I stayed at this hotel at a business trip, and I can only say that this is one of the many hotels in Brazil that claim to be top of the range, but are actually not even good standard (maybe it was 30 years ago). You find them in Recife, but also in Brasília, a few of them in Rio.

The rooms are actually not shabby, but very old-fashioned. You find the good old shower curtain in the bathroom, besides the telephone next to the toilet and the installed cheap standard hotel plastic hairdryer that no western premium hotel would leave installed nowadays. The bathroom has an open sink underneath the wash basin that disseminates an off odour.

And last but not least, at least in my room there was the typical old-fashioned door to the neighbor room. Although there are actually two doors and your neighbor would have a hard time to open the door to your room, I did not very much like the doors and the fact that at least my door was not looked. They should lock it and only open it upon request.

Not recommended at the rate they normally charge.

My husband and I went to Mar Hotel for our honeymoon. Actually, I also got ready for my wedding in the suite, which was spacious, clean, and beautifully decorated. The bathroom looked like it had been renovated recently and the shower was excellent!

The pool was really big and it had an amazing waterfall, which made it 5-stars!!! We spent only a couple of days at the hotel, which wasn't enough to take full advantage of all it has to offer (i.e. we didn't use the gym, didn't dine at the hotel's restaurant (food looked great) or shopped at the shops by the reception). The staff was helpful, efficient and pleasant.

Breakfast is included. There is a huge variety but it wasn't overly tasty, which was the only let-down of our stay.

Definetely recommend this one. But try to book on-line as you can find great bargains! Our stay ended up costing us only US$100 a night, which was a lot cheaper than some other rates for the hotel I have seen advertised!

I've been to Mar Hotel for the 4th time last week. What i saw is a decadent "once a 5-stars" hotel, now not worth a 3 stars.

Old furniture, old TVs, dirty bathtubs, service OK, breakfast OK.

It has aged like Recife, today a unsafe, violent city, which i DO NOT recommend.

I stayed in the Mar Hotel for a conference for 3 days in July 2008. It charged like a 5 star hotel, but the facilities were hardly up to the standard.

First, I reached there on a Sunday night at 9:30pm and found that they had no restaurants open. My only choice was to either order the overpriced room service or to go out (I went out -- there is a pretty nice Chinese place within 5minutes).

Secondly, the internet connection is terrible. They claim to have "High-Speed" internet, but the connection is worse than dialup. My room wasn't the exception, everyone at the conference was complaining about the internet connection. If that is important to you to conduct business, be very careful.

The location isn't that great either. Its not bad, it seemed safe, but it still a good 5 minutes walk to the beach. On the positive side, it is very close to the airport and takes only 10minutes from the airport.

The rooms are average. The floor in the bathroom wasn't very clean -- if you walk around barefoot your feet will pick up dirt and some basics such as ironing board and iron weren't available.

On a positive note, the front desk was friendly and efficient and there is a tourist agency in the hotel that can supply you with maps and they also organize city tours. The breakfast is plentiful.