Stayed for 5 nights in December 2008 - Very special place...decided to write a separate post for this stay:
Florianapolis (Southern Brazil): Ponta Dos Ganchos (planning a special event? - book it now!! I promise you will have no regrets (unless you want a party scene - and this was the end of our "party" trip, for our 9th year anniversary). I have never been as inspired and blown away by natural beauty, scenery and SERVICE (which was the best we have ever, ever received at any luxury hotel and that's saying something). Snapshots: after extensive travel, my mani/pedi needed replenishing...hotel arranged a local business spa owner to come to our individual cabana for a mani/pedi in our very generously sized balcony/terrace...a few nights in, we mentioned in passing during breakfast that we wanted to see a certain movie (not included in their already extensive DVD library)...without even hinting at it, Part I and Part II of the movie we mentioned arrived at our cabana that evening!!!! Someone literally went to town to get us both movies!!! Rooms are censored, so every time we left the room...even if just for a 1 hour walk around the beautiful premises or to the vegetable garden, the room was refreshed upon our return! They knew it was our anniversary (and I wondered if this had something to do with it, so we kept getting ongoing free drinks (bottles of champagne, glasses of wine at dinner, etc). By the way, cost was around $900/night USD, however it was inclusive of all 3 meals...high quality meals (lots of quality seafood given the location and excellent, fresh organic vegetables). Chef came out to meet and greet us a few times (my partner does not each fish, so the chef made it a point to cook creative vegetable meals during our stay to enhance our dining experience). Above and beyond! The beach was exceptional, surroundings were lush, staff seemed REALLY happy...not corny happy, but genuinely happy to be there (as an HR professional, I asked the general manager about their team selection and what appeared to be a highly engaged staff) and he went into detail about the selection and training process. Wow. I was impressed and I work at a Fortune 50 company that invests heavily on hiring and retention... Anyways, I can go on forever...all I have to say that this place was magical and the only thing that comes close to our experience at Ponto dos Ganchos in Florianopolis was our stay at Park Hotel Kenmare in County Kerry (Ireland). At the risk of sounding...overly sentimental...I chocked up upon departing both of these hotels...I just did not want to leave...