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

Rio de Janeiro was a final stop of my three-month journey through South America. I was looking forward to flying home and German bread, which I sorely missed! Not to mention feeling worn out from travelling so much in three months.||||I have stayed in many cities with some excellent hotels, some dodgy ones, some soulless ones, and so forth. Of all places I stayed in South America, this hostel was without any doubt the best and sensational finale. The hostel does have lot of love and lot of feeling at home like visiting a friend's home. The owners, Filip and Jessica, are genuine in making my stay very much like home. They are very extremely resourceful on what to see, where to go, and how to get there. ||||When I had a minor dust-up with the muggers at Lapa (Filip had warned me about ‘no-go’ zones there, but I forgot about it), Filip accompanied me to the hospital for the medical examination. We had lot of laughter while waiting for the bus back to the hostel. That really made me feel so much better and at ease. Thanks, Filip!||||My favourite part is the lounge room with so many throw pillows, making it very cosy room and great for relaxing after a long day of touring. Of course, you can screen films on the television and play the electric guitar there. The outdoor sitting area in the hallway is great for smoking and conversations where I enjoyed having beers and lively conversations with Filip, Jessica, and other guests in the evening.||||You can also do the laundry there and peruse the kitchen to cook meals. Bonus brownie point: they have a huge bottle of filtered water for us to fill our drinking bottles and camel sacks, which is awesome!||||Have I mentioned the bananas? Many hostels don’t always offer fruits at the breakfast buffets, and, like many Germans, I often bought bananas for myself, but they were often stolen from the kitchen (some hostels didn’t allow any food in the sleeping quarters). Filip and Jessica bought lot of bananas, and I ended up eating so many of them and feeling guilty about it. Jessica assured me it was perfectly all right if I could have more than one.||||I will definitely stay at this hostel next time I visit Rio de Janeiro and have...

I had the best stay in Rio Earth.|Rio is a beautiful city, but lacks good and affordable places to stay. A decent hotel will cost you at least US$ 150,00. Anything less than that, well, it's just risky.|Then I get to this place called Rio Earth. A cosy house on Santa Tereza neighborhood that was renovated to be a real hostel. |Rooms are confortable, wi-fi is available throughout the property, hot showers working properly, free bed linens and towels without deposits.|There is an equipped kitchen where guests can cook and refrigerator can be used for keeping your food. |The hostel is centrally located, within a 5-10minutes walk from Gloria subway station and 15 minutes walk from Lapa, Rio's nightlife neighborhood.|Everything was great, but there is this one special thing that makes Rio Earth awesome: its hosts Jessica and Filipi. They really do their best to make you feel at home. They were helpful in pointing directions, suggesting places to go, and, well, if you'd like it, they'll just join you and take you somewhere to have a beer or two.|English is not an issue as well for Jessica is actually from the US (half Brazilian, making her way to maybe 60% carioca). |This is the second hostel that I have stayed in Rio, but it is actually way better then the previous one, and actually better than quite a few hotels there as well.|This is a really good pick if you are willing to go to Rio. I believe that longer stays are also accepted as I met some guys doing their masters and PhD studies in Rio...

I booked this property for my stay during the carnival because it had great reviews. I originally booked it through hotels.com and the property canceled and wrote to me they could not charge my card. I noticed they were very low priced for that week compared to other properties, and I was pretty sure thats why they canceled. I saw they were still available on booking.com for a more fair price - and booked. Almost 3 months later they wrote to me and told me they could not charge my credit card. They waited almost 3 months! Its now really close to my date of stay and many other properties are booked. I gave them 3 cards and called each bank. Every single bank said there was no attempt at a charge - and of course no problem with my credit card. I even told the hotel I'll happily pay via PayPal or another source, just tell me where to send the money. They said they want a credit card and it's my problem, I asked them to please not cancel as it would leave me without a place and even offered to wire the money. They canceled anyway, probably because they got a better offer. Needless to say, I do not recommend them. I wish I booked with someone else and wouldn't be...