review: Hotel Avenida Palace, Lisbon

 In many ways this is a lovely traditional hotel, so it's sad it was let down by some issues.

On the desk was a smartphone sitting upright in a charging cradle.  So placed, the camera pointed at the whole bedroom.  The idea of the smartphone was to provide free calls, and some kind of city guide, and so on.  Okay, maybe people don't need encouragement to spend yet more of their attention on such devices, but it doesn't matter.  What matters is that the hotel is pointing a high-resolution camera at each guest in their room, continually.  And has put a high-resolution microphone in the room.  Hotels need to understand that if they incorporate smart devices, then the cameras and microphones on those smart devices are cameras and microphones.  On programmable devices with lots of storage, and fast storage.  They don't magically become not cameras and microphones because the hotel doesn't intend to use them wrongly.  They are cameras and microphones.

 

I gave feedback about that, and the employee argued it, apparently wanting to dispute the fact that it was a camera.  He eventually took my point, admitting that it was indeed a camera, and said I was not the first customer to give this feedback.  I let them know mine was wrapped in some towels near the door, so hopefully their device doesn't end up in the laundry by mistake.

Next, when I ran a bath at 4am, there was no warm water.  I took a cold shower, which was fine.

Finally, there was the usual problem of light pollution within the room.  There were two bright green LEDs from a charging station they'd installed.  Apart from the LEDs it was a useful device, but I had to get up and tape over the lights when it was lights out time.

The same applied to the bright red LED on the TV.  I had to tape over it.

Service was good.  The first time I went out, they came and did the room, and when I got back my PJs were folded on the bed.  I think they got them out of my case.  I wasn't sure if I liked this, but I think I do.  Not everyone would.

They left a little sliced pineapple and blueberries dish.

The lounge, hall and bar area on the ground floor is traditional with good furniture and a good atmosphere.

In my review scoring scheme, a hotel can't score above zero if it commits in-room light pollution or has cameras or microphones in the room.  I guess it gets -3.