Crab Hostel Brasil

Pluses: Great location, very clean, staff seem more friendly than before, safe location, and they allowed me to stay for one night. They were willing to let me cancel the rest of my five-day reservation after trying out only one night (but I only paid one night at first). Minuses: Because it's smack within some residential buildings, it needs to be quiet at night — no partying, etc. It's crowded. The couples' rooms are separated by thin walls. My room didn't have a window and it was very hot. Even though a grate in the wall above connected to another room, which had air-conditioning, the room was still very hot. I did have a fan. Because it is in Ipanema, the hostels' value isn't great for a couples' room—R$130—especially if you are single. There are many posted rules (partly because of the residential status) with the poorly translated "please don't insist" on the bottom of each note.

This hostel became known as 'Crap Hostel' along the Gringo Trail in South America. I have never met so many people who encountered problems with the staff and honoring bookings. We booked this hostel through a different website during Carnival. They did not honor the booking we made for four nights, and in fact they threw us out of the hostel after one night because they could sell our beds as a 'carnival package' to two other people for triple the price. Furthermore, the owner refused to reimburse us for the full amount of what we paid for our four-night stay. The rooms are extremely overcrowded. There were six triple bunks in our small room. Everyone shared one very dirty bathroom. There was nowhere to store your luggage. We shifted to another hostel in Botafogo, which was fantastic and closer to where all the locals go in Lapa.

This hostel does have an awesome location... however, the dorm rooms are extremely crowded - very little floor space AND triple bunks. Plus the atmosphere is not very friendly, with more rules than I've seen in two months combined at other hostels.