Corinthia Alfa Lisbon

Somewhat disappointing for a five-star property, I have to say. Nice reception and public spaces. Room clean. Good sized bathroom, but overall lacked the details I would expect of a five-star hotel. No clock in the room, no iron, broken chair(!), no bathrobe, chipped enamel in the bath. Room was also far too warm and the airco appeared not to work. The reception suggested switching off the airco system as the only solution. Windows could not be opened so room was extremely stuffy. Reception was unhelpful when we asked if we could have a 'key' to unlock the window - just to get some fresh air. WIFI in the public spaces worked well - Eur 20 for 24 hours with local Lisbon WIFI network. Internet in the room wired only, Eur 25 for 24 hrs, but I found the connection incredibly slow. Room not really set up for a business traveller - small glass desk and not well set up as far as power and connection possibilities. Location OK - there's a small shopping mall over the road, which seems popular for lunch with local office workers. The Metro station (Jardim Zoologica on the blue line) is five minutes' walk. You can be in old Lisbon in about 10-15 minutes. Taxi also cheap - Eur 5 to old Lisbon. Hotel swimming pool would be nice in summer I guess, but far too cold in winter except for the hardiest of swimmers as unheated! Gym facilities very basic. Breakfast was OK.

The Corinthia Alfa is a large, corporate hotel, very close to the metro and a €4 taxi ride to the city centre.

First impressions are good, the lobby is very smart, spacious and very nicely furnished. Check in was efficient and courteous.

The newly renovated rooms are on the higher floors and are MUCH nicer then the ones below. Make sure to ask for this. I was in a corner room, with a spacious sitting area and great views towards the 25 Abril bridge. Room service was very efficient and the food of a good standard, especially as the hotel were catering for a massive conference at the time. The Tropico restaurant was a very good standard and not expensive. The executive lounge is one of the best I've ever come across and is worth the extra fees if you use it alot. There are always drinks and food available, but if you only use it for breakfast, the extra €50 fee is not justified.

The hotel lacks a spa - it has an outdoor pool, great in the summer but a very small gym and no sauna or steam room.

I have little to complain about with this hotel. It is very clean and luxurious, the rooms are quite small but ample - they have excellent views!

The food is pretty average, breakfast doesn't have much choice to it. And the staff could be a bit better. We stood for about 30mins waiting to be checked in! The bar is excellent though.

The main issue is the location. Its quite a way out of the city centre, certainly not walkable. However, the tube is right outside the door and its a short journey (5/10mins to get to the main attractions). And the underground is far better than London's!!!

Unfortunately the pool is outdoors and was closed when we were there.

Its easy to write about what is wrong though, and these things are all very minor. I would definately recommend it to someone else.

When you approach this hotel, you are impressed. This huge hotel stands out on part of the skyline and looks really impressive. You enter the hotel to find a really impressive looking reception area; indeed, the common areas and restaurants are all very shiny & glossy, and everything you expect from a modern, glossy, gaudy 5 star hotel. However, that is all the hotel has to boast about.

The rooms are very dated and small. Although the property is said to have been renovated in May 2004, the furniture in the rooms is old and has a 70's look, smell and feel about it (at best), and at worst, seems to have come from a run down geriatric ward at a local hospital.

The carpet in our room was stained, the toilet was dirty and the bath was patched up with plaster in the middle (a very poor repair job). The old fixed head shower was also very difficult to use when showering a small child 7 feet away in the bath. There were no robes or slippers in the room, and when we requested them, we were told none were available. The most unforgivable "oversight" was broken glass in the bath which my baby son cut his foot on.

We were only in Lisbon for 2 nights, and as we just had a wonderful fortnight elsewhere on the Iberian peninsula, we decided to remain happy and not complain and retain a good amiable relationship with the hotel staff as we did not want this experience to ruin our great holiday. The staff in all of the restaurants and bar were excellent. Very helpful and pleasant, and genuinely warm, even at breakfast when there can be 500 people on the hunt, looking for food (though the food at breakfast was poor; lots of it, but poor quality; not 5 star standard).

