 5 star hotel the building is very tired, carpets threadbare and service completely unacceptable. The location is good and there is a good variety of food at dinner and breakfast buffets. Definitely wouldn't recommend visiting this hotel!

It was a too short stay but enough to recharge batteries in such a lovely hotel... jacuzzi, restaurants and billiards were such good add-ons that made it very pleasant.

Exceeded all of my expectations.
We have returned home after a beautiful trip to Madeira.
The Pestana Grand is a stunning hotel, the staff are excellent and incredibly attentive. The spa facilities are fab, including an indoor pool which was a big hit with my daughter.
The hotel is spotlessly clean, in fact we noticed that Madeira in general is very clean and well maintained. The hotel grounds are stunning and incredibly well maintained.
We ate at the buffet, the Italian and the steak restaurants at all were great. Delicious food, fresh, well cooked and plentiful. Breakfast was also fab.
I honestly can't fault this hotel at all.
We will look forward to returning in the future.

A terrible experience at the restaurant of the Grand Pestana Garden Hotel. The service was extremely poor, some staff were rude and unprofessional. We were unexpectedly asked to pay for drinks without any prior information. Double the cost of drinks, but the quality was crap. The restaurant management is completely incapable of dealing with customers properly and answering customer questions, a bunch of arrogant and frustrated workers, and with low education and wild behaviour. The food was absolutely disgusting and you didn't even have a choice of what to eat.Everything we tasted was absolutely disgusting. Completely unacceptable for a hotel that claims to have high standards. Avoid this hotel and don't waste your time or money eating here and spending your vacation at this hotel.

The hotel doesn't offer the service of a 5* hotel. Staff is friendly but the service is not aligned with the Pestana Group practices and quality in other units. Check your bill before paying. An additional 10% charge is added to all your bills. Spa is non-existent. No understanding of customer relationship management. We will not be returning.

We came here as a family group and we could not have been made more welcome. A superb hotel in every way; great rooms, fabulous food, great facilities and excellent staff who could not have done any more for us. Quiet, ultra clean with sea views. We wanted some days together without any distractions and it was so nice to relax in the indoor pools or the outside pool.

With a good staf in a cost bar or in a pool bar with Amine me , Hugo , Humberto , Bráulio , chef Emanuel chef Madruga , you will find a good animation with a good cocktails to drink with 20 percent of discount and 50 percent for the soft drinks all this in two separate happy hours the first one begin at 17:30 to 18:30 the second one begin at 21:30 to 22:30 , welcome 🤗🤗 and enjoy with a bar team , 😉😉

I don't really write reviews but this is not a 5Star hotel and like many have already said that this hotel is all about how to make more money from guests..

We went as a couple for our 25th anniversary- most hotels usually ask occasion but nothing.

The hotels is getting dated - the room we stayed in was large. Dining area is small i think as we went this time of year it was fine. but if peak summer or holidays then i don't understand how they would fit guest in. Breakfast is ok.. the station for omelettes is manned sometimes .. or you have to go looking for someone - probably because understaffed and the employee has to do at least 3 people job . Hot drinks and juices are included in breakfast. Dinner you are expected to pay for water.. which I honestly feel is tap water refilled in posh bottles..

There are no waterfilling stations.. only in the gym which again is wrong.. luckily there is a shopping centre i a 5 min walk - this has a supermarket there too so you can buy bottles of water relatively cheap.

When we bought drinks at the bar pre dinner- we are not allowed tap water either we have to pay for water if we want this !

Reception i feel are cold and unfriendly.. I saw a couple of times members snapping at guests.. i get it can be frustrating when guests may be asking for too much an i myself work in customer service but feel there is a way to come across which reception fail to do so.

All in all i would return to Madeira.. it is really a beautiful place but i would not return to this hotel.

Hotel is lovely no problems it was after I got home I noticed an authorised debit for £114 . I settled my bill on leaving and was told nothing outstanding and all my bills were accounted for. On contacting the hotel they said that they would look into it and as yet I haven’t heard anything back. I would just suggest paying as you go.

We (my Wife and I) have been to this Hotel every year for Many years and it never fails to please.The highest standards for the Hotel,Meals,Staff, and nothing is too much trouble if you need any help or information,we just hope we will be fit enough to return for many years to come.
Thank you All once again at the Pestana Grand.

