O hotel em si não deixa a desejar em nada, porém o bairro tem muitos mendigos, querendo ou não, não é culpa do hotel, mas não deixa de incomodar
I enjoyed my stay at Hotel Columbia. The staff were very friendly and some spoke english (which helped). The breakfast was buffet style with an ok selection of items. The hotel is in the city center so it is older, but I sort of like that charm. Just know if you prefer things to be completely modern, you will not like it. All in all, it was clean which is the most important. A/C worked fine and there were no problems with the internet. There are several networks you can use, so which ever picks up the best signal. The comfort of the beds could be a little better, but it wasnt horrible. Windows have a metal draw down which is great if you want to sleep in without the sunlight coming through. The surrounding neighborhood can be a bit seedy and seem dangerous because of the people hanging out and some vagrants, but to be fair, I noticed that through just about the entire city. It sort of reminded me of San Francisco in that sense. (Again, nothing directly against the hotel, because it was all over). All in all, I would stay there again. Also, from the airport (GRU) it is very easy to use the airport bus to Praca Republica and the hotel was a 7 minute walk away. With traffic, the bus took about 50 minutes, but I flew home on a Sunday and it only took 30 minutes to get back to the airport from Praca Republica. (The airport bus has an office in Praca Republica).
Nice hotel staff, some things were old in the room like the air-con but it was all in working order. Rooms had been recently decorated and the room was very clean. Lots of channels on the TV. Bed was a bit hard so you wouldn´t want to stay more than a few nights. Nice variety on offer at breakfast. Easy to get taxis/metro. Lots of leaflets in the lobby of things to do and places to eat. Overall decent place to stay. There´s also a small gym and quite a special star trek like lift.