I stayed at the Bourbon following a recommendation from a travel agent. I was looking for a central and convenient location for a decent price, and that's what I got - not more, not less.

I arrived very early on a nightbus from Rio, the room was only available from noon, so I had breakfast and went for a walk to the nearby city center. The hotel is located on a relatively quiet side-street close to Praca da Republica, and in walking distance (15min) to the banking district.

Check-in went smoothly, the single room was okay, a bit smelly and with paperthin walls. Aircon worked well, minibar was refilled reliably, and the bed was okay.

Receptionist on early morning checkout did not speak any english, the porter had to translate, which was a bit surprising in a business hotel in Sao Paulo, with many international guests staying, but we sorted it out.

An unexpected gem in this colourful neighbourhood. I walked into the room and was pleasantly surprised. Rooms are slightly old-fashioned but certainly of 4* quality, very clean, great shower, comfortable bed, double-glazed so little noise from the street (more on that below). Service very friendly, efficient helpful staff. My litmus test for a great hotel is Q-Tips in the bathroom - if a hotel's gone that far, it's usually pretty good everywhere else - and sure enough, this place has them.

If you're British, you'll understand what I mean when I say this is a Marmite area - you'll either love it or hate it. República is famously dangerous, but you needn't worry unless it's midweek past 2am and the streets are deserted - the hotel is a trivially easy and perfectly safe 200 metre walk from República metro (take the Dom Jose/Boticario/Airport Bus Service exit), and an even shorter walk from the first stop that the Airport Bus Service makes after it leaves Guaralhos. The dangerous parts of República are the back streets alone at night - but you won't need to go anywhere near them.

Vieria Carvalho is São Paulo's main gay street (much more so than Frei Caneca), and Fridays to Sundays the nightlife gets pretty rowdy. But it's very good-natured and perfectly safe.

Totally agree with dgcpaphd who says "the new manager is spoiling the hotel" I have not been there before but I could ascertain that the result is true. I left it after few days for another place.

Over the past five years I have stayed at this hotel more than 500 days. I have recommended this hotel to many friends who also stayed at this hotel. The current new manager has been there about three months and has fired all the waiters in the restaurant which means there are often dirty tables and no silver ware or cups or napkins or clean tables available for guests using the restaurant. The new manager also fired a very competent reservation receptionist because “he was boring” according to the manager. The new manager also changed the former comfortable music heard in the restaurant and reception area to loud jungle type music which means a normal conversation is difficult over the loud music. The manager ignored broken and missing items in the hotel but at the same time added plastic flowers to the tables in the restaurant and recovered the chairs in the reception area with a color of cloth that does not blend with the other colors in the room. The manager eats breakfast in the restaurant and holds meetings most of the day and at the same time ignores the fact that he is downgrading the hotel by his poor decisions. The employees’ moral is at a near nothing because several employees told me and my friends they fear they will be next to be fired. I and my friends checked out of the hotel during my last stay due to the alleged "improvements" (downgrading) of the hotel by the new manager. It should be obvious to the owners that revenue will drop because many of their loyal guests are leaving and not returning due to the strange behavior of the new manager and the negative changes to the hotel. It is a shame because we liked the hotel and brought a lot of revenue to the owners in the past years. During these past years, I and my friends developed a friendly relationship with the staff (restaurant and reception personnel) many of whom have since been fired. Maybe the owners of the hotel will fire the new manager and the hotel will be able to restore the goodwill it took years to build but is quickly losing because of the new manager.