Pousada Manga Rosa — Hotel in Região Geográfica Imediata de Salvador

We were a group of 4 friends who stayed at a 2 bedroom apartment of Manga Rosa during carnival 2012. I recently joined trip advisory and had to share the experience to warn people. In regards to the apartment, it was good, clean and at a great location. It was comfortable and the AC worked well, the evening front desk manager Ulysses was very helpful and genuinely nice. The main downfall was that Joe (the owner) himself and the front desk convinced us to buy tickets for a bloco (Brazilian rock/reggae) that they said they knew and had contacts with which they got cheaper tickets for compared to the rest of the blocos, and that we would be a small group, people from our hotel and a selected few others, sort of like VIP experience, but it left from the other route (not the one in front of our hotel - the Campo Grande route). Most people at the hotel agreed and bought tickets from them for this unique experience - which still wasn't cheap (300 REAIS EACH - $175, WE WERE 3 FRIENDS WHO DID IT SO OVER $500 FOR US - THERE WERE ABOUT 15-18 OF US FROM HOTEL). We were told to meet at 7pm in front of the restaurant at the corner they also own. They kept us all there until about 11pm (with Joe sitting casually in the restaurant eating and drinking with his friends and laughing, which seemed like he knew exactly what time we were supposed to go - if he would've said meet at 11pm no one would've bought the tickets!). We were all really upset (A few left because they had other tickets for 11pm for another place (A Camarote)) and he kept saying to be patient etc, everything has been pushed back etc. We all lost our buzz and hype, then finally were put in cabs and taken to the other route and got on the bus, which had a handful of other people on it too. That didn't leave until 12am, and we quickly realized that we were the last or second to last bus on the route when it started to move, there was no one on the streets anymore!!! The streets were full of garbage and little kids and the crowd had moved on with the big venues... it was terrible. So bad, that we ALL got off after 10 minutes and cabbed it back to the other route near our hotel and tried to make the most of the rest of the night, everyone was super upset... not only did we get ripped off and he did not deliver... they in essence took a night away from our short stay during carnival and ruined it... Terrible scam on behalf of Joe who made no attempt to refund or make up for the money he took (In fact we didn't really see him for the rest of the trip). DO NOT FALL FOR THE SCAM, DO NOT GO ON THE BLOCO HE TRIES TO SELL FOR HIS FRIENDS AND GETS A CUT... YOU CAN GO TO THE POPULAR ONES AND THEY SELL TICKETS AT THE FRONT DESK WHICH IS FINE, BUT NOT THE ONE THEY PROMOTE FOR THE HOTEL, TOTAL SCAM!!!! ||We were all bothered by the scam and having our night ruined... and some, including us, had made plans to meet other people in the route of the bloco, so we had to go find them before we could continue our night...||TERRIBLE MOVE/SCAM BY JOE, YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED IF YOU'RE...

Joe Santini is the consummate host, lively, friendly and helpful and he makes sure his team have the same approach.||||We stayed for 16 nights during the football world cup and had a great time with all the help and support we needed.||||Our room was spacious and bright with plenty of room for you and your things. The bathroom is also a good size and cleaned everyday. Our room overlooked a small courtyard with trees which had frequent visitors from monkeys. The bed was big and comfortable.||||The breakfast is superb with plenty if choice of fruit, cereal, eggs etc. Great strong coffee and good fresh juice as well.||||The restaurants also run by Joe are also great with good pizza and Moqueca that is out of this world.||||Right near the Barra water front it is also well positioned.||The poussada is above our usual budget, even more so at world cup prices so we rated value average but if this is in your usual range it is probably very good.||||Note : There were roadworks and waterfront renovation going on while we were there which spoilt the views and were a slight inconvenience but will improve the area considerably...

I just returned from my last visit to Brazil/Salvador Bahia where i had the good experience to stay for a week at the Pousada Manga Rosa. Our two room Apartment which had an ocean view was very comfortable, appliances and utensils were in perfect condition, the help was EXCELLENT helping me get to where i had to go! The apartment was cleaned every three days, by very friendly, professional staff ( one of the cleaners gave me an extra towel!). A surprise I discovered was the italian restaurant/pizzeria Dolce Vitta and Restaurant Portal Do Mar down on the ground floor. Outstanding food, generous portions, good service, great caipirinhas, and really cold beer.||The location of the pousada in porto da barra is great. Excellant views of the ocean and the bay. Significant buildings hundreds of years old, mixed in with modern high rises, good transportation (taxi and bus) to other parts of the city. If you are thinking about a visit to Salvador Bahia Brazil, Pousada Manga Rosa IS.....the...