The Cliff Bay Hotel, Funchal Madeira
This was the first hotel I ever stayed in on Madeira. I did not really felt very at home in the Cliff Bay Hotel. It’s a very large hotel (for Madeira), and the staff isn’t really here to pay attention to the guests. Most of them seem to be younger staff that is sent here to be trained for other locations.
The large pool – the major attraction of the hotel – can be reached with an elevator. But while you can see the see up close and personal, you can’t access it here. The breakfast was nice, and being able to eat outside is a nice extra.
While I stayed here it felt like the chain that operates the Cliff Bay hotel was using this as a training facility for staff of other properties. Despite my history in the hotel industry and the schooling system behind it, the ratio students to professionals seemed a bit low here, degrading the expected service.
In the evenings, when the temperature cools down, it’s pretty nice to sit outside in the gardens. The cool breeze coming over the sea makes it one of the nicer places to hang out at that time.
If you travel without kids, you might have a look at the Estalagem Ponta Do Sol, not too far outside of Funchal.
Koen Blanquart is a strategy consultant, journalist, and author.
Wanderlust is one of his driving factors, and he shares his travels here on Boarding Today. Koen is also the skipper of SV Bagabonda, a sailing vessel making a slow circumvention of the globe..
Koen recently published a book on how to manage a remote team: The Suitcase Office.