The desk staff are very pleasant, though they are unhelpful and cold. On the night of our arrival, the concierge refused to give us car directions to a local restaurant; he told us that being new in the city, we would not find our way around and he told us to take the metro with a baby at midnight; in any event, using a street map, we found the restaurant by ourselves; we drove there in 5 minutes from the hotel - two straight roads. The next day, another member of staff on the concierge desk implored us to not go to the tourist office to take a city tour - he asked us to take his one at 71 Euros (the same as the tour from the tourist office at 15 Euros). Finally, later that night, the concierge advised us to go to a good insiders local restaurant and asked us to mention him by name to the manager; he told us the surrounding areas were suitable to walk through with a baby late at night; on arrival, we found the restaurant had been closed for the month for a holiday, and the surrounding roads were not suitable for children as we were showered with beer from drinkers and hassled somewhat (until a lovely taxi driver drove to us, bundled us into his car and took us to the hotel - he refused to take any money from us and told us everyone in Lisbon knows not to send anyone to that area, and that the restaurant we were referred to pays hotel concierge staff very high rates of commission to send clients to them as only tourists frequent it).

I have noticed very good rates available at this hotel recently, and I am sure some people will be attracted by the 3 star prices available, however, you would be better off at a good 3 star hotel than at this alleged 5 star property. It is a shame as I have stayed at many of the other 5 star hotels in Lisbon, and none are poor, like this property. All I can say is don't believe the photos on their website - it is not a good indication of the poor quality you will experience. Good luck!

We stayed at the Alfa last week and really enjoyed our stay. It is only 5 mins walk from the Jardin Zoological metro station ( a few stops out of town) and is also on several bus routes (including the 46 from the main Santa Apollonia station).

Our main disappointment was the lack of leisure facilities - only an outdoor pool, unheated and very cold in the morning! I would have expected a sauna and jacuzzi at least in this kind of hotel.

The Tipico restaurant was very nice, good range of food and wines from the local region. We also enjoyed the breakfast buffet.

The bar staff were sometimes a bit slow in serving you, and drinks were a little on the expensive side, but free nibbles were provided with each round of drinks.

All in all a pleasant place to stay, nice rooms (we even got a free upgrade), helpful staff and in a nice location.

We just returned from a 5 night stay at the Corinthia Alpha. Our stay overall was fine but this is not a 5-star hotel. It is clean and the staff is friendly/helpful but the standard rooms are just average -- no 5-star touches. We had to ask for robes and slippers (which they did bring us). If you are paying 5-star prices for this hotel you will likely be disappointed -- in our opinion the Corinthia Alpha is a good 4-star.

One more thing: be careful about making calls to Lisbon mobile phones. We called friends on their mobiles and were charged 2 euro per minute! Regular land-line calls were ordinary hotel prices. We wish we had known.

Price of breakfast at this hotel is not 7 euros but 17 euros, very high for a Portuguese hotel. For 17 euros you can have breakfast, lunch and dinner in Portugal.

It is not a true 5 star hotel. Rooms are good for 3 o 4 stars. Rooms are rather small.

I stayed two nights in Alfa Corinthia in September. The hotel does not deserve 5 stars. Indifferent clerks at the reception, some of them very much lack professionalism. Fitness area not available. Rooms tiny and although the hotel is said to be new my wardrobe was old and falling apart! I would not recommend it to anyone.

I agree! It was just perfect! We also got an executive room for my boyfriend & I last weekend! The super nice girl at the reception just gave it to us for no reason! ;) well, we paid even less, 50€ per night with Bancotel (50 € per double room)! and only 7 € extra each for breakfast! I know, it sounds too good to believe, but it's true!!!

The Metro is just around the corner, brand new & clean! Lisbon is beautiful & also Sintra is. I would recommend going to Agito bar-restaurante at Rua da Rosa, 261, the waitors were so nice, great food, drinks & music & really cheap! & Hockey Caffee in Sintra, Praça de la República, 12. If staying in Sintra check out Hotel Tivoli Sintra, great view from the terrace, although the building is so ugly, the Hotel itself is pretty nice & clean. Have fun!

Booked a standard room at the alfa hotel back in feb 2004... we were in a pary of 6 ... when we arrive on 30.05.04 the man at reception upgraded us to executive rooms at no extra charge!! why? because we were english and he had spent 6 happy years there. The hotel was splendid and befitted its 5 stars.. the food at breakfast was fantastic and always plenty of staff to help. The hotel has recently been renovated so some things are still not finished i.e. the gardens and fitness suite. We had access to the executive lounge on the 24th floor which entitled us to free food and between 6pm-8pm free drinks!! All in all a pleasant way to spend 4 nights (also we only paid £70 per room per night with alpha-beds)