Pine Hills Vilamoura

Recent Reviews: 132

• User:Michael G

  Trip type: Family

  Amazing hotel with great facilities and staff

  11 Aug 2023

  This was an amazing complex straight out of a more cool barbie scene, the pool, restaurant and hotel were amazing and this is without mentioning the gym and wellness centre they employ which were a gigantic cherry on top. The only downside is that there were ants EVERYWHERE. This is probably because of the heat and everything but we had to get ant repellent to get rid of them but overall this was an amazing experience.

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• User:gowersian_

  Trip type: Family

  Summer holiday

  28 Apr 2023

  We stayed here for 12 nights and had the best family holiday. We arrived by taxi transfer from Faro airport which only took around 15 minutes. We tried to check-in with reception but they were far from helpful however, we were very grateful for Joshua from Lilly’s bar. Joshua welcomed us with a friendly smile and a great attitude. He took us to the bar whilst he got all the details that were required for us to check into our apartment. We had my 6 month old son with us so Joshua was very quick in ensuring that we weren’t waiting around and managed to get all sorted within 10-15 minutes. Once we arrived to our apartment we were absolutely delighted with the cleanliness and presentation. We requested to have a cot and that was ready for us with a comfortable baby mattress, bedding and a baby towel. Over our holiday, we felt very safe staying at Pine Hills and our surrounding neighbours were very friendly. We used Lilly’s restaurant on several occasions and the food and drinks were delicious! We couldn’t thank Joshua, his mum and dad enough; every day they were attentive and always served us with smiles. The grounds and pool of Pine Hills were kept very clean with the pool water being checked every morning. Overall, we have had a great holiday here; the staff definitely make it! We hope to return in the future:)

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• User:Virtualfurrycow

  Trip type: Family

  Air con issues, no management on site, residents anti families, ghost town in evenings and miles from anywhere!

  04 Sept 2022

  Just returned from 10 days staying at Pine Hills. Overall the apartments are to a good standard however there are a few big negatives that dropped our scoring. The biggest impact to our stay was that there is no on site management to assist if something goes wrong. There is also a large % of owner residents on site that can give Pine Hills an unfriendly atmosphere. Positives- our apartment was under the management of Shanti Apartments. After EasyJet cancelled our flights we rescheduled with Jet2 with a very early arrival time in Portugal. My travel agent contacted Shanti Apartments the day before arrival and organised an early check in. We were in at 10am (normal check in is 4pm). - the apartments are well appointed and have almost everything you need. - One room service visit on day 7.- Olivia and the Chef in the restaurant were lovely. - Wi-Fi good in apartment but didn’t work around pool. Negatives- Prior to arrival we were emailed 2x contact numbers to call on arrival at Pine Hills. Neither of these numbers worked. - We had a hire car and instructions tell you to park in the underground parking bays labelled with Shanti Apartments. There are no labels so it was very unclear where we were allowed to leave our car. - 2 days after arriving the air conditioning in the total apartment failed (30 degree temps most days). We contacted the emergency helpline (offsite) and was told someone would come the following day. The following day it was repaired while we were out and it was suggested it was our fault it had broken. 6 hours later it was broken again, maintenance came out and were unable to repair. Offered us portable AC units to vent out of patio doors. Rejected these due to concerns over insects and security (anyone would have been able to enter our apartment and we had a 7 year old in own room) - see pictures. My travel agent had to escalate to the Shanti Operations Manager to get resolved. Had 3 days made very uncomfortable and spent hours chasing for updates. Also didn’t appreciate being told it was our fault when it ended up needing a part being replaced. Very badly managed by their offsite team. Our 7 year old got very poorly overnight due to the heat.- The communal pool is finished with a coarse finish (it appeared to be like a resin with small stones). My family all came home with grazes where we’d caught ourselves against in. The same finish was used in the child splash pool, I wouldn’t have put a baby in there against it. Parts of the pool walls were quite green and dirty, it didn’t feel very clean. - Many of the sun beds had been painted to improve their appearance however they’d clearly used the wrong paint. It made the frames sticky and the black paint came off on your skin (and took some scrubbing to remove). There was a sign up apologising for the state of the sun beds saying they were waiting for parts but it affected about 50% of the sun beds. - Many of the apartments house elderly residents. They meet on mass on a Friday and take over the small restaurant / bar resulting in poor service for everyone else. We attended a restaurant buffet BBQ on one of these Fridays. We were asked to sit on a high table at the back of the restaurant (as the residents had taken all normal tables), we had to use children’s cutlery (as they didn’t have enough std) and on attending the buffet there was virtually no food left. the food cost us over 40 euros for basically a few chips and a sausage each. The staff acknowledged that it was appalling service and gave us 2x200ml beers as an apology but we felt utterly ripped off and like we’d wasted an evening. - There are rules listed around the pool that prohibit the use of inflatables in the pool. The staff had no issues with children using the pool toys however there were several altercations throughout our visit where families were told to stop using them due to resident complaints. This created an unfriendly atmosphere and upset several other families with children) didn’t impact us directly. - the pool bar / restaurant was only open from around 10am-6pm most days so only suitable for lunch. Once it shut Pine Hills is like a ghost town with nothing to do but sit in your apartment. - Pine Hills is not close to anything. You really need a car or to rely heavily on Ubers to get around. - No corkscrew in apartment and toaster only toasted half the bread (annoying) but worth feeding back. As a visitor not having any management staff on site would absolutely put me off visiting again or recommending these apartments. It’s great if nothing goes wrong but when it does it’s very challenging. The pool bar shuts way too early and the residents seem very anti families and you really need a hire car or you’ll be stranded in a ghost town!

