The day before we were due to arrive, Giovanni contacted us to say that there had been a double booking and we were unable to stay at the apartment for the first 5 nights of our 9 night stay. He was very apologetic and offered us the choice of 2 alternative apartments nearby. We were extremely disappointed as this trip was to celebrate a 50th birthday but had little choice so we chose one of the apartments. Giovanni did offer the alternative accommodation with a discount on the nightly rate, organised to collect us from the airport and offered us a driver to take us on a trip out of the city which was appreciated.
The first apartment was Apartment i307 Ipanema penthouse, located at Visconde de Piraja 411
We were met there by Giovanni to find an electrician fixing a ceiling fan. The apartment information had described the apartment as having air conditioning. In reality this was only in the bedrooms. Giovanni left having promised the fan would be fixed. I speak a little Portuguese and asked the cleaner who stayed to clean up when the fan would be fixed. She told me it wouldn’t be fixed until after we’d left. When I raised this with Giovanni his response was to offer to bring a fan round which he did the next day. Given the size of the living area and the average temperature was 34 degrees the fan he bought was barely adequate. It was a very uncomfortable few days including a sofa which was barely big enough for 2 people so we spent evenings sitting on plastic chairs around the table. There was a small terrace on the roof but only one fold up type chair and 2 backless barstools which were equally uncomfortable.
It was a relief to arrive at the apartment we originally booked which is just as described and with stunning views. We noticed that the water in the showers was cold but didn’t raise this as an issue as we felt we could put up with it. We were surprised therefore to return one afternoon to find 2 men fixing the hot water so Giovanni must have been aware of the problem but not mentioned it.
There was no kettle in the apartment so if the ability to have a hot drink other than coffee is important you would need to ask for one.
On a positive note this is a lovely apartment with stunning views, close to shops restaurants and of course the beach. The swimming pool was quiet for most of the time we were there and in fact we had it to ourselves a lot of the time.