Hotel Express — Hotel in Região Geográfica Imediata de Cuiabá

Thanks to the lovely and warm-heated staff in Hotel Express, we had a very special and memorable Xmas day in Brazil after our original Pantanal tour plan went disarray, all because our tour guide didn't show up as promised.|| ||My friend and I arrived in Cuiaba airport at midnight on Xmas eve, the hotel staff picked us up from the airport, we had a nice sleep in the newly decorated hotel room. The room is very clean and spacious with AC. After a plentiful breakfast with loads of fruits, we were ready to meet the guide we paid the deposit to.|| ||The nightmare started from a call from our guide 45 mins after we were supposed to meet, we were told that he couldn't come as his overnight bus broke down, he said he would send a taxi for us to our next hotel. We waited another 2 hours but the taxi driver never showed up. We realized things went very wrong, but didn't know what to do as we couldn't speak Portuguese and know nobody in Brazil.|| ||The hotel staff learnt what happened to us and started helping us out. Though none of them speak much English, they used google translate to comfort and communicate with us. Firstly, the hotel staff called our guide and asked him to sort out what we could do next. Unfortunately we didn't hear back from our guide after one and half hour, the hotel staff helped us explore other options.|| ||The hotel staff kindly drove us to the airport to seek for tourist info from airport, and they also helped us verify our next hotel booking. We only knew the name of our next hotel booked by our guide, didn't have a contact telephone number. The hotel staff tried all the means to contact our next hotel, and confirmed that we had a reservation. However, our next hotel didn't have a car to pick us up, and even worse thing was that it was difficult and expensive to find a taxi to Pantanal on Xmas day.|| ||We started thinking of booking another guide/tour, the hotel staff continued helping us and called a few tour agencies and agents to see if they are working on boxing day. It was such a frustrating and long tiring day, and the worst day for us during our Brazil trip, at the other side, I felt so lucky that I was in the Hotel Express. These warm-hearted staff offered their help to two foreigners and tried their best all day to help us. We are grateful to have stayed in this friendly hotel and met all these wonderful people working in Hotel Express. We found another tour in the end, and had a great time in Pantanal. I have to say what the hotel staff did were far beyond their work duty, and I felt the great kindness and friendship offered by the hotel staff.|| ||I strongly recommend Hotel Express to any travellers to Cuiaba/Pantanal, these wonderful and lovely people made this Hotel a special and 5-star place for my friend and...

I do not give bad reviews often. I travel often and do not have unrealistic expectations, but this hotel stay was just bad all the way around. The hotel is directly across the street from the airport and we stayed for one night as we had an early flight to catch the next morning. Check in was fine, but the room my husband and I were given was at the back of the hotel, had three single beds and a less than desirable bathroom. Oh well, it is just for one night I said. All we need is a place to eat nearby and a TV to watch (as there is nothing to do near the hotel). Then the power went out. We checked with the front desk and they said this just happens sometimes and that there was nothing they could do. Ok, so we went back to the room to sit in dark, but noticed on our way that the front of the hotel had power...just not the rooms near our room at the far end of the hotel. So back to reception we went and insisted they move us to a room with power and they did. This room had a double bed and a bathroom worse than the first room, but at least had power. So we settled in and turned on the TV. The TV didn't work! Again reception said this happens with the cable/wifi service and there was nothing they could do (no wifi either). So we left the hotel to a nearby restaurant for a few drinks and some dinner. When we returned to the hotel, the TV still did not work but we had other issues, the NOISE!! Our room had a window that opened to a shaft (not sure what it’s called, but like an open elevator shaft that ran from the ground to the roof of the building, about 10 feet by 10 feet square) shaft and there were windows on the opposite side of this shaft for other rooms of the hotel. The room across from us had a family with screaming children. Even with our window closed, the screaming echoed up the shaft and went on most of the night…we did not sleep at all. On checking out, the man at reception insisted we had to pay for the room, but we had paid in advance through our travel agent Brazil Nuts. Eventually he let us leave without paying for the room again after I gave him all the Brazil Nuts contact information I had with me and he confirmed it with his boss over the phone…so we managed to make it to the airport in time to catch our flight. What a disaster, would not...

We hardly ever give a review as poor as this. Check in seemed a problem, it took two people to do something that seemed straight forward. Our room was dreadful. It might have been clean but there was no window other than one into a service duct, that seemed to transmit heat, light and sound. Since we stayed there because we had a very early flight, a reasonable night's sleep was the only requirement and wasn't achieved because the room was so hot, light and noisy (and we were using earplugs). The shuttle to the airport was...