When we first sent someone to review the best hotels in Brazil, the Mofarrej business hotel in São Paulo didn’t come close to making the cut. Now completely revamped as the Tivoli Mofarrej São Paulo, it has a different face and attitude to show off.

“Although in theory, the São Paulo Mofarrej has been around for some time—it spent more than 25 years under the aegis of both Sheraton and Gran Melia–the hotel had the recent good fortune to land in the hands of Portugal’s Tivoli chain. After spending seven months closed for (much anticipated) renovations, the new and very much improved Tivoli São Paulo Mofarrej reopened in February 2009 to great acclaim. Within months it joined the exclusive Leading Hotels of the World club and was named by the Quatros Rodas guide (Brazil’s equivalent of the Michelin) as one of the top hotels in the country.”

We don’t automatically add hotels that have paid to be part of the Leading Hotels of the World marketing group, but it’s a good sign, as is the addition of a spa run by Banyan Tree. Since our contributor Michael Sommers lives in Brazil and is a guidebook writer, his endorsement tipped the scales and we’re happy to add this rejuvenated hotel in a great location to our reviews of the best hotels in Brazil’s capital. See our full review of  Tivoli São Paulo Mofarrej.

Last week we posted reviews of two luxury hotels that opened recently in Peru and Brazil.

The Peru opening’s name makes it sound like it should be in Colombia—Casa Cartegena—but it’s actually in Cusco, just a shuffle away from the reigning Monasterio and the upscale Inkaterra boutique hotel La Casona.

This hotel dispenses with all the Spanish Colonial antiques and religious oil paintings though and presents something Cusco didn’t really have before: a hotel with a sleek contemporary design aesthetic.

Our new Brazil addition is not a new hotel really, but a makeover. Orient-Express took over a hotel near Iguassu/Iguazu Falls a few years ago and then shut the place down to renovate it up to their standards. Hotel das Cataratas is still a work in progress, with the spa, some other public areas, and a third of the rooms left to finish, but it’s open for business and showing off its fresh new face.

Orient-Express operates lots of fine hotels and the Hiram Bingham train in Peru, plus the Copacabana Palace hotel in Rio. We’re sure this new addition to their roster will get plenty of acclaim from guests and the press in the coming year, plus everyone who has been to both sides of the falls says the view is more dramatic on the Brazilian side.