Ideal as business hotel with access to the old city, the subway system and the classier area of Leblon. Make sure you ask for a room with a view as some rooms look into an inner courtyard. Trade off is the street noise at 7-8am. Has wifi and breakfast included, taxis outside the door, good english speaking staff. It has become my regular hotel for business trips.

Greetings:

Saw another review about the Promenade Palladium and have to add that this is an excellent value and very nice hotel to stay at. I booked a suite on the top floor which had a very nice balcony and side view to the ocean. This is a newer hotel, having been built in 2003 and I love the fact there are only 6 floors--this means fewer people so you receive more attention from the front desk and you do not have to wait up to 5 minutes for the elevator to come to your floor as is the case with many of the older, 20+ floor hotels.

I would describe this hotel as a boutique/business hotel. Again, if you do not mind being a 1.5 blocks from the ocean, you cannot beat the location. Within 1 minute (or less) you can walk to Fratelli restaurant, Guapo Loco, Jobi, Nam Thai and other fine restaurants and shops on Av. Paiva. I agree with a previous poster that the kitchenette was small and the suite is small by American standards--however, the room has hardwood floors and is kept very clean and the bathroom is modern (marble sink and fully enclosed shower.

Where I would disagree with the previous review is the service. With the exception of a new young lady at the front counter who did not speak English, everyone else did and went out of their way to assist me with restaurant reservations and other useful suggestions. The staff bent over backwards for me and, believe me, I am a difficult person to please.

I would definitely recommend getting a room on the Rua General Artigas side with a balcony (suites or regular apartments come with the balcony and ocean view on this side...the other side of the hotel has larger rooms but they are on top of residential apartment/condo buildings). Breakfast was more than adequate and I agree with the other poster that you were not competing with other tourists for food or tables. I would also book a room on the Promenade.com.br web site, as I received a discounted rate of +/- $ 175 US/night for my suite. Upon checkout, they even had an additional 10% discount that was unbenknownst to me at the time, which brought the cost of my room down closer to $ 160US/night for the first 4 nights of my 7 night stay.

I have stayed at the Marina Palace on my prior 2 visits and preferred my stay at the Palladium instead. Smaller, more intimate hotel and you are right in the middle of the action in Leblon--the Beverly Hills of Rio. I also checked out a couple of other hotels in the heart of Leblon (such as Leblon Inn and others) and they were dated and not nearly as nice as the Palladium.

We spent 7 nights at the Palladium and we were really pleased with our choice. It was our first trip to Rio so location was our main issue, and we couldn’t have been better located! We absolutely loved Leblon, in fact we thought it was nicer than Ipanema. We were debating between beachfront hotel or the Palladium and I’m glad we chose to stay away from the beach (although we were only 2 blocks away) because unlike beach cities or resorts in Europe there isn’t much else on Ipanema and Leblon’s beach front other than apartment blocks. Most of the shops and restaurants are 2 blocks or more away from the beach.

The hotel is a stone’s throw from loads of good nosh spots: Barra Brasa, Nam Thai, Sushi Leblon, Felinis …and many suco stations and nice supermarkets and delicatessens. The decor and fittings were nice, new and neutral, nothing cutting edge or boutiquey but relatively pleasing to the eye, and more importantly very clean and very comfy: firm but not rock hard king sized beds, bathrooms fixtures in tip top condition, in-room safe deposit box... Breakfast was good and plentiful especially if you are a cake fan, and the place never felt like a breakfast room packed with tourists filling up their tanks for the day, in fact the hotel had a pleasant mix of clientele, local and foreign, professional and tourists, older and younger travelers. Laundry prices were fine: about USD2 for a t-shirt or USD3 for a pair of shorts. The staff were helpful but not overly friendly – which suits us fine. The only downside was that when I booked our suite their internet website at the time inferred that the kitchenette had a stove. But the kitchenette is essentially a worktop with a mini fridge, sink and microwave upon request, but no stove or even a cutting board to chop something up for a salad. Not a problem given the myriad of wonderful restaurants in the vicinity, but when I saw the wonderful vegetables and meat at the local market and supermarkets I really wished I had something more than a worktop.

Generally a very good choice and would certainly stay there again.

Tip: If you don’t need a sitting area or the extra space book a standard room because the so-called kitchen is nothing more than a worktop.