I am sadly writing this review so others don’t make the same mistake we did. Below is a recap of a bride and groom’s experience of attempting to plan a wedding at Casa Holstein. Upon initially signing our contract to host our wedding at Casa Holstein, we fell in love with the facade of Casa Holstein, and we loved the natural beauty of the flowers and surrounding maze garden (as advertised on their website). We chose to host our reception in that space as other bride and grooms had in the past, and we were excited to pay our initial deposit and book the venue. We were incredibly excited to arrive at Casa Holstein at the end of August for our technical visit, but when we got there, we were shocked to find that the entire façade and entrance of the property was not what we expected. It was not the beautiful maze garden where we planned to host our wedding. It simply just a large patch of dirt. When we expressed our concern about this, neither the Manager Nuno, or owner of the property Salvador, could give us any assurance the property would revert to its previous state, or anything close to it. That was VERY concerning to us. As a young couple trying to plan and pay for an international wedding on our own, with our own hard-earned money, we simply can’t afford the additional stress of wondering whether the property would be in decent shape for our wedding day. What we signed up for, is clearly not what we’re getting, and we would never have chosen to get married at Casa Holstein in its current state. Upon visiting the property, there were also many other concerns—especially regarding safety. There is broken railing on the main staircase, exposing extremely sharp and rusty metal. There is a raised pool area with no fence to stop people from falling off the edge, which is also very dangerous. I would be extremely cautious about bringing any children to this property. Other than safety issues, the property is extremely unkempt overall. Much of the landscaping, besides what’s advertised on Casa Holsteins website, has not been attended to. This includes unsightly and overgrown plants, bushes, and there is an entire area simply filled with dead, rotting sunflowers. The ceremony area has a massive, unsightly bush in the center which has been photoshopped out of their pictures, obstructing the area where we would have gotten married. We were left with no other choice but to pull out of this venue—and or vacation to Portugal turned into a mad dash to find a new place to get married. Upon requesting a refund, or even a partial refund, or EVEN having the deposit transferred towards rooms at another property owned by their management, we were met with short, rude responses from their Manager Nuno saying that they did not breach their contract and that the garden is finished. However, he was unwilling to provide any current photos of the finished garden. After begging for photos for weeks, our wedding planner went to the property to show us the current state of the property, which can be here seen in this post. All of this back and forth and unwillingness to help has been carefully documented, and we never would have imagined an establishment deemed to be a luxury property would treat their guests in such a way. They have proved over and over again, through every aspect of the way they run and manage their property to the way that they treat their paying guests, they are clearly not equipped, or caring enough, to deliver a quality experience—whether you’re getting married on their property or simply enjoying a holiday. Some other issues — they claim there is a chef on site. We stayed there for one week and we did not see the chef once. The Manager Nuno makes omelets every morning which we found strange. Additionally, the pool is not heated, and was unusable during our stay in August. Lastly, the hotel used the property to host paid events that are open to the public, that EVEN guests need to pay to attend. We could not enter the pool area one day because they were hosting a movie screening, which I would have had to pay to enter. They are essentially eliminating areas of the property which are supposed to be accessible to guests. This is a huge sign of the desperation of this hotel to make ends meet. The other clear sign of their desperation was their need to keep our wedding deposit. Still, to this day, we are still fighting with layers of their management to get any resolution to our massive loss of money. Thousands were lost on the deposit, and thousands were lost staying on the property for our site visit. There are so many lovely hotels in Sintra and Lisbon area who operate with integrity and care. Please think wisely before booking any stay or event here, it was a grave mistake and one of the most stressful experiences of our lives. I have wrote this review because I simply wouldn’t wish this upon anyone else. The images attached represent the property upon signing the contract and the property in its current state. Still to this day, they are holding all of our money, and now the manager Nuno will not respond to any of our emails or calls whatsoever.…