Vila Galé Rio de Janeiro

Front desk was a bit slow

We booked two rooms with the hotel: a junior suite and a standard. The suite was very spacious and opened up to the street. The windows did a good job of blocking sound so the street didn’t disturb our sleep at night. They had a parking garage that charges R$33 per day and was able to accommodate our Jeep Commander. What is warranting this poor review was the hotel staff. Upon check-in they had informed us that one of our rooms wasn’t paid for even though i had already been charged by the booking agency. He said that we had opted for pay later and they hadn’t received the payment from the booking agency. I told them that my card had been charged by the booking agency but he insisted that it was likely a hold on the card to secure the room. I’d suggested to call the booking agency but he insisted that it wouldn’t be necessary (he didn’t seem worried so I assumed he had experience with this). Come to find that I was charged twice for this room and the booking agency has been trying to get in contact with the hotel for over a week with no response. This seems like FRAUD. The second issue. Upon checkout of our suite, the lady checking us out requested a gratuity payment for the included breakfast… she estimated that based on the value of their breakfast that the suggested 10% gratuity would come out to R$180 per person. That would make their self-service breakfast be valued hire than Michelin restaurants in the area. She tried to ask the other party that was traveling with us but when I came closer she gave up. I’m wondering if this is hotel policy or if the staff at this hotel are actually running scams from the front desk. I am still trying to get a hold of them about the double charge.