JW Marriott - Bogota - June 2018
Summary
I was here for 3 nights, MR Gold, points stay. Overall, very good.
Arrival and departure
38 COP from the airport to the hotel, with the authorized airport taxi; about a 45 minute trip, Thursday, 8 PM. Arranged for the hotel partner to return me to the airport and it was 45 COP; 20 minute trip, Sunday, 5:30 AM. Also, I requested a wakeup call. Note that it was a live voice. Not sure if this is unique to this property or a JW thing.
Room
My room was on the 6th floor; definitely an upgrade; separate living room, large bathroom with sunken tub and separate shower. Amenities were from Aromatherapy Associates; enough to last at least a week. Turndown service was spot-on. The room cleaning was a bit too thorough for my liking. My charger cords were wrapped into neat coils. More importantly, I had a small pile, of what looked like scrap paper to most people, but it contained a couple of receipts and a boarding pass stub; it was thrown away.
Lounge
The lounge is located on the 9th floor. Excellent breakfast buffet, including made to order omelets. And the selection of hors d'oeuvre at dinner (5:30-11) were enough to make a balanced meal, if one wanted. The selection of food changed each evening. Staff was attentive and took the time to learn my name and room number. Oh, you also receive two complimentary alcoholic beverages per day. I do wonder as to the ratio of food to guests as the lounge was extremely quiet and there was enough food to feed many, i.e. food sitting out or recycled from one day to the next. My only criticism is that there was no gin available Saturday evening. I asked the manager about this, who happened to ask if I was enjoying the lounge (you know, since you asked…). He told me that the lounge is only allocated so much product per week, and gin would be restocked on Monday. I’d also note that the weekend lounge staff was the “B” team, both for breakfast and hors d’oeuvres.
Tours and sights
I had read about concerns with ‘local’ taxis. Therefore I used the hotel car service to take me to ‘old town’, specifically Museo del Oro, 9 AM, Friday. Took 45 minutes, 38 COP. But I ended up using local taxis, both to return to the hotel Friday, and both ways Saturday. Local taxis were less than ½ the cost of the hotel car and used meters without asking. (Note that the hotel recommended its car service to ensure that the tourist was not overcharged by the local taxis.) In fairness, the hotel driver gave me a very good overview of the old town. (My rule for taxis is lock the doors for safety.)There is an entertainment/nightlife/dining zone within walking distance of the hotel. There is also an area, Carrera 11/Calle 71, that is a bit quieter and had a number of restaurants and pubs, also within walking distance.
Editorial Commentary
Just because this is FT, I thought it interesting that UA has its crews lodge here, considering the shear number of properties at the airport. I found it more interesting that there was a UA FA, in uniform, drinking in the bar. I’d think that would be not allowed.
A pet peeve of mine is that I am not noticed. No, this is not a DYKWIA thing. I am an average looking guy and blend in. When on vacation, I am wearing a polo and jeans. I don’t really standout; but on the contrary, maybe I do standout, because maybe I am not dressed like many of the guests in the higher end hotels. Night 1 – sat in the lobby and wanted a beer. Finally I had to walk up to the bar and got a ‘sorry, we didn’t see you’. Night 2 – same staff at the bar. Waiter took orders from a couple who sat down two tables further from me (from the bar), 5 minutes after me and then the waiter noticed me and I got a ‘sorry for the delay, we were busy’. (No you weren’t.) This has been an adult lifelong situation for me. