As Cascatas Golf Resort & Spa

Stayed for 10 nights in a 1 bed luxury s/c apartment at the beginning of September. Firstly I have been a keen member of tripadvisor for many years and believe it is a valued tool when deciding holiday destination and requirements hence always review. I have been to Vilamoura several times previous, staying in 5* accommodations but this was the first time in the As Cascatas. We chose this apart hotel based on the many good reviews and also having the use of the amenities of the Hilton hotel adjoining. Week prior to arrival emailed the hotel requesting a high floor room and if possible a pool view room (noting not all requests possible). Received confirmation saying request noted and would be provided where possible. Imagine my frustration and disappointment when shown to a room on the ground floor with a view of enormous shrub in front of patio window, along with a location next to reception access. Not happy. Returned to reception requesting room change. Sorry sir all booked up, was the response, try again in couple of days. I have been in many hotels far better than this and you know when you are getting the runaround. Anyway stuck with a room in a horrendous location from that requested. Now the positive, the s/c apartment is quite good and spacious esp for families or groups (ie golfers) such as those staying at the hotel. But we use a balcony and this room 001 did not have anything resembling that and it was definitely not pretty or private. So for 10 days it remained unused. Now the room itself is quite good but like most apts there is tendency for excessive wear and tear and this was evident in certain areas. The apt is large and 4 separate rooms comprising of bathroom, kitchen, bedroom and lounge. The bathroom is decent sized and his/her wash basins and bath/shower combo. The kitchen is well fitted out with everything you would need for a s/c holiday and family use. Excellent in my opinion, esp the use of a large fridge freezer to store all those drinks and water required during the day. Bedroom has decent storage and large comfortable bed. Lounge was large and spacious but oddly shaped due to location near reception. A tv is provided with basic English to channels and Sky news thankfully. But lounge was always in darkness due to location and shade from shrubs. All in all pretty dismal. Now our intention was to take breakfast and dinner at the Hilton hotel. But Due to their stance on room allocation then we decided to spend our money elsewhere. We saved a fortune by eating breakfast made by ourselves and dinners mostly at the marina. Now we did take breakfast and dinner at the Hilton hotel once only and I have to say it was excellent with plenty of choice and quality food. But it felt so much better not giving them any extra money. The pools at the Cascatas are far better than the neighbouring hotel (gets busy and noisy) and better for swimming or lounger availability. Although it can get busy and beds disappear by 10am if busy. The shuttle bus service to the marina and beach is excellent. The driver needs rewarding for this service. Hotel is remote from anything worthwhile and is 25-30 min walk to marina or 10 min on shuttle. Supermarket is 15 min walk. Now day prior to checkout we enquired about changing facilities as our flight was of an evening. Checkout is 10am so you do need something available. We were informed that no rooms were available and we would need to use the public locker room near Hilton pool. My wife questioned the reception staff whether this was 5star service or that typical of a Hilton hotel. only to be berated only to have. A second manager appeared to comment that you can use the courtesy room at the Hilton hotel just see us on morning of departure. Guess what we checked out at 9.30 and requested use of courtesy room in hotel after 5 mins telecon the response was it was fully booked. Now totally frustrated and thinking this is like a comedy sketch. We now realised that we were dealing with incompetence so we decided to use the public locker rooms at the pool. Now it gets silly. There are male and separate female locker rooms having key locked lockers, toilets and showers. All this is open to anyone using the pool area. We requested a key for a male and female locker only to be informed they had no keys available as they hadn't been returned by other users. There are approx 50 lockers in each locker room, now totally useless re security. We again made complaint to reception and one hour later one key for a locker in female area was provided. Does that mean males don't need secure lockers? This is unacceptable standards esp when you are carrying your valuables inc money, jewellery passports. Imagine making a claim on insurance and telling them your valuables were open for public access. I don't think that would go down well. Now you've guessed it. Would we go back? Definitely not. The service and standards were far below we should have received or expected of a 5 star or Hilton brand.

We stayed for a week in September and very impressed with the quality of the apartments. We were initially placed in one bordering private villas and there was a dog barking constantly all evening. I called reception around 11pm and sorry to say the young man was quite rude saying not their problem and l could call the police (really) after admitting they know its an issue. Anyway duty manager came to see us and offered move next morning and gave us a pool view room that was much better (the dog kept us awake most of the night). Two bed room apartment had everything we needed and the pool was lovely. Pro's: - cleanliness / quality of apartments - no issues with sun-loungers (acknowledge we were out of season) - shuttle bus to marina was great - supermarket, pharmacy within 30 minute nice walk Con's: - kitchen cupboards way too high. I am 5.4 and couldn't reach for crockery - hairdryer is awful. Tiny wee thing looks like a childs one - not 'allowed' to dry clothes on balcony - told to put everything in the tumble dryer. Cold at night so we had things like jeans, cardigans etc. Plus not all clothes can be tumble dried anyway. A small discrete clothes horse would do no harm in my opinion and l did see a couple appear but not sure if people went out and bought them - not many English channels on TV - very dark at night walking through from where dropped off by shuttle bus (tripped a good few times) - the first room with barking dog (there are many rooms would have been impacted). Had there not been an alternative this would have ruined our break Would 100% return but only if guaranteed would not be in rooms bordering private villas or in a ground floor room which were totally shaded and completely exposed with no privacy and guests walking by all day / night. Can't see an option when booking to select room i.e pool view, high floor etc. meaning too big a risk for us personally unfortunately.

