Hotel Sao Luiz

The location worked well for a pilgrimage, close to both Basílica de Nossa Senhora Aparecida and Basílica Velha de Aparecida. The front desk staff were polite, and the shower had hot water, but that was about all I could say in the hotel's favor. My room had a very thin, uncomfortable mattress, just two outlets, no air conditioning, and only a wall fan that couldn't be adjusted. I had to move the bed so the air would reach me at all. There was no soap, towels, or sheet, just an extremely thick blanket that was useless without air conditioning. The small shower stall was open, so water spread across the whole bathroom and even into the room. The breakfast had some variety but the food quality was poor, and the hours were very limited, starting and ending early. I took one bite of a snack with spoiled sausage and later became very ill, with vomiting and diarrhea. Parking cost R$ 40 extra and was a long way from the hotel on steep streets. Getting my car out was difficult too. I rang and called for more than 40 minutes before I managed to get access, and had to open it myself. There's a strong, unpleasant rotten smell in reception as well, which made for a terrible first impression. This was an extremely negative stay, and I wouldn't recommend it. Even paying a little more somewhere else would be better than dealing with these problems.

The room itself was dirty, with uncomfortable beds and torn, holey bedding. The ceiling fan was loose and barely moved any air, so sleeping in the city's heat was really hard. We got just one roll of toilet paper for three days, and there were no face or bath towels. The bathroom was cramped, with a pillar right in front of the toilet that made it hard to get to the shower. The shower swung between freezing and scalding. The food was another letdown. Breakfast was awful and had few choices. We paid for lunch, but it wasn't provided, and the management ignored us when we asked for our money back. The meal photos on the website showed a feast, but when we went to eat there was only what looked like leftovers, probably from the staff's meal. It felt as if we weren't even there. The dining room was poor, and a dog lay on the reception benches and also wandered through it. We paid 50 reais a day to park in what was basically an empty lot. Getting the car in was a hassle because the person who opened the gate was never there. The reception smelled horribly of rotten fish, enough to turn my stomach. At night reception closes, and when we returned, we had to ring the bell for half an hour before anyone came to let us in. Even a place that's only for sleeping should make the stay pleasant. Coming back to that room was miserable. I wouldn't recommend this hotel to anyone and would never stay there again.

We had a terrible stay from start to finish. The rooms were extremely dirty, and the bedding didn't seem to be changed properly. There were no towels or minibar. The bathroom was in awful condition: a dirty toilet, a shower stall with built-up body grease, and a lizard coming out of a hole in the wall. The floor was covered in droppings and bits of insects. In the middle of a heatwave, all we had was a fan that didn't cool the room properly and made so much noise that we had to choose between extreme heat and losing sleep. The room meant for three people had only one outlet, so we had to charge our phones somewhere else. Breakfast hours were terrible and unlike the usual hotel schedules. Parking cost R$ 30 per night, but the so-called parking was an open lot exposed to mud, sun, and rain, shared with abandoned cars. The street was very empty at night. If you arrived by car in the early hours, getting in felt especially worrying for a woman: the hotel took a long time to open the gate, and the intercom was at a different exit, so you had to get out of the car and stand exposed in the street. Reception was confused and disorganized, with obvious communication problems among staff. At one point, the receptionist couldn't find my car key, which showed very little care for guests' belongings. One elevator even shook while we were using it, making us feel like we could get stuck at any moment. It may look cheap at first, but after this stay it was clear that even for free it would've cost too much.

The food we paid extra for was completely misleading. The website photos showed a big spread with lots of choices, but when we went for lunch there was nothing. They still wouldn't refund me, so I lost 160 reais. The parking was 50 reais a day for an open, practically abandoned lot with no security. The whole place felt neglectful, like we weren't even there. Reception reeked of rotten fish, the rooms were dirty, and the beds and old linens were torn and full of holes. There were no face or bath towels, and only a few hygiene items. Sleeping there felt almost like torture, even though we'd picked a reasonably priced place thinking we only needed somewhere to sleep. Such a horrible hotel. The biggest disappointment of the trip. I wouldn't give it a star if I could. Avoid it, there are much better options in town.