Riachuelo Vacations from $481

For the price I definitely expected more, especially when it comes to the food. Breakfast was great (we had the more private breakfast because we payed more for a suite so maybe that influenced that result) but lunch and dinner were par to sub-par in my opinion. A lot of the buffet foods were way overcooked and semi flavorless. When you're spending so much money to have full meal services and you eat food that isn't as good as what you make at home that was for sure disappointing. ... Location and convenience was great, especially with two little kids, but I think I would have enjoyed it more in a hotel that would give a little more effort.

For the price it’s not a bad hotel—not perfect, but a great location. The hotel has 166 rooms, is right on the beach and has several pools, a tennis court and they serve microbrew beer at the pool (so far so good!). A good many of the rooms have a view of the beach and the ocean (if you ask, the front desk will do their best to accommodate you if your booking did not include this). The space could be better used. While they have some lovely antiques scattered about and the restaurant where breakfast is served has a wonderful view overlooking the beach, there are several bars and lounge areas that appear to have used to have servers that are just used for seating. The hotel in general needs a bit of TLC (there are some problems of mold, but nothing outrageous) and there is no room service after 10 PM. We were here for Christmas vacation and the hotel was packed, but there was still adequate parking on site. Some earlier commenters noted that the hotel is a bit far from town, but it only cost about R$25 by taxi to get there, so if that’s a deal breaker, then this isn’t the place for you. Otherwise the staff were, generally, very pleasant and mostly all were helpful.