Hotel Nacional Rio de Janeiro

Excellent for couples and families. Not so much for single people as I discovered when I arrived. Not in a touristy area. More in a residential area but on the beach. It's close to a small mall that that doesn't have much. However, the hotel rooms have outstanding views of the ocean and a resort vibe. The internet was surprisingly fast and reliable most of the time compared to other hotels in Brazil which are 90% of the time horrible. Next time I come there I will definitely bring someone with me since it appears to be mainly for couples and families.

Ok I’m angry now. Stayed here four times in the past 2 months. Internet - didn’t work. Connection would drop every five minutes. They said it was because I used and Iphome (14). The next time while checking in I spoke to the manager, it magically worked for three days. Today it didn’t work at all. About 9 hours without internet or tv. Cleanliness-in all rooms I’ve been in there was a smell of sewage coming from bathroom. Last night it was like my head was held in a pot of old garlic shrimp. I’m not kidding. It was coming from the sink?! Tonight it’s untenable. I’m about to vomit. Service-they are mostly friendly. But they don’t follow basic rules like not knocking on a door, or coming in when the light is set on red. They said they do that in case I’m out of the room. What’s the point of the red light then? This happens 2-3 times a day. Security-it’s like the army, guard and the FBI and LAPD are all working the hotel. I appreciate the security but it could be a little more subtle like corporate world in the US. It’s price competitive, and the facilities are nice. I hope to wean myself of the stinginess and not come back. Restaurants are not good, unless you eat on the rooftop. Not good means, the opposite of good.

I loved watching the hand-gliders all day long jumping from the Pedra da Gavea and the beachgoers from my marble windows. Great food was inexpensive, and the View restaurant was fabulous. My only complaint was that neither my room phone nor intercom were working and neither was fixed (understandable during carnaval), but they offered me to switch rooms - which I declined. I will return here with my family next time I am in Rio.

This could be the best hotel in Rio if they tried a little harder. Firstly, amazing hotel, staff, location, views & kids area. How could they improve? It is in the restaurant. Whilst most hotels you can fill in a piece of paper for your omlette and tapioca in the morning, Hotel Nacional leaves you waiting like a lemon in a queue for ages. Secondly at dinner PLEASE HAVE PHYSICAL MENUS NOW COVID HAS ENDED. IT IS HORRENDOUS HAVING TO TAKE YOUR PHONE OUT and look at QR CODES, also bad communication between restaurant and reception means you have to keep your receipt to prove you have paid for dinners. Food at this 5 star hotel could and should have a proper 5 star chef who looks after the running of the poorly run, but pleasant restaurant aspect of this wonderful hotel.

The location is beautiful and fairly quiet (a nice alternative to Copacabana or Ipanema), and aesthetically the property is stunning. The main issues we had were around the service and overall management...if they can improve these, this will be a great property to stay at. Specifically: - Absolutely no follow-up or follow-through with requests. They would stop answering our phone calls if they knew we needed something...so we would have to go down to the front desk with every request. - They misplaced our laundry, so what is usually a same-day service turned into 2-3 days (after chasing incessantly to have them find it). - Internet service was spotty at best. - The breakfast buffet was large and nice; otherwise, the restaurant food was mediocre. (There is also a nice, independently-run restaurant on the top floor that had decent food.) - The pool area is nice, but there doesn't seem to be very good drink/food service around the pool (and forget it if you're in a cabana on the second level). - We had a running toilet the whole time (that would make a loud screeching noise every five minutes). We mentioned that to them 2-3 times and nothing was ever done. - Lots of screaming kids at all times...seems to be a very family-friendly place. I would like to stay here again in the future, so I'm hoping some of these issues can be addressed.

As described by one of the taxi drivers: a 5-star hotel with 3-star service. Facilities and the breakfast are excellent. The staff themselves were extremely helpful and friendly, The hotel is however let down by little things which should not happen in a 5-star. To have someone making up the bed for the children in a family room, as we arrive, is not acceptable. A room to be occupied by a family of four for four days,having just two VERY small bottles of hotel shampoo is not enough. No facilities at all for free tea and coffee in the room is inadequate. Trying to charge for four bottle of water from the mini-bar on checkout when we had actually only used two is not on - although it was corrected without question. The lifts in this hotel are simply not up to the job - too slow and inadequate capacity. We must have used the stairs up to the sixth floor at least half a dozen times as we were fed up with waiting for an overcrowded lift. In a 5-star hotel I would expect things to be done for me, for example, when I ask for an adaptor to use the Brazilian style plug, I would hope that the hotel would find one for me, not tell me I could buy one at the mall. Having said all that we enjoyed our stay, but the hotel cannot escape criticism.