Anyone else planning on going to Rio for the Olympics? I know it is early but I wonder if Rio will have hotel rooms available for the visitors?

Suggest you check posts on this and other travel forums regarding the recent World Cup, Carnaval in Rio, and Reveillon there, for examples of what to expect. Rooms are in high demand even at normal times and prices will soar sky high for the event, despite several new hotels scheduled to open. Infrastructure projects in the city are behind schedule for the games.

I am planning on going. Your best bet is probably to get an apartment off of homeaway.com. Unfortunately most of the chain hotels are away from everything with the exception of the Marriott, which costs a grip.

First post so instead of creating a new thread, I thought I should revive this one and the err of doing something wrong as a newbie.

I (and 3 others friends) got tickets to a few events during the Rio Olympics. I've been a lurker of Flyer Talk off and on for a few years but this trip to Brazil (and probably another country, Argentina or Peru?) is going to be a big and costly one so I decided I needed help planning.

I got the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card to rack up points (and am constantly checking the miles buzz forum) to lessen the cost of the flight(s) but also wanted more logistic help, like referrals for places to stay. That's our big issue: lodging. During London 2012 and Sochi 2014, there were a lot of hotel cancellations (like 100k or so) and we don't want to be left in the lurch a few days/weeks before we leave for Rio and find out our reservations to a hotel/hostel/whatever have been cancelled.

I also think if there's anyone else going to the Rio Olympics next year, it'd be good to have a quasi-network of people in the same city for a common purpose in case anyone needs help/advice/etc.

I'll be there; I manage my company's corporate hospitality at Olympics, so it'll be work. Hotels are currently a major issue. As background, the IOC asks hotels to submit what #/% of their rooms they are willing to allocate to Olympic-related organizations (NOCs, Federations, sponsors, etc.); the deal is the hotels are not supposed to gouge on the room rate.Then these organizations request their required # rooms at whichever hotels strike their fancy. The IOC then confirms how many rooms each organization has been allocated where. This step occurred in June 2014. So the majority of rooms have already been snapped up by the Olympic "family". These organizations, however, have to confirm/commit to their rooms on July 1, 2015, so there may be inventory coming back into the market next month.

(In general, anything a hotel did not sell-off to one of these organizations were then sold to a consolidator who packages the rooms with tickets, etc and then charges 10x their cost.)


As Rio has relatively few "business class" hotels to start with, you're going to find that the vast majority of rooms have been allocated as above. What you may be successful in finding are rooms during specific dates (for example, I'm hearing of availability the last week of the Olympics as teams that have competed in the first two weeks head home vs "staying around" as they normally do).

Meraki, I suspect that there will not be award flights available unless you are very lucky. You might want to work on some of the cash back cards that have high sign up bonus'. A couple of cards with a $500 bonus will go a long way in paying for a coach ticket.

As for hotels, yes there were hotels in London but for Vancouver and Sochi, it was not the case. The problem with Sochi was that many of the promised hotels were not finished in time for the Olympics. In fact the Olympic Committee was kicking people off the floating hotels at the last minute so that their people could stay on the ship. People that were kicked off were put in some very unknown, out of the way places. As for Rio, the hotel situation may wind up being OK. They are planning on putting one of the new Norwegian cruise ships there as a floating hotel. This will accommodate about 4,000 to 4,500 people (about 2,000 cabins). Also, some of the major hotel chains are showing as full but they are taking wait lists - so send them emails and ask if you can be put on the list.

Thanks for the replies bosman and deant!

We figure that lodging will be the hardest and most expensive. It's good to know that there'll be options (like the floating hotel) should our reservations fall through.

As for the flights, I was just hoping to redeem points to reduce the cost of my flights (we're also going to Peru or Argentina before or after). I'm not a whiz like the rest of you are at travel hacking so I'm not expecting to use points to get an entire flight to Rio free or get bumped up to first class but I was hoping to use whatever points I accumulate to reduce some of the flights by a few hundred dollars.

Anyway, thanks for you inputs again!

