This hotel is very basic, and sub-standard in some ways. We were in Rio on business for 8 days, and the hotel we wanted was booked. Since most of the time would be spent outside the hotel, we decided to stick with this place, but in hindsight, we should have moved.

There is nothing really terrible, but the beds are only moderately comfortable; housekeeping is acceptable. However, the elevators were sometimes out of order; the A/C growled; there is no bar or restaurant at the hotel (although it is in a good area for such things.) It is a poor place to stay for business, but since we were in Rio to visit a corporate site, we were okay by relying on that site's facilities. Still: the hotel claims to have internet access, but none of us (even with hotel help) could get it to work -- and we travel the world and are used to connecting just about anywhere. There are no services onsite that would be nice, e.g. no ATM, and the desk would not exchange money.

The breakfast buffet is weak -- excellent fruit, like many places in Rio, but awful-looking runny scrambled eggs and hotdog chunks (really!) in the hot trays.

The takeway: we managed, but we'd never stay here again.

The Good:
It is a very nice hotel, clean, and with excellent breakfast. It is also about 10 minutes away from a large high-end shopping mall called Barra Shopping.

The Bad:
There is a lake that separates the hotel from the beach; therefore, you cannot walk to the beach.

In addition, the hotel is about 30 minutes from the beaches of Ipanema, Leblon, and Copacabanna.