Xenius Hotel

“Decent Hotel But Staff Seem Shy”

Decent hotel, bit further South that I had liked on Cabo Branco. As you are a fair walk from the all the decent shops. Right across the road from Tambau Beach and expensive bars etc, avoid these bars and go for the ones not on the beach side. Much cheaper. The hotel had a great fresh breakfast, goo… more

Decent hotel, bit further South that I had liked on Cabo Branco. As you are a fair walk from the all the decent shops. Right across the road from Tambau Beach and expensive bars etc, avoid these bars and go for the ones not on the beach side. Much cheaper. The hotel had a great fresh breakfast, good selection. Roof top has great view of the strip. Rooms are decent, even though a little dated. No room safes, not in Room 203 anyway. Overall good hotel, just a little far from the North section though for shops. Staff seemed shy, didn't openly say 'good morning' had to be prompted.

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“Great location, good restaurant, but poor quality rooms”

The location is excellent, and the restaurant inside is very good (and expensive). However, do not be fooled by the clean lobby and restaurant. The rooms need renovating, and smell like cigarette smoke. Though it is against the rules, guests smoke in their rooms, and unfortunately my temporary neig… more

The location is excellent, and the restaurant inside is very good (and expensive). However, do not be fooled by the clean lobby and restaurant. The rooms need renovating, and smell like cigarette smoke. Though it is against the rules, guests smoke in their rooms, and unfortunately my temporary neighbor chain-smoked all night. The management did nothing to stop this. Nevertheless, I thought the hotel staff and restaurant staff were courteous and efficient. My room was next to the elevator, but it did not disturb me. The air conditioner was weak, but the Internet worked ok most of the time. This could be a great hotel again if they did a comprehensive renovation, but that would likely require outside investment. I spent a week there during a business trip (the convention center is far away from the Xenius and all other hotels, thus allowing taxi drivers to gouge everyone). I would stay there again. The beach is literally across the street and is very clean compared to cities like Recife, Salvador, and Fortaleza. I think the Xenius is a good deal overall, and better than many alternatives for those on a tight budget. Though the choices were slim compared to my previous experiences, the breakfast was good, and had a decent choice of juices. Hotels in the USA charge 4 to 6 times the price of hotels like the Xenius, and are NOT located adjacent to nice beaches (which would cost more than 10x), and NEVER have good breakfasts with fresh fruits, juices, and excellent coffee. Eu amo Brasil!!!

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“Expensive for what you get”

This hotel is in a great location, within steps of the beach. The hotel is trying to be nice (nice looking lobby, restaurant adjacent to lobby, nicely dressed staff, bellhop to carry bags to your room), but the facilities do not catch up to the service. My third-floor room was nice in that it has… more

This hotel is in a great location, within steps of the beach. The hotel is trying to be nice (nice looking lobby, restaurant adjacent to lobby, nicely dressed staff, bellhop to carry bags to your room), but the facilities do not catch up to the service. My third-floor room was nice in that it has windows on two sides (including one looking out at the beach), but the street noise was pretty loud, there was a window with no glass pane in the bathroom, the bathroom door was really beat up, the air conditioning did not do much so the room was pretty warm, and there were some other beat up parts of the room. I was glad upon checking in that my stay was only for one night. But on the positive side, it was clean and felt safe. My double room was reasonable size for one person, but would have been rather small for two (even a couple). Additionally, no one at check-in or check out spoke any English, which made things difficult. I certainly do not recommend staying here if you do not speak Portuguese, as the people I dealt with did not try very hard to understand me. There also seemed to be cheaper places to stay that seemed fine (I paid R$177 for one night at Xenius), so if I visited Joao Pessoa again I would try a different hotel.

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