Our accommodation was poor,the balcony overlooked the kitchen complete with rusting & noisy extraction unit.When we requested a move it was refused as "The Oriental is full"....no apology or discount offered. The buffet breakfast was only adequate with limited choice & the worst coffee I have ever tasted. The pool & gardens were fine but I was surprised that we were expected to "rent" towels for the loungers. Unless both the accommodation & breakfast are substantially improved we shall not return.

Stayed for 7 nights in August on Bed & Breakfast basis. No assistance with luggage available or offered. The room allocated stunk of stale cigarette smoke despite supposedly a non-smoking hotel and despite our definite booking request of a non-smoking room. Upon asking for a room change this was begrudgingly given and we received a garden room which was fine and spacious and with direct access to pleasant and quiet gardens overlooking the magnificent beach. The bathroom was very small with an efficient bath shower although with threadbare towels. Use of a room safe was chargeable at an exorbitant daily rate by getting the safe lock key from reception - this was not mentioned or offered at check-in. There were no in-room pressing facilities and none available from reception except for the hotel's own service chargeable at ridiculously high item rates.There was considerable noise at night from the floor above which was irritating,especially at sleep time.Breakfast was not impressive at all with powdery 'juices',disgusting coffee self-served from an urn, no egg cooking station (hard boiled or scrambled egg from a tray or nothing). Requests for fried or poached eggs were met with a shrug from the one staff present. Long and impatient queues for the old and tired toasting machine - the bread was excellent as was the fruit although it often ran out.
The pool was small and the surroundings not too clean with a few (not enough) old loungers available. The signs there stating the hotel policy of no reserving of loungers was blatantly ignored by some residents and not at all enforced. This bad attitude of the staff was obvious everywhere-a miserable & couldn't care less attitude prevailed. The bar area was depressing with unwelcoming service & hardly ever used by anyone. Of major concern was the total lack of security to the hotel.There was open access to both sides of the hotel,to the gardens, garden rooms & to the hotel grounds generally from the busy street fronting the hotel. Do not bother to eat in the hotel as there are excellent bars & restaurants with superb food and service to suit all tastes & budgets within a few minutes walk.Some on cliff-tops overlooking the beach and with views of glorious sunsets.

Out of the many beach holidays that we have taken over the years this is the only resort that we have returned to mainly because of the beach. This was our third visit and we decided to stay at the Oriental due to it's location at the quieter end of Praia Da Rocha . Thoroughly enjoyed our stay here, the hotel is in a prime location overlooking the beach which can be accessed by steps leading from the gardens. Nice gardens with sun loungers which we found easy to get no matter the time of day. I believe the hotel is currently undergoing refurbishment, and some of the public areas were a little tired looking, but our room #6 was fine, nice and spacious and the room was cleaned every day - including Sunday by the maid. The only glitch that we had - unable to use the shower one morning due to the tap being stuck- was rectified within minutes of being reported to reception - thanks are due to the staff for prompt service. Would without doubt use to this hotel if we returned to Praia Da Rocha.

We stayed for 9 days and had a good sized room with balcony, sea view and kitchenette. The room was perfectly adequate with plenty of space and was also quiet. The location is right on the main strip of Praia da Rocha (eastern end) with direct access for residents to the superb beach (one of the best we have experienced being very wide, deep and having lovely soft sand with loads of sunbeds so no worries about having to get on the beach early). Plenty of beach and other restaurants at hand.

Staff were very helpful and any request was dealt with in a very prompt and friendly manner.

Our only criticism of the hotel was the quality of breakfasts which was the ubiquitous buffet that was let down by poor orange juice, UHT milk, tasteless scrambled eggs and scrappy looking bacon. The Esplanade Oriental cafe which is attached to the hotel did excellent breakfasts however for only a few extra euro and included freshly squeezed orange juice and a good choice of freshly cooked breakfasts. Perhaps we are being too picky and the hotel is certainly worth 3.5 stars.