Description: Go-today.com has never failed me. For every trip I’ve booked through them, they’ve hooked us up in a hotel that exceeded our expectations, while also cooking up a bizarre twist. In Berlin, it was our friendly German bartender at the downstairs bar. At the Newton in Hong Kong, the house cover band, led by legendary lead guitarist/keyboardist Billy, was an experience to behold. And now, in sunny Rio, we found ourselves at the
Savoy Othon, located just two blocks from Copacabana Beach. What, oh what, would the Savoy have in store for us?
Our assigned room was fine enough, if a bit small, so we upgraded to a large "suite" for $50R extra a night. Our new room was just lovely—a separate lounge area with a couch, table, and chairs; plenty of closet space; four windows that allowed ample sunlight; and a pretty big living area. The bathroom was stocked with standard toiletries, towels, and a bidet for those who just don’t think a toilet is enough. The TV had about 50 channels, including a Rio Tourism station with info about the city. A small refrigerator was stocked with cheap drinks and snacks. Housekeeping rocked—they even lined up our shoes in neat little rows.
The Savoy has a pretty righteous breakfast buffet free for guests every morning. I stuck to the fresh Brazilian fruit, breads, hot farofa with cinnamon, and good coffee, but there were also various pastries, meat, cheese, eggs, and juices. Food and fresh fruit drinks are so cheap in Rio anyway, so don’t worry if you oversleep.
Like I said, the Savoy is only two blocks from Copacabana Beach, so every morning we walked down there, took a swim, then came back and showered before heading out for the day. It’s also close to a few grocery stores, local coffee shops, lively bodequims, and a bike rental shop.
So one night we came back from a cafe at around 2:30am or so, and the doors were locked like they are every night, which is great. The night doorman hastily walked over from the direction of the two computers available for guests. I wanted to check the score of the Pistons game, and she wanted to check her email. So as we walked over to the computers, he came running up behind us, sat at the computer facing the glass-windowed dining room, and frantically started clicking away. I glanced at his screen, and thought the HUGE picture was of some random art—so did she. Then we realized he was looking at some hardcore porn, and couldn’t get it off the screen! The computer froze up! So he turned the screen towards the glass so we wouldn’t see, but it just projected the image even bigger! Ha-ha-ha! Caught red-handed—literally.
We saw him the next night, too, and (ha-ha) sure enough, he was on the computer again. We went straight to our room.
We loved the Savoy!
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