Decline

After it closed in 1995, the hotel fell on hard times. After the interior fixtures and furnishings were removed — the structure was "stripped for spare parts," even down to the elevators being removed from the shafts — the hotel became a home to squatters and a canvas for graffiti artists and bats which had been feeding off nearby coconut trees and took up residence in the convention center. Despite being landmarked by the city of Rio in 1998, there was no funding to restore it. However the 2016 Olympics provided the impetus for building up Rio's hotel industry.

In 2013, a wayward Justin Bieber was arrested for spray painting the interior of the hotel.^[3]

Restoration

For two decades, the building was abandoned and neglected, covered in graffiti. Businessman Marcelo Henrique Limírio Gonçalves bought the property in 2009 for $35 million. In January 2015, the architectural design firm VOA Brazil won the competition to design the retrofit of the entire building. VOA was challenged to respect the original design and to preserve some of the original interior elements while creating a modern hotel with contemporary amenities. The detailed renovation project involved contractor consultations with engineer Bruno Contarini, the structural designer who participated in the original construction of the building.^[4] VOA’s design efforts included the restoration of art works by renowned artists including the “Mermaid” sculpture by Alfredo Ceschiatti, the Carybé panel and the suspended sculpture by Pedro Corrêa de Araújo.^[5]

The project, estimated to cost $67 million financed by the company travel agency hurb.com, called for a 476-room hotel and an apartment annex boasting 240-plus units, as well as exhibition space, a spa and a Niemeyer Bar on the top floor.^[1] The apartments, convention space, and rooftop bar were never built, but the hotel reopened in January 2017 as the Gran Meliá Nacional Rio de Janeiro Hotel and from 2018 became Hurb a technology company that invest in Hotel Industry.

On March 12, 2018, Meliá Hotels ceased operating the hotel, as it lacked convention facilities and could not generate enough business to support itself. In addition, the Brazilian economic crisis and continuing high violent crime rates in the area contributed to the chain's decision.^[6] The owners of the hotel, a group of investors from Goiana, were reported to be looking for a chain to operate the property, but as of 2021 it remains independently operated as the Hotel Nacional Rio.