Pousada Nova Estrela Centro

Help, how can they call this an inn? Nobody was there to receive me, the bedding didn't smell clean, and the white towel was stained. The room was terribly hot and uncomfortable even with the fan and air conditioning. The only thing going for it is the location, very close to the center of Búzios.

After we arrived, exhausted, they told us our reservation was wrong and that payment for an extra bed for our 8-year-old son wasn't showing. We had the reservation, and HU said everything was in order, but they made us pay 120,00 for the bed and said we'd have to leave the pousada if we didn't. Even with our child there and the booking confirmation in hand, we were forced to pay. Then we found the TV didn't work. We complained several times and nothing was done. I'm very disappointed. If we've paid for a service, the least they can do is provide it. I don't recommend them to anyone. They have no empathy for their guests.

We arrived exhausted after a 14-hour trip, and things went badly from the start. Our transfer mistakenly took us to the wrong Nova Estrela branch. They said we only had a 2-day reservation instead of 7, and that it wasn't valid for that day. Then we were told our booking was at another branch, luckily only two blocks away. But when we got there, they said it started the next day. The travel agency in Uruguay said it had arranged everything correctly, and the inn later admitted the mistake was theirs. They offered no immediate solution. My husband had to negotiate and suggest alternatives himself because the inn showed no interest. They offered one night at the branch we'd first gone to, but we refused: we'd have had to unpack and pack everything again for less than a day, and we were already exhausted. With no other option from them, we moved. The room at the other inn was a disaster. It smelled as if it hadn't been aired out in a year. The wardrobe was so broken its doors were missing, and the little furniture there was so dusty it looked like it had never been cleaned. The bathroom was filthy and horrendous. The sheets were dirty, smelled of mildew, and weren't even good enough to use as rags. We couldn't believe it. We told the manager, but she offered no solution. After that mistreatment, lack of respect, and total disinterest in our situation, we contacted the agency in Uruguay. They let us change inns, which was the best thing that happened. Nova Estrela Plaza had already been paid in advance, yet couldn't apologize, offer a humane solution, or treat us like tourists spending their savings. It was disgraceful. We'll never set foot in Nova Estrela Plaza or any of its branches again.

The pousada was clean and well located. Everything was simple, but there was a lot of care and love in the way we were treated.