ibis Porto Cen. M. Bolhão Hotel 3 stars

We stayed here for 3 nights during our visit to Porto. The hotel is very centrally located. It is an old but recently refurbished apartment. The rooms have all the necessities. It is very easy to arrive from the airport, just a tram ride away. While the hotel is quite affordable compared to other hotels in the area, it provides good quality service. However, there are some minor issues that could be handled better. 1. The bathroom shower panels are very short and the flooring has no depth at all. Adding to that, the drainage isn't fast enough to drain the water and the shower floods very badly. Please ask for a few extra towels and cover the floor for possible flooding. 2. The breakfast is really good and we think it is a good value meal. The tables were arranged nicely and they left individual pickers to keep the open buffet clean. Big kudos on that. The restaurant has limited seating and overcrowds quite easily. During busy hours, we didn't feel covid safe due to crowding. The management of the breakfast area by the staff could be improved. Nobody welcomed us and checked us in when we arrived to the restaurant. We found a table and helped ourselves. This angered the staff as our stay didn't include breakfast. They came to check whether we paid for our breakfast (which is completely fine - I totally understand and it is fine to be interrupted for checking our room number). We said we need to pay for it and told our room number. Then the staff got a bit aggressive and told "Well, you should have paid before sitting here". When we offered to pay, she said, "No, no. That's ok. Pay when leaving". Still, there was an attitude when we went to pay afterwards, she didn't talk at all but took my credit card to pay through right away. I found this attitude a bit rude. What I would expect is: "First enough staffing for not letting us in if we didn't pay, and if we were already in, it would be ok to be friendly. We are definitely not trying to sneak food and earn enough to pay 9 euros". 3. The hotel staff accommodated our requests during check-in and provided extra towels and pillow. However, there was no shower gel left in the room (it is wall mouthed). When we requested some on our second night, they said the cleaners locker is locked at the moment, they will put the next day. We didn't get any shower get the whole duration of our stay which wasn't ideal. Overall, good value stay but could be better with a bit more friendly service.

Rooms were clean. Right size and sufficient shelving for our belongings. The beds were comfortable. The shower gen and shampoo smelt nice. Just need to be a bit careful with the shower : only half a door.

Overall, it is a good value hotel. Pros: * Good central location. * Good pricing. * Mostly clean and newly refurbished rooms. Cons: * The staff could be more friendly and proactive on interacting with customers. E.g., the staff didn't welcome us when we went for the restaurant for breakfast, we found a table and sat, and then a staff member came angrily saying that we should have paid before we sit. (We were planning to pay after as there was nobody to ask at the time that we arrived). * The room is nicely air-conditioned. But as soon as the aircon is turned off, the room is not well ventilated. It can be a problem if you do not like sleeping with aircon like me. * The bathroom sinks do not drain quickly and the shower panel is too short. The bathroom floods after each shower. So ask for extra towels.

Everything was nice.. I just think the rooms could have a kettle and some coffee and tea.

The hotel is well located, the room was very comfortable and the staff very friendly.