Rifóles Praia Hotel & Resort

The beds made for the worst sleep I’ve ever had. The pillows are painfully thin and the mattresses are old. The gym equipment is mostly out of commission. The pool is nice, the location is great, and the buffet is good. There’s plenty to do nearby, and the staff are great.

This was not worth the money, and I strongly wouldn’t recommend staying here, even in the worst-case scenario. Check-in was fine, but the unpleasant surprises came afterward. It doesn’t meet five-star standards at all, and the rooms are old. The shower was out of order and the water barely warm. Cleaning seemed to have no standards. There were three of us, but the bathroom amenities were set up for one person. I called five times, and they only dealt with it on the fifth call after I got rude. Dinner at the buffet was disgusting, with the worst food quality I’ve ever seen. Service was very slow and inefficient, though that wasn’t the waiters’ fault when just two guys were doing almost everything. Breakfast was just as disgusting, with little variety and awful scrambled eggs that looked like vomit and had no taste. The juices were so artificial I couldn’t drink them. I could only manage some fruit and tried a coffee that was disgusting by Brazil’s well-known standards. Even the cheapest bar around the corner would offer better. The kids were the only ones who seemed happy. They just wanted to play, and at least there was some entertainment for them. The team looked after them very well, and they came back happy. In my opinion, staff chose whom to speak to or offer things to, and, as at the co-partner Pontal Mar Hotel, they only talked to white people. That behavior was really disgusting to me, especially since I’ve stayed at real superior five-star hotels and have never felt welcomed in places like these. We also shouldn’t have to leave our room to order anything or argue over problems. When we arrived, nobody asked about our trip to the hotel or whether it had been easy to find.

The view was wonderful and made me fall in love with Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. It’s an amazing place to bring the family together for a great time, and the food is delicious. There are loads of different fish and crabs, all of them unusual and great.

The view of Ponta Negra beach is the best part. It’s a great hotel, with plenty of pools and fancy meals.