Rio Design Hotel — Hotel in Região Geográfica Imediata do Rio de Janeiro

The Design Hotel has a great location, one short block from Copacabana Beach. This is the only good feature of this hotel. ||We were quite disappointed with our stay at this so-called “design” hotel in Rio de Janeiro. Unfortunately, there’s nothing “design” about it. The room we stayed in was far from the sleek and modern aesthetic advertised in the photographs online, which are misleading at best.||The bathroom was particularly unpleasant. When we arrived, it was not properly cleaned—there was hair on the floor. The grouting in the shower had visible mould, and the showerhead was rusted. Worse, the drain in the shower was blocked, leading to water pooling during showers. While this was eventually fixed after we complained, it’s something that shouldn’t have happened in the first place. Additionally, the towels provided were old and worn out, which added to the lackluster experience.||Housekeeping was also a problem. Three times we returned to our room after being out for hours only to find it hadn’t been serviced. On all occasions, we had to ask for the room to be cleaned, despite it being well into the afternoon. On two occasions we directly asked the housekeeping staff who were servicing the room next door, to no avail. The quality of the housekeeping was perfunctory.||The mattress was sagging on one side, which gave my partner a painful back, making sleep even more uncomfortable. Additionally, the bathroom door squeaked every time it was opened, which was particularly disturbing in the night.||The quality of the bed linens was equally poor. The sheets were old, ill-fitting, and the bottom sheet came off the bed every night, which made for uncomfortable sleep. Additionally, there were no in-room tea or coffee-making facilities, which was disappointing. We also discovered that there was no iron or ironing board available, which is an essential amenity in most hotels.||The toiletries provided were extremely basic—small bars of soap and some locally made shampoo of questionable quality. For a hotel presenting itself as a “design” destination, we expected much better.||The breakfast buffet was acceptable but very basic, offering limited variety. The one saving grace was the location, which is convenient for exploring the city.||To top it all off, the Wi-Fi was weak and slow, making it difficult to stay connected.||Overall, this hotel fell far short of our expectations, and we wouldn’t recommend it if you’re looking for a true...

$ 130 Overcharged on holidays and dumped after – Really Mr. Miranda (General Manager)?! What kind of review do would you expect, after your credit card would have been overcharged with $ 130? What else would you think if the management couldn’t care less about you and doesn’t reimburse you? It can happen to you too, well done and welcome to Rio Design Hotel in Brazil.

We booked our holiday's right amount the peak of the great Brazilian Carnival. Our “Executive Suite” did not reflect the $ 1200 we paid for. The furnishing of our room looked and felt overaged, more like out of a movie from the '90s. Breakfast was ok but in a very small room. Impossible to host all the guest. We always came late to avoid the main crowd. The service was friendly while trying to deal with all the request. The breakfast selection was ok, but nothing special. We had better in other Brazilian hotels.

Like I said the hotel service staff was friendly, but the supervisor and management couldn’t care less. The moment you were asking questions, you could already feeling their patience level decreasing. Lack of empathy and customer service skills including. They shouldn’t work in customer service if they make a guest feel they hate their jobs. Especially in Brazil where people are usually relaxed and friendly towards tourist.

Anyways, we left the hotel with mixed feelings. But the surprise came afterwards. As we received our next credit card statement the hotel overcharged an extra amount of $ 130. We contacted booking several times, also wrote several E-Mails and called on our own cost. Just to hear, we look into it - That’s it.

The general manager Mr. Miranda did need to respond after submitting the claim to booking.com. However, that’s it. After I never heard from the Rio Design Hotel again and our money is gone.

All in all, I can't recommend this hotel at all, the price value is not in proportion at all. If you prefer customer service skip the Rio Design Hotel. If you don’t want to get overcharged like us or lose $ 130 Dollars extra you should stay away from this place.

A funny side note, after leaving Brazil my credit card was used twice to pay for goods in Rio. Besides the hotel, we never used the credit card at all. So seems someone from the hotel shared our credit card details. Probably a last customer gift from the Rio Design Hotel!

Thanks for nothing. We will...

Pleasantly surprised...an excellent choice with access to both Copacabana and Ipanema! This was our first visit to Rio and focused on a budget hotel that would allow us easy walking access to both Copacabana and Ipanema. The price, reviews and clean lines and design cues viewable on Google reviews led us to choose Rio Design. We arrived late at 11pm on Friday night and were greeted warmly at the front desk. After some friendly conversation and overview of the hotel curiosities, we learned that our double room had been upgraded to luxury double. Excellent staff! Leading into the pros/cons view of this hotel: PROS The room (luxury double) was simply huge - 2x the size of a standard room with a massive, comfortable and well appointed bed to match Wall mounted television and air conditioning units are a nice touch. No carpeting anywhere in this hotel, in-room or otherwise, makes for a modern and clean experience. Rooftop pool and lounge views are outstanding (see pictures). Breakfast service is great Location is perfect Free WiFi works reliably Price is amazing relative to level of comfort and amenities Again, all staff members very friendly and helpful and will accommodate most any request

CONS Shower and bathroom area could use some fresh grout/caulking Several TV channels were blank/unavailable Restaurant/breakfast room a little small for the volume of guests No gate or security at front door, free to walk in from the street (disclaimer we did not witness any uninvited guests trying to enter and felt perfectly safe, just something to consider)

Overall we are very pleased with our choice of Rio Design and would not hesitate to book again and refer any travelers to Rio to consider this...