I reserved (in Aug 07) a Suite for 3 nights in Feb 08 after reading positive reviews from Tripadvisor and the alluring Casas Brancas website (the promise and the reality are far apart as I found). There were a number of agencies in the food chain, being my own Agent Platinum Escape, Tempo (Australia) and Extramar (Brazil). In due course I received confirmation of a Suite and paid the (website) published Suite rate in advance.

But somehow someone messed up the booking and reserved a Standard Room instead. The error was picked up by Extramar and/or Casas Brancas about 18 January, when Casas Brancas changed the reservation to a "Superior Room" because a Suite was by then not available.

My agent was never advised of the non-availability of the Suite, even after she sent a fax just a couple of days before my arrival confirming the late arrival, the booking for a Suite etc and asking them to confirm all was OK (she does this for all her clients).

Somewhere amongst Tempo, Extramar and Casas Brancas nobody had the courtesy to inform me until I arrived tired and late at night and was shown to the grubbiest room I've ever seen (see the pix).

Not even at check-in was I told of the mistake with the room - I had to find it out myself. When I went straight back to reception they knew what I was going to say. Being so late however, there was no alternative to stay at least one night.

Well it didn’t get any better - the sheets on the bed were too small (not fitted) and there was nothing to tuck under which made sleeping uncomfortable. The odour emanating from the toilet was so overpowering I resorted to applying deodorant stick to my top lip to mask the smell. The floor was painted concrete and badly stained, the roller blinds were broken so the room could not be darkened and the mini refrigerator was dirty inside and out.

And at check-in you are warned in no uncertain terms not to drink water from the tap. That’s fine – there was bottled water in the (dirty) refrigerator, but at breakfast the next morning I held a glass to my nose and it smelt awful. I figured they must wash the dishes, cutlery and glasses in the same water they tell you is not safe to drink. I’m guessing that’s where I picked up the “traveller’s bug”, because two days later I succumbed and was ill for the next four.

Well, I voted with my feet and booked into the clean and comfortable Sofitel in Rio for my remaining two nights in Brazil. Had the Casas Brancas room been at least clean and fresh I might have stayed on, but in my many years of travel and staying at all sorts of hotels around the world, this would have been by far the worst.

It’s been about four weeks since this horrible experience, and I still have not received any apology or refund. Had someone owned up to the booking error early enough I could have made other choices, but remaining silent and allowing me to travel from Rio to Buzios to find out for myself is simply unforgivable.

I stayed with my wife for 5 days (27Feb-2Mar) in Buzios at Casas Brancas Pousada after a 4 day visit to Rio de Janeiro. We basically can just say excelent things about the hotel and in a nutshell we highly recommend it if you're travelling to amazing Buzios small village.

As you can see later in the pics that i will share, the hotel is located in a small bay with an excelent view, the amazing pool deck and restaurant and with a fantastic sight seeing and very cool, summer-like, and well decorated rooms. We stayed by the way on Apt 7 (Superior) just over the pool and facing the beatifull Atlantic see. I really reccommend this view for a room.

Now and in resume the positivies and "to be improved" points:
Positive:
- the ocean view
- the relaxing deck and small pool
- the breakfast and buffet (the fruits are great and also cakes)
- all the personal of the hotel, very professional, and treated every guest as a king. No complaints at all
- the white collored room and balcony
- the feeling that you have as you were at home and not in a hotel/pousada (remember that this pousada was before a private villa)

To be improved:
- the air conditioning inside the room are kind of noisy if you're sleeping
- it would be good to have bath towles in your room refreshed at the end of the afternoon
- it misses a gym perhaps

In generay i can say that i will defintelly return to Buzios and will select this hotel. Concerning Buzios, just enjoy the peninsula beaches - Tartaruga beach for me is the best - go and have dinner in the Rua das Pedras (Stones Street) where you can make some shoppings in real typicall brazilian style shops, have some picanha, drink excelent caipirinhas and relax.

Prices: above average for brazil, but normal for europe. nevertheless do not expect many cheap things
If you want more details or photos just contact me via nuno.felino@gmail.com.

I and my wife went there to spend the last few days of our honeymoon after treating ourselves to a 5-star tour of S. America and were terribly disappointed with what we found. The hotel was grubby throughout, our room had no balcony, the "pool" was full of dead insects, breakfast was served outside and the food was covered in flies, we had no tv until we asked for one, all-in-all it was horrible and except for the fact that we were booked on a pre-paid short trip we would have left immediately.

If you're looking for top class service, rooms, food etc, look elsewhere.

We have just returned from our honeymoon, 3 weeks in South America, taking in Argetina and Brazil. We had the most wonderful time and great experiences in all our hotels, from Buenos Aires, to Patagonia, to Iguazu to Rio, until we arrived in Buzios. Having booked and having had 5-star accomodation all the way, we were expecting something really really special. We couldn't have been more disappointed.

The hotel itself is quite grubby, but the staff there and our guide seemed to think it was the last word in luxury……we were at a loss to see the luxury, or the charm, for that matter. Our room was supposedly a superior room, but I can’t see how it could possibly pass itself off as that. The hot water system was totally unreliable, and usually not hot. The air conditioning in the bedrooms was poor at best. Every morning, the breakfast foods, i.e. all the fresh fruit and pastries were covered with flies. The hotel staff were for the most part rude and unfriendly and the front desk was only prepared to recommend 1 outing, and that cost something like 200€. I cant help but feel they were in cahoots with the outing provider. And most disappointing, the “swimming pool” consisted of a shallow concrete trough about twenty feet long and six feet wide, with so many dead insects in the water, I shudder just thinking about it.

Coming to this hotel after what had gone before was so awful. We would have moved on elsewhere if we could have gotten internet access, but the internet wasn't working either. Kinda summed up our whole experience really!