Novotel Porto Alegre Airport

“Practical quality option near the airport”

We knew our flight arrived in Porto Alegre too late to go "up" to Gramado, so we stayed one night. We called the hotel to call for a shuttle, which picks guests up at the same place of the rental car vans. That worked well. However, I noticed the front desk serves as guest service also, so some... more

We knew our flight arrived in Porto Alegre too late to go "up" to Gramado, so we stayed one night. We called the hotel to call for a shuttle, which picks guests up at the same place of the rental car vans. That worked well. However, I noticed the front desk serves as guest service also, so sometimes it takes long for someone to answer the phone - which happened when we requested something. The team is attentive, though not exuberant - but it's more of a business hotel in style, so that's OK. During this brief stay, when we requested extra pillows. then help with the safe and even later some extra sheets, all were brought very quickly. The shower is very nice & the bathroom amenities are of the expected quality, though nothing to rave about too much - the bathroom door is at a slightly odd angle, but what just caught my attention negatively was the squeaky door to the shower stall - but no biggie, just a detail. Beds are OK, but more importantly, the accoustical isolation really worked well - I mean, our window was to one of the runways. TV has some limited channels and not much in the English language (CNN was the one I noticed as an exception). Even the movie channels apparently only in Portuguese - though maybe I just didn't find how to reverse to the original language. Breakfast is fine and served quite early, which I like (starts at 5 am on weekdays - so it works well for early flights). However, don't arrive too late - my daughter, who woke up much later than I, wasn't able to get waffles, which had run out more than 1 hour before the end of service. The omelette I ordered with lots of cheese was tasty, but the local cake (called cuca) was a bit drier than I think it should be. Something that one doesn't see much where I live in Brazil - blackberry - was fresh, though not too sweet. The lobby has a lot of different seating areas, books to read or just look at, and maybe because of that, neither it, nor the adjoining eating area has sufficient sockets to charge one's phone or laptop. I didn't actually ask - maybe they were hidden - so maybe I'm wrong on that count. There is a very nice eating area nearby, Boulevard Laçador, with very nice options for dinner - though it seems that the hotel's chefs actually prepare some good meals. We didn't stay long enough to confirm as we went out to a very good Thai restaurant.

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“A top notch Ibis”

We have two main Accor properties next to the Salgado Filho Airport, one Ibis and this Novotel. I am a frequent guest in both franchises, but for this time I chose Novotel to have a more refined experience. For my surprise, I had the feeling that I went to the wrong place and stayed at Ibis. This... more

We have two main Accor properties next to the Salgado Filho Airport, one Ibis and this Novotel. I am a frequent guest in both franchises, but for this time I chose Novotel to have a more refined experience. For my surprise, I had the feeling that I went to the wrong place and stayed at Ibis. This is not bad at all, since Ibis is a very honest chain, but I was a little disappointed. To start I used the paid self-parking, no vallet parking, which is good in pandemic times, but unusual in Novotel properties. Second, the design of the rooms (mine was a standard one) was quite the same of an Ibis one with slightly better furniture and materials inside. The restaurant at ground floor also seemed like one from Ibis in an open space. Breakfast was as expected. In summary, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this property, staff is friendly and room service works fine. Maybe my expectations were too high. Daily fare is around USD20 more than the Ibis located half mile from this Novotel, which seems fair.

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