Octant Ponta Delgada

We had a wonderful 4 nights stay at this hotel. Staff made us feel welcome when we arrived. Everyone was pleasant, warm and always ready to assist. Our room was spacious, comfortable and well maintained. There is a small balcony with a nice view of the marina. We had breakfasts and a dinner at the restaurant. Food and service were excellent. The hotel is within walking distance to shops and restaurants in town. They have turn down service. The rooftop pool is also nice. Check in/out process was quick and easy. It's a comfortable and convenient place to stay in Ponta Delgada.

Great hotel if you are staying sun to thurs nights. Do not stay here on a Fri or sat night. Great room, staff and food. Good location about a 10min walk into town. But on a fri and sat night the casino (which is In the same building but the hotel said it was not managed by them) has a live band playing from 10pm until the early hours. We arrived on a sat , tired from our journey and we did not sleep due to the noise (and we both use earplugs!).

First impressions count for me and we had a major issue the first night of our stay on Saturday. We were allocated room 211 which it turns out is smack above the casino which hosts very very loud live music on a Saturday until the early hours of the morning. Even with ear plugs the noise was terrible, it felt like trying to sleep in a nightclub. We called reception at 12:30am who said they would ask the casino to turn it down but they are not part of the hotel. So, on our fist night we got around 90 minutes sleep. I went down to reception Sunday morning and again spoke to reception who said we were not the only one who called. The lady did offer us a room on a higher floor but said the music is only on a Saturday. So, we stayed in the room we had and thankfully it did not occur again. My issues are that the hotel is fully aware this is a noise issue yet still allocated us a room directly above the problem, why would you do that to a guest? Neither the person we called in the night or the lady on reception on the Sunday apologised. Instead on Monday at some stage someone put a note of apology in our room along with 3 pieces of fruit, I presume they think that balances out the problems? To me that isn't good enough and the first night definitely soured our stay and our impression of the hotel. If you are staying in this hotel on a Saturday do not stay on the second floor and get as far away from the casino as you can. During our stay the food was good, service slow on the rooftop bar and they also tried to get me to sign for a drink we had not had. If we ever came back to the island we will not stay here again. Our first impressions were ruined by your room allocation.

This a beautiful 5 star hotel in a very good location, close to the downtown, on the promenade. From the moment you step in you are treated and taken care of by great and attentive staff. The room is very spacious, big bed, very nice bathroom and sea view balcony. The breakfast is outstanding with very good selection and impeccable service. The reason I couldn’t give the hotel the excellent mark was dinner. We came as a group and were given a separate dining room. The selection of dishes was pitiful and in stark discrepancy with what is expected from a 5 star hotel. The beaf was impossible to cut and chew and looked like it was harvested from a cow that died from an old age. Next dinner featured same pitiful selection although the quality of meat improved dramatically. It looked like in a regular dining room the food was much better, but unfortunately we didn’t get a taste of it.

We had a wonderful stay at the Octant Ponta Delgada and would absolutely stay again both here and at other Octant properties. A few thoughts on various aspects of the property: Location: Well situated at the end of the downtown area, we found most things in town were a 15-20 minute walk at most. Also a very short drive from the airport. Room: We stayed in the suite, which was incredibly spacious with a sitting room, bedroom, two bathrooms, and an extended patio. Highly recommend the suite - it was a haven to return to between activities, well air conditioned with a large and comfortable king-sized bed. The highlight was the patio, which overlooks the habor and connects both the sitting room and the bedroom. We sat on the patio sipping coffee or wine nearly every day. Restaurant: Loved the restaurant, which served a fantastic breakfast buffet daily (including an omelette station) and a wide variety of hot dishes, breads, meats, and cheeses. We also dined in the restaurant for dinner which had great food and service. Cleanliness: Everything on the property was clean and well kept. We returned each day to a clean room, including turn-down service in the evening. Housekeeping kindly organized dirty clothes left discarded into bags for us. Gym: Well maintained, 24-hour gym situated in the spa with cardio equipment and weights. Not huge, but was lightly trafficked and I had no issues using any equipment I wanted to. Other amenities: We loved the rooftop bar, which offered a stellar view of the city (similar to our room) with good cocktails/wine selection and a rotating specials list. Separately, the hotel had a great valet parking service which promptly had our car ready to go when needed. We did not try the spa services so I can’t comment on that. Special mention: Activities desk. We corresponded with the activities desk in advance of our stay and they helped us set up both an all-day whale watching/dolphin watching/dolphin swimming tour and a 4-hour private speedboat charter which included touring around the island, snorkeling, and visiting a beach. We loved both and spoke with other travellers who also enjoyed their activities set up through the hotel. We adored Carina, the experience manager, who also set us up with a special dinner event for a small group of 10 guests at a nearby waterfront estate which was one of the top highlights of our entire trip and prepared by the hotel chef. Only downside: The rooftop pool, which we were excited for, is NOT heated and even on these hot summer days was frigid to the point of discomfort. We didn’t see any guests doing more than stick their feet in and we were only able to swim for a couple minutes before retreating to the warmth of our towels.