Casa Ateneu

There is no reception and in fact when we arrived there was no one to check us in and especially to get the access code to the building and therefore to the room. We called the tour operator, a boy came to us and let us in. The air conditioning in the room was terrible: maybe it was at 15 degrees. This is to keep termites away, which seem to be a problem throughout the island. Obviously we raised the temperature which we always kept at that limit beyond the termites. In 4 days we saw one in the room. The noise of the cars passing right under the building is terrible. You need earplugs. Otherwise you can't sleep. Breakfast consists of a basket left outside the door of the room. In a shared kitchenette, there is a kettle for tea and coffee. The contents of the basket are inedible (rubbery bread stuffed into a plastic bag, two mini tubs of jam, two half-rotten apples, spoiled cocoa, etc). We had to have breakfast elsewhere even though we had booked as BB. The room was clean, but the bathroom was so tiny that if you bent over the sink to brush your teeth, your butt would hit the opposite wall. In short, avoid it.

A fraud. Initially we had a reservation for 3 nights in another hotel but the same day we arrived they sent us a message saying that they had had problems with the reservation and there was no availability in that hotel so they told us that if we didn't mind they had a free room at Casa Ateneu for the same contracted price. The first night we woke up at 4 in the morning with many insects in the room on the floor, the bed, the clothes... The wall, in the bathroom... everywhere. We sent a message so that they would contact us as soon as they read it and for the rest of the night we were sleepless. The next day at 9:30 they still hadn't answered so we called several times until they picked up the phone and the manager came and told us that they didn't have any more rooms available there or in any other hotel. Without giving us any solution or offering to find us other hotels. We told him that we would not stay there for the remaining 2 nights and we agreed that he would refund us the money for these 2 nights but the night we had stayed we had to consult with the manager. Finally they told us that they would not give us anything back because there was a sheet in the room that informed us that the old houses in Ponta Delgado could have termites and that we should have the window closed and the air on. Information that they did not tell us since you do know. Surely you are not staying and besides we had already paid. They tell us that they will not refund us any money and that if we want we can stay these 2 nights, in that same room full of bugs, that is, an uninhabitable place. I'm posting some photos so you can see that I'm not exaggerated and there were termites everywhere.

The room was full of insects (termites), we called attention and they changed the room. The next day we returned to the same room (as it was supposed to have been disinfested, but it was not true). After this episode, due to the fact that they did not proceed correctly with regard to cleaning the next day, the room was still full of termites, so we were forced to change rooms again… we concluded that this establishment does not comply with the proper hygiene procedures…. We do not recommend this accommodation to anyone unless someone likes to sleep among bugs…