Copacabana Luxe for Less: How We Stayed at Rio’s Hotel Emiliano for Nearly Half Price

Rio de Janeiro is the perfect spot to mix relaxation, sightseeing, and nightlife. And there’s no better base than the Hotel Emiliano – a stylish Small Luxury Hotels property right in the heart of Copacabana Beach and just a short stroll to Ipanema. We spent five nights here and loved every minute. Here’s why we loved it and how we saved nearly $300 a night on our room.

Read to the end, and we’ll show you exactly how you can do the same right now.

The Emiliano Feels Like a Destination

🛏 We didn’t leave the property very often because we had everything we needed. Our room was spacious, modern, and unbelievably comfortable. We booked an interior room, which meant no ocean view, but we didn’t really miss it.

⛰ Most of our time was spent at the rooftop pool and bar, where the views of Rio stretched to Sugarloaf Mountain.

⛱ Mornings started with a delicious (and included) cooked-to-order breakfast. Days were spent by the pool or wandering down to one of the many beachfront bars and restaurants right outside our door.

🥂 Evenings ended with champagne and fresh seafood on the rooftop as the city lights came on.

🥘 We also treated ourselves to massages at the spa and one indulgent dinner in the hotel’s restaurant downstairs, which was a perfect mix of Brazilian flavors with a fine-dining flair.

💵 We were surprised that the spa and meals were really affordable despite this being a SLH property – so we actually spent under budget for once.

Exploring Rio from the Emiliano

📸 The location makes it so easy to explore the city. From here, you can:

Hop over to Ipanema for live music.
Take a cable car to Sugarloaf Mountain for panoramic views.
Visit Christ the Redeemer (tip: go early to beat the crowds).
Wander with a guide through neighborhoods full of vibrant graffiti art and street life.

The Travel Hack: Turning a $600/Night Hotel into $320/Night

Now for the fun part that made this stay possible:

🏨 The Hilton points sale strategy: The Emiliano costs about $600/night for an interior room or a whopping 95,000 Hilton points per night. We didn’t have that many points saved up and $600 is well above our nightly budget. So, we waited for Hilton’s 100% bonus points sale, where we could buy up to 160,000 points and they doubled it to 320,000. [Note that Hilton has significantly raised the maximum points you can buy in the latest sale.]

💰The real secret for big savings, however, is booking a 5-night stay because you get the 5th night free when you book on points at the standard rate.

🧮Here’s the math for our specific purchase:

Cost of points purchase: $1,600 for 320,000 points
Emiliano cost in points: 95,000 per night (with the 5th night free on points bookings)
Total for 5 nights: 380,000 points → we covered this with our 320,000 + 60,000 points we already had.

That worked out to $320/night instead of $600 – which is a serious saving for a property like this.

💡 What if you don’t have any Hilton points accumulated at all? If you’re traveling with a partner, they can buy points during the sale too, and you can pool them. That would raise the cost to $380/night, which is still fantastic for a Copacabana luxury hotel deal. [And the latest sale is allowing you to spend up to $2400 on 480k points!]

✅ Don’t forget that there are plenty of Hilton properties around the world for 80k points or less a night, so you can use this strategy without having to find any additional points.

🌎 Also, every fifth night is free, so you could stay for 10 nights at a 40k-points property or two for a whole vacation. That’s just $160 per night. 40k properties are harder to find these days, but we’ve booked a few in South America and Asia.

⏰ You’re in luck because Hilton is running this bonus point sale right now. All you have to do is sign up for Hilton Honors rewards and buy points through this link.