Transamerica Araraquara

“Clean, friendly, basic hotel”

We spent 4 nights at Gran Hotel Morada do Sol during a time they were hosting a motorcycling convention, so the place was busy, but the service was great and everything was very clean. It's not a fancy hotel. The rooms are rather plain. They had an electric kettle and tea bags in the room, but no c… more

We spent 4 nights at Gran Hotel Morada do Sol during a time they were hosting a motorcycling convention, so the place was busy, but the service was great and everything was very clean. It's not a fancy hotel. The rooms are rather plain. They had an electric kettle and tea bags in the room, but no coffee. Not many English channels on TV, but we made do with CNN International. They put out a big breakfast buffet every morning. Great coffee, scrambled eggs, several meats, cheeses, lots of fruit choices, cereals, etc. No toaster, but if you know to ask, they will toast bread for you in the kitchen. They bar in the lobby has posted hours, but we never found a bartender on duty. It was easy enough to ask about it at the front desk, though, and they would find a bartender fairly quickly. By our 3rd night there we discovered that they have a bar menu and you can order food at the bar. Before we saw the menu, we didn't know they had beer, wine, and food available, we'd only the bottles of gin, vodka, whisky, etc. on the shelf behind bar. Anyway, it worked out fine, we enjoyed our stay, and would stay there again since it's a great base if you're wanting to spend time in downtown Araraquara.

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“friendly and spacious”

Although this is an old hotel, rooms have been remodeled. I always request for extra bottom sheet as sheets are old and thin.The hotel is always helpful and happy to help. Unfortunately parking is not on site, and sometimes one needs to wait a little too long for car. My car also came back with sc… more

Although this is an old hotel, rooms have been remodeled. I always request for extra bottom sheet as sheets are old and thin.The hotel is always helpful and happy to help. Unfortunately parking is not on site, and sometimes one needs to wait a little too long for car. My car also came back with scrape- although minor - should not happen . Check out also takes too long. I will stay at this hotel again, despite parking issues. Breakfast is mediocre.

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“From another era, but still holding on...”

This hotel used to be the top hotel in the city for many years. The service is pretty nice and they have employees who speak English. The TV sets in the room are good and the rooms are ample and very clean. The beds are comfortable. They are near a police station, but even so, the number of homeles… more

This hotel used to be the top hotel in the city for many years. The service is pretty nice and they have employees who speak English. The TV sets in the room are good and the rooms are ample and very clean. The beds are comfortable. They are near a police station, but even so, the number of homeless and drug addicts hanging outside the church across the street made us feel unsafe. The hotel building, however, scared me a bit more than the panhandlers because it was built in the same time period as the local theater and sports centers, both of which are decaying. The former is even closed because it is deemed unsafe and could collapse. The former has had times when its safety was also questioned. During the years of the dictatorship when Brazil was obsessed with "great projects," places like these were built cheap and grandiose. A lot of investments ended up in the pockets of corrupt politicians who either pocketed part of the money budgeted for a project or looked the other way when inspecting construction work. I am not saying this building will follow the same path as the other big buildings in the city, only that I was a bit scared when I looked at cracks on its brutalist architecture. Aside from that, the breakfast was pretty good, and the top floors offer gorgeous views of the sunset, particularly when there is pollution from the burning fields and the skies are tinged with orange colors.

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