Where to start? I had 4 days of vacation after a Business trip in Sao Paolo and my Brazilian colleague who had been living for 3 years in Rio de Janeiro suggested me to stay in Leme, as it is a nice and safe area close to the beach. I chose Novotel and my vacation started in the moment I entred the lobby: Nice and relaxed atmosphere, and I was lucky enough to receive an upgrade on my room type, thank you for this extra service. I was on the 15th floor, lots of space, nice pastel colors and I could even see the beach. The aircondition worked perfectly and silently (so many times this is a nightmare) and the huge bed was super comfy. The rooftop bar is fantastic and the hotel staff was always friendly and helpful. Excellent breakfast. In the area are very nice restauants, (eg. Yayà, right in front of the hotel was my absolute favourite). If I return to Rio one day, I will definitely chose this hotel. Thank you to the entire hotel team for the wonderful time.

It would be useful to have an iron board in the room. I borrowed an iron at the reception, but there is no iron board (Just a mini detail)

Hotel had very good customer service and care of clients. The roof top bar Wow if a little expensive. So was our stay, however you get what you pay for and i was overall delighted with my stay. I had been told breakfasts in Brazil were good but it surpassed all expectations. Nice touches were free beach Towels and also lightweight aluminium chairs and sunshade. No charge!!!!! The beach was literally just around the corner. Although I felt safe and have not seen, heard of or experienced any criminal activity. Maybe I was paranoid but we were hypervigilent. Costs of food and drink in the general area was higher than brazillian averages. Plenty of shops and shopping to be had. Would I return? absolutely.

The lifts were a pain in the bum and when you are on the 17th floor.... Meh. On our last days breakfast was too busy, not enough seats, because of the Taylor Swift concert. But that was our bad timing.

The location, The View and the great Customer Service.

The access to the SkyLeme Rooftop for people not staying at the hotel needs to be more restricted, meaning only access from 1600-2100 so that way the guest who staying at the property can enjoy more the facilities. Also, who is not staying at the property can only use the rooftop for dinner, appetizers, drinks, music and not the pool. The food at the rooftop needs to be served faster.

The staff (and their are many, it’s a big hotel) are all wonderful and really provide a personal touch which isn’t always the case with large chains, I was even able to find the Manager, again not something you often find in large chains, seems from top to bottom the hotel works well and staff seem genuinely happy, the rooftop pool and bar is first class, there was a DJ / singers various nights of our week long stay, my son loved the play station and pool table in the lobby and we also loved the location, Leme was not meant to be as desirable as Copacobana or Ipanema but we actually loved it the most. Put it this way, I was ill for half of my stay and not even that could spoil things because Novotel Leme and Rio itself just makes magic.

Can be a bit of a wait for lifts at busy times, but it’s no big deal, they are fully functioning and will fit your suitcases, pushchair, wheelchair in. Son would’ve liked Netflix on the TV (but I’m happy it was only basic Brazilian TV, he has enough screen time as it is!)

Amazing hotel, the view from the pool/roof bar was incredible. It's just meters away from the beach, too. Plenty of shops / restaurants / bars around it, too. The hotel is located in Leme where it's less busy and quieter than Copacabana but at the same time so close to Copacabana. Very easy to get to other touristy places from there, too. The breakfast was sooo delicious.

My only issue was they don't have enough lifts to cope with the morning traffic of people trying to go to breakfast or get out for the day.

The second room they gave us was confortable, ample and well insulated. The location was very good, just a few meters from Leme beach. The rooftop level has an amazing view and is nicely set up. Good and varied breakfast though breakfast room always packed with guests.

The reception was understaffed for the number of guests. Every time we needed to ask for sth we had to wait for 15 minutes in a queue. The weekend was packed with guests. Not enough space in the common areas for such traffic.They first gave us a room next to a lift, which was unbearably noisy. They made up for it by chaging us into a better room, which was far away from the lifts. Common areas were always packed with people.

- excellent tasty breakfast - great location. 1 min walk from beach. 10-20 minutes rides from best Rio attractions - free umbrella and chairs for the beach - good service

- The way how they charge for stay. Booking price was US$1,454 including taxes (card was added to booking account). But they insisted to pay via their terminal and cost was US$1,673.05 including taxes. I have no idea why I was charged extra US$220 - A lot of ants in the room. They are everywhere... In the bathroom, in the room, on all tables. - Problems with elevators. During breakfast you can wait up to 20 minutes for available elevator.

Kind and gracious staff, especially Claire at the front desk, who in all my 25 years of travel, was the most friendly and kind host at the front desk I have ever experienced.

The roof top pool area was clean and had great views which made up for the lack of a view from our room. The hotel also provide you with towels, chairs and a parasol to take onto the beach. The staff on reception were very helpful and printed out my voucher for our visit to Christ the Redeemer. Breakfast was excellent with a lot of choice and variety. The rooms were cleaned daily to a good standard.

Due to its position there aren’t many rooms with a full on sea view…we had room 1710 which had a partial side on sea view.

Everything clean, breakfast very varied, top roof with an amazing view, very close to te beach and quiet around that area. They provided us with a big and comfortable crib for our 5 months baby. The staff in charge of our room cleaned and organized my child stuff, so that was very nice from them.

The only thing is check in is late (2:00 pm), we arrived around 9:00am and they charged us half day more to get in the room (even when the room was ready). Just a detail tho, I understand it was 5 hours early. But we were with a child and a baby, other hotels had let us check in earlier without charge. Just that.