We stayed in a lovely spacious two bedroom apartment in August and had a fantastic stay. We could not fault the resort, the facilities, staff or food. Our apartment had a very spacious main bedroom with en suite bathroom, a twin room, another bathroom, large living area with very comfortable couch & dining area along with a fully equipped kitchen. The apartment was kept very clean throughout our week there with fresh towels every morning. We had breakfast each day with a fantastic selection of fruit, cold & hot meats & wonderful omelettes made to order. There were numerous pools to choose from & you could get fresh towels as often as you would like. The shuttle bus to the beach ran on the hour from 10am and in the evening the bus went every half hour from 7pm to 11pm. The resort is joined to the Hilton and was extremely safe, great amenities & staff who were so helpful & friendly. We would definitely return again

We visited 3 yrs ago - quick update! Firstly the apartment - very well equipped but we only used the fridge in the kitchen area for drinks! 1 bathroom (separate shower plus a shower over bath) and one separate loo which is useful - both clean and tidy. Masses of clean towels every day! Only 2 chairs on the large balcony was a bit of an issue as there were 3 of us but not to worry. The pull out sofa in the sitting room was pretty comfy (our son who decided to come along at the last minute is 21, tall and sporty and slept really well). The mattress in the bedroom was dreadful - a change is overdue - nearly as hard as those in Asian hotels! Terrible! Sheets were changed every other day which is fine! Great base for golfers as very helpful for booking tee off times at just about any course. Nice to see a full size coach now on the shuttle service into Vilamoura and the beach - never any problems getting a seat - but tended to be pretty busy on the 7pm run! Didn't eat at all in the hotel (evening buffets are absolutely not our style at all!) except for breakfast which was superb! Great choice of food, well presented, tables cleared extremely quickly, never a problem getting seated straight away (Queue! What queue!) The only queues we ever saw were when we leaving the hotel after 10am, in other words those who get up late and then for some bizarre reason want to eat inside? What's all that about? Looked a bit chaotic! We ate out on the terrace and it was lovely! No charge for breakfast either as we are HH Gold members! The pool area - in the height of the season this is still a huge problem. We stayed for 9 days and only spent 2 hours poolside (the day we arrived) and it was like a zoo. Whilst I appreciate that people may want to be by the pool all day this reserving of loungers is pathetic (probably the same people who get up late and then moan about breakfast queues!) My advice! Do not open the pool area at all until 9am. No loungers for young children. Clear any loungers over lunch left for longer than an hour. Simple! I suggest that if you are a 'Pool All Day Every Day Person' this hotel may not be ideal for you. We went to the beach every day - sea was fab, beach lovely, really comfy loungers with parasols and the new Tapas bar is just great! Plus loos and showers! Lovely, relaxing and quiet even in August and even on Portuguese Bank Holidays! There are also masses of amazing beaches locally but you need a car and a sat nav to make the best of these. We had a late flight home but you don't need a late room check out as the showers by the pool are perfect - toiletries and towels are plentiful you just need to ask.

This was our 8th visit to As Cascatas private apartments, having been in June with my wife and then returned end July beginning August with my daughter, her partner and our grandchildren. Upon arrival we were told we had a ground floor apartment despite asking in October 2016 when I booked for a first or second floor apartment. This was quickly sorted and was given a lovely pool facing apartment on the second floor. The apartments are still kept to a high standard. Used the shuttle a few times to get to the beach and the marina which was free. Also free sun beds and towels on the beach allocated to the apartments and the Hilton hotel. Only downside this last visit is we noticed the hedging around the pool by the apartments was over grown and desperately in need of clipping as it was untidy. Also the heavy duty umbrella's around the pool are getting tired and have been replaced with cheap ones which fly off if a slight gust of wind appears. Happened a few times whilst we were around the pool and twice one hit someone in my party. I spoke with the management who were very apologetic and said they would look into it further. Hilton have taken over the management of the private apartments so can easily afford better umbrellas. Thanks to all the staff at As Cascatas and the Hilton pool staff who remembered us from previous occasions and treated us superbly. This is a great place to visit and intend returning in 2018.

Amazing suite , so modern and spacious, could not fault it. Staff are brilliant, great attention to detail. Pool is so close to rooms which is handy and no extra charge for towels for pool. Such a relaxing stay in luxury.

Love this place. Second time to visit in two years and the standard jut gets better. Really nice apartment and everything catered for. All spotless clean and extremely comfortable beds. Loads of pools to choose from for the kids. Very child friendly. Free shuttle bus to the beach and the marina makes a huge difference in spending money for taxis. Would highly recommend!

I stayed here with my wife and 3 children for a few nights this July in a 2 bedroom suite. Positives:- Rooms are spacious Beautiful pool area well priced Negatives Service apparently is still being refined after being taken over by Hilton food is ok but not great - although Breakfast is the best meal there. We would return but hopefully by 2018 it will not feel like Hiltons poor little brother.

The location was less than a half-hour drive from the airport, and easy to find with a navigation device. There was spacious car parking underground (so cars were not overheated in the sun). The rooms were large and well-equipped, and very pleasant. The kitchen was particularly good, being very well equipped. The pool areas were very nice. The poolside restaurants were also very nice. The hotel and spa were immediately adjacent, and there was a shuttle service to the beach. We greatly liked their policy of removing unattended towels after one hour from poolside sun beds, which is a very fair way to manage this resource. The staff were excellent, and should be proud of the good job they do. We would strongly recommend, and we will certainly return.