I would also love any advice on finding hotels in Rio for the olympics. I am planning on going the second week, so hopefully that will be easier. I have been to Vancouver 2010 & London 2012 and did not have any problems finding hotels. Rio seems like it will be more difficult, I am wondering if it is because it is still kind of early (the last two were booked last minute). I would also love any advice about the safest areas. I will be traveling with 3 teenage children and do not speak the language . Thanks so much !!

With the hotels, for the most part, it is too early to worry too much. The Olympic Committee and companies like CoSport have gone out had reserved all the hotel rooms. As time goes on, they will see what the demand really is for their packages and then release the rooms. Also, one thing that has not been talked about is that one of the new Norwegian ships (2,000 cabins) will be docked in Rio and used as a floating hotel. Don't know who the booking agent will be but that may be a great option. I know in Sochi the ships worked out well.

How did you do getting tickets? If you are still looking for tickets there is a twitter group that was formed during the 2012 Olympics that share information and where people offer extra tickets for sale. In 2012 there was a lot of peer pressure to only resell at cost.

Foreign visitors seem to be concentrating so far on chain and well-known hotels listed on the internet for the games, which is only a part of the room stock in Rio. There are also pousadas (B&B type lodging-- like in Santa Teresa for one example www.camaecafe.com.br) and comfortable hostels with private rooms that many World Cup visitors ended up using. Some people were renting rooms in their homes for the World Cup, in all sorts of neighborhoods from chic to quite poor. Many visitors rent apartments for their stays, at all times of the year.

(Get a city map and follow along.)
Most foreign visitors stay in the Zona Sul (south zone) neighborhoods of Copacabana, Arpoador, Ipanema and Leblon. Other good central neighborhoods that are usually more reasonably priced are Laranjeiras, Botafogo, Gloria, and Flamengo. There are many business hotels in Catete. Many events seem to be planned for Barra de Tijuca, which is located fairly far on the south side of the city. Traffic has usually been a major headache for anyone staying there and wanting to see the city sights, but new transportation options have been promised for the games.

The informational site www.ipanema.com is a good introduction to the city, the neighborhoods and attractions, and lists some hotels.

Thank you so much for this information. For the last two olympics we attended, tickets were not too much of a problem. Cosport seems to open up a lot of events closer to the games and during the games. There are also usually tickets booths set up throughout the olympic village that have same day tickets saw well.

I appreciate all of the advice.

I believe Airnb authorized to sell rooms so that is another option I don't believe has been mentioned. For award flights consider flying to another city close by that may have better availability. For 2012 Olympics I found award availability to Helsinki and paid for flight to London. Hoping to see Chase set up a VIP Lounge like they did in London. Great place to visit.

The issue people have had with AirBnB is that you sign a contract with them. However, if prices go up, the apartment owner can cancel your "contract". However, if prices go down, they will hold you to the "contract". Many people have received notice from AirBnB a few days prior to travel that they no longer have accommodations. If you want an apartment, I would tend to use a site like hotels.com to find it.

There's a small chance I'll go for this, and if I do, I would want some major company to stand between me and any lodging/tickets I would need. Maybe a reputable tour operator or airbnb.com. Seems like a lot can go wrong with arrangements -- you want to have someone to work around problems on your behalf.

As for tickets, the only Authorized Ticket Reseller (ATR) in the US is CoSport. If you see tickets / packages from anyone else, they are not authorized ticket sellers but selling tickets on the secondary market. CoSport sells individual tickets as well as hotel / ticket /hospitality packages (but they do not do air). If money is no object, one of their packages is the way to go as they have great availability for their packages. To show you a comparison of the costs, CoSport has a "flex" package that is 5 days 4 nights. Cost is $9,000 per person based on double occupancy. For that $18,000 you are getting about $2,000 worth of tickets. So you are paying about $16,000 for 4 nights in a hotel. You can go on booking.com or other reputable sights and get private apartments in prime locations for about $600 per night or less (a total of about $2,500). So you are paying CoSport a $13,000 plus premium. But you do avoid the hassle of trying to find the tickets that you want. Only you can tell if it is worth the price.

We have been to the Vancouver, London and Sochi Olympics and yes at times it has been a hassle getting what we want........but in the end it was well worth it.