Grand Hyatt Rio de Janeiro — Hotel in Região Geográfica Imediata do Rio de Janeiro

It saddens me to give a 2 star review and I shall explain why. This is based on my 6 days 5 nights stay recently in Rio. When I first arrived at around 1pm, I had to wait an hour before able to checked in. The toilet didn’t work with the water flowing and won’t stopped. I had to call five times begging them to fix the toilet and that I only wished to sleep as by then I had been travelling for over 26 hours and were in need of some rest. Took them an hour for someone to turn up and fixed the problem. Then I found out that there had been no towels and no bath robe which I had to asked someone to bring in. The shower is weak and hot and cold without consistency. The next day, I found out that the hot water is all brown and rusty (pics attached). At times there was no hot water. The hot water tank was not clean. I opened the doors to let natural air in because their air conditioning does not regulate the temperature and humidity well. The wind must have blown over the dust collected on the picture frames and fallen on my bed (pics attached). I might have breathed in those dust when I was asleep. Naturally I made a complaint. They apologised and upgraded me to a suite. They also invited me to dine in a restaurant. A nice gesture and I feel their genuine effort to make things right, but....

I had to wait for 3 hours before my new room, the room is very nice but the wait in itself is a torture. They said an hour wait at first, then extended for another hour and by the time I was in my new room, it’s 3 hours gone. My holiday time has been wasted waiting. I would have been relatively happy if my further 3 days remain uneventful with the hotel but it was not to be.

When I took a shower the next day, the shower rack was loose and fell on the floor when I took the shower head, lucky it didn’t hit me, I placed it back loosely and asked them to fix it (pics attached). Then the following day, the toilet didn’t flush properly, again no big deal and I asked them to fix it and to clean my room. When I returned from dinner and hoping to enjoy my last night before heading to the airport the next morning, I found the toilet was fixed but my room was left unclean!

Whilst I must say the staff at the hotel is nice, but I have had problems everyday and the lack of consistency with their level of service is very frustrating. The hotel is far from the Leblon and Copacabana area but it is a nice hotel. It is a shame I have to give a bad review. They also have a rather stupid policy of not serving by the pool after the evening. Such a waste of the nice ambience. With such appalling experience, it does not deserve a 2 star, but I think it deserves a star for the friendliness of the staff. So 1 star for the hotel and 1 star...

I stayed at the Grand Hyatt in Barra da Tijuca for approximately 9 total days -- broken up 6 days-mid June 2016 and 3 days very early July 2016. I was a lone female traveler, so navigating Rio by myself was sometimes challenging and a little scary. I am so glad I started my adventure in Brazil at the Hyatt. My experience was superior. And if/ when there were glitches here and there (as does happen in all travel) they were recognized and taken care of almost immediately.

The WHOLE staff is extremely conscientious and proactive. Top notch! And I cannot say enough about the fabulous and attentive service I received from the concierge staff. Of course enough weeks have passed now that I sadly cannot remember everyone's name. I wish I could name them all! But it seems to be staffed with mostly professional young women. And they are the sweetest girls ever. They are adorable!! Very professional and knowledgeable, but also so sweet, talkative, funny and very helpful. Perfect English. It was always such a joy to work with them and get their helpful advice. Same with the front desk staff and the valet and guys who stand out to greet guests. Also, the guys who watched over the beach service. I always felt so safe on the beach and knew my stuff was protected if I wanted to walk by the shore. I have traveled all over the world for pleasure and I travel 75+% for work in the USA. I can truthfully say that the staff at the Grand Hyatt in Barra da Tijuca is one of the best I have ever seen.

The rooms are not huge, but very adequate and nicely appointed. I had a beach facing view which was wonderful. The only con is that the street below (in front of the beachfront) is very noisy. It slows down after about 11pm at night. There was a lot of construction too. But, they were getting ready for Olympics, so it may be different. I doubt it...because the construction seemed to stop before the area of my room, but I will give it the benefit of a doubt.

The pool is very nice. It was cloudy and rainy a lot when I was there, but I did get one day at the pool. And the beach is gorgeous with the beach service being a plus! Even though it was a little chilly during my first week, I went out there and just enjoyed the beauty.

I also experienced the SPA which was really great. I had a very relaxing massage on my last evening. During the week, I worked out in the health club a few times which was as good as any I have been in. They had areas to stretch and do yoga as well. Such a great experience. Overall, I would give Grand Hyatt 99% satisfaction!!! I sincerely appreciate the staff there and thank each every one of them for graciously allowing me to have such a wonderful experience!

Stay here. You will not be...

Incredible infrastructure, spacious rooms, great views (especially the rooms facing Marapendi lagoon), big pool with more than enough space for everyone even if occupation is high (eg new years eve). 3 stars mainly because 1) this is apparently a smoking-friendly hotel, and they allow smoking cigars in the pool area (I complained and was informed by hotel staff that smoking IS ALLOWED in the pool area) and 2) service overall could be better and more compatible with hotel class and price. A few of the issues:

1. very lousy service in the pool area (most of the orders are forgotten and have to be re-ordered multiple times until you get it). Also had to deal with towel shortages - there were simply no towels available for guests at the pool and it took them over an hour to bring more towels.
2. inability to deal with dietary restrictions (they were unable to serve a meal with no salt added for my 9-month-old son). In fact, this hotel is not baby-friendly at all, with very little support provided. Wait until your little ones are at least 2 years old before bringing them.
3. mediocre breakfast with lots of low-quality practices: waffles and even tapiocas would be cooked ahead of time and left laying there for a long time before consumption. Most of the "hot" dishes were actually cold. Worst coffee I ever tasted (smelled of burnt rubber). Only the fruits were great and saved an otherwise bad breakfast experience.
4. room service was hit or miss (was served a completely burnt steak on new years eve), and sometimes took very long for the order to arrive.
5. mini-bar was not replenished daily (had to be requested)
6. checkin took almost 40 minutes and not because of lines - the process actually took that long.
7. Staff at Shiso japanese restaurant very unhelpful overall. They claimed there was no availability when they were completely empty with lots of free tables. Waiters were unprepared to explain the menu, and also forgot some items we ordered (which we ended up not having for lack of patience at this point).
8. very slow wi-fi - feels like being back in the 2000's. Be ready to simply use mobile data throughout your stay

In summary, you can get better service at other hotels in Rio. But probably not better...