My friend and I both enjoyed our visit to Rio. She is Brazilian and I'm from the USA, but it was both of our first time in Rio. Brenda's location was perfect for the view of the beach, being literally across the street from Copacabana and quick, easy access to lots of places to eat and other street vendors for souvenirs and merchandise. Sadly, during our stay, the city of Rio had closed most of the more popular sites to see, but we still had a chance to see a lot of different places during our 3 day/3 night stay. It was nice!
Parking was a challenge and I wish I had prepared better to deal with parking the car during our stay. I ended up choosing a parking garage which added $16 US (R$ 90) per day to the overall cost of staying, but it did seem easier than parking on the street and trying to figure out how and who to pay for parking. Also, there were two days that we saw no available spaces anywhere close to the apartment, so if we had chosen to park on the street, we may have been out of luck one time coming back from a drive.
The stay was mostly comfortable. There is no "hot water" but an electronic device which warms the water when you shower. It was satisfactory, so not really a complaint, but just so others are aware.
Overall, it was a successful stay and we felt most happy about the location (right on the beach), the amazing view from the front and side windows (watching the sun rise near sugarloaf mountain and people watching below). The area feels mostly safe too, lots of locals always out on the sidewalks and exercising along the boardwalk and the beach. This is definitely a popular area all hours of the day. We slept with the windows open to listen to ocean surf while we slept and the noise from the street was very minimal at night, it was nice to mostly hear the ocean surf at night.