While we love Rio, and have traveled there a number of times, unfortunately of all the world's major tourist cities it seems that Rio has one of the worst price/quality/choice ratios for good hotel rooms. And, add to that a relatively small number of luxe rooms and a huge demand (domestic and international) and there isn't much choice. Plus, the beachfront, where you want to be, has been all developed long ago, thus there is little available space to build anything new and hotels are slow to renovate, likely because they are not forced to do so due to little competitive pressure.

Looking at the Rio hotel scene now, the only two really "deluxe" or "luxury" hotels there are the Copacabana Palace and now the Fasano. Both have some issues. The Copa is in Copacabana and the Fasano gets very mixed reviews for service while there rooms and food are very expensive for what you get. Stepping down one level many of the four star hotels are simply old and haven't been refurbished in many years. It is frustrating whenever we look for accomodations in the city. Apparently, what you must do is simply accept you will over pay for what you get, focus on the city, the beach, the people and the food and have a great time.