EVOLUTION Lisboa Hotel

Good: Excellent stay. Hotel is very well located in the center of Lisbon. I was a little afraid about room's sound proof as it is next to a busy road but the room had a pretty decent soundproof. It also has a nice bar with music until late night. Unfortunately I only stayed for a night and the following day sauna, swimming pool and gym were down for maintenance. A big shout out to Mara that dealt my check in and check out. Always with a smile and absolutely 5*. I am going to Portugal again in 3 weeks and Evolution will be my first choice.

Be careful with this hotel, in which service and facilities are wildly variable. For our last night, one bath towel is missing for a room of double occupancy - a schoolboy error as they would call it - and when we requested the second one, the receptionist acted as if he were doing us a big favour. Then, on our last day, neither of our two room cards worked when we returned to the room 30 min before check out time - and because of receptionist shortage, it took us a good 15 min to get a replacement card - not a good thing for a hotel that brands itself for being chic and high tech. The room controller, which is run by the TV system, as well as the lighting panel, are as dysfunctional as they get - one would have thought it should be a very simple thing to raise or lower the temperature through a quick flip of a switch, or a simple touch on dial. Instead, it is waiting for the TV to warm up, entering the room control panel, blah blah blah. Note also a double bed at this hotel means two single beds slapped together. Not great if you have no wish to sleep atop a trench. Our last night happens to be on a Friday, and the lobby practically turned into a dance floor with loud and cheap beats that went all the way to almost midnight and heard even on the highest floors. No problem for being chic, but being chic is very different from being dysfunctional and uncomfy. A shame, as the location is excellent, some of the staff were nice and helpful, and some of the decor are clever.