Hotel Zodiaco

The Hotel Zodiaco's rooms are small, but they have far more space dedicated to enjoying the facilities than most hotels. There is a pool table, 2 seating areas, a patio, pool with lots of chairs including ones that are covered, a bar and a large breakfast area and restaurant for lunch. The facilities are always clean and you can see the staff wiping down beach chairs, and cleaning walkways etc. The staff seem to take great pride in the facility. The hotel is about 4 blocks from the beach area and promenade which has a lot of restaurants, including Fantastico which has a small menu of great Indian choices. The hotel is great for families with all of the common space and the free and ample parking was a big bonus.

I stayed at Hotel Zodiaco with my family for two nights in Quarteira. We arrived at the hotel ealier than our check in time. We were greeted by a friendly member of reception staff who allowed us to leave our luggage in the building until check in time. That way, we could stroll around Quarteira bag-free. The rooms were small but perfect for us who spend most of our time out in the town. There is a bar that serves a variety of drinks (including Amarguinha!) and a pool table. We had breakfast each morning and were happy with the variety on offer. The fruit could have been more fresh though, the apples and bananas were a bit overripe. Some things we would like to see improved before we visit again: One of our bathrooms had a broken heater so the room kept fogging each time we had a shower. It would also be good if there were glass cups instead of paper cups for drinking. Also, there was no separate bins for recycling and regular waste which I think is important for the environment. I would recommend Hotel Zodiaco to anybody looking for a stay at Quarteira who likes to spend a lot of time out and about in the town. It was nice to see solar panels on the roof of the hotel but their benefits should be stressed somewhere in the hotel's brochure. I always welcome care for the environment.

It was a nice hotel and some nice staff etc. However, I was accused of smoking in my room (by letter put in by cleaning staff) because people smoked outside right below our window and if it was open, it came right into the room! They should also rethink where they locate families as it was me and my very young daughter! When I complained to the staff member about receiving the letter they just said to me that they are just "doing their job." They might want to check things out properly before accusing people.

Overall, it was a very nice hotel - clean, comfortable, well-maintained and the employees were very attentive and friendly. The breakfast was quite good as was the food/bar service and the room price was quite reasonable. Our concern with the hotel was around management policies; there was a 6 euro charge to use the pool table in the common area and one member of our party was charged 1 euro for a glass of ice (while others were not). Several guests (including our party) were "reprimanded" for moving the lounge chairs out of "formation" at the pool; the hotel employees (who were really very nice) were reluctantly compelled to implement these policies by management. While we really loved our stay here, the management might consider eliminating the various surcharges (even if raising the room price slightly) and perhaps being less rigid about policies that don't seem to be essential from the guests' perspective. I would definitely stay here again. Also highly recommend Café Happy Andorinhas 1 block away - fantastic small family run restaurant.