In short, the Novotel is nothing special. Imagine a mediocre Best Western and you have the idea. The rooms consist of a sleeping area, an odd looking window seat against the wall, a 19 inch TV (not flat screen), and a long working area that doubles as a tiny dresser. Nothing is particularly clean feeling, although not terrible dirty either.

As for the restaurant, the food is OK, and the prices aren't too bad, but the service is absolutely terrible. When I ordered dinner, it took 40 minutes to get my food. And there were only 2 other customers in the whole place. Worst yet was the indifferent attitude of the server. Breakfast consisted of the usual buffet of breads, meat, cheese, eggs, etc, but was not quite as good as most Brazilian hotels - no cook to order, and most everything was cold.

Clearly, this hotel does not get many English-speaking visitors, because it was always a little hassle to get someone who could answer my questions. Of course I realize that I am a... more