My husband and I stayed at Hotel Astoria Palace for 4 nights from Dec 25-29th. We had a fantastic stay. This hotel is in a great location across the street from Copacabana beach. It is in walking distance to the subway and bus stops as well as many restaurants. The hotel itself is very nice and very clean. The rooms are small but quite nice and kept very clean. We did not have a view of the beach but we had a view of the Christ statue from our room which was very cool. The rooftop has an amazing view of the beach and Copacabana area and a rooftop pool as well which we used a few times. The hotel staff were quite amazing as well. There was always one person at the front desk who spoke english quite well. They were very nice, often joking around with us and very helpful. We would stop by the front desk every morning, tell them where we were headed for the day and they were able to tell us how to take either the bus or subway to our destination. They gave us very clear directions and even a note in portuguese once for the taxi driver at the location we were going. They would make sure we knew which direction we were going, how much it would cost and how far we were going. This was very helpful because we did not want to spend all of our money taking taxis everywhere. I have no complaints about this hotel and would recommend it to anyone going to Rio, we had a fantastic stay!!

I booked this hotel at an exhorbitant price as I spent New Year in Rio with my wife, daughter and parents and wanted to overlook the Copacabana.

It was my first choice of hotels based on reviews, but the other better options were either full or unaffordable. So this was a compromise.

I made it abundantly clear that I would need a sea facing room that could sleep 3.

Upon arrival we were booked onto the first floor with a limited view of the beach and to make matters worse we were told the room only slept 2 people. The staff were rude and the manager not available. I was told I would need to upgrade to a "super deluxe" room for an additional R$1800 per night! After throwing a fit, we eventually managed to fit a low 3rd bed into the room.

Since I was expecting a shoddly, 1970's style hotel, I was surprised that the hotel was not that bad. I suppose if you have really low expectations of this hotel, you may be pleasantly surprised.

The overall Rio experience was great and new year was mind blowing. Wonderful views from the roof.

The good
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Location. Not much else. Probably the best located hotel on the whole beachfront.
Nice shower
Rooftop view
breakfast choice good

The bad:
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Yes, the service is as bad as others say - actually worse!!
The aircon is noisy clunky
The rooms are small, but acceptable
Small bathroom, no bathtub
Threadbare towels
Really slow elevators
Luke warm hot water at times
No pool towels


Ok. Don't stay here unless you absolutely have to be on the beach. No reason to stay here without a sea facing room. If you can afford better - go there.

This hotel is by far one of the worst I have ever stayed in!! We came for 3 nights over the 2011/2012 new year. We chose it primarily because of it's excellent location on Copacabana Beach - which is the only good thing about this HORRIBLE hotel. Our room was not clean, the room was not serviced for the entire stay! It was near impossible to talk to the reception staff as the line of unhappy patrons wasn't with the wait. The hotel staff are VERY rude and simply don't care. Internet and WIFI is terrible. This is basically a 2-star hotel trying to mascarade as a 4 star. Please save yourself the disappointment and stay elsewhere!

Hotel Astoria Palace is ranked 4 stars. I am not entirely sure why. Not a bad place, but 4 stars is a bit generous. In my rankings of places, the hospitality provided at the front desk may play TOO heavy of a role...hospitality at the front desk makes or breaks a place. However, I don't go staying at too many abroad, so maybe my view/interpretation of Hospitality has been too Americanized? Who knows. I'm ranking Very Good compared to other places we stayed in Brazil, it is a mere Average compared to mediocre places I've stayed in US. To give you an example of how turned off we were by attitude, we walked two hotels over, to the Copacabana Palace and had their concierge help us out! (two thumbs up to their staff for being friendly and helpful).
Pluses: Conveniently located on Copacabana Beach (where everybody goes). From hotel, you can walk out, go across the street, ta-daa! you are on beach! ta-daa...you can grab a taxi! (that'll rip you off). Ta-daa! You can hop on a public bus or a gray mini-bus down the block! The rooms are spacious, the A/C works, there were ample outlets for plugging in devices. Ladies: The bathroom is huge/spacious w/PLENTY of counterspace & there are enough mirrors in the room for primping/prepping (don't waste too much time on your hair, the humidity outside will destroy your work anyway). Huge shower/STRONG showerhead...absolute NECESSITY for washing off that sand! there's a bidet, if you like that sorta thing. (there's no bathtub, makes shaving your legs a bit trying). Pressure in toilet sufficient enough to flush down toilet paper we forgot we WERE NOT supposed to be flushing in said toilet! Free breakfast (not the best breakfast spread...but FREE!). Some of the front desk were helpful after they got in the mood. But seriously, at times felt as if they didn't like my "type." I'm not sure what my "type" was, but just got the vibe that they weren't overly happy to help. Almost this demeanor of, "Oh, YOU AGAIN" anytime we walked up to the front desk. (aka, these damn Americans, can't they figure out anything on their own???). Oh, another plus, you can change your dollars into Reais right in hotel, no extra charge, and the exchange rate isn't too bad. Big props to the housekeeping staff and the woman that was able to press some shirts at the last minute. If you ask bellhop, they'll provide you with towels and umbrellas for the beach.
Negatives: I'm still trying to figure why this place was rated 4 stars. Was it because you don't sleep in fear for your life? Superiority attitude/demeanor of the some of the front desk people. Again, after awhile, they warmed up...but I've had better experiences at Hampton Inns, etc. The word I am looking for is :BEGRUDGING. These guys would fit right in cast as sarcastic butlers in an English sitcom. And I don't appreciate the feeling of always thinking I'm getting ripped off. Case: 1st day of arrival, we wanted to squeeze in a trip to Sugarloaf (pao de azucar). WE asked front desk agent, what a cab might cost. He says, 15R. He then motions to bellhop, put these two in one of our cars. We get in said car thinking it'll be same price. Now this thing LOOKS like a cab...except, NO METER. Get there, guy charges us 20R. I know not that much diff, but kinda shady when you think this is the hotel's preferred driver and you get a different outcome. From there we learned, PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION...safe and almost as fast as the cabs when you're in heavy traffic anyway. Also, do not, I repeat, DO NOT, go with any of the tours offered by the hotel...ripoff! We found the same tours offered by vendors on the beach for a significant price reduction! Case: Excursion to Angra dos Reis. at Hotel, $150R. From Alternativa Turismo, $90R. Don't waste your $ on city tours either, you can do all these on your own, on public transportation, for a 1/4 of the price...and perfectly safe.