Review: TRYP By Wyndham Sao Paulo Airport (GRU)

During my two times to Latin America review trip, I spent a night(ish) at the 80-room TRYP by Wyndham Sao Paulo Guarulhos Airport (GRU). This is the only airside transit hotel at the airport, so there’s a huge convenience factor to that.

While I didn’t have a full night at the airport, I knew that getting some proper rest during my layover was essential to maintaining my sanity. I was arriving at around 5PM from Santa Cruz de la Sierra in GOL’s 737 MAX premium economy, and was departing around 3AM to Panama City in Copa’s 737 MAX business class.

How was my experience? For my purposes, this property did the trick, since you can’t beat the convenience of an airside transit hotel. That being said, this is definitely one of the more basic airside transit hotels I’ve stayed at. With a longer layover, I’d probably prefer to stay at a hotel outside the terminal.

Booking TRYP by Wyndham Sao Paulo Airport

My one night stay at TRYP by Wyndham Sao Paulo Guarulhos Airport cost ~$150. I wouldn’t expect an airside transit hotel to get much cheaper than that, so I thought that was a fair rate. Of course I wasn’t fully maximizing it, though. While the hotel has day rates for those wishing to stay just several hours, those can’t be used overnight.

TRYP by Wyndham Sao Paulo Airport location

TRYP by Wyndham is located in Terminal 3 at Sao Paulo Guarulhos Airport, which is the primary international terminal at the airport. I was arriving at Terminal 2 (where GOL operates out of), and the two terminals are connected airside.

Let me emphasize that this hotel is located airside, so you can only stay here if you have a departing international boarding pass for Terminal 2 or Terminal 3.

Upon landing from my GOL flight, I first had to clear security, and then followed the signage in the direction of Terminal 3, which required walking down a rather long corridor.

At the end of that walkway, the entrance to the hotel was located on the left.

If you’re coming from Terminal 3, the hotel is one level down from the main part of the terminal (on level one), and can be accessed via the same elevator that takes you to Terminal 2. The hotel is just minutes from virtually any departure gate in Terminal 3, so that convenience is hard to beat.

TRYP by Wyndham Sao Paulo Airport lobby & check-in

TRYP by Wyndham Sao Paulo Guarulhos Airport has a very basic lobby, with a couple of couches and a couple of chairs, plus a reception desk.

I was checked in by a friendly associate, and within about a minute, had a key to my room. To enter the area of the hotel with guest rooms, you first walk through the restaurant and bar area (more on that in a bit), and then there’s a door that can be opened with a key.

TRYP by Wyndham Sao Paulo Airport room

I wasn’t sure what to expect from TRYP by Wyndham Sao Paulo Guarulhos Airport in terms of room quality or decor. I can’t say that the hallway connecting rooms felt terribly luxurious. I almost thought I was in a school or hospital, or something.

I was assigned room 103, located right near the entrance. The door had a sticker on it to indicate that it was sealed since being cleaned.

I’d describe the room decor as being pretty basic, almost feeling a bit like a nice college dorm, or something. The room had a king size bed, which was very hard. At least there were three pillows, which were plush, so that helped with getting comfortable.

The room also had a wall-mounted TV, plus a desk with a chair.

There was a coffee machine next to the bed, plus a couple of bottles of complimentary water.

The compact bathroom was back toward the entrance, and had a sink, toilet, and walk-in shower.

Toiletries were in individual containers, rather than in wall-mounted ones, which is rare nowadays.

The rooms have complimentary Wi-Fi, which I found to be pretty fast. Interestingly the rooms don’t have safes, though — that doesn’t bother me, but I know it matters more to others. There is apparently a safe box at reception, though. The room didn’t have windows, but that’s fair enough, given that the hotel is located inside a terminal.

All-in-all, I thought the room did the trick, and was clean. I didn’t love the decor or firmness of the mattress, though.

TRYP by Wyndham Sao Paulo Airport restaurant & bar

TRYP by Wyndham Sao Paulo Guarulhos Airport has a restaurant and bar area. The bar area has a few tables as well as some high-top seating, and is open daily from 8AM until 10:30PM. It has a variety of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, plus a limited number of snacks.

On top of that, the hotel has a restaurant, serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There’s no a la carte option, but rather everything is available from a buffet. Breakfast is served from 6AM until 10AM, lunch from 12PM until 3PM, and dinner from 6PM until 9:30PM. The restaurant maybe has a couple of dozen tables.

I decided to visit during dinner, which would ordinarily cost BRL 130 (~22 USD), including food and non-alcoholic drinks. However, I didn’t have to pay for that — this is actually a Priority Pass restaurant, so since I had an eligible Priority Pass membership, I could use that membership during my visit, and it covered the entire cost.

The buffet had a reasonably good selection, and I’ll let the pictures speak mostly for themselves.

TRYP by Wyndham Sao Paulo Airport amenities

Beyond the restaurant, TRYP by Wyndham Sao Paulo Guarulhos Airport doesn’t have much in the way of amenities. There’s no gym or pool, or anything like that. The only other thing worth mentioning is that there’s a small outdoor courtyard. In theory this would be a nice place to just sit and enjoy the fresh air, but it seems to almost exclusively be used as a smoking lounge.

TRYP by Wyndham is a confusing brand

I’m not an expert on Wyndham’s various brands, and prior to this visit, I wasn’t really familiar with the TRYP by Wyndham brand. Based on my research, the brand has several dozen hotels around the world, and is described as a “unique, urban, lifestyle boutique brand,” that “embodies the local flavor, rhythm, and beat of cities around the world, offering guests a personal retreat at the heart of an amazing cosmopolitan experience.”

Maybe it’s just me, but that’s not really how I’d describe this property. In fairness, hotel branding is such a disaster across the industry nowadays, as the major hotel groups just want to grow their portfolio at any cost.

I just found this interesting because usually I’m very familiar with the brands I stay at. While staying at this property, my assumption was that TRYP by Wyndham was a brand that offered super basic accommodations without much flair. So you can imagine my confusion after actually researching the brand more closely.

Bottom line

TRYP by Wyndham is the best option if you’re looking to conveniently get some rest while airside at Sao Paulo Guarulhos Airport. While this wasn’t the most luxurious transit hotel I’ve stayed at, I appreciated the location, the friendly service, the clean rooms, and the decent restaurant. Don’t expect much from the room design or amenities, but at the end of the day, this place is about getting some shuteye.

What do you make of TRYP by Wyndham Guarulhos Airport?