Coming up today, the Emiliano Hotel in Rio de Janeiro. This hotel redefined for me what an
urban resort is capable of being. It’s almost flawless. The full tour starts in 15 seconds.
Good morning and welcome to the channel if you’re new here. My name is Kevin and today I’m going to
take you on a full tour of this gem of a property hidden in plain sight on the famous Copacabana
beach. If you’d like to know more about the rate I paid, what I think my room was actually worth
and my next five videos in queue, check out the pinned comment below.
The Emiliano Rio opened in 2018 to much fanfare due both to it’s bold design but also what it was
contributing to the Copacabana hotel scene. Here’s the thing about Rio- whether in Ipanema, Leblon,
Leme or Copacabana, there are not more than a handful of modern upscale hotels available to
choose from. Many of the big players in the market serve up really dated interiors and after success
with their property in São Paulo, the Emiliano Rio was conceived. Clad in what we could call a
breathing facade- covered in shutters that can be open and closed from each of the rooms’ balconies,
changing the exterior design throughout the day without sacrificing the amount of that
natural golden light that spills into the rooms in the mornings.
Let’s take a quick look around the area. When thinking about Rio,
most would just be thinking about the southern beaches- but fact of the matter is
it is a massive city with the two primary airports well to the north.
On a closer level, the main tourist areas are spread across these two beach areas comprised of
four neighborhoods. Emiliano Rio is near the end of Copacabana which gives it a unique due eastern
exposure- something that you can see is in very limited supply along these beaches. That exposure
is why those exterior shutters come in so handy. Within a five minute walk there are multiple
banks, full size supermarkets and of course an Acai or juice bar on practically every corner.
Spread over 12 floors, the Emiliano has 90 rooms and was designed by Arthur Casas
and Chad Oppenheim, who were challenged with the task of creating a design
worthy of the hotel’s excellent location. Their design ultimately came in the form
of a scheme that blends Brazilian modernism with understated elegance and a sensibility of design
that made the property easy for guests and locals alike to use the facilities with ease.
Walking straight to the back we are brought to the reception area and elevator lobby.
Just past there, kind of through a hidden passage we are brought to a guests only lounge.
The space is indoor outdoor and marries the lush organic living walls of the outdoor courtyard
with the geometric back lit wood walls- with the furniture seamlessly blending the two.
Emilliano seems to do with design, quite effortlessly and naturally,
what many larger chains are trying too hard to do with their newer younger lifestyle brands,
such as Canopy by Hilton, Voco by IHG, etc. Nothing against those brands,
but when you’re here- you can just feel that it’s the real deal.
Moving to the forward lounge and bar that is open to the public and is framed by the same design on
the facade. Most of the indoor areas throughout the ground floor have quite low ceilings,
but everything else is designed on this scale and the general low slung minimalist furnishings
typical of Brazillian design make everything fit together quite nicely with a fresh but cozy feel.
Sharing the space with the lounge is the Bar Emile, part of Restaurant Emile which
serves up an Italian Lunch, Brunch and Dinner menu- with multiple fixed course
options as well as a comprehensive breakfast menu, which we’ll take a look at in a bit.
The space is again lush with the living walls
and reminiscent of a European street scene with pops of Brazilian flair.
Without further adieu, let’s go up to what I think is the hotel’s best asset,
by a long shot- the rooftop pool and terrace. For me, it’s literally picture perfect.
The sunscreen on offer is just one of the many touches you’ll find throughout the property
which will inspire mini “ah, that’s a nice touch” moments. Which,
as we look around the terrace, rooftop restaurant and vistas, brings me to the service here.
When you arrive, you’ll be introduced to one of many butlers that will take care of your stay.
I have a love hate relationship with “butlers” being offered at hotels that aren’t white glove
because I think the hotels usually take the concept a bit too far. Once in a while though,
we find the perfect balance- as Emiliano has. Your butlers will be as present or as invisible as
you’d like them to be. Their service style is more casual than formal, but still polished and just
about anything that you need from arrival until departure will be handled by them.
Bring your bags to your room, pick up and drop off laundry,
accompany a repair person to your room, deliver a bucket of ice. All of these seem like pretty
mundane things, but at most hotels- each one of these would bring a new face to your door.
At Emiliano, you get to see the same smiling and familiar face. It’s a very small difference,
but as someone who generally prefers hands off service, it was a service style that’s let’s say,
effortless sophistication- and it was one of the reasons I fell in love with this property.
Alright let’s head down to take a look at my room for this stay.
I was staying in an Ocean Deluxe King and after a room change that I’ll explain shortly,
I ended up on the 8th floor with a fantastic panoramic view of Copacabana and Leme.
Personally I love the design in the room. You can see how the shutters in front of
the balcony act as a shield without making you feel as if you have black out curtains drawn.
The tones used are all light earth tones, whites and a few splashes of green here and there.
When your butler brings you to the room for the first time you’ll have some welcome treats
waiting for you in a room that was gently scented with a familiar smell with some quiet bosa nova
playing in the background on an integrated audio system which you can also connect to your devices.
Colors are one part of the design and the other is textures.
