I had a tough time deciding where I wanted to stay. Since I had no real goal for my visit, or no real knowledge about what to do in SP, I wanted a place that would be nice enough to hole up in for the whole weekend in case I hated the city. (It could happen.) That meant, primarily, that I wanted a nice bathtub. I live in a frankly crummy walk-up apartment in New York, with a cracked and chipped tub; the only thing I really miss about living in Vienna was the incredible soaking tub in my otherwise sad studio. A decent bath is one of my main standards for judging hotels. (And toiletries. Which I guess falls in the bath department.) Location was also important. I can be a somewhat lazy traveler, and I was afraid that if I was too far afield, that would just encourage me to stay at the hotel. The hotels in Jardins seemed to be most central as a tourist; the Hotel Unique had interesting design on its side but was off near Ibirapuera Park. Would I be put off having to takes cabs everywhere if I stayed at the Unique? Would I see more and eat better if I was in Jardins near Rua Oscar Freire with the other luxury hotels?
The other hotels I seriously considered were the Emiliano, Fasano, and the Renaissance. The Unique, Emiliano, and Fasano are all about the same price (at least for entry level rooms). One of the things I like most when traveling is enjoying a good bath, which means the Emiliano was out (only suites have tubs), and at the Fasano I would need to book at least a Superior (or maybe it’s Deluxe? the second room category). At the Unique, all rooms had separate tubs and showers. I ended booking a rate that came with a space-available upgrade, but I figured that even if I didn’t get upgraded, the room I booked at the Unique would be satisfactory, whereas I would only have been happy with a higher (and pricier) room at the Fasano. I could have booked a decent suite with club access at the Renaissance, but I decided an Americanized hotel experience was not what I was after. In addition to the room upgrade, the rate I booked at the Unique included a food credit, breakfast, and a 3 pm late checkout. I ended up being very happy with my choice and thought it was a good value for the quality of the stay.
The Unique falls in the boutique/design rather than 5* luxury category, and it was a young, stylish, and I think mostly Brazilian crowd. Service was outstanding, and all the staff I met throughout the hotel, bar, and restaurant were absolutely lovely and extremely helpful.
I ended up getting upgraded two categories, to a premium level room (the trade-off there was maybe that I was on a lower floor with no view), but it was a very comfortable stay. The bathtub met my satisfaction completely: I spent several hours total in the whirlpool bath, and a window opens up so that you can see the bed and TV (which I didn’t watch, but one could) from the bath. Toiletries were Bulgari Green Tea (fine, but nothing exceptional and I’ve no plans to rush out and buy the shower gel), and there were two full housekeeping services a day, which I appreciated considering the amount of time (and towels, and bath products) I was using. Various chocolates and treats were left in the room during the course of my stay, and as someone who likes to hydrate, I really appreciated that.
The bedroom looking towards the bath; there’s a separate rainfall shower beyond:
A premium category room (not pictured, the nifty round window):
You can also spot the complimentary Havaianas one gets instead of slippers.
Coconut water!
A minor quibble was that the steam room and sauna were not always on— a sign cited environmental friendliness—and it was a bit irritating to have to ask to have them turned on and then to wait 20-30 minutes for them to reach the proper temperature. But, once hot, they were hot and large enough. (I get annoyed by too small or too cool saunas and steam rooms, and plenty of supposedly good hotels fall down on that front.) There are two pools: a rooftop pool off the Skye bar that gets all the press, and an indoor pool, complete with a slide. Neither pool really seems geared toward serious swimmers, which was actually perfect for me. (If you want to do laps, maybe look elsewhere?) I happily floated and paddled around the indoor pool, and then enjoyed a good schwitz once the saunas heated up. There aren’t a lot of seats in the indoor pool, but the expectation seems to be that if you want to lounge, you want to be on the roof.
Breakfast was excellent (R$70 if not included in your room rate; if I had been paying, I would have found the value to be just fine.). On weekends it’s a very generous buffet, during the week it was table service, and I drank my fill of watermelon juice and had many a pao de queijo. Best of all, breakfast was served until 11 am. (I’ve slept through many a hotel breakfast that stopped at 9:30 am. I barely get up by 9:30 on a regular workday— I have a very short commute—so I tend not to want to do so on vacation.) All of the food I had the restaurant was excellent, and my first night— when I realized I was fading fast and was not up for a late night— I ordered room service, and the anchovy starter was probably the single best room service dish I’ve ever had. There’s a 24-hour menu, and the full Skye restaurant menu was available during dinner and lunch hours, too. So one was not going to go hungry.
And my concerns regarding the location were unfounded, or better said, I really enjoyed the proximity to Iberapuera Park, which worked out particularly well as the
São Paulo Biennale is currently happening. There’s also the Modern Art Museum (MAM), and cabs and Ubers were cheap and plentiful to the rest of town. But all that stuff, plus the exciting return trip, to come!