Praia Ipanema Hotel

First, we were staying there from March 22-25, and were not informed that the pool was being renovated (and thus not in service) until AFTER we booked. We promptly called the hotel to see if the pool would be accessible during our visit because if not, we would not have wanted to stay there. They reassured (over and over again) us that the pool would be ready on March 23. However, it was closed the entire time we were there. When we complained about this, they did not do anything, they did not even remove the $R3/day fee for the safe, which is ridiculous in the first place given that they charged almost $400/night for a dirty, musty room. The sheets had rust on them. The maid service was terrible - they did not clean our room until very late in the day and never left us beach towels. So, every morning, we had to go on a search for our own beach towels. I would not recommend this hotel. I felt like my money was stolen, and they did not care about customer service at all.

HOTEL AND STAFF FREINDLY AND HELPFUL. WONDERFUL BREAKFAST. 14TH FLOOR OCEANFRONT WAS GREAT. SAFE AREA WITH SHOPPING AND FOOD. ONLY DRAWBACK WAS POOL UNDER REFURB. WOULD DEFINITLEY STAY AGAIN AND DO RECCOMMEND !!!!

VERY NICE PLACE TO STAY, EXCELENT LOCATION AND VERY NICE STAFF

This hotel was beyond our expectations! Clean, beautiful, all rooms with a balcony overlooking Ipanema beach, and the hotel provides beach towels without even asking. Staff was courteous at a level I usually experience at a Ritz or similar. I will always use this hotel in Rio.

Lo mejor de este hotel es la ubicación, creo que ese es el motivo por el cual el precio es elevado respecto a las instalaciones. Es un hotel de lujo decadente, en los '80 habrá sido excelente, pero en esta época está venido a menos. En mi casopersonal, la habitación en un 2° piso, doble standart, es pequeña, tenía muchas manchas de humedad activa en las paredes y sobretodo en el placard lo que significó que el olor se pegara a las ropas. En el baño encontré cucarachas, algo inaceptable en un hotel. El 1° piso estaba siendo remodelado lo que significó ruido a martilleo insoportable, no deberían ofrecer el piso 2° para alojar a pasajeros. El mobilliario de la habitación es viejo y además las sillas rotas. El desayuno buffet es mediocre para un hotel 4 estrellas, y además el comerdor queda chico, ya que yo fui en temporada baja y había que esperar mesa, no me imagino que sucedería en temporada alta. La atención de los empleados es buena y amables en gral. La vista es incomparable!!

Easy access to the beach, the neighborhood, great restaurants. Friendly, helpful staff. Nice rooms with balconies and good views. Great breakfast, nice amenities. A good place to stay if you want to escape the throngs of tourists, the crowded beaches, and the pesky peddlers of Copacabana.

The hotel was fairly basic with the rooms nothing to write home about. Their rack rate was $520 but we got a standard room for $343. Not knowing the property, we figured this would be our splurge. I did request an ocean front view and on that they totally delivered. From our room, we had the entire Ipanema Beach from our little balcony. We could also see Sugarloaf as well as the Cristo. My guess is that beach front is just plain pricey in Ipanema. The people were very nice just expected a bit more for the price.

This place has quite the set of photographs in its marketing arsenal, so I was looking forward to trying it out on my next trip to Rio. Brazil in general doesn't get my highest marks for hotels. Of the seven hotels I've in at in Brazil, I rate this #4. Of Rio, I rate it #3 of 5. It's okay, but dated, and not as modern as led to believe by the marketing. The A/C counldn't be controlled, the wired internet was slow. There was a tremendous amount of street noise (3rd floor), which kept me awake. The lack of consistent hot water was a major inconvenience. Room door lock stopped working on my last night, and I couldn't leave if I wanted to get back in. Mold/mildew around the A/C unit. Smallish-sized room.