Novotel Salvador Rio Vermelho

Novotel Rio Vermelho offers an absolutely amazing view over Salvador’s coastline and beaches. The rooftop bar and swimming pool are a real highlight, especially at sunset — the panorama over the whole city is simply stunning. The pool itself is fantastic and made our stay extra special. The location is excellent: very well situated, safe to walk around, and surrounded by many great restaurants. A special thank you to Yuri at the reception, who was extremely friendly and helpful with everything, and to Rose for assisting us with trips and spa massage reservations — both made our stay seamless and enjoyable. The Christmas dinner was delicious and beautifully organised and presented. Thank you for accepting our late reservation! Overall, a wonderful experience, and we would gladly return.

I had a great stay at this hotel. The location is beautiful, and I highly recommend booking a sea view room — the sunset view is absolutely stunning (I’m attaching a photo of the view from the pool). The room was clean and nicely designed, and the staff were very kind and helpful. The service was a bit slow at times, but overall everything was good and I had a very pleasant experience. I would definitely stay here again.

Marcos and Robert on reception were very dry helpful and accommodating. The hotel is up a hill which isn’t great if you have injuries but they do offer a free car to take you up and down. Great location and view over Salvador. Great local restaurants. We had asked for a sea view which we didn’t get but still had a beautiful room. Go for a luxury room - it’s worth the extra

I really liked the hotel. Friendly staff, good breakfast, clean, but very sober, rooms. The best was a waitress of the restaurant. We booked a table for 15 people at night. The waitress was amazing! She remembered everything: our names, the orders, and did everything to accommodate our needs.

This was my first time in Salvador de Bahia. The location of the hotel was convenient to get around. It sits atop a steep hill, so the hotels offers rides up and down the hill. I loved that. The rooms are clean, some dated but nine wasn't too bad. Staff is kind. I enjoyed Robert and the other front desk and service staff. My only issue were the hard beds. I left with back pain and opted to get a massage while in Salvador. I had to sleep on my pillows on my final night provide comfort to my back.

Overall a worn down hotel, no way a 4*. No staff speak english. Check in took 30min before they found the right room from the reservation. Check out charged several wrong stuff from minibar. Paid extra for room with sea view, no complain about the view, but what they don’t tell you it’s crazy noisy part of the hotel with live bands in the restaurants on the plaza just below. don’t try to sleep before 1am, everyday! Not going to get back to this one.

This place is disgusting. I should have known when I saw the front desk crawling with tiny ants when I checked in. My room also had tiny ants everywhere, and I also had several massive cockroaches appear in the bathroom throughout the stay. Let’s be honest: this place is rundown. It’s a 2-star hotel at best. The bathroom is moldy and smelly, the room is worn, the towels and sheets are all degraded, and the sheets had blood stains all over them. Also, don’t plan on sleeping at all. The bars beneath the hotel play loud thumping music from 6pm-2am EVERY night and there’s nothing you can do about it. All you hear is a beat bumping and muffled MC mic all night. It’s terrible. The rooms do not have an iron or ironing board and the hotel will not provide one if you ask. I guess no one goes to work in this area and has clothes to iron? The front desk staff largely don’t speak English and when I brought these complaints to them I was met with indifference and eye rolls. I wouldn’t stay here again if someone PAID me.

The service at this hotel is appalling, especially at the front desk. Staff were consistently rude and unhelpful; the front desk manager being the worst offender. When I arrived, two hours after the official check-in time, my room still wasn’t ready, and I was forced to wait another hour. Almost nothing in the hotel functioned properly. The gym was a disgrace; every machine was broken and rusted except for one treadmill. The pool’s ladder was broken, making it unsafe to use. Every time I asked the front desk for assistance, I was either denied help or told they couldn’t do anything. This was one of the worst hotel experiences I’ve ever had. I will never stay here again, and this experience has put me off staying at any Novotel property in the future.