I recently stayed here at the end of Feb. for 5 days on a business trip. This hotel was very convenient to my company's Brazil office, but other than that none of my fellow travellers knew much about it or had stayed there before. I would compare the comfort/cleanliness of the rooms and hotel to some business hotels in Europe or Japan - pretty basic. The exterior or the hotel is nice, they split the building between Comfort Suites and Clarion (which I believe is the same company). The desk staff was helpful and friendly, and spoke English well. The rest of the hotel staff did seem a bit challenged in this area, however; when I checked into my room I noticed the toilet was draining very slowly. I called to mention it and within a few minutes someone was at my door with extra towels. I had to chuckle. But, we got it straightened out.

They also had to send someone up to my room to get the internet to work (which was free). He finally did, but they said it was high speed and I'd put it at about 100k rate.

One of the more disconcerting features of the hotel was the fact that in all of the hallways and corridors, they have the lights off to save energy. The lights have a sensor as you approach and turn on for about 30 seconds. However, it was a little troubling at night to step off the elevator and look down the long, pitch-black corridors on the way to your room. The female travellers in our party especially did not like this from a safety point of view.

The room was clean, but not overly comfortable and certainly not luxurious. Furnishings were almost dorm-like and plain, a bit shabby. Beds were not very comfortable.

They have a restaurant but we found the food to be terrible, particularly the breakfasts. After a few days we gave up completely. I got room service once and while it was quick, the food was not very good (though better than my restaurant experiences - and I assume it is all prepared in the same kitchen). There is a small cafe in the same building as the hotel where we got good coffee and small meals. The gift/sundries shop in the lobby is kind of odd. A lot of smoking paraphenalia such as pipes, cigars, etc, and wood carved souvenirs but only a small section of snacks and no cold beverages/bottled water, no toiletries or pharmacy type items for sale, and no newspapers or magazines. There is a drugstore as you walk out of the hotel and go down the driveway to the left.

There is a small gym and a pool, but I did not have a chance to visit either so cannot rate.

They do not change currency or even cash travellers check at the front desk. Have never before experience that with a large business hotel. So my advice would be to change money at the airport when you arrive, or use one of the bank ATMs. I found Citibank and HSBC machines worked with my Bank of America card, but none of the local bank ATMs did.

The area around the hotel is pretty nice, although our local co-workers warned us not to walk about at night by ourselves. As you exit the hotel and turn right, go about a half block and cross the street you'll see a large Texaco gas station - across the street from that is an excellent Brazilian buffet restaurant where you can sample all of the local cuisine and more; about a half block down from that is a grocery store where you can stock up on any snacks, fruit, beverages, etc you might need.

If you go the other direction (turn left as you walk out of the hotel) you'll see some more "western" type restaurants and businesses, including a McDonald's, an Outback Steakhouse, and a TGI Friday's a little further down the road. However, you'll definitely want to try the Brazilian BBQ experience over those, particularly if you're only there for a short stay. They bring skewers to your table with every cut of beef imaginable. My co-workers and I dubbed it "meat storm" - quite an experience.