I had reserved this room through Priceline.com and further emailed the hotel on two seperate occasions in the two months leading up to my stay to confirm the rate for the type of room and number of people staying, both times receiving a confirmation in response. When we arrived, the rate quoted at the front desk was several hundred American dollars higher, but as no-one working at the desk spoke English (an issue we would experience frequently during our stay), it was decided we would sort it out the next day. Thus began a holiday during which on almost every day I would come down to the front desk, explain the situation and be reassured that it was being sorted out and the rates were being corrected in the system. Day after day this failed to happen, despite the fact I provided the requested documentation such as email printouts and the original voucher. When we went to checkout early in the morning the rates were again incorrect to the tune of about $400 USD. As the person on the front desk only spoke Portuguese and we had a plane to catch, not to mention they took a credit card authorisation when we arrived, there was nothing we could do but pay the inflated fee.

Basically it doesn´t seem to matter how many times you confirm a rate, it may be completely different when you arrive and it doesn´t matter how many times they assure you they have corrected it, you may be charged whatever they feel like at checkout. I heard other complaints about the bills being different from what had been quoted on my frequent trips to the front desk, so I can only assume they are just poorly organised and have little interest in sorting things out in the guest´s interest.

I´d also mention that very little English is spoken which is a little surprising for an international chain hotel at this level. During the day there was generally 1 person on the desk who did speak English but, for example, when we wanted room service we had to go down and physically point to the menu as they couldn´t understand us, no-one then working at the front desk spoke English and thus everyone kept hanging up the phone on us.

The stove in the apartment also didn´t work and, despite one attempt, they never managed to fix it. Simple amenities like coffee makers and toasters are also missing from a very sparse kitchen area.

Stayed there for only one night during a weekend trip to Rio de Janeiro and was completed satisfied with the quality and size of the rooms. The one we stayed had a complete kitchen, which helped us with our little nephew!