Hotel Dengan spa di Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil

I’d describe this hotel as utilitarian. No decor or warmth at all. The common areas are spacious and quite bare.Table and chairs at the restaurant are plain brown wood, The lobby is sparsely furnished with some worn , drab and very uncomfortable seats. Bathrooms are the same. Just the very bare essentials, not even a box of tissue paper ( and thin toilet paper) We travelled long hours,  arrived at 22:00 looking forward to a good shower …not to be. We were up for a bad start. There  was just a trickle of water not enough to bathe or properly brush teeth either. That could have been a whole area problem as we were told that water pressure can sometimes drop in some areas of the city. We changed rooms , water pressure  wasn’t much better the next day either, the water flow improved just a little and remained as such the whole week. We had paid for 5 nights and ended up staying as the city was packed that week . To go looking for another hotel during the G20 summit which Rio was hosting that week of November 2024 would not be an easy task.  On the positive side, staff was pleasant and accommodating, bed was comfortable and from our perspective, the breakfast buffet was the best feature of this hotel offering abundant variety of  food to meet all tastes- cereal, fruits and cheeses, cold cuts, several hot savory breakfast  dishes - incl. some Brazilian regional dishes as well, a huge selection of breads, cakes, good coffee, and more. Very satisfying. Including breakfast in the booking is highly recommended.  The good fare offered at the hotel at lunch and dinner not good at all. However, there are also three of four restaurants lined up on a small stretch within 5 min walking distance of the hotel- one of them is a very good authentic European Portuguese cuisine and wine. Aprox. US$ 52 for a meal for two. On the same cluster of shops there is a well established Brazilian cuisine restaurant with a good menu where one can eat well for anything  between US$ 12  to US$ 15 and a steak house similar to the Australian Outback steak house.  There are also other eateries snd convenience shops, a pharmacy on the same stretch ( 5 min walk ffrom the hotel) including a 24 hr laundromat where one can expect to wash and dry a load for about US$ 7.  As for location, this hotel is not close to the most well known districts of Rio - places like Copacabana, Ipanema , Leblon - but Barra da Tijuca is a special area in itself and arguably has the best beach in town. The hotel is just a 10 - 15 min taxi ride to Barra Shopping-  the largest and best shopping mall in the whole state of Rio de Janeiro where one can find anything,  including restaurants (recommend trying Jappa all you can eat Japanese food spread for US$ 26 as in Nov 2024). On the whole , when compared with the fashionable and pricey districts of Copacabana , Ipanema Leblon  this hotel is good value for money . I’d stay there again if they fixed the shower situation b’cause this feature matters for me.

The room has lovely views to the beach the staff are very pleasant. I only had one problem with the nutritionist called Juliana that responded to an email I sent to her explaining about my son’s anaphylactic shock to dairy and unfortunately when we got their to the hotel it was her day off but she had no one ready to cater for my son first they offered him an apple and boiled egg and as soon as I spoke to the manager they made him pancakes scrambled eggs gave him biscuits. It was a shame that Juliana did not do her job properly causing me and my partner stress on our first day at the hotel. But next day they where ready for him and he also had a lovely breakfast just hope that Juliana learns how important it is to get ready for costumers that have severe allergies and treats them with more respected. Apart from this incident everything else was spot on I also called their 24 hr service and order my son some pasta to take to our travel back home and everything was perfect.

The hotel is very nice, a real classical beauty. The public spaces and the pool are very nice too, and the breakfast is good. The only thing I really disliked is the Checkin/Checkout process... We lost a lot of time at the arrival, when all you want is get to your room as quick as possible.

We booked two rooms with the hotel: a junior suite and a standard. The suite was very spacious and opened up to the street. The windows did a good job of blocking sound so the street didn’t disturb our sleep at night. They had a parking garage that charges R$33 per day and was able to accommodate our Jeep Commander. What is warranting this poor review was the hotel staff. Upon check-in they had informed us that one of our rooms wasn’t paid for even though i had already been charged by the booking agency. He said that we had opted for pay later and they hadn’t received the payment from the booking agency. I told them that my card had been charged by the booking agency but he insisted that it was likely a hold on the card to secure the room. I’d suggested to call the booking agency but he insisted that it wouldn’t be necessary (he didn’t seem worried so I assumed he had experience with this). Come to find that I was charged twice for this room and the booking agency has been trying to get in contact with the hotel for over a week with no response. This seems like FRAUD. The second issue. Upon checkout of our suite, the lady checking us out requested a gratuity payment for the included breakfast… she estimated that based on the value of their breakfast that the suggested 10% gratuity would come out to R$180 per person. That would make their self-service breakfast be valued hire than Michelin restaurants in the area. She tried to ask the other party that was traveling with us but when I came closer she gave up. I’m wondering if this is hotel policy or if the staff at this hotel are actually running scams from the front desk. I am still trying to get a hold of them about the double charge.

The location is excellent, surrounded by hotels and restaurants. Across the street is the endless ocean and a beach bustling with people playing ball and running early every morning. It's very convenient to all the attractions! Of course, a sea view room would be much more comfortable. The sunrises are beautiful every day. Although you can't see east, they're still beautiful. The interior view rooms have a small balcony, but it can feel a bit cramped. Beach slippers are provided and can be taken away and reused.

It was my first hotel stay, I was treated very well from start to finish. The facilities are super new and timeless. The gardens are very beautiful, everything is very well looked after. The food is impeccable, the staff make you feel at home. I highly recommend it.

The room is large, with a large balcony that overlooks the beach. The decoration is relatively old. Breakfast is a variety of breads and pastries, too sweet, and the grilled sausages are too salty. There is a private beach and swimming pool with a nice view. It is near a wealthy area with good security and many people outside at night.

The room balcony has a beautiful view, simple design, rich breakfast, and is also a safe area, but the hotel front desk will sell tickets and game tickets, which are more expensive than buying them yourself. Especially the game tickets: I bought them for 120 RMB, and they bought them for more than 800 RMB, just for the pick-up.

I liked everything, it was clean and cozy, only the breakfasts were monotonous. Everyone at the reception was great, thank you!

Very good breakfast (best waiter: Thiago - what a great person) Superb Location However, I am still upset with the reception team. On one night, there was a big party outside and it was impossible to sleep during the night. Having complained about the loud noise, the reception staffer told me that he would call the police. Nothing changed and on the next day, the hotel did not communicate at all with us about this incident. When I proactively asked for a discount on our dues, the reception staff wrote me lengthy messages that it was not in their control. For me, if you really care about your guests, you ask your neighbors to lower their music volume. They wrote me long messages how they really care about their guests, but if they do not follow through with these statements, better not make them in the first place. The hotel has seen better days and not only did a stair case step break during our way just in front of our room (not repaired until our departure), but my girlfriend also stepped into a broken mosaic in the cold outside pool with her foot.