Pousada Taieiras

I hate leaving a bad review, but this hotel really didn’t match the impression its reviews here gave me. I even wondered if they were all genuine. The pool photos are very misleading. There are no sun loungers, just worn chairs and tables, so I had to lie on hard concrete to sunbathe. The pool was also crowded and noisy because children who weren’t staying at the hotel came in to use it. The WiFi didn’t reach our room, so we had to sit by the noisy, uncomfortable pool to get online. Staff are described in other reviews as friendly and helpful, but they didn’t tell us about breakfast until we chased them. They also didn’t properly explain the room cleaning times, so we had to clean the room ourselves. The sink and sewage system smelled like rotten food whenever we ran the water, and brushing our teeth made us feel sick. The lock on the balcony door was broken, so we couldn’t secure the room. It seemed like a pretty safe area, but someone could easily get in from the balcony, and there was no room safe for valuables. We had to leave early because of an emergency. I gave notice, and they agreed in writing to refund our final night. But at checkout, the owner reversed that decision. He didn’t speak to us himself and just asked his staff to pass along the message. I’ve tried to follow up since leaving, but he’s ignored all my messages. I could have overlooked the obvious shortcomings, but this behavior really upset me. For the price, which wasn’t especially cheap, there are much nicer, friendlier, cleaner places to stay. I wish I’d taken photos to show how different the posted pictures are from reality.