This was our second stay at the Le Meridien Copacabana. Our previous stay was three years ago and was pleasant. Unfortunately, this hotel appears to have downhill since then. In all fairness, Rio is a difficult city to find a hotel that meets Western expectations. We haven't found anything to compare to the Four Seasons, Westin or W hotels.
The good features about this hotel are its location and its view which is better than the other hotels we've stayed at on Copacabana (including the new JW Marriott). The windows are quite large and give wonderful views of the beach and mountains. I would recommend a room with a view of both the mountains and beach which is very impressive. We have stayed in regular view rooms and this last stay we stayed in a Suite which had wonderful views from all sides. The rooms are clean but definitely dated.
The negative aspects of this hotel largely circulate around its staff. I have never had such a rude and unhelpful concierge service. We have found people in Brazil, including Rio, to be warm and wonderful but this quality was not reflected in much of the staff. The concierge refused to help us arrange transportation to our next location and instead sent us to a dingy travel company where we wasted much of our afternoon. The staff at the concierge desk were unreachable, extremely rude, would hang up on you when they thought your question was too difficult, and did not give good recommendations for restaurants. Moreover, the air conditioning didn't work in our first hotel room. Over an eight hour period we repeatedly asked for someone to come and check but were told there was no one available. Finally, at midnight we were moved to a new room. This was only after repeated phone calls that were not returned or responded to. Overall, it was the shocking rudeness that really spoiled our stay. The people I was traveling with had the same experience and none of us could wait to leave the hotel.
Another issue was the fact that the hotel advertises that it has internet access in the rooms and even has ports with instructions but when we contacted the front desk after having no connection we were hung up on twice and then told that there is no connection as of this time - apparently it is in the works and is not yet a service available. We specifically chose this hotel b/c we thought it had in-room internet access and would not have stayed here otherwise.
The fitness facility was also misrepresented. The website indicates that it is a large facility when in fact it is a small cramped room with only a handful of machines (six?) with a weightroom no bigger than a closet and which is not well ventilated.
We normally love Le Meridiens and were very disappointed. We would recommend staying somewhere else.
