Santa Maria Beach

It's small, a family run feel, which we like the low key, personal, quiet experience. Paula at reception and all other staff are very welcoming, helpful and friendly. That makes it easy and comfortable. Our room was ideal, good space in a double room, private balcony and beautiful colours of Bourganvillea to admire, a well maintain green garden space and pool in the centre. We had breakfast in the hotel every day, however we were away by day and dined out across the island. Very simple, easy walk down into Santa Maria or across the road to the beach and beach board walk.

Our experience at the resort was mixed, but we made the most of what was an uneven experience. The room was clean and reasonably comfortable. The food was decent, although not exceptional. The staff were generally pleasant, but were reactive and not proactively ensuring things were in place, delivering on the service promise. For example, there were no facial tissues in the room, despite there being an empty dispenser in the bathroom. Each time I went to the gym, there were no towels for the guests and had to chase staff to replenish. Also, we went days without housekeeping checking in to see if buns needed emptying or if we needed more water for the room. This too had to be requested. The resort did not have a secured facility to hold luggage for guests waiting to check in. Our flight arrived late morning which meant that we had to wait four hours with our luggage until we could check in at 3pm. We were told that we could leave our bags outside in the corner of the front entrance and that it was safe, but this is unacceptable. Also, when we arrived, we stood in a long queue to book the specialty restaurants for the week, only to find that they were fully booked up to the night before we departed. We later learned that there was an online booking tool for the restaurants, but this was never offered up front. We were able to put our names on a waiting list and, on the following day, offered two bookings for a couple of nights. Have more to say, but out of space

The staff were really friendly, especially Erica who went above and beyond — she was just so lovely and welcoming. We paid extra for birthday decorations for our mum’s room, and the team really went the extra mile to make it look beautiful, which made her day feel so special. I wouldn’t class the hotel as a 5*, more of a solid 4*, but I honestly couldn’t fault it and would definitely stay again if I came back to Cape Verde!