From live plants to sisal wall coverings, woven carpets,
wooden floors, luxurious linens- all together it provides for one very comfortable package.
Rooms are outfitted with plenty of well placed outlets and USB
ports with complimentary bottles of water scattered throughout the room.
All of the light switches are also labeled so navigating that system is easier than normal.
The brigadeiro chocolates were out of this world and while it is becoming pretty normal
to receive personalized welcome cards in a room- it’s a rarity to receive multiple of them from
different departments. When I first started this channel, I needed to decide which items
I would and would not keep as souvenirs and I’ll say that no matter how many times I receive them,
there’s something special about a handwritten note and I keep every single one of them.
As we take a look at some other areas, let me speak about the hotels' one and only downfall,
cleanliness. And let me be very specific, in general the hotel is spotless,
my criticism is about two specific areas that you can’t necessarily see.
First off, as I mentioned already my room was changed a few hours after arrival. The
AC wasn’t working properly. After calling it was promptly dealt with. My butler and a repair person
came and hit some buttons and it was working very well again, but just for around 10 minutes. As
I suspected, I looked up through the air vents and let’s say, a thorough cleaning was overdue.
When I called again they let me know they were already preparing another room,
initiative that was highly appreciated.. I showed my butler the inside of the vent
and I think she was as surprised as I was. Quite possibly a simple oversight.
The 2nd issue was with the carpet in the room. It is actually a beautiful rug and is woven
from what I believe is some sort of synthetic fiber. On my last day when I was repacking and
organizing my things I was barefoot and after around 30 minutes of walking around the room,
I sat down and was shocked that the bottom of my feet were legit black. Everything appeared clean,
no visible dirt- but clearly this was the sort of thing that needed to be washed, not just vacuumed.
That’s all of the negative feedback I’ve got. The mini bar was very well stocked with an
assortment of reasonably priced snacks and refreshments and the closets were expansive.
Similar to Hotel Unique which I reviewed a few weeks ago, Emiliano also provided flip flops,
this time Havainas, but I already had three pairs with me on this trip, so I left them behind.
Up next, the bathroom and some of the best toiletries I’ve ever found in a hotel. A quick
story, several years ago I spent three months staying in Babilonia, a small favela just behind
Leme, to the north of Copacabana. I fell in love with the city during that trip and specifically
the smells of the city. I’m a scent memory kinda person. To me, Rio smells like the sea,
humid vegetation and acai- that sweet scent that practically wafts through the streets in Rio.
Well, the scent I spoke about in the room earlier was a room spray from Santapele, the brand of
the hotel’s spa as well as all of the in room amenities. The scent was Acai and Water Lily.
Other product scents featured in the room were Pineapple and Ipe Flower
and Cacao and Heliconia. All fantastic stuff. Sorry as I ramble on about that we
can also see the nice layout of the bathroom complete with a Japanese style toilet bidet
and a separate wet room with the shower and bathtub with some pretty epic water pressure.
And then we have the oversized balcony. Oversized as it’s actually wider than the room is.
Note that this is the view from my original room on the 2nd floor.
And here is my view from the 8th floor.
Followed by the nice bottle of bubbles that was in my room to apologize for the room change.
For dinner, I wanted something a bit more casual than Emile, so I went to the rooftop
restaurant which along with the fantastic atmosphere had great service and food.
I started out with the Bacalao fritters and ended with a delicious short rib
burger with some pretty delicious bacon compote. Everything was great but the
out of a bag french fries seemed to be the lazy way out.
When I travel and my room has a view, I set my alarm for 30 minutes before sunrise
to quickly check if it’s cloudy or clear. I was jolted awake by this breath taking sky.
By the way, if you’re enjoying this video, please support the channel by giving it a thumbs up and
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where the full clip of this sunrise will be posted. Roam will be posting content four
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Breakfast the next morning was fantastic at the Emile Restaurant on the ground floor.
Fully a la carte and had many familiar and local dishes including the typical benedict, as well
as acai of course and something I’ve never tried before- essentially a ricotta tapioca omelet-
but there were no eggs. It looks like styrofoam, perhaps even has the texture of styrofoam,
but had the aroma of roasted rice cakes and was an unexpected and delicious twist.
After that, the only thing left to show is the fitness center which is integrated into
the spa facility. The gym is small but functional and has some pretty
spectacular views. Here’s me pretending to walk on the tread mill so you can take in that view.
And of course, in addition to the products in the room you
can also buy full size versions of them from the Spa reception.
That just about wraps up this tour today. Before we get into the Flip Flop Score I’ll
leave you with the same thing I said to a friend while I was staying here. I’ve always seen Rio
as a dynamic city that happens to be on a beach. Staying at the Emiliano has made me for the first
time consider Rio as a resort destination and I suspect it will do the same to some of you.
On to the score, nothing here will surprise you at all. Honestly, if it wasn’t for the
two cleanliness issues, this very well could have been my first ever perfect score. But,
at an overall score of 96/100, there’s not much to complain about. I really hope you enjoyed this
review today and hope you’ll click that thumbs up button and subscribe for two new videos each week.