LUXURY HOTELS IN RIO

[Guest manrent1]

I'm wondering if there are any recommendations for true Luxury hotels in Rio? 5 star hotels - thanks

[trilingual]

There is really only one truly luxury hotel in Rio, the Copacabana Palace. Soon there will be some competition from a new Philippe Starck-designed hotel in Ipanema, not far from the gay beach.

[Guest manrent1]

I've been looking into the Copacabana Palace - it's look wonderful. Any details on it you can share from experience Tri? Could I book it through your agency?

[trilingual]

The Copacabana Palace is one of the world's landmark hotels. It has reigned supreme in Rio since it opened, inspired by the grand hotels on the French Riviera. Some visitors have exprienced occasional weirdness in the way the hotel does things, and security is very tight. It can be difficult to have visitors to your room, so be aware that you'll have to keep your carousing to saunas or hotels-by-the-hour if you want to avoid unpleasant scenes in the lobby. The weirdness is probably due to the fact that the hotel has no competition in Rio (at least not until the new Philippe Starck hotel opens). It's also due at times to extra-strict security when the hotel is hosting an important foreign dignitary (usually not one of us, I'm afraid). The Palace is where visiting royalty and heads of state stay when they're in Rio, which explains why you may find the lobby and street outside crawling with unusual numbers of burly security men in suits. It means a visiting prince or potentate is in residence!

 

A stay at the Palace can be a wonderful experience. At least one evening you should plan to dine at the hotel's Cipriani restaurant for superb food and service, probably the finest in Rio. The restaurant looks out over the hotel's huge swimming pool, and it's easy to let yourself be transported back in your imagination to the glory days of the '30s, '40s and '50s when the hotel was the haunt of movie stars and the international set and Fred and Ginger were "doing the Carioca." You'll still find stars and supermodels hanging out around the pool. All in all, for those who can afford it the Copacabana Palace is an experience worth having at least once in their lives! And yes, you can book through our site, http://www.gaytravelbrazil.com or by e-mailing us at info@gaytravelbrazil.com We'll be happy to help you make this dream come true!

[Guest ihpguy]

A nice, lower-cost option to supper at Cipriani is the Sunday buffet brunch by the swimming pool with much of the same people watching. Very swellegant!

[+ Axiom2001]

Cesar Park in Ipanema was featured on the "Travel Channel" a few weeks back. The moderator stated that it was supposedly the BEST hotel in my favorite city.

 

In October while I walked the sidewalks along the beach-- I glanced up and saw CP; it was undergoing some external rennovations; I don't know if they have carried this over to the interior or not.

 

...haven't stayed at either hotel, but one day I shall just for a few nights and for the experience.

[sydneyboy]

The Philippe Starck hotel that Trilingual refers to is the Fasano which is opening in March 2007. I had dinner at Gero's in Rio

(owned by Fasano and very good by the way) only last week and they gave me the address. It at the across the road from the beach at the Copacabana end of Ipanema.I have stayed at the Fasano in Sao Paulo and it is excellent. I hope the Rio offshoot maintains the standards.

 

I had dinner at Cipriani's at the Copacabana Palace last year and after I was standing by the pool looking up at the rooms in the Tower Wing. I staff member asked me if I would like to look at one of the rooms. It was a "pool view suite" and was very beautiful. I looked at their web site and the best rate I could find was $660US a night and the rack rate is $850US a night (ouch!). But a word of warning. Not all the rooms at the Copacabana Palace are renovated. If you look on the TripAdvisor website you can read the most glowing reports of the quality of the rooms, as I observed for myself but you can also read reports such as these, and I quote:

 

"What a dump. The mattress was as stiff as board. The sheets were of poor quality. The rooms were so wet from the air we had to move rooms our clothes were actually getting wet".

 

"The room was extremely funky, old, moldy with a giant pool of water standing in the foyer that was rotting out the parquetry floors. This for $500US a night in a 5 star hotel". His story had a happy ending, after 5 hours of negotiation with management(don't we have better things to do on vacation?) he was upgraded to an excellent room.

 

"The beds were so incredibly hard we had to request a pad - not that it made much difference. Additionally the room smelled so musty our allergies acted up". (This was posted 1 January 2007).

 

This is only a representitive sample of the negative comments. Moral to the story if you are contemplating staying at the Copa Palace make sure you get a renovated room.

 

The 4-5 star alternatives are depressing. Read TripAdvisor for comments on the Soffitel, Marriott, Caesar Park, Sheraton and the Meridian (where I have stayed, very mediocre) and you will see what I mean.

 

In conclusion I can do no better than to quote one person writing on TripAdvisor after a disappointing stay at the Caesar Park "It is puzzling to me that although Rio is clearly one of the great cities of the world to visit, the choice of accommodations is absolutely horrible". My answer to the puzzle is that Rio has long ceased to be the capital, Sao Paulo is the commercial centre and Rio is purely a tourist destination. As a consequence Rio hoteliers think they can get away with short changing carefree vulnerable tourists. And do.

[LGA]

Exactly. Part of the problem seems to be that the prime beachfront real estate was taken up by a construction boom in the hideous 1970s, with most of the major hotels designed along the dingy concrete-box model of the time. What amazes is that major brands like Sofitel and Meridien who have spectacular, first-rate properties elsewhere in the world have let their Rio properties go to pot: seedy, dingy, depressing. There are brilliant new hotels in Sao Paolo (Unique, Fasano, Emiliano, Park Hyatt, etc) because there is room for contemporary new building development, but Rio seems stuck in time, circa 1978.

[sf traveler]

I recently stayed in the Copacabana Palace and my suite, as well as the hotel service, was excellent. But the price reflected that. Overall, it's not the choice I would likely make again--just because of the price. But, for what it's worth, my own experience was absolutely first rate. Since the friends I was with and I stayed in suites that obviously had been renoved, I can't comment on whether there might be rooms that should have been renovated and haven't been. I would, however, echo Tri's comments--don't even try bringing a boy back there. You're highly likely to cause a scene and embarrass both yourself and the boy. SF Traveler

[Guest manrent1]

Thanks for all the replies.

 

Not sure I understand why I couldn't bring someone back to my room. Do you mean to tell me if I stroll through the lobby of the hotel with a nicely dressed "guest" they are going to tell me I can't take him to my room?

[trilingual]

In a word, "yes."

 

The CP is very security-conscious and they can tell an escort/sauna guy a mile off. Fortunately, there is an alternative to taking people to your room. Just a few blocks away, at the corner of R. Ronald de Carvalho and R. Min Viveiros de Castro (between Av. Copacabana and Barata Ribeiro) is the gay-friendly hotel-by-the-hour, the Lido. Take your tricks there. Less hassle, and safer all around.