Booking and arranging check-in went very smoothly with Bob, first through AirBnb, and later, Whatsapp. Bob met me after my taxi from the airport, helped me with my bags, and showed me the layout. Nice touches were a bowl of candy, 2 large bottled waters, box of juice, several beers and a small neighborhood guide.

I’m a very tough grader so keep that in mind.

It was hot most of my stay (low to mid 90’s F/33-36C) and the split air conditioning was really great. There’s no noise from the compressor which is outside, and the fan on the inside unit is pretty quiet, and there is an even slower sleep speed that is barely audible. Split units are the Roll-Royce of apartment A/C’s. I would pay a lot more money in hot weather to stay in a split air apt because they are quiet and really keep you cool. In the winter, it is 60’sF/15-20C at night so split airs can also provide heat. I’ve been in hotels and apartments without heat and it’s not fun to spend hours being chilly when you are inside.

Building is really old, but there are 2 almost new replacement elevators and apartment has been remodeled. Walls and ceiling seemed thin for old construction and you could easily hear TV and louder conversations from other apartments. Construction noise from another building and the adjoining apartment was very annoying.

Location is okay, not great, nearest streets Raul Pompeia and Francisco Sa are the major Copacabana-Ipanema bus routes so there is a lot of noisy traffic nearby. No businesses on the block, a couple of uphill blocks to Ipanema, a block to Ave NS Copacabana, a couple of blocks to Copacabana beach.
The very lightweight full size bed felt firm but I like firm beds so ok. The 2 dinette chairs had poor padding and weren’t comfortable. The low, black cushion chair is just 2 smallish cushions strapped together without support and really uncomfortable. The other chair is very low, and the seat area has been stretched so you feel like you are sitting in a hole and uncomfortable after an extended period. Fortunately there are cushions that can be used to fill the hole and make that chair reasonably ok. A quality love seat sofa would be a great upgrade.
There was only the most basic cable TV package, so no foreign language English channels like CNN, Fox, SyFy, etc. and no premium channels like HBO. I don’t think streaming movies is a viable option since the wi-fi speed is only 1Mbps with long latency times from international sites. By comparison, 4G is usually ~5+Mbps. I had trouble streaming ~1 minute clips on my laptop unless I lowered the resolution to 360P.

If it’s hot enough to require A/C, or cold enough to need heat, split air conditioners make you forget a lot of minor inconveniences. In moderate temps, I rate this above average. If hot, I rate this very good.