Originally Posted by wanderlust4life

My personal experience:

I arrived a bit delayed around 10pm on same flight but an earlier scheduled time and then immigration took almost an hour. Then took a taxi to the Hilton in the city which was about 45 minutes. No traffic this late. Got into hotel room after midnight. Tried to unwind after showering and getting into bed but didnt get to sleep until 1am. Slept for 3 hours until wake up call at 4 am. Then left hotel at 4:30am. Got to airport between 5 and 5:15am. No traffic this early. Checked in and got through immigration in less than 10 minutes. Boarded about a half hour later for a 7am departure.

Never again will I do this quick overnight turn with a stay in the city. I was kicking myself for not staying next to the airport at the Wyndham. It was a waste of time to go into the city to stay at a Hilton on an award stay just to be in the hotel for not even 5 hours. I had booked another run that I ended up canceling which had two nights in Quito and that would have been much more worth it so I could actually see the city and do stuff.

I strongly recommend that you stay near the airport at the Wyndham or at the family run mini-hotels. A friend stayed at Hotel Las Mercedes for 35 dollars and they picked him up from the airport and it was just perfect for a short overnight stay. I know the Wyndham is much more expensive but the hotel is exponentially nicer than the small inns nearby.

I also was really affected by the altitude being that I live at sea level and flew in from sea level. A lot of people aren't affected but for me, I had a headache and was even more tired so the few hours of sleep there didnt help at all. If I had stayed near the airport, I know that extra time in the airport hotel room would have made a difference in how I felt.

In sum, it was a miserable experience in UIO and I could not wait to get back to Miami where I felt much better after a nice rest on the plane and being back in lower elevations. I never thought Id be so excited to be back on an AA plane but oh did it feel good to lay down in comfort on a smooth ride to MIA.

From what I saw, I thought the Hilton was great. I didnt experience much though. For my 2017 UIO trip, I will be staying at the Hilton again on points. SO cheap at 20K. I feel its so hard to get 20K hilton stays nowadays. 30k is so much more common. Ill have more time there and Ill be taking some medicine too so the extra day makes a world of difference to me.

The PTY same day turn trips are a cake walk compared to UIO. At same time, you dont get as many EQMs so its all about weighing the pros and cons.