UXUA Casa Hotel & Spa

Trancoso and Uxua were the final stop on our fantastic 3-week adventure to Brazil. We knew we wanted to go to Bahia but initially I had a different idea about location and hotel. So, so glad that our travel coordinator pointed us in the direction of Trancoso and Uxua, as our stay could not have been more perfect! First and foremost, the staff. Carlos, the head of hospitality, became our good friend in the 5 days we were in residence. He is so helpful, friendly, funny and warm! The personal approach he fosters is evident in all of the concierge staff - truly this is a place where everyone is made to feel "at home," but without any of the hassles of home. The food service staff, especially Gaby, Vittorio, and Sara, were so kind and sweet and helpful. Harlan, at the front desk, was also a standout. We felt so embraced by everyone. Now to the hotel itself. Luxury in a natural, rustic environment. We stayed in Casa da Arvore, the treehouse. So fabulous - a very large bedroom, with an extremely comfortable bed swathed in mosquito netting (yes, you need it - it's the rainforest!) and an equally large sitting room open to the outside (but with white curtains you can pull closed at night for privacy) and French doors to close off the bedroom so you can run the (very effective) A/C at night, if desired. Super comfy couch, and a hammock in the sitting room! A hot tub just for us on the back decking, and an outdoor sitting area with settee swings at ground level, beneath the treehouse structure. A very large rain shower for two, really delicious toiletries, soft thirsty towels, my my I could go on forever! The rest of the hotel is gorgeous - indoor/outdoor style, a very welcoming "social area" around the lovely pool (my husband said it was delightful), gym, sauna, massage room, restaurant on the Quadrado (we are there several times - delicious but small menu), beach bar about a 10 minute walk away, with comfy beach beds reserved for guests on the most beautiful beach - also great staff at the beach bar - thank you Naichi! The design of the hotel is so special, every detail lovingly curated by Wilbert Das, whom we also had the pleasure of meeting and who is an absolute sweetheart. Uxua was the perfect place to spend the last portion of our trip - we loved it so much we didn't even use the car that had been reserved for us - why mess with perfection? We can't wait to return. Thank you Uxua owners and staff!!!!

I hesitate to write a review in English because we Americans can treat beautiful places like Disney World, however, after such an amazing experience I can't not write a glowing review. If you appreciate natural beauty, can respect and appreciate local culture and custom, and love adventure, run don't walk to Troncoso and UXUA. Pictures can't do this place justice, it's breathtaking. All the lodging and amenities are perfect and well thought through. All of the decor and furniture are made by local artisans. Artisans you can meet and learn from. The people are really who make UXUA shine. Adriano worked security for our area of the resort (we stayed in Casa Das Artes, a beautiful villa full of local art and a beautiful private pool). He was incredibly helpful, warm, and welcoming. He helped us with our (very bad) Portuguese, advised us on local customs and good destinations, was extremely attentive and made us feel super secure (the area is very safe, the house is so beautiful it attracts lots of tourists taking pictures and asking questions). Gisele was a concierge that helped us as a translator during a very immersive experience with a local ceramicist (Ze) that welcomed us into his home and taught us about his work. She was super fun to spend time with, very knowledgeable and a great translator. Honestly, are too many great people working at UXUA to mention them all, Leo was an awesome and welcoming chef who very patiently taught us how to make Moqueca (so good!), Harlan was a super helpful, friendly, and knowledgable concierge who helped us with our plans. The breakfasts were incredible. It was such an amazing experience from the moment we got there and got the tour from Jimmy to when Harlan saw us off the the airport. Can't say enough good things about Troncoso and UXUA. We will be back.