Nice and clean hotel, service was good (housekeeping and general upkeep) A short taxi ride into Funchal - Bolt and Uber now available and much much cheaper than the yellow cabs (4-5 euros at times).

Breakfast can be interesting, very hot and miss what’s available one day isn’t necessary the next and the juice machine was out of order for two days of our stay. The breakfast plates are now the size of side plates, so people are overfilling them.

Out of the entire stay no issues, would recommend that bacon is self service rather than the queue at the omelette station for people who want bacon and to look at the plate size and options for breakfast.

Overall a nice stay, and food very much the same as a all inclusive

I was really looking forward to staying at this hotel. It looked beautiful and had good reviews. We checked in early and the room wasn't ready which was fine since it was early. They held our luggage until we returned. We returned from a long fun day exploring the island. We start getting ready for dinner and shower. I turn on the shower and there is an ear-piercing sound coming from the shower head. I kept turning it on and off and moved the shower head around and no luck. Not only was the sound loud in the shower you can hear it in the room as well. I call down to the front desk immediately. They said that no one is at the hotel in the evening so someone will be by in the morning. We left early in the morning to explore more of the beautiful island. We return back to the room in the afternoon to get ready for our dinner reservation in town. Got in the shower and NO ONE came to fix it. I call down again immediately and they had someone come to the room to fix it. He came to the room to fix the shower head; however we were in the middle of getting ready for our dinner. So now we have to wait to get ready. Finally, he left and we were late to our reservation!!!!
We checked early in the morning to catch an early flight to Porto. I went downstairs and the gentleman at the desk was so rude. Never said anything except 'room number'? He had an attitude as if I was interfering with whatever you do at the front desk early in the morning.
I wrote an email to customer service and she offers me 10% off my next visit. I thought that was interesting since I live in the states and probably won't visit anymore.
It was just an overall disappointment, especially for the price.
There are many hotels around the island, skip this one!!!!

The island of Madeira thrilled me with breathtaking nature, awed me with engineering prowess and what adds to even more pleasure and a feeling of absolute contentment is the splendid blend of the above mentioned features with the extraordinary hospitality of the whole hotel staff, whether it is a room cleaning, reception or a restaurant staff. All these amazing people not only stick out with their politeness, kindness and friendliness, but also with a high level of professionalism, work ethic and knowledge of their jobs. We were delighted with a tidiness and cleanliness of our room, as it was obvious that the whole work has been done thoroughly, the restaurant food was fresh, diverse, abundant and delicious and the reception staff was not just polite, but also eager to engage in conversations, to give some valuable hints and was especially helpful in some crucial moments, such as the situation when the possible misunderstanding with a local tour agency could occur and a reception staff handled it brilliantly. My special thanks go to the receptionist Jessica Goncalves, who was extremely knowledgeable and helpful in numerous situations, always eager to give some hints and never annoyed with my frequent questions. She planned all my excursions masterfully and all her recommendations were on point. Among restaurant staff I would like to mention Ruben Pereira and Alam, whose kind, polite, friendly and vivacious presence always cheered me up. I regret for not being able to remember the names of some other really amazing people who were also doing great job in all hotel departments.
To conclude, it may sound a bit like a cliche, but I am definitely planning to come back again to this beautiful island of Madeira and I will have nothing against the idea of booking my stay in the same hotel. I hope you guys will continue to keep up the great work and amaze lots of other guests!

We stayed here for 10 nights and on the whole we enjoyed our stay.
The location is fabulous, right on the coast, the gardens and grounds were lovely and well maintained. The rooms were big, and nice balcony and outlook. The cleanliness of the hotel was superb, I’ve never seen such a clean pool area, loved being in the pool! Cleaning of room was great and friendly staff.
2 negatives that have to be stated to give a true reflection of the hotel… the food is definitely sub par, we had the buffet 2 nights and 3 nights in the Al a carte dining. Only one of which was decent. We ate out the last 5 nights. The breakfast is ok, but nothing special. It has to be stated otherwise people may be disappointed with this being branded as a 5 star, the food is probably 3 star at best. The other minor issue was that the beds were relatively soft, however this is more personal preference than anything else.
Overall don’t expect a 5 star but we were prepared for it being more 4 star than 5,l star, we did enjoy our stay once we had decided we would have our evening meals out with the hotel.