From the moment I arrived, the staff at Copacabana greeted me with open arms. From Alessandro (I believe this was his name) who checked me to the IT Technician who came to my immediate help with business documents that needed to be color printed. I must also highlight Daisy Gil Ketzer, Guest Relations Manager who is extraordinarily professional, kind and attentive and Leonardo Monteiro, Head Butler who could not have been more helpful and beyond gracious. WOW is all I can say.
My room was stunning. From the embroidered bed spread to the L'Occitane bathroom amenities, separate shower/tub, Havianas for the pool and most appreciated wood show horn.
GREAT hotel!! Oh and room service...terrific! Worth every Real!!

We spent 4 nights of our week's honeymoon in Rio aft Copacabana Palace after an initally disappointing start to our week at another hotel, basically this hotel and their staff salvaged our honeymoon and now when we think of our honeymoon we think only of them and have amazing memories thanks to them!

The hotel may be huge and spotless but it is so welcoming and I have never felt so relaxed! The staff are incredibly attentive but not 'in your face' - they have thought of everything and tend to everything whether you are on the beach, by the pool or in the restaurant, no detail is left untouched but all carried out so pleasantly and with such good humour!

The room was beautiful, cleaning of the room second to none, food beautiful and everyone just so friendly!

Location was brilliant in our opinion and nothing too much trouble - we had a very late night flight coming home but they allowed us to keep our room until 3;00 pm at no extra cost, stored our luggage and suggested we use the spa facilities to shower before leaving. Spa staff were like all the others incrediby friendly and welcoming and facilities like everything else just beautiful!

Have told my new husband all future holidays will have to be at an Orient Express hotel - he's gone off to save his pennies although would if he could as we both loved it and will always be grateful to them for making our honeymoon and leaving us with fabulous memories!!

The hotel has real potential, but when two hotel managers blatantly lied to me last week, there was little they could subsequently do to change my opinion that this is a poorly run establishment. My room was small--not a problem.

But after my husband and I dropped a large sum to eat at one of Rio's best restaurants, we returned at around 11:00 p.m. to a room blanketed by extremely loud noise (music blasting, well over a hundred people attending) from a wedding in the large banquet room below us. I called the front desk, and was told the wedding would last "until 4:00 or 5:00 a.m."

I was livid, and asked to be moved immediately. We were taken to another room to sleep for the night. It was about 60 degrees (air con. running full blast), and it took us over an hour to get warm and relax. The next day we returned to our original room. A hotel manager called me. I thanked him for moving us, but said I was concerned about noise from future events. He assured me that no other events were planned. This was the first lie.

Two days later, I returned to the room to take a 5:00 p.m. nap after touring all day. Music was blasting from below, intermittently. After five minutes of this, I went down to the front desk. A young woman took my complaint and called special events. She claimed no knowledge of any event, and told me I would have to wait until she heard back from the event people. Not wanting to deal with the bureaucracy and the wait, I asked for the hotel manager to come to reception asap.

The manager, a different person than the weekend manager, appeared. When I told her about the noise, she pointed to a Fox Sports stand (covering soccer and volleyball on the beach across the street) as the source of the nosie. I told her that the noise was below our room. She smiled, and pointed across the street again. I continued to disagree with her.

Suddenly, a blast of music roared into the lobby. It was coming from the stairs at the back of the lobby; these stairs lead to the banquet hall floor. "We're going upstairs now," I told her. And there was Fox Sports, with a table. Their hired band, in the next hall, a large banquet hall, was doing a sound check for an event that evening. The event was not going to end until around 1:00 a.m. (and I had my doubts that it would not go on further).

I told the manager that we needed to be moved immediately to a quiet room for the rest of our stay. I asked her why she lied to me about the source of the noise, and why the weekend manager lied to me when he claimed there would be no further events during our stay. I got no answers, just more smiles and a promise of a different room. We were indeed transferred to a quiet room on the 5th floor, and some fancy chocolatees were sent with a note to the room. Therafter, the manager would smile at me when she saw me. I found this irritating.

So here you have the most storied hotel in Rio as well as the most inconsiderate luxury hotel I have experienced in my travels. If the foremost responsibility of a hotel is to assure their guests a restful sleep, the Copacabana Palace fails. The friendly wait staff at the restaurant, the decor, the cleanliness of the rooms, the good quality of the food and some of the other services are completely undone if one stays in a room underneath the main banquet hall.

In addition, I leanred that other guests complained about the noise issue, but were not moved because "no rooms were available." Think hard about where your room is situated if you stay at this hotel--we slept in three different beds over five nights. It was disruptive, agitating, and it tainted our trip. There are better options in Rio.

Nice hotel. very friendly and good service. Good food. Nice pool.
But a bit old fashioned hotel. Rooms good but not great. Choice of restaurants very limited.
Breakfast buffet nice but not exciting.
All in all, a nice hotel, but too expensive for what you get.
Also the location is not fantastic; Copacabana is highly overrated.