Great hotel on Copacabana beach. Very ideally located. Great views from the balconies. One of the very few hotels that have balconies. We did not have a deluxe room but view from our side room was also great. Staff was courteous and friendly. Hotel is clean. There is absolutely breathtaking view from the roof top swimming pool and exercise room. There is also a baron the roof top which is open till 10 pm. This hotel is very popular among foreigners. Hotel could use some upgrading. I did not appreciate that they charged almost $40 for 3 days of WiFi. Otherwise it was great.

We booked suite 1801. Luxury hotels are pricey in Rio (roughly $500 per night). Our room was spacious; certainly not the posh elegance you would expect at this price point (bathroom had L'Occitaine, room had Nespresso machine, welcome champagne drink...but tub was plastic). Still it was nicely decorated and the view (bay/beach) from our balcony was delightful. Great buffet breakfast with incredible views of bay included in room rate. Rooftop pool was awesome. I would stay here again. Service was friendly and fast. We used hotel service for return booking to airport. It was convenient. Used prepaid taxi into city from airport.

My guests there complained that they were treated rudely by staff. When they had questions about restaurants or activities, the hotel was unhelpful. When they miscommunicated with a tour guide on a start time, they refused to help and made the guests resolve it on their own. The breakfast was reported as very good, and the rooftop pool enjoyable. But the staff treatment of guests must improve. I doubt I would send a guest there in the future given the complaint.

Let me tell you why we loved it.

First, the rooms are big, clean, modern -- we had a HUGE bed, large bathroom and a flatscreen TV. Our room looked out at Copacabana beach and the main drag, which, from memory, is the Avenida Del Sol (avenue of the sun).

Then there's the roof-top bar and pool -- which was pretty quiet while we were there. Which was great. Because we had it pretty much to ourselves, and we sub-baked, ordered drinks and splashed around in the pool. (Note, it's only a bit over waist-deep, but that was perfect for us, because we just bobbed down, glided a bit and splashed around.)

They gave us a free glass of champagne on arrival.

It's right across the road from Copacabana beach, which is always full of people playing volleyball, soccer or this weird soccer/volley ball hybrid.

We hired a driver from there to take us to Sugarloaf Mountain and the big state of Jesus... He looked after us all day long, and always bobbed up at the right time (when we were just starting to think "hey, where is this guy" -- bang, there he was.)

The hotel guys did everything we wanted them to -- getting us a car to the airport, letting us borrow their DVD player etc.

It was kind of expensive. But we budgeted for it. (We had roughed it in other parts of the country and wanted this to be a bit more luxurious.) And had a great time. Highly recommend to anyone travelling to Rio.

P.S. The buffett breakfast was brilliant.