Uxua was an amazing experience. We stayed at the house of São João. At first it's a little different as everything is open and there are no signs telling you which house is yours. But that's just a detail. With privacy as expected, everything works well and the staff is very prepared, kind and available. The hotel has 2 entrances, one for parking and the other in the Quadrado (middle). We were able to get everything done there and back to the hotel very quickly. There's only one thing we didn't like. Uxua is located on Coqueiro beach, there is a kiosk for guests and non-guests alike. Even if you are a guest, to use the kiosk you have to pay. I believe this is not right, as the hotel is very expensive. Delicious breakfast and dinner on the last day, best food ever. Incredible. If you like to walk, you can discover all the beaches by yourself just by walking. Believe you will have the best experience. The roads are very dilapidated and without lights. Sunset is around 5:40 pm, so care must be taken when driving after this time. Best beaches: rio da barra (may have natural and clay pools); mirrors (many natural pools), Patimirim (desert and beautiful) and Itapororoca (amazing natural pools). Believe me, go walking, because to get to Itaporoca the road is not good and the Fasano hotel put a barrier at the middle of the road, you have to say that you are going to Patimirim and they open it. This is absurd, as the beach is public. We are from São Paulo. Uxua will definitely be the one we will come back again.

wonderful discovery! Although there was confusion with the pick-up they more than made up for it. The staff were very friendly and attention to detail in all manner was very good. Beautifully decorated. Food was lovely. Beach area very good too. Nothing was a problem. I fully recommend and would return without doubt. Distance to beach is totally walkable

We stayed at Uxua. It was a frustrating visit and the worst experience of our many hotels in Latin America, including hotels that cost 50% less than Uxua. The Uxua experience didn't overcome Uxua's beauty. Before posting this review, we emailed Uxua -- to share our experience and hoping they'd think it was worth responding to. We were wrong. Since Uxua didn't think it was worth even acknowledging our email, much less apologizing for our experience, Uxua must think our experience was the one that we should've had -- and so we're sharing it here. ____________________ Uxua is, design-wise, a lovely hotel. And its location is perfect. But our stay there was incredibly frustrating -- daily -- and we had the kind of experience there that was unbefitting of even a 2-star hotel. It was inexcusable for a hotel that wants everyone to believe it's a 5-star hotel. In our experience, it's not. And until the guest experience can catch up with the beautiful design, it can't possibly be viewed as a luxury or 5-star hotel. Uxua's guest experience failures weren't limited to one issue or one day or one kind of issue. Uxua's failures involve maintenance, housekeeping, technology, and concierge. It’s every touchpoint. 1. No evening staff after 10 pm -- which isn't fatal if you have staff available by phone. 2. But after 10 pm, staff doesn't answer the after-hours hotel number or outside emergency number. This is just not ok (for too many reasons to list). 3. Wifi didn't work in our room -- even though we asked Uxua to fix it. In order to get a wifi signal and make calls on our cell using wifi-enabled calling, we had to take work calls from the hotel’s public areas, including confidential calls. This not ok -- particularly for an expensive hotel where you pay a premium to be in a nice hotel room...in part, to work in...and particularly for us because we have a lot of confidential work calls. How does McDonald’s provide working wifi – but Uxua doesn’t?) 4. The phone never worked in our room -- even though we asked Uxua to fix it. 5. The door lock from our room to the outside didn't work -- even though we asked Uxua to fix it. (How is it that we, as guests, are the ones that need to bring such a basic maintenance issue to Uxua's attention? How can the housekeepers not notice that the doors don’t lock?) 6. Even as to the outside doors in our rooms that did lock, housekeeping routinely didn’t lock our doors – even though we asked that the doors be locked. (Why must we ask once, much less repeatedly, to lock our doors?) 7. We think (but aren't certain) that, after hours, there’s no way to get out of the hotel – because the gates at the front desk to the street and to the Quadrado were locked. (We hope we’re mistaken. Good thing there wasn't a fire when we were there, eh?) This was our experience. It was so frustrating that, after the first two days, we spent our third (and last) day outside the hotel because wanted to get away from it -- in spite of how beautiful it is. It doesn’t matter that hotel staff is nice, as they are at Uxua, if they can’t execute. And it doesn’t matter that Uxua has a lovely property, if the experience is so routinely frustrating as to such basic and so many issues that they seemed to willfully ignore. We’d have written this review even if we stayed at a 2-star hotel because all of these failures are not even acceptable in a 2-star hotel. But at Uxua, the failures are far less excusable. We had the kind of daily frustrations at Uxua that we came to Uxua to leave behind at home.