I booked JW Marriott Copacabana because, surprisingly, the price wasn’t much higher than nearby 3–4 star hotels. The location is truly premium, right on Copacabana Beach and the rooftop overlooks the entire beach, which is a huge plus.
My room faced the inside of the building, so I had to keep the curtains closed the whole time for privacy, which made the room quite dark. That said, the room itself was spacious, clean, and comfortable.
Staff were generally nice, but everything felt quite slow check-in, check-out, room service requests, and even housekeeping. Breakfast was good in quality but exactly the same every day. Getting a table in the morning was also frustratingly slow; at one point around 10 people were waiting, and it took about 10 minutes just to be seated.
The rooftop views are amazing, but the design is honestly very awkward and outdated. The pool is at the back with almost no view, when it could easily have been a stunning infinity pool. The bar area felt cheap, and the thick glass panels and wide columns made it hard to enjoy the view or take good photos. The whole rooftop design felt very old-fashioned.
Overall, the hotel feels stuck in time. It’s a bit sad, because with such an incredible location, a modern renovation could easily make this one of the best hotels in the world. For the price I paid, I was still satisfied, but it definitely didn’t feel like a true luxury experience.
