Vila Galé Rio De Janeiro

The hotel is nice and comfortable, however I felt incredibly scammed by the hotel employees. At checking in, I was told that I had to pay an extra amount (app. 15%) for 'taxes'. However, my booking confirmation clearly said that my payment was with all taxes and indemnities included. I tried to explain to the hotel staff, and in the end they accepted that I did not wanted to pay the extra amount. Later I found out that they try to charge the amount as "tax", but it is in fact an optional tip (for which purpose is completely unclear, since all the staff did was checking me in?). Although this could be a misunderstanding, the scam continued during check out. A (different) staff member told me that he saw in his system that I was not willing to pay the extra amount, but nevertheless asked me to sign a receipt, which he told me stated "that I did not want to pay the amount". The form was completely in Portuguese without translation. However, I understood the Portuguese text which said that the amount would be paid from my creditcard after signing the form. Meanwhile the staff member told me with a straight face that my signature meant that I did not had to pay the amount and that the signature was only for their internal accounts! I have never experienced such a sneaky and unprofessional tourist scam in a decent hotel. The whole experience made my stay (of 1 night) very unpleasant.

The staff is incredibly rude and tries to scam you.