In Rio de Janeiro, a Modernist Mansion-Turned-Hotel
Plus, a banner year for stomach bugs on cruises, the most on-time airline in 2024, and Milan's smoking ban.
It’s a rather tired cliche in hospitality, the whole “making you feel at home” thing. I’ve never understood it because the whole reason I’m there is that I don’t want to be at home, and if we really care about making me feel at home, then who the hell are all these other people?
What I do like, however, is feeling like I’m in somebody else’s home. Especially somebody with taste and a budget more elevated than my own. Such was the case with a little hotel in the hills overlooking Rio de Janeiro I discovered (i.e. saw on the feeds of some of my more adventurous friends) a couple of years ago and stayed at last winter. As a fantastic fusion of traditional and sexy Brazilian mid-century design, Chez Georges is one of the best options for experiencing a different side of Rio than the conventional beach visit.
A former mansion designed by Wladimir Alves de Souza in the 1970s, Chez Georges is perched at the pinnacle of the hill Santa Teresa. This somewhat bohemian neighborhood—dubbed by some the “Montmartre of Rio”—rises up in between the famous beaches of Rio and its less famous downtown. Made up of winding streets lined with fading multi-colored stucco historic buildings, it’s an endless array of charming little bars and restaurants.
To get to Chez Georges, you must enter an elevator shaft from a small street up to the top of the hill and then cross a bridge lined with pavers to the front courtyard. Here is your first taste of the mixing of styles—whitewashed walls intersect with those of polished Brazilian wood, concrete, and decorative tiles. A traditional roof of weathered terracotta tiles connects to a skeleton frame of concrete hanging over the patio. Souza was a prominent Modernist architect in Rio, but his work tended to have traces of past styles rather than fully abandoning them.
As a guest, you pretty much have a run of the place, which includes several lounge-worthy rooms filled with envy-inducing pieces from Europe and Brazil. There is also a dining room, where the included breakfast is served should you prefer not to eat it outdoors. It would be a perplexing choice, though. The house opens up to a lawn that looks out over Sugarloaf Mountain, downtown Rio, the bay, and Niterói. Its centerpiece is a long blue pool with a wooden deck for sunbathing. Tucked into the side are outdoor showers.
The hotel was the passion project of Pierre Bident Moldeva and Olivier Verwilghen, who also created a sister property, La Ferme des Georges, on the edge of Lençóis Maranhenses National Park. (For the unfamiliar, Lençóis is the one with all the dunes and clear pools of water.) The interiors of Chez Georges in Rio were done by Yorick Piette. There are seven suites usually starting at around $300 a night. Each is named after a singer with the name George, and they are spacious but sober. The emphasis in these spaces is on the play between the white-washed walls, polished Brazilian woods, the raw concrete, and the jungle-like flora pressed up against the windows.
Rio can be chaotic, and in the height of summer, wiltingly hot. But up on top of Santa Teresa, it was cool and breezy every day during our stay. And there was something so peaceful about being removed after we’d spent a few days down on Ipanema Beach. But that isolation can also be tough and one of the two drawbacks of the property. It took about three or four tries every time we ordered an Uber, as most didn’t want to go up the hill. The second major drawback to consider is that the mansion next door has been turned into a sort of event space. On weekends it gets rented out for weddings so you could be in for a late-night soundtrack not of your choosing. (Of course, you may be more of a night owl than me and thus unaffected as you’ll be home even later than the wedding.)
DEPARTMENT OF GRIEVANCES
One of the primary selling points of cards like Bilt or Capital One Venture is that you can transfer points to any number of airline partners. Air France has a flight to Paris for 15,000 points? Great! Avianca business class is cheap to Brazil? Yay! Everything about this is great except for one annoying airline—Air Canada. I say that because I—and family and friends—have had the same thing happen multiple times. You look on Aeroplan (Air Canada’s rewards program) how many points a flight will cost. You transfer that amount, but suddenly when you go to book it’s a mere few hundred points more than what it was when you went to transfer. However, since point transfers have to be done in increments of a thousand, you have to send over more than you need. It has happened time and time again and it’s the most annoying bait and switch out there.
Speaking of annoying things, United’s seatback television screens have had an annoying bug the last few times I’ve flown where every time an announcement is made (and boy do airlines make A LOT of announcements these days) it turns subtitles off.
Oh, Vail Resorts, what have you done? Popular opinion isn’t everything, but when you’re already known for gouging your customers I don’t know how you expect sympathy in a dispute with your workers. Sorry to anybody who planned a vacation to Vail at this time and spent gobs of money.
Apparently, there’s been a long-running frustration with Amtrak that I feel silly for not having thought to care about until now. Last week, a train left D.C. without its passengers, all of whom were waiting in line in the hall. This wouldn’t have happened if Amtrak allowed travelers to wait on the platform instead—something every other country does. And folks have been asking Amtrak for years why they don’t allow this and their answers have been far from satisfactory.
I think the death of ULCCs (ultra-low-cost carriers) has been greatly exaggerated…
It would never have occurred to me (maybe I’m losing touch with what would make a good story) but it turns out the restaurant that is used for Gabriel’s award-winning eatery is pretty mid.
Turkish Airlines may be dealing with a beg bug problem…
I hesitate to opine too much on the Jeju Air tragedy, but the first thought I had after watching the video last week and the thought that remains with me still is why there had to be a concrete structure at the end of the runway and not one that would easily break apart upon impact?
Hoo boy, this should be interesting. Milan’s outdoor smoking ban—the toughest yet enacted in Italy—has gone into effect. I still remember walking past a school while studying in Florence and seeing students smoking with their teachers.
If you breathed a sigh of relief that one of the benefits of interest rates rising was the end of online hustle culture of Airbnb property king and queens. The incessant videos touting their methods and strategy for building a portfolio and revenue streams were nauseating. Well, now thanks to Airbnb’s attempt to gobble up some of the property management money through its “co-hosting” program, hustle culture is back. Now, it’s people touting how they’re making all this money doing it and so on. I’m exhausted.
Speaking of Airbnb, add Athens to the list of major destinations taking steps to curb its effect. Now, granted, they’re all sort of dipping their toes in the water of confronting the issue. In this case, Athens has put into place a one-year ban on new listings for short-term rentals.
And in case you haven’t been following it, British Airways customers are in an uproar after the airline made the switch from rewarding based on distance and cabin to cost of flight. This, of course, is the switch many U.S. airlines have already made. But it’s another reminder that your loyalty to a specific airline is a one-way street. It isn’t real. Use it when it benefits you, but don’t romanticize it. “Earn and burn” should be your strategy when it comes to points as companies are constantly devaluing them—which is why the Department of Transportation in the U.S. is investigating them.
INDUSTRY NEWS
The Vasari Corridor in Florence is now open to the public for 20 Euros a head
JetBlue fined $2 million for chronic delays
These four countries want more tourists
Barry Manilow has accepted a lifetime residency at the Westgate
The Trevi Fountain has reopened
AeroMexico was the world’s most on-time airline in 2024
China unveiled a prototype of its next-gen train which would be fastest ever
Barcelona’s outdoor heating ban has gone into effect
2024 was the worst year for stomach sickness outbreaks on cruise ships since 2012