Mar Doce Hotel Boutique

“Disappointing 2nd stay”

We'd traveled through 3 Marias before, in July 2019, and had a pleasant experience at what we recalled as being a fair price. This time, on our 1st foray out of Brasília as the COVID pandemic was still a reality, we again chose to stop in this town on the way to other cities in Minas and we decide… more

We'd traveled through 3 Marias before, in July 2019, and had a pleasant experience at what we recalled as being a fair price. This time, on our 1st foray out of Brasília as the COVID pandemic was still a reality, we again chose to stop in this town on the way to other cities in Minas and we decided to stay here anyway, though the price seemed to have gone up even beyond what we expected, the main difference being that our teen daughter was now an adult. The chalet was comfortable, though the towels seemed to have seen better days, and the property, though not too far from the road, is actually quiet and has country charm, with some farm animals around and lots of green. However, on the late evening we arrived, our reservation was not available - there was later some explanation that the hotel has had a lot of last minute cancellations, but they always leave rooms ready if the people making the reservation show up. They also do not charge on the credit card unless you show up. Nevertheless, there was a brief tense moment with the night front desk worker, Rafael, who ultimately was very helpful and found a chalet for us immediately. Though we knew it was late, it was a bit disappointing to find out the restaurant wasn't open for dinner, though we also attributed that to COVID. However, the breakfast being so weak and bread buns running out before 7:30 am was truly not acceptable. This experience has made us reconsider stopping in 3 Marias in the future, though because of the long distances in the state of Minas Gerais the hotel and the town know that they'll always have captive guests.

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