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• User:Dudster77

  Trip type: Family

  Family holiday - first time in Portugal

  26 Jun 2022

  We have just returned from a fantastic 7 days at Pine Hills/Shantivillas. The accommodation was excellent and was equipped with everything we could have needed (and more). The Wi-Fi was excellent (2 happy teens).The gym had everything my son needed. The pool area was starting to get busier as we neared the end of our trip (very quiet up until the weekend) but never a shortage of Sun loungers.Food at Lily’s was great - we were well looked after by Sandra, Josh etc - thank you 😊 Uber will be your best friend at Pine Hills. About 6 euros each way to the Marina. About 4 euro to nearest supermarket.We made use of Uber Eats on the last night and had a lovely relaxing final night at Pine Hills.All in all a wonderful introduction to Portuguese hospitality.

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• User:mikeyo60

  Trip type: Couples

  Didn’t know there was concierge’s operating certain villas in pine hills vilamoura

  24 Jun 2022

  The stars I would give out of 5 vary based on so many different things. 1. 5 stars for kitchen utensils or pots pans cups bowls cooking bowls plates pans - washing up liquid kitchen towels sponge cutlery - to be fair they have so much especially for us as a couple. We had couple towels for bathing and sunbathing along with a washing tablet, washing machine, drying rack, sun loungers x2 it had more then enough for us. 2. The accommodation we didn’t use lily’s or the pool so cannot comment but i used the gym which was good enough for what it is on self catering complex - you can get things done in there and was super clean (never saw more then one person it to be fair). The palm trees make a huge difference to the view it was nice and I saw security in the night once and it’s a code to get in through the gates. They did let us check in early (Martinhal concierge). However there was a few things that I didn’t think was cool/acceptable. A linen change was booked in advance and paid for but never happened. We even saw the cleaners cleaning the next block but yet our roomwas not attended too despite payment made. So 5 nights 6 days no linen change was not ideal. The wifi didn’t work despite emails the handyman tried to fix it but didn’t work. A leak in the shower room let water on the floor minimal but still. So accommodation wise based on my experience it’s 3/5. 3. I didn’t know that i didn’t book with pine hills direct even though it was through booking.com as this was overseen by Martinhal concierge. If I had known it’s not the same I’m not sure I would of booked. As I had stayed here in June 2019 when lily’s was being built and they had the shuttle bus going to the super market and back / that was a stress free holiday. This holiday not been the best / would I go back yes if I could have the same experience as the first time I went not the last time (the review I’m writing now). Adriana from pine hills did try help out and was very responsive. Thank you for assisting even though the booking was with a different company who manage pine hill apartments. So overall on this stay I would give it 3 out of 5 stars based on my stay.

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