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Introduction Prior to travelling to Rio I read mostly negative reviews of most chain hotels including Fairmont so I did not have oversized expectations. I chose Fairmont for the location and I burnt Accor Suite Night awards as I suspected occupancy would be high and that suite upgrades were unlikely regardless where I stayed. The final price tag at Fairmont was not cheap even using a SNAs but the hotel delivered well on all aspects so I was happy with my stay. Suite Night Awards Unfortunately this Fairmont differentiates between suites with lounge access and suites without lounge access, so when using an SNA it does not come with the lounge, unlike some other Fairmonts. I ended up paying extra for the lounge, and I also paid extra to get a premium suite rather than the entry level suite so essentially the SNAs worked out like a modest discount. So my stay cost a fair bit, but the Gold access turned out to be valuable for more than simply food and drinks which is why I felt it was worth the 100 USD per night for it, as explained below. Room I am not sure if the Gold Suites with seaview are on several floors of the building, but our suite was on the top floor (13th) with direct views so most likely one of the better ones in the hotel. On the negative side, I would note that because the hotel is U-shaped not rectangle-shaped, the privacy from the balcony was not great because our suite being at the bottom of the U, we also had views of both sides of the U.This hotel used to be a Sofitel, they closed to renovate and reopened as a Fairmont. Post renovations the suite looked nice especially the hardwood floors and the bathroom which was spacious. One minor issue was that loud music was audible from the room in the evening until about 22:30 so it was probably worse from lower floors, but 22:30 was not so late as to be a disturbance especially not in a party destination like Rio. The other issue is that the temperature control in the bedroom was defaulting back to 25C after a while whenever I moved it down so during the second part of the night it was not as cool as we would have liked. Gold Lounge The negatives of Fairmont I read in the past were mostly not about hardware but rather about service. I suspect people unhappy with service might not have had a Gold room because I did not see any problem with service at the hotel. First of all we had a butler and were accompanied to the room after check-in. During the stay we could use Gold lounge staff for whatever questions or requests we had, which is often something I value and is better than reaching for the general help desk at the main reception. Also one morning we attempted to go to breakfast in the main restaurant to compare with breakfast in the Gold lounge. It was very crowded and chaotic so we went straight back to the lounge where breakfast was a peace haven every day and where service was always on point with lots of staff relative to guest count and staff remembering our desired order from previous mornings. Breakfast was included in our rate regardless if I had lounge access or not, but clearly we found value in having breakfast in the lounge rather than the restaurant so it was not only about the food itself.The lounge was quite spacious and well decorated with good spacing between tables. The lounge was rarely full but even when it was it did not feel unpleasant like what many lounges are nowadays from hotel chains which give lounge access like candy, for example Marriott, Hilton, and Hyatt. The lounge at Fairmont also had a small terrace outdoors overlooking the sea.Sparkling wine was available in the lounge from 7am to 11pm so different guests could drink at whatever time they wanted including in the morning, in addition during happy hour 6-8pm there were pre-mixed cocktails which I enjoyed. That said, happy hour was clearly more geared for drinking than for food because what was available was mostly appetizers, although on some days, quite luxurious appetizers such as oysters. Pool There were two swimming pools, one on the sea side near the main restaurant and bar, and one inland on the other side which did not have the views. Location The location of Fairmont is at the end of Copacabana and near the beginning of the other main beach Ipanema. Fairmont has easy walking access to both which in my opinion is a positive. Wifi Wifi worked well with speed of 15 Mbps. Overall Overall I paid for extras such as the premium suite and gold lounge access and felt it was worth the premium. The service was excellent throughout the stay, all the way until the end when I had no problem getting 2pm late check-out and the hotel processed gift cards and points redemptions without issue (so many hotels bungle it), and then points posted to my account only one day after departure. Upon returning to Rio I would have no hesitation booking at Fairmont and I would book a gold room or suite again.