An Absolute Nightmare! Warning to All Travelers!
After reading reviews for our upcoming trip to Rio, we settled upon staying 5 nights at the Praia Ipanema Hotel in Dec 07. What a mistake!
The trip got off to a rocky start as they did not have the room we book available to us since they were full to capacity due to a convention. Although undesirable, we were given another room, and told to come back to the desk when people checked out the next day.
We tried to book a couple of outings through the hotel, thinking that although they were more expensive (sometimes with a price of twice as much as you can get through neighboring travel agencies, or through fliers handed out by promoters on the beach directly in front), they would be of better quality. We couldn't have been more incorrect! The hotel forgot to confirm the jeep tour we booked for our third day, causing us to essentially lose a vacation day. We waited around for hours for the jeep to pick us up in the lobby, with the front desk assuring us they were late but on their way, only to realize that they were never coming! The hotel was completely unapologetic and blamed it on the jeep agency. They refused to compensate us in any way. That was the second strike.
Although we were extremely dissapointed with how they handled the first outing, we had already booked a second trip with them to the islands of Angra dos Reis the next morning and were stuck. This was another disaster! The included "island lunch" consisted of a pit stop at a dirty mall buffet (reg pr $2 R pp) at which we had to pay for our drink separately.
The buffet was nothing short of disgusting, with flies all over it. Half of the people on the tour refused to even serve themselves, and of the other half that did several ended up throwing out their entire plate. What they dont tell you is that it takes several hours to get there, and you endu p spending only an hour and a half on the islands, with what turned out for us to be another 6 hour bus ride back. Regretabbly, we spent more time at the mall than on the islands.
Unique Quality: On checking out, we discovered that several incorrect room service charges were added to our bill. We never ordered room service! Once we complained, they were taken off, but be careful. They even charged us for the welcome drink we thought was free at reception!
Ofcourse, I'm saving the WORST part for last! In our room, I had left a folder our with copies of various things like reservations, hotel confirmations, maps, and backup copies of our passports in case they were stolen. We didn't realize until after leaving the hotel that this was stolen as well! While we did a thorough search of our room before leaving, we didnt notice this bc it had already been taken. Both my boyfriend and I thought the other had packed it away, when in reality it was stolen by housekeeping. When I got home, I discovered several fraudelent charges on the two credit cards that were part of the confirmations. One of the employee even tried to book a trip on Travelocity in their name which immediately raised red flags. I know it was definetly the hotel because of this, and the fact that I never used my discover card for anything else but to make the hotel reservation (the entire cc number which was in the folder), so this speaks for itself. I guess part of it is my fault for leaving the folder out instead of using the lock box, but I never expected this since I was led to believe it was a quality hotel. My inquiries to the hotel through phone and email went unanswered. They did nto take an responsibility and refused to look into the matter. One employee even hung up on me. Completely unprofessional.
Needless to say, both cards have been canceled. Nonetheless, as critical information was on the passport copies of me and my boyfriend (date of birth, names, etc etc), I can only imagine that I will be suffering the consequences of chosing Praia Ipanema htoel for a long time to come. Please don't make the same mistake I did. All I wanted was a balcony on Praia Ipanema beach and all I received was heartache. Avoid this hotel at all costs!
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Hotel Praia Ipanema
é minha praia - Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro (RJ)
