Fairmont (Rio De Janeiro) (ex Sofitel)
May 10, 2017, 11:12 am
In Copacabana, the new Fairmont will reflect the “carioca” soul in its surroundings. The 400 rooms will be totally renovated and there will be a convention hall with 800 seats. The complete renovation will also feature a new pool area, with private lounges and views of Copacabana Beach. The new luxury spa will have a private VIP suite, as well as individual and couple cabins.
The Fairmont project in Copacabana will be carried out by the prestigious architect Patricia Anastassiadis and will prioritize spaces with design that provide well-being, comfort and perception of exclusivity. For 20 years in the market, the office has experience in corporate ventures, among them, hoteliers. In 2016, Patricia won the Corporate Architecture Award in the Interior Hospitality category. Altogether, her office counts 22 hotel projects.
While the Copacabana border is being prepared to receive the first Fairmont in South America, Ipanema will be presented with another novelty. After the investment of R$ 30 million for the refurbishment that prepared the iconic Ceasar Park Rio de Janeiro Ipanema – managed by Sofitel for the World Cup and for the Olympic Games, the hotel will be transformed into Sofitel Ipanema with upgrades in areas such as lobby, lounge, apartments and suites, restaurant, SPA and rooftop overlooking the beach of Ipanema.
“This transformation is part of AccorHotels ambitious project to make Sofitel Ipanema one of the best luxury hotels in Rio and in Brazil. With new design and furniture, following the concept of ‘Carioca’s House’, the rooms and suites have been decorated with pieces from famous Brazilian designers like Sérgio Rodrigues and Jader Almeida”, explains Patrick.
May 10, 2017, 10:21 pm
This may be over-optimistic, but maybe these reflags suggest that Accor sees value in having a separate Fairmont loyalty program.
May 11, 2017, 1:00 pm
May 11, 2017, 9:00 pm
Anyhow, with two existing hotels being converted to the Fairmont brand, that's hopefully a positive sign for the status quo. Should FPC goes away, the majority of my Fairmont stays would go away.
May 12, 2017, 9:25 am
Anyhow, with two existing hotels being converted to the Fairmont brand, that's hopefully a positive sign for the status quo. Should FPC goes away, the majority of my Fairmont stays would go away.
Feb 21, 2020, 11:43 am
Anyway, this hotel was FANTASTIC. No idea what it looked like before, but the renovation was pretty stunning. Really loved the materials and furnishings. Two nice-sized pools (none of these tiny rooftop bath tubs!), one with an amazing view over the entire Copacabana beach. Weather was great while we were there, so the front pool was pretty crowded until mid-afternoon, but the back pool (no view) had plenty of space, although the sun hadn't hit there by mid-morning; I would imagine the crowd might move with the sun, although we didn't spend much time at the pool).
At check-in we inquired about any upgrades (paid of course!) to better views, but all they had with a King bed was a partial ocean view on the Fairmont Gold floor with lounge access, for about US$90/day extra. That seemed a little steep, but our rate didn't include breakfast (partly because we had an early flight on our last morning so probably wouldn't eat it anyway), so we said "what the heck" and went for it. (Also, I think to book that room in advance it would have been US$400-450, so we did get a "deal" still.
Service in the lounge was fantastic, and it was nice having dedicated concierges. The lounge was big, and very uncrowded. I guess it's not like Hilton or Marriott where anyone with a credit card or status can get into the executive lounge, lol. There's a nice breakfast, which includes about 80% of what's on the buffet upstairs at the main restaurant, but it's SOOOO much more relaxed. Our second morning we ate upstairs, but after our first plate just went back down to the lounge because it was rather hectic. They also have afternoon tea, happy hour (with substantial snacks and a pretty full open bar, including about 5 different "sipping" cachacas), and late evening deserts. And you could always grab a Nespresso, coke/beer, or glass of sparkling wine. Again, service was great. Even when we showed up at 11:30pm (desert ends at 11pm) the server brought us out a few things from the kitchen.
Rooms are great -- construction is solid, rooms are a good size. Bathroom isn't huge, but very nice. All rooms (I think) have balconies with 2 chairs and a small table.
Probably my one complaint, and a fairly minor one - some of the servers at the pool didn't seem to speak English. But everyone in the lounge did and the rest of the staff as well spoke good English.
Location ended up being totally fine. We actually took Lime scooters out a few times, making it faster to get into Ipanema and even Leblon, though of course taxis are pretty inexpensive. I do wish it was a little closer to the subway though.
Anyway, such a great stay.
Feb 23, 2020, 8:43 pm
But I only ever knew Pitu and Leblon for caipirinhas so this was new for me!
Oct 24, 2022, 4:59 am
Fairmont Rio de Janeiro Copacabana
Fairmont Rio de Janeiro Copacabana
Avenida Atlantica 4240 Copacabana Rio de Janeiro, BR 22070002
Fairmont Rio de Janeiro Copacabana = Not Cheap But Worth It for Premium Stay (30 Photos)
Fairmont Rio de Janeiro Copacabana
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.
Oct 24, 2022, 5:24 am
May 14, 2023, 3:32 am
