Windsor Excelsior Copacabana Hotel — Hotel in Região Geográfica Imediata do Rio de Janeiro

Overall, it wasn't exceptional but just okay for a 4 star hotel. I've experienced better in other parts of the world.

Buffet breakfast had a good variety, my favourite was the cheese bread, pao de queijo. Chewy but a bit salty if you eat too many!

The juice options vary everyday and it's all very healthy. I like that!

Generally at hotels, they do offer 2 complimentary bottles of water per day. Here, you have to pay for it.

However, the concierge told us that we can get free water if we have our own bottles at the gym or breakfast buffet restaurant. That's what we did. So if you drink lots of water, do take note of this.

Tap water is not drinkable.

Staff were friendly.

There's also a rooftop with a pool, a small one though so don't think you'll be able to do laps here hehe. Here you can get an aerial view of Copacabana Beach. Good spot for pictures.

Location of hotel is good. Restaurants and necessities are all within walking distance.

About 15mins walk from the hotel, there's a really good local place for food, run by a fisherman called Lanches Escol. Seating is by the sidewalk, not too many tables so go during off peak times. This is the address Av. Princesa Isabel, 305 - Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, 22011-011, Brazil

On our last day, we had to check out at 450am due to an early flight we had to catch. The day of our arrival at this hotel, we had already mentioned to hotel staff about this. As our room included breakfast, we requested if we could have some packed breakfast for our journey as their breakfast buffet only starts at 6am.

The staff at the reception were helpful and tried to help wherever they can. The receptionist then referred us to the lady at the restaurant. She told us to give her/reception a list of items we would like from the buffet line a day before which we did.

Our list consisted of what was served in the buffet line ie: sliced bread, fruits, cheese bread, hard boiled egg and cereal. However, when we checked out, all we were served with were 8 pieces of pastries and cakes.

This showed no effort and laziness of the restaurant staff. And the hotel labels themselves as a '4 star hotel'??? This must be A JOKE. Come on kitchen staff!! Our list of food didn't even require any cooking!! Everything should already be in your kitchen. All you had to do was to put it on a plate for us. Kitchen staff service...

Stay away from this hotel. We booked one of the "best" rooms-a corner room with panoramic views of copacabana-for several nights including New Years Eve. Upon arrival, even though I had booked a double room for two adults, the reception told me there was an additional charge of $180USD for having two adults in the room. Yes, even though I had booked a double room for 2 adults, they charged me extra because it was New Year’s Eve and I had no real other option. Absolutely predatory. It gets worse from there. When we got to the room, the bed had been made and the towels in the bathroom had been folded, but the floor and bathtub had hair and sand that had not been cleaned. The safe was broken, and even though we called to request that it be repaired at least five times and were told that maintenance would be there, no one ever came. The tv in the room was also broken. So was the hair dryer. This hotel is old and in clear disrepair, but that would be forgivable if the staff had put in even the most basic effort. Instead, As a final attempt to rip us off, on check out, they tried to charge us for items from the minibar, but we never took anything from the minibar. It was literally untouched and all still sitting in the room. After we disputed the charges, the front staff ended up giving us a "credit" to account for the minibar charge, making it seem like they were doing us a favor. Long story short, don’t stay here unless you want a dirty room with broken stuff, and are willing to pay whatever random extra charges the front desk decides to try to scam you with. But hey, the view and location was incredible (which is probably the only reason this place is still...

The positives are: if you are looking for a centrally placed hotel, right opposite Copacabana beach with friendly staff, then this fits the bill. The front desk staff were helpful, the buffet breakfast was perfectly adequate and you can safely walk out from your hotel. We stayed in Carnival time which is understandably peak season, the hotel was very busy and the front desk area was often full of people on tour leaving and arriving. Our bed was comfy and the bedding provided of a decent quality.||The negatives are: there is not really any area to sit other than some seats near the front desk (which is often full of people arriving and leaving). The hotel whilst being clean is rather dated, our first room by the elevator was very noisy, no bottled water provided in the bedroom - something that would be expected in a 4* hotel in Europe. The photograph of the pool area looks very appealing, it's definitely a well taken photograph, the pool is not particularly large and the area around it is very tight on space.||Conclusion: For European travellers this would be considered a 3+ * hotel, with rather dated bedrooms, a hotel that would be booked for people arriving and leaving on a Tour, staying a few nights and then moving on. ...