Memmo Príncipe Real - Design Hotels

This was a disappointing experience. Why? Housekeeping was lousy and the rooms are poorly designed. The hotel is a small and very pretty boutique style hotel in Lisbon city. It is not quite in the city center, but close enough to walk to most of the sites if you are able. Lisbon has hills and steps everywhere, however, so consider treating yourself to an Uber. The rooms are chic and modern in design. Space is a decent size for Europe. We had a terrace city view room booked, but the view was spoiled but a green tarp on a fence. I felt like I was just sitting in someone’s backyard. There was also a large construction crane with active workers on it that also obstructed our view. I would definitely NOT recommend upgrading to a terrace room and suggest choosing a city view room instead. It’s not worth the extra cost. It’s also not very private. Your neighbor can come walk along and sit in your terrace chair, or just chat to you from their terrace chair. There is not much of a partition between the terraces . The room was VERY dim with all the lights on. Nice for a romantic night, but not great when you want to see your outfits for the next day etc. The bedding was comfortable. The TV was a nice size. But there was only one nightstand. The other side of the bed has the bar next to it. Outlet plugs are lacking! There was only one or two accessible outlets in the room, and nothing near the side of the bed adjacent to the bar. There was not even an alarm clock with plugs. Very very impracticable and surprising for a modern hotel. I had to charge my phone way across the room. We had a walk in closet in our room. It was nice, but I would have still liked a luggage rack since two suitcases cannot not fit on the shelf in the closet. The hotel has very minimal amenities. There is no gym or spa on site, and the pool is a very small pool directly in front of a glass walled resturant. I do not know who would ever want to swim there with everyone looking at you! But I knew that going in…. Service was the biggest problem. We arrived in the evening, around 7pm. There was no doorman, and no one at the front desk offered to help us with luggage. Not 5 star. Check in was a breeze, but it was not linked to the Marriott app. This is a Marriott affiliated hotel, but in name only. Mateo at check in was very friendly. But when we got to the room, we only had one washcloth. We had to call 3 times before they understood what we needed. The next day, after touring all day and returning at 5:00 pm , our hotel room had not been cleaned. We had to call for housekeeping. Not 5 star. On day 3, our room was cleaned, but we had NO washcloths! We had to call for washcloths again. That is just bad service. Even a 3 star hotel can do better. The room service menu I found limited. There are nice salads but no real entrees to have a nice dinner in your room, which is an option I like to have after a long day of touring…. We dined in the restaurant on our last night.

The hotel advertises itself as "5-star," but the facilities are severely lacking. Specifically, there is no gym or exercise room. Instead, we were required to take a 15-minute cab ride to the sister ("4-star") hotel and use their "exercise room," which consisted of an exercise bike (literally) made of wood, a treadmill that was unusable, and a pair of adjustable dumbbells purchased off Amazon, all thrown into a basement corner. The breakfast buffet was also not very inspired. The hotel facilities were anything but 5-star.

We are staying at the lovely Memmo Alfama, who gave us a voucher for a free glass of sparkling wine here – their sister hotel. We decided to stay for lunch. We weren't disappointed. 4 delicious tapas-like dishes between us and a lovely chilled bottle of rosé – all that with a great view, beautiful modern décor and great staff.

A beautiful, but all too brief, stay at this lovely, boutique property. The staff were welcoming, helpful and friendly and our room was superb. They’ve thought of everything a guest might enjoy. The views are stunning and their breakfast was top notch. We were celebrating our anniversary and they made it extra special. Will look forward to a future stay and can highly recommend to the discerning traveler.

The Memmo Principe Réal is a perfect boutique hotel in Lisbon. Manuel and his colleagues were very professional and courteous, the rooms were beautiful and spacious with great views, the food was perfect and it is located within walking distance of Alfama and the castle. The only downsides are those related to a small hotel - if you arrive at 10:00 a.m. (as we did), you may have to wait for a room (as we did) and you may not be able to check-out late even with a high BonVoy status as they have less staff and rooms available to accommodate you.