I posted this before, but with the wrong name in the headline.

Royal Rio Palace Hotel

This hotel is located at 82 Rua Duvivier, Copa. It is very close to copacabana beach and is on the far side of the beach (closer to rio sul, farther from ipanema).

I like this hotel for a number of reasons, but it might not be for everyone.

Positives:

The newest or one of the newest hotels in Rio, the rooms and ammenities are on par with the marriott or sheraton, but at 40% or so of the price. Right now you can get a large room with two double beds (american style beds with real mattresses that are more than 6 inches thick), television with english channels, air conditioning, modern furnishings, electric safe, whirlpool, mini bar, etc. for 225r per night plus 15% service. This is not as cheap as atlantico or mar which run between 175 and 220 but the quality of the hotels are worlds apart. Plus all the rooms have internet connections (although they are a bit expensive to use at 14r per hour, but it bills in increments of 3 minutes or so and you only pay for what you use). If you are interested in larger rooms, they have at least one floor that is all suites with some of the biggest whirlpool bathes I have seen in Rio (about double the size of the standard three person hotel vips whirlpools). Also, breakfast is included in the price of the room, and they have room service, a pool, a full restaurant, etc.

Girls:
This is not the place to have your nightly orgies. You can check in one girl with you for free, and each additional girl is 50r per girl (plus 15% service). If you are going to have one girl per night this is going to bring your bill to 275r per night plus 15% service. Also, I don't know how they would react to having trashy looking girls here.

That being said, one year ago I brought 7 girls here for one night and gave the guy at the front desk 100 reais. He agreed to let them in and I did not have to pay anything for the girls but agreed to have them out before 7am when his manager showed up. In Rio, as you may know, money talks and at 12 or 1 in the morning when there is not much traffic in the reception area a few reais generally go a long way towards getting what you want at any of the hotels.

The bottom line is that for a much cheaper price you can get a hotel that is on par with the marriott or sheraton, has room service, great beds, is in a good location, and has internet in each room. As far as girls are concerned, if you are going to be having many visits from escorts or plan on bringing back more than one girl a night this might not be the place for you. As for me, I generally only have one or two girls who spend the night with me during my stay, and do all my other business at the termas or sex hotels so this place is perfect for me. Their website is www.royalrio.com check out the pictures and you will see why I like it so much.

One more thing, there is a great taxi driver who I got to know pretty well there (I actually knew him before, but didn't know he worked at this hotel regularly). His name is Antonio and he speaks english very well, knows a lot of gdps, and is very fair and honest. If you stay there, I would definitely recommend using his services and if you are not staying there and would like his contact information, please let me know and I would be more than happy to share it.

(Message edited by gr8ter on July 14, 2005)

This place is new. The staff are a bit stand offish....Not really rude but not really nice either.

Internet is 20R per 24 hour period. Must tell the that is what you want.

Too far from Help for my taste.

I think I will just stick with Princess. I must admit having internet in the room has been nice. If you are with a girl, and want a nice place for under $100 this would be the place to stay.