NEXT

We were extremely disappointed with our stay and the standard of accommodation in the 2 bed apartments. The first problem was the very strong smell of cigarette smoke in the apartment every evening of our stay. This made being in (and sleeping in) the apartment an unpleasant experience. The smell was caused by restaurant workers smoking outside the apartment building back door, which has an open vent into the apartment building stairwell. Unfortunately, no real effort was made to resolve the issue, either by NEXT staff visiting the area to ask the relevant workers not to smoke in the doorway or posting a “no smoking” sign on the door etc. In addition, we found the standard of the accommodation of the apartment to be significantly lower than we would expect based on the NEXT website and marketing. The NEXT Hotel is marketed as a 4 star hotel. Although we understood that the apartments were in a separate building, the website does not differentiate between the standard of accommodation to be expected in the apartments compared to the main hotel rooms. In reality, the apartment offers a very basic and tired level of accommodation. It is more like a 2 star apartment than a 4 star. This is reflected in issues such as the very spartan furnishing of the apartment, the apartment not being equipped with adequate furniture (e.g. not enough seating in either the lounge or the balcony for 4 people) and the very poor lighting throughout. Overall, the apartment felt very much like a neglected part of the hotel that is only provided by NEXT/Savoy Signature as an afterthought and without any care or attention to guests’ enjoyment and comfort

We stayed here for 4 nights at the beginning of June and simply cannot find any faults. We arrived before check-in and the staff offered to hold our bags whilst we went out and explored Funchal. The staff were very friendly and helpful, they were also very attentive with things such as offering to re-fill water bottled free of charge. I completely forgot to take photos of the room but they looked exactly as advertised, they were very well equipped and they were spotlessly clean. We didn’t have breakfast in the hotel but we did order room service and everything was absolutely delicious. And if you like sushi you absolutely must try the sushi on the rooftop bar, it was the best we’ve ever had! Especially when it was accompanied by such a beautiful view. We loved it so much we cancelled our dinner reservations on our third night and went back to the rooftop bar instead. The cocktails were also lovely, they even had an option to chose the ingredients for your own custom cocktail which I thought was very unique. The location of the hotel is absolutely perfect, it’s about a 20 minute walk into the centre of Funchal or approximately €3-5 in a Bolt. The walk into town is very pleasant, it is past the harbour and the seafront where there are plenty of shops and restaurants. Overall we would absolutely recommend this hotel and we hope to stay here again when we next visit Madeira.

Stayed at the Next Savoy hotel by accident. Our flight home was cancelled and jet 2 booked us in for 2 nights. Had a lovely two nights, helped by very friendly and helpful staff, great food and an amazing bed/pillows!!

Positives - Our room was on the 6th floor which has an amazing view out to the Atlantic! - The bed was comfortable - The air con was good. - Shower was good. - Enjoyed our time at the lower level sea water pool and great to have sea access. - Nice bar staff at the lower level pool. - Great location to restaurants, bars, exploring. Negatives - Really poor soundproofing in the room, we heard stomping around from upstairs at all different hours of the day, you can hear people using the bathroom taps/showers. You can hear next door TV. This was probably the main bug bear of this stay. - Myself and my wife had spoken to the hotel about it being my birthday and if they could do anything special for us, even if it required as to pay, they said they were going to put a bottle of sparkling in the room but it never happened. This is quite poor customer service to be honest. - We tried calling the reception nearly everyday early in the evening to get an iron and ironing board, no-one ever answered the phone. - Unattentive bar staff at the rooftop bar. - Highly annoying and repetitive promo video/music in the lifts. In summary, we absolutely loved Madeira, but unfortunately when we visit again, it won't be to the NEXT hotel.

Most amazing experience, special shoutout to Nancy and Diogo, they went above and beyond with a difficult travel experience we had. The food was incredible, the customer service at the hotel was next level. We would love to go back to this hotel the next time we are in Funchal.