Hotel Nacional Inn Ubatuba - Praia Das Toninhas

“Great location, mixed service”

The Recanto has a fun, colourful, slightly kitchy design in the public rooms, and the front desk staff all speak English and are very friendly. So the first impression was positive. The rooms are a bit on the small side but acceptable, and we had a wonderful balcony to the sea. We had a good pizza… more

The Recanto has a fun, colourful, slightly kitchy design in the public rooms, and the front desk staff all speak English and are very friendly. So the first impression was positive. The rooms are a bit on the small side but acceptable, and we had a wonderful balcony to the sea. We had a good pizza and caipirihnas the first evening by the poolside. The pool is a bit small but also acceptable. The beach right out front is fantastic, I loved walking the entire length on both mornings we were there. The breakfast buffet is good. I booked a massage and a pedicure while at the hotel. The massage was in a rather simple building beside the hotel (where the exercise room is) and while it lacked atmosphere, the massage was of a good standard. I also booked a pedicure for which an external lady came (from her own, nearby salon). She set up her bag of instruments in a very basic room adjacent to the reception desk and it all appeared pretty slap-dash, but the pedicurist ended up being excellent and I was very pleased. The front desk gave us a recommendation for a dinner out and we were really pleased with the Argentinian 'San Telmo' restaurant (about 15 mins away). Our only negative point is that on our second day, we wanted to have lunch poolside before our departure and this was a disaster. It seemed to take so long and we noticed that people who took their tables after us had received their meals. We asked where our food was and didn't really get a reply, especially as our waiter seemed to have disappeared. After waiting some more, we finally we went up to the server's door to try and get an answer. Turned out that our order had never gone through! We had to pack and we were being picked up so we had to give up and leave! My husband quickly packed and went back down to check out and did get his spaghetti, but my salad never appeared. Then they tried to charge my husband for his dish. In such a case, a proper apology should be offered and certainly there should be no charge. I also wondered why they didn't bother offering my meal, which was only a salad, when I came down to join my husband at the check-out - we were there a few more minutes as we were waiting for our pick-up. So I would have give the hotel a 4 star review, but we left with a negative feeling.

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