Américas Barra Hotel

I’d describe this hotel as utilitarian. No decor or warmth at all. The common areas are spacious and quite bare.Table and chairs at the restaurant are plain brown wood, The lobby is sparsely furnished with some worn , drab and very uncomfortable seats. Bathrooms are the same. Just the very bare essentials, not even a box of tissue paper ( and thin toilet paper) We travelled long hours,  arrived at 22:00 looking forward to a good shower …not to be. We were up for a bad start. There  was just a trickle of water not enough to bathe or properly brush teeth either. That could have been a whole area problem as we were told that water pressure can sometimes drop in some areas of the city. We changed rooms , water pressure  wasn’t much better the next day either, the water flow improved just a little and remained as such the whole week. We had paid for 5 nights and ended up staying as the city was packed that week . To go looking for another hotel during the G20 summit which Rio was hosting that week of November 2024 would not be an easy task.  On the positive side, staff was pleasant and accommodating, bed was comfortable and from our perspective, the breakfast buffet was the best feature of this hotel offering abundant variety of  food to meet all tastes- cereal, fruits and cheeses, cold cuts, several hot savory breakfast  dishes - incl. some Brazilian regional dishes as well, a huge selection of breads, cakes, good coffee, and more. Very satisfying. Including breakfast in the booking is highly recommended.  The good fare offered at the hotel at lunch and dinner not good at all. However, there are also three of four restaurants lined up on a small stretch within 5 min walking distance of the hotel- one of them is a very good authentic European Portuguese cuisine and wine. Aprox. US$ 52 for a meal for two. On the same cluster of shops there is a well established Brazilian cuisine restaurant with a good menu where one can eat well for anything  between US$ 12  to US$ 15 and a steak house similar to the Australian Outback steak house.  There are also other eateries snd convenience shops, a pharmacy on the same stretch ( 5 min walk ffrom the hotel) including a 24 hr laundromat where one can expect to wash and dry a load for about US$ 7.  As for location, this hotel is not close to the most well known districts of Rio - places like Copacabana, Ipanema , Leblon - but Barra da Tijuca is a special area in itself and arguably has the best beach in town. The hotel is just a 10 - 15 min taxi ride to Barra Shopping-  the largest and best shopping mall in the whole state of Rio de Janeiro where one can find anything,  including restaurants (recommend trying Jappa all you can eat Japanese food spread for US$ 26 as in Nov 2024). On the whole , when compared with the fashionable and pricey districts of Copacabana , Ipanema Leblon  this hotel is good value for money . I’d stay there again if they fixed the shower situation b’cause this feature matters for me.