I can say without hesitation that this was our first mistake in terms of basing a decision on Trip Advisor reviews - I cannot for the life of me work out how it can be in the Top 20 of Salvador hotels.
The only reason this gets two stars and not one star is that I reserve that for places where I either feel in physical danger in the hotel, or we're the victim of some kind of scam - that's a pretty low bar.
We arrived at 8pm and were greeted by a guy on reception who seemed totally bewildered that we were standing in front of him. He didn't say a word to us and pushed a piece of paper at me three times to sign various parts, then gave us the key and took us upstairs - still hardly a word spoken.
The room (9) photographs well, but it was a shambles - I very nearly didn't even put my bag down. It wasn't so much "rustic" as it was "dilapidated" - and more concerningly, smelled of mould. The shower was leaking and the bed reminded me of something you'd see in a college dorm room. Resisting the urge to move hotels immediately, we eventually swapped rooms to one marginally better - a little lower - than at least did not smell of mould, but was little better in terms of comfort.
The area itself, at least at night, felt decidedly dangerous. We live in Rio de Janeiro, so we're used to living somewhere that requires a certain radar for danger and this place made me feel very uncomfortable. We had a quick walk up the road, saw a couple of guys get approached by a younger lad wanting some kind of deal and turned on our heels.
There was a nice lady at reception when we checked out - she spoke good English and seemed in control. Overall, though, I would never stay there again and had we been staying for more than one night, we would certainly have moved. Avoid.