Sheraton Algarve

Andy Hart

Last updated at 10:05 04 August 2003


As all parents know, once you have kids, the search for the perfect yet strangely elusive family holiday begins.

This year, the hunt for sun, sea, chicken nuggets and a babysitting service within a luxury compound (or to use the more familiar term: resort) took us to Portugal. The Sheraton Algarve (part of the Pine Cliffs Resort) bills itself as a five star luxury hotel.

Granted it has the facilities: three swimming pools, kids club, 9 holes, 4 restaurants, tennis, mini golf, spa etc etc but for a considerable amount of cash did it deliver on the luxury bit? The answer in a word for us was no, not quite. We had three major gripes - the lack of pro-active professional service in and around the pool areas, mediocre food at lunchtime and tatty bathrooms.

At the end of the day if you've laid out top money you expect quality in all areas and the hotel fell short.

Take the pool towels - everyone was irritated by the policy of having to hand in a ticket for your towels and having to return them at the end of the day - it just smacked of Butlins. In our experience hotel grub is easily judged - if they send out a tasty club sandwich by the pool then the rest of the meals should come up to scratch - sadly the Sheraton's offering was more Little Chef than Conran. Good points included the excellent deputy manager Pedro who bent over backwards for us, the stunning beach (which was a ten-minute schlep away) the fab pirate ship kids' area and the fun themed buffet evenings with a cheesy cabaret show. Overall we felt it was four star at five star prices - and that the best rooms were the pricey golf suites in another area of the complex.

But most important of all it was superb for our five-year-old who swam all day and played pinball with the 'big boys' all night!

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