Review: Marriott Sao Paulo Airport

Why I love this credit card even though it does not give me a good conversion value from points to miles:
1. You receive 15 qualifying nights which automatically qualifies you to have silver elite status. This means priority late check-out for you, well of course subject to availability.
2. Having this card means you are closer to Gold Elite status every year. When you do, you get to enjoy room upgrades upon check-in whenever available. They also give you guaranteed executive lounge access, breakfast for you and your guest, and free premium tiered internet- regardless of your room type.
3. Marriott and United partnership- Rewards Plus. When you reach to gold elite status, you get complimentary United MileagePlus Premier Silver status. This is great if you don't fly a lot using revenue tickets with United or you don't fly first/business, or don't have Chase explorer, Chase Mileage Plus or Chase Presidential Plus credit cards. You still get to enjoy Premier Access benefits (priority security, priority boarding etc). With this partnership you also receive 20% discount in converting points to miles just in case you are so IN NEED of mileage plus miles. I believe this is still cheaper compared to buying miles from United.
3. Free night every year (category 1-5 hotels), as mentioned above.
4. It's relatively cheap $85 annual fee for all these perks!
By the way, you also get to use these benefits to other Marriott hotels (e.g Courtyard, Residence Inn, Executive Town Suites, Fairfield Inn, The Carlton collection etc). A lot of these hotel products in the United States have been renovated . Globally, they feel more luxurious compared to the ones here in US.

I cannot believe you spent the entire day at the airport hotel. 🙁
Next time you should take a taxi to the city and have lunch at one of the amazing restaurants that Sao Paulo has to offer. The city has nothing special in terms of sightseeing but Sao Paulo is known for top restaurants and one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world.

Where'd that guy who always writes "nice toilet" go? I want to know his views on bidets.

For Canadians the Chase Marriott Visa is really one of the best options available since it is the only proper rewards card that doesn't charge a Foreign Exchange fee.
As for the Marriott property, this review is exactly what I am expecting. If you stay more in Marriotts (you know, once you move into hotels full time) your reviews could practically write themselves because I find Marriotts are always much much more consistent in their offerings than Starwood or Hilton properties and rarely disappoint. Although they don't often blow your socks off either... (Except maybe the JW Marriott Mumbai whose service would give any top property a run for their money!)

@Ben next Time, text me. I have more than 1.000.000 Points in Marriott and plenty of free night centificates (CAT 1-4) I'll never use and waste every year.

I agree with Corky. I want to know about that toilet 😉

@ Corky -- Maybe his mom isn't letting him use the internet today? 😉

Pool area doesn't look nice? Looks great to me. Yes a bit cloudy, but great for an airport hotel. And you paid $200? Boo. Agree with Santastico - why waste the whole day at an airport hotel? Go explore the city! At least for an interesting restaurant if you don't have much time.

I will assume hostels aren't your thing, and they aren't mine either at least the shared rooms.. Yuck. Though may allow you to meet some other people in your travel adventures. I too would consider myself a bit introverted. I traveled alone to Macau and to Hong Kong and met some great people - some you hang out and tour for the whole day, others just for a meal, perhaps others just to talk with and share ideas. I know it gave me some great stories to tell and made travel much more fun. You've mentioned traveling with or meeting some friends at the destination previously - keep it up.

@ Santastico -- I would have much rather gone into the city, trust me. But last time the drive took me 2.5 hours, and I had a ton of work to catch up on before my flight back home. I was in Florida the following week visiting my parents, and I wanted to be ahead as much as possible so I could maximize my time with them. And while I LOVE Brazilian food, I really wasn't hungry after how much I ate on the plane. I do hope to return to Brazil for a long time soon.

Unless it was a typo and you meant 70,000 instead of 50,000 points for signup bonus, why not get the 70,000 point signup version of the Marriott card?

I stayed there a few years ago on a day rate for my world marathon tour. I only stayed there for the treadmill as I was only on the ground for a few hours and the weather was really bad. The check-in process took over an hour because of the number of guests checking in. Bad! Also, it looks like they redid the gym, which is a good thing because it was not that nice at all when I was there. Did you notice if they had A/C in there now?

Nice post, surprised to see how nice that hotel looks inside and in the lounge, compared to the dull, gray exterior we see when passing by.

Since you hold gold/platinum status with so many other hotel programs, I wondered why you didn't try to contact Marriott Rewards in advance and request a status match or temporary status upgrade and challenge period. Have you tried this before? Had success doing it with other programs where you only visit one of their hotels?

Also, I agree with the other Brazilian poster here. We understand your blog's objective and there is a benefit to reviewing airport hotels. But we think your readers would benefit more from you getting the full experience of a city and its tourism options. Please visit Brazil again, stay downtown in whatever city you visit, and find an English-speaking tour guide via Tripadvisor to take you around and explain all the unique sights/foods. You also have loyal blog readers in many cities around the world who'd be happy to take you to lunch.

Regarding how the Marriott looked from outside I have noticed that most Marriotts here in the US look the same. They all look terrible from the outside with this beige dirty color that makes me drive away from the place. However, I've been to some Marriotts that look terrible from the putside but I was also really impressed on how good they are inside. Not sure why Marriott don't hire an architect/designer to freshen up their hotels outside.

Welcome to Marriott. Don't understand why the bloggers never stay at them. There is value to be had, and the consistency of the product is much better than other brands. Rates are usually lower than SPG or Hyatt.

Why are scrambled eggs always liquid outside the US?

@ Elizabeth -- I've always wondered the same! I either request scrambled eggs well done abroad, or just don't eat them.

Lucky - I actually stayed in this hotel for almost a month when I was in BZL for work... brings back memories

@ Sven: I'm going to be in HKG in November, could you gift me
Some of your 1.000.000 marriot points???? 😉

For me, Marriotts are just a place to stay. Plain, simple, nothing really all that special. For me, the backup hotel chain to the backup hotel chain. Cheap, yes.

But herein is my catch-22: fewer promotions than Hilton, so fewer opportunities to get bonus points, and double whammy since the price is lower, so you need more stays to get more points. That and since usually (in my experience at least) it's much easier to find a cheap Marriott, it's a better value to just pay money rather than redeem points...

But with the recent deval, I'm axing the card, since while there are values to be found, the yearly certificate I find is much more restrictive than Hyatt's yearly certificate (6 month expiry date vs 12 month expiry date) and doesn't fit my stay patterns. That and Silver status with Marriott doesn't get you much (no breakfast, internet, etc, just a few more points plus better check out/in). If Marriott is one's only program, that's fine, but with others out there, I'm not so sure (unless you were to max out several other hotel loyalty programs' loyalty statuses). Doesn't work out for me the best, so I'm dumping my Marriott points on my HK trip.

Sadly Marriott says "You must be a Marriott Rewards Platinum Elite member or above to qualify for RewardsPlus" not just a Gold MR Member....too bad. MR CC still isn't bad to have.