A receção do hotel está cheia hoje.

In Portuguese, nouns have grammatical gender.

• Receção is a feminine noun, so it takes the feminine definite article a.
  
  • a receção = the reception
• O is the masculine article, so o receção would be incorrect.

You can see the gender of the word in dictionaries: receção (feminino).

Do is a contraction of de + o:

• de = of / from
• o = the (masculine singular)
• de + o → do

So:

• A receção do hotel = The hotel’s reception (literally, the reception of the hotel).

This contraction is obligatory in normal speech and writing in Portuguese. You would not normally say de o hotel.

In this sentence, a receção do hotel refers to:

• the reception area / front desk of the hotel, the place where you check in, ask questions, etc.

The same word receção (like English reception) can also mean:

• a formal reception / party (e.g. a wedding reception)

But in A receção do hotel está cheia hoje, the context clearly points to the front desk area.

Adjectives in Portuguese agree in gender and number with the noun they describe.

• Noun: a receção → feminine singular
• Adjective: cheio (masculine), cheia (feminine)

So you must say:

• A receção está cheia. (feminine singular)
• O quarto está cheio. (masculine singular)
• As receções estão cheias. (feminine plural)

That’s why cheia ends in -a here.

Literally, cheia means full.

In context, it often carries the idea of crowded / busy / packed:

• A receção está cheia. → The reception is full / crowded (there are many people).
• O comboio está cheio. → The train is full / packed.

So here, está cheia is best understood as “is busy / crowded with people”.

Portuguese distinguishes between:

• ser → more permanent / essential characteristics
• estar → more temporary / current states or conditions

A hotel reception is not always full; it’s full today, at this particular time. So we use estar:

• A receção do hotel está cheia hoje.
  → It is full today (temporary condition).

If you said:

• A receção do hotel é cheia.

it would sound like you are describing a permanent characteristic: the hotel reception is by nature always full, which is unusual.

Yes, you can move hoje without changing the meaning. All of these are correct:

• A receção do hotel está cheia hoje.
• Hoje a receção do hotel está cheia.
• A receção do hotel hoje está cheia. (possible, but less common / less neutral)

The most natural options are:

• Hoje a receção do hotel está cheia.
• A receção do hotel está cheia hoje.

Placing hoje at the end, as in the original sentence, is very common and sounds natural.

European Portuguese pronunciation (approximate):

• receção → [ɾə-se-SÕ] (very rough guide)

Piece by piece:

• re- → a reduced vowel, like an unstressed “ruh” / “rə”
• -ce- → “seh” (like se in seis)
• ç (c-cedilha) before a, o, u is pronounced like English s, never like k
• -ção → nasal sound, roughly like “sown” but with a nasalized vowel, not a clear “n”: SAW̃

So something like: rə-se-SOWN (with a nasal final sound, no clear “n”).

This is an orthographic difference and a result of the spelling reform used in Portugal:

• Portugal (post‑reform): receção (without p)
• Brazil (standard): recepção (with p)

Both versions come from recepção (Latin-origin spelling). In European Portuguese, many silent consonants were dropped in the official spelling, so recepção → receção.

In Brazil, the p is still written (and slightly more audible because of different pronunciation), so recepção remains the norm there.

Yes. Muito here intensifies the adjective:

• A receção do hotel está cheia hoje.
  → The hotel reception is full / busy today.
• A receção do hotel está muito cheia hoje.
  → The hotel reception is very full / extremely busy today.

You can also use other intensifiers:

• está completamente cheia = completely full
• está cheia de gente = full of people

Hotel is a masculine noun:

• o hotel = the hotel
• os hotéis = the hotels

In do hotel, the o is the masculine article:

• de + o hotel → do hotel

There is no completely reliable rule to deduce gender from the ending of hotel (-el can be masculine or feminine in general), so you normally learn gender with each noun. Dictionaries will mark it as hotel (masculino).

In standard, neutral Portuguese, you normally keep the article:

• A receção do hotel está cheia hoje.

Saying:

• Receção do hotel está cheia hoje.

sounds incomplete or more like a headline (e.g. in a newspaper) where articles are often omitted. In normal speech and writing, you should use the article a.

Both are grammatically correct, but the more natural word orders are:

• Hoje a receção do hotel está cheia.
• A receção do hotel está cheia hoje.

The version A receção do hotel hoje está cheia is possible and understandable, but it sounds slightly less neutral and can feel a bit marked or emphatic. For everyday speech, prefer putting hoje at the beginning or the end.

A natural Brazilian Portuguese version would be:

• A recepção do hotel está cheia hoje.

Differences:

• Spelling: recepção (with p) instead of receção.
• Pronunciation is different (Brazilian vs European accent), but the grammar and vocabulary are essentially the same in this sentence.

By default, in the context of a hotel reception, cheia is understood as “full of people / crowded”.

But cheia can be used with different complements:

• cheia de gente = full of people
• cheia de malas = full of suitcases
• cheia de barulho = full of noise

If you want to be explicit about people, you can say:

• A receção do hotel está cheia de gente hoje.
  → The hotel reception is full of people today.

Both can express the idea that the place is full / crowded, but:

• cheia is very common and neutral in Portugal.
• lotada is more Brazilian in everyday use and much less common in European Portuguese in this context.

In European Portuguese, for a hotel reception, you’d normally say:

• A receção está cheia (de gente).
  rather than lotada.