Lucia's place pretty much met expectations compared with the listing. I'd stay here again.
Pros
- Excellent location close to the fun parts of the beach, amazing restaurants and shopping.
- Lucia was quite communicative although only in Portuguese (but Google Translate makes it easy).
- The building's facilities are decent with a great outdoor pool, gym, and sauna (which you need to request to be turned on 40 mins in advance). The indoor jacuzzi was only lukewarm.
- The building is very secure with attentive people manning the locked entry door at all times.
- Great shower pressure and temperature.
- Strong A/C though a bit loud (but helpful white noise for drowning out any background noise).
Cons
- Like most Airbnbs and even hotels in Rio, the decor and fixtures are a bit dated, but they all work reasonably well. We used the washing machine a couple of times and hung our items to dry on the drying rack.
- The beds are alright, but the pillows are thin (like other places I stayed in Brazil) and the mattresses a bit springy and uneven.
- Kitchen equipment is fairly basic but fine for preparing breakfast or other simple meals.
On Day 6/10, the garbage started to pile up and I emailed the host, who then had housekeeping come every day (they were very lovely ladies). This wasn't advertised, so it was appreciated, but if this is important to you, you might want to to discuss in advance with the host.
All in all a decent stay and I'd be content to return.