Saccharum Resort and Spa

Overall this was a good stay, it could have been great but it could easily have been terrible as it was almost defined by the response “thank you, we will take it onboard and feed it back”. When we arrived, we appreciate we arrived late, we were given our room card and told our room was on the 5th floor. No explanation of anything, nothing about resort activities, what was included etc etc. when we came down the next day to ask where is good for food we then found out breakfast was included in our booking! We informed them of the lack of information and received the response, “thank you, we will take it onboard and feed it back”. Later that day when sat by the pool we got 2 drinks. My wife is pregnant which we had informed the hotel of as we were on our baby moon. They put the alcoholic drink next to her and told her it was the non-alcoholic drink she ordered. Unfortunately she took a big gulp. We complained and received the response, “thank you, we will take it onboard and feed it back”. We were not happy with this response so complained to the bar manager who did apologise, took the drinks off the bill and gave the same response. Our room door was broken and would not close properly unless closed carefully so housekeeping had been leaving it open accidentally. At this point we had had enough. We went down and asked to make an official complaint of all of the above to a manager at the front desk. They took it very seriously and said they will escalate this up urgently. We were extremely appreciative of this and it didn’t take long for a response. They took the alcohol mistake very seriously and assured us this wouldn’t happen to anyone else. They fixed the door straight away. After all this we really were able to enjoy the hotel a lot more. It’s a nice hotel but lacks resort activities that are included in the price. The spa is facilities are not included either which is a shame. Nevertheless it is well situated and the very nice. The breakfast is excellent. We strongly recommend going to the beach club restaurant/bar for the fire pit and for lunch/drinks. We would go back again as we are sure our early experience was not a common occurrence.

This is a very large, very efficient and very comfortable hotel. Check in was quick and all the staff have a good level of English. Staff everywhere were very helpful. Our room was a sea-facing Premium Experience double. It had a very large balcony. The AC was quiet and effective. The room was very well soundproofed and sleep quality was good. One unusual feature was the semi-open plan bathroom with a handbasin on the counter top in the main room and a walk- in shower opening directly into the room.......................make sure you go with someone who dosn't get embarassed easily!! The food was very good, the buffet breakfast and buffet dinner offered a wide choice. The a la carte restaurant was, in my opinion, a bit pretentious. It was not busy and lacked ambience although the food was imaginative and the service good. Expensive: dinner for two, two courses and two glasses of wine, 130 Euros. We did not use the spa, gym or other energetic facilities but the Beach Bar Solarium is very good and popular. Although this is a hotel with a lot of guests at a time, it did not feel crowded and it was easy to relax. If there is a downsiide to this hotel, it is related to the stunning architecture and interior design of the public areas which all have very low levels of lighting, visually impressive but not very practical, particularly in the lifts where the floor buttons are poorly lit. All told, we enjoyed our stay and can recommend the hotel particularly if you choose the Premium Experience package.

Very nice space, but missing the little details that make for excellent hospitality. I stayed one night at Saccharum as part of a group. The hotel is owned by Savoy, who also operate the Savoy Palace in Funchal - I stayed there one night earlier in my trip. Saccharum has spacious rooms with a modern feel and is just across the street from the ocean. Great base from which to explore the western side of Madeira. Compared to my experience at the Savoy Palace, this hotel is missing the mark on some details. For example: - no robes in the room - shower has body wash, but no washcloths were in the room - the rain shower head was clogged, making it mostly unusable (sprayed all over the shower; I had to use the wand only) - empty drink bottles in the closet on arrival - 8th floor infinity pool is crowded; unclear where to get a towel. I gave up. - the sliding glass door to the patio has no outside handle; there is a sign asking you not to leave it open, but it’s difficult to do without a handle to use - One bottle of water in the room; seems everything else is a fee other than the gym. - I had to get on hands and knees to find an outlet by the bed The rooms are spacious but oddly designed. I could hear my neighbors. There is no chair in the room in which I could sit and read; just a modern chaise lounge attached to the wall. Saccharum has all the right ingredients to be a great property. Attention to the details will make all the difference in the quality of the guest experience.

I had read all the reviews before staying here so I had low expectations but we wanted a base to explore the west side of the island. We booked the most expensive ocean view suite and immediately on check-in it was evident it was more like a “Garden, parking, ocean view in the far distance Room”. This seems a mislabeling issue in the tiers of the rooms which really needs to be corrected!!! Look at my photos of my views- by no stretch of the imagination could you in good faith market this view as an ‘Ocean view’. The layout of the hotel is bizarre, we had to take 2 separate elevators and it was about a 10min to our room. As others have said- the glass toilet door does not work for communal living, the pool water is ice cold, you have to pay for a lounger near the pool, pay for parking, and service is not amazing. On the plus side- the location is great as a base to explore the beautiful island and the food along the nearby harbor is excellent- with the best gelato on the island nearby!!

We had such a brilliant stay at Saccharum hotel. The building itself is very high spec and I personally loved the decor. I’ve read a few mixed reviews about the quality of the staff, but everyone that we interacted with was brilliant. I really liked the added touch of the ‘Quality Card’ left in your room - you were encouraged to give it to one member of staff at the end of your stay you wanted to recognise for going above & beyond. Breakfasts were also extremely good! The selection was brilliant and a very high-quality. Aside from breakfast, we didn’t eat in the hotel. We walked down to the marina to eat in a different restaurant each evening over stay in Calheta. We did however have a few drinks and cocktails both in the beach bar and on the 8th floor bar – all of which were very good. Would definitely recommend this hotel to others staying in the area! The only non-positive from our stay, was the outlook from our room. I think we were particularly unlucky, in that we’d booked a side ocean view room and got room no. 102. Others on our floor had a lovely view of the ocean. However, we mainly had the shrubbery lining the roadside from our outdoor patio. However, the room itself was beautiful, big and the view didn’t take away from our stay.