Alessandra's place is in the perfect location for a trip to Rio - right in between Ipanema and Copacabana. It's easily walkable to the beach, restaurants, and other attractions. We felt very safe and loved having the lobby staff and easily being able to leave our luggage before and after check in. The accommodations and decor are as described, but very basic. The room was very clean and communication was easy. One frustrating thing about our stay was that we had originally booked our stay for 2 people, but had a third person join our group last minute. As the listing had said that it accommodates up to 4 and guests are allowed as long as they check in and provide passport we didn't anticipate an issue. However once this was communicated at checkin we were told we had to send 360 reads ($70USD) for the two night to Alessandra's bank account which was frustrating. We paid, but felt that this should have been included in the house rules instead of as a hidden charge.