Pensão Londres

The location is fantastic, and the pension has a cute general style. But we found the practical details lacking, and it didn’t feel worth the price. Our first room seemed all right until we spotted a big clump of hair on the shower wall. The only staff member on duty cleaned it and offered us another room. That one had holes in the bed linens, tiny, unusable side tables, and no bathroom hooks for towels or clothes. The online listing says there’s an elevator, but it only begins on the first floor. You still have to climb stairs from the ground floor, which is a pain with large luggage, and there’s no ramp. The lift itself is very small. The person working at check-in really did try his best, but management seems to have missed a lot of basic amenities.

The service and the hotel’s style made me want to come back. A really helpful guy at the front desk stored our bags and looked up directions for us. Our fifth-floor room was spacious, with a clean, bold design and incredible city views. The bathroom was roomy too. The two twin beds were very comfortable, and the couch bed worked for a smaller person. The elevator wasn’t working for the first few hours of our stay. Also, this property isn’t handicap accessible: there’s a flight of stairs between the street and the first floor, where the very small elevator is. Still, we had an incredible stay.

The place smelled bad, and there was lots of noise from outside. My sheets were stained, and the room had no refrigerator. The breakfast was very basic and the same every day. The carpet and bathroom had stains and mold, the mirror was rusty, and so was the bathtub. There was no overhead shower. This hotel is very old and dirty. Find somewhere else.

We were glad to move to another hotel because the other guests made a lot of noise at night. I didn’t try the breakfast, so I can’t say what it was like. Instead, we went to the corner “padaria” for fresh ham and cheese “tostas”, coffee, and pastel de Belem for $5.90, compared with $20.00 at the hotel. I wish zero stars were an option. The carpet looked like a health hazard, covered in stains from who knows what. The walls were dirty, but the bathroom was much more disgusting. I couldn’t use it, let alone shower there.