Aurea Fatima Hotel Congress & Spa

We were highly disappointed in this hotel (recommended as five star, and at best a 2 star). It appears to have been recently renovated. Small, noisy rooms, small bathroom, and just seemed odd! The breakfast buffet was poor quality and cage space unimpressive! Sad, because the location is a good one...

We stayed at the Aurea Fátima Hotel as part of a travel package with Exoticaa. This hotel really takes pride in conserving energy. The first thing I noticed when going to my room was that the whole hallway was dark. Like completely dark other than the emergency exit lights! Not exactly what you want to see when you are in a new unfamiliar place. This hotel bills itself as a luxurious 4-star hotel, and it most certainly was not. I don’t know how the other hotels in Fatima look like, but this was definitely not a 4-star hotel. Maybe it was at one point in time? The hallways feature religious figurines in protected display cases in between each of the rooms. As an art lover, I enjoyed this nice touch. But it can be creepy when the hallway is dark and then it lights up and you see these. Upon entering the room there were complementary sweet treats and a bottle of water. A plus in my book, but that’s where it ends. Our black carpet had a large brown stain on it (how can you dirty a black carpet?!). The shower head was cracked and as a result water leaked out all over the bathroom floor. We only stayed here for one night, so I tried to put my blinders on and ignore this. We also had a balcony that overlooked the local bus station. Luckily this is a small town and everything closed around 21:00, so I did not have to worry about the noise. This certainly wasn't the cleanest hotel I've been at, but certainly wasn't the worst. A fellow traveler in our group had an issue with their shower not working in the room. Upon calling reception they unsuccessfully tried to work through the issues on the phone. Someone came up to their room in an effort to assist and found out that the shower was actually not working. As a result they were moved to a new room. Definitely points for quickly resolving the issue. The breakfast buffet is nothing to write home about. They have a lot of space, but not that many breakfast options. They also have a single coffee machine that the employees prefer you not to touch. They have someone standing there manning it acting as coffee police. Very odd. There is a Pingo Doce (supermarket) directly across the street. We didn’t visit it, but it was nice to have. It is also about a 15 minute walk from the Santuário de Fátima and the basilica.

The hotel very accommodating in every way! We arrived late at night and we were welcomed. Requested for slippers and an iron and it came with an ironing board too! Clean room and very spacious, bathroom is huge! Two balconies on both sides, by the room and by the living/tea area. Enjoyed breakfast for two mornings! Recommendable place!