Dreams Madeira Resort is located in a beautiful corner of the Madeira island, very close to Prainha Beach and Sao Lourenco Point. Hyatt purchased a massive piece of land and there are no other private residences there. Guests get to enjoy access to a private beach and close proximity to the world famous PR8 Sao Lourenco hike.
Exceptions to the all-inclusive resort experience
It is important for potential guests at this resort to understand the following exceptions to avoid disappointment:
- Parking – €10 to €12.50 per day. However, the fee is waived for Globalist award reservations. If the front desk agent is unaware of this benefit, I recommend guests insist on speaking to the manager (which I had to do to get the charge waived).
- Spa – €35 for a 3-hour daily pass; The €35 access fee is removed if you book any spa treatment (massage, facial, etc.).
- Room Delivery Service Fee (e.g., ordering food delivery) – €20 per order. This resort is spread over a large land area and room delivery service will take some time and effort.
- Dry cleaning/laundry services – additional fee.
Dreams Madeira Resort Booking
Dreams Madeira is an all-inclusive resort when booked with Hyatt points but incurs an additional fee for half-board & all-inclusive stays when paid with cash (see images below).
Award Booking Dreams Madeira Resort
I used my Chase/Hyatt points to book a 5-night stay at Dreams Madeira Resort and used one of my suite upgrade awards (SUA’s) to confirm a standard Preferred Club Suite (see images below), which typically costs 32K points per night.
Please refer to my earlier post (link) to understand the restrictive usage of CAT 1-7 certificates and SUA’s to book Hyatt all-inclusive properties.
Drive from the Madeira International Airport to the property
We rented a car for a 5-night stay (for <$100USD) and it is a 10 minute drive from the airport to the property. There is plenty of parking inside the garage and you will be provided with a parking card to facilitate easy garage entry and exit. The parking card can be conveniently returned to the guard at the main entrance on your last day after checking out from the hotel.
Dreams Madeira Resort Check-in
Preferred Club guests have a dedicated check-in counter inside the lounge area on the second floor. They served us welcome drinks and a cold towel while we waited for the check-in counters to become available. We appreciated the immediate Globalist recognition and were pleasantly surprised to see a double upgrade to a Presidential Suite for the duration of our stay.
Preferred Club Presidential Suite
Presidential Suite Ocean View Suite is not well advertised and is not typically available for cash purchases for some reason, but it appears under the “accommodations” section of the hotel webpage (link). While there is no way to estimate the nightly price of the Presidential Suite, it seems to be one level below the highest priced (over $2000USD for all-inclusive) “Preferred Club Townhouse” (see image below).
This was the first time we were ever upgraded to any hotel suite with the name “Presidential” in it and we were curious to see the size of it. The Presidential Suite (room number 1641) is the only one on the 4th floor (P4 in the image from the elevator below) and you can’t help but feel like you are entering into a Penthouse Suite. The suite is very large (over 1100 square feet) with a total of 3 balconies and an additional private furnished terrace with a Jacuzzi.
The Presidential Suite has a double door entrance that leads to a small room before the walkway that splits to the bedrooms and living room. We turned this room into a “mudroom” by moving a couple of dining table chairs to leave out hiking shoes.
The Presidential Suite has a bedroom with a king mattress along with a full second bathroom, so a whole family can stay here comfortably.
The master bedroom is very spacious and has every amenity you can think of except for a magnifying mirror and ironer.
Furnished Terrace
The large furnished veranda with Jacuzzi is certainly the highlight of the Presidential Suite and we enjoyed it every day after hiking. There are taller buildings next to the veranda so it is not very private.
Views from the Presidential Suite
The suite has an uninterrupted view of a small mountain, the harbor and the ocean (see images below). We watched the sunset from the veranda a few times while relaxing in the lounge chairs and Jacuzzi.
Wi-Fi Speed
Wi-Fi speeds are pretty basic and Hyatt should consider boosting the speeds across the board at their properties.
Fitness Center
I was surprised to see a large fitness center with brand new Life Fitness equipment at this all-inclusive property. It includes free weights and a bench press machine along with some resistance equipment (see images below).
Preferred Club Lounge
Preferred Club Lounge appears busy from the check-in counter being inside the lounge space. It was missing a cappuccino machine, so we did not spend much time there as we enjoyed our hot drinks from the other cafes.
Coco Café
Coco Café is located on the 1st floor and serves hot drinks and desserts during the day. There was a good selection of desserts without repetition and my wife especially enjoyed them.
The Desire Sports Bar
We went there one afternoon and ordered some chicken wings and quesadilla.
World Café Buffet Restaurant
We went to this restaurant every day for breakfast and also for some lunches during our stay. There is a large variety of food and the stalls are well organized with plenty of space for indoor and outdoor seating. There are many servers that help you with your drinks and there is a grill section that cooks eggs any style in the mornings and various meats during lunch and dinner. There are 4 Delta cappuccino machines inside and 2 machines outside, which is the most generous of all the hotel chains from our experience. Needless to say, we visited the World Cafe the most for all our hot drinks despite being Preferred Club members.
Fine Dining
I have emailed the guest experience agent (guestexperience.dremp@hyatt.com, WhatsApp +351964891824) about 10 days before my arrival date and asked them to book the following restaurants everyday for dinner at 7pm. I promptly received a confirmation email within 24 hours (see image below). If you choose to book restaurants after you arrive, you must do so on the smartphone app promptly at 8am, and you may still miss out on some restaurants due to the poor app interface and Wi-Fi speeds.
Sabor Mediterranean Restaurant
Carvão Restaurant
We ordered Grilled Vegetables, Chicken Thighs and Angus Ribeye for the main course which were delicious and we ordered the same dishes again.
Oishii Japanese Restaurant
We sat at the Teppanyaki grill with two other couples and exchanged travel ideas while the cook made delicious grilled food.
Club de Fado Portuguese Restaurant
We cancelled our reservation here and visited the Japanese Grill for a second time.
Nouvelle Brasserie French Restaurant
Nouvelle has the best ocean-front views out of all the fine dining restaurants (see images below). It got dark by 6.30pm in January when we visited and I can imagine the views for outdoor seating during the summer.
We ordered duck legs, beef cheeks and Creme Brûlée for our dinner and everything was delicious.
Natural Pool & Você Bar
There is a unique natural pool at the beach, where drinks are served by Você Bar (see images below).
Dreams Madeira Resort Outdoor Adults-only Swimming Pool & Sugar Reef Bar
The outdoor heated pool is located near the Spa & Fitness Center area, but it was not heated to a very warm temperature to be able to jump in during winter months.
Overall Experience at Dreams Madeira
- We estimated the nightly price of the Presidential Suite to be between $1500-1800 and it was amazing to see the value of Hyatt’s Globalist status with the ability to use the SUA’s long before arrival at the property.
- We experienced the best customer service comparable to the best 5-star hotels and the food in general was very good. It is hard to meet everyone’s taste requirements in all-inclusive resorts and I have seen several negative reviews on TripAdvisor.
- There were no expectations of tips or positive Google or TripAdvisor reviews from any of the staff members.
- Wi-Fi speeds and room service response times could be improved, but they did not influence our experience.
Conclusion
Dreams Madeira Resort, Spa & Marina is one of the most reasonably priced all-inclusives in the world (similar to the Canary Islands), and I encourage Hyatt Globalists to make use of their suite upgrade certificates to enjoy a week stay here with Preferred Club benefits. I highly recommend reaching out to the guest experience concierge to make all the dinner reservations ahead of time.
The resort was spotless with the friendliest customer service personnel and most of the food items we tasted were good. We will most likely return to Madeira again to do a few more hikes and plan to stay at Dreams Madeira with or without the Presidential Suite upgrade.