HotelChatter

Highlights: Room amenities include “nice perks” like free flip-flops. Starck’s décor means “Dalí-inspired oblong mirrors” and “curvy light fixtures that glow like ghosts.” The bathrooms have rainforest showerheads, naturally, and luxe wall-to-wall white marble. Drinks and food poolside arrived briskly and by “polite” and “fresh-faced” staff members.

Lowlights: Rooms are “understated and not very spacious.” Beehner cites “minor annoyances” like “electric sockets shorn from walls, room keys that repeatedly fail to work and spotty Wi-Fi (at 50 reais a day).” Boo. And let’s hope you’re not looking to last-minute sculpt your body into Brazil beach-ready perfection in the “disappointingly skimpy” spa and gym.

Bottom line: “Pricey and pretentious? You bet. Pull up in a compact car instead of a stretch Hummer and the doorman may not acknowledge you. But hit the roof bar around, say, sundown and all annoyances are forgiven,” the Times concludes. Rates start at $560.

[Photo: Kevin Moloney for The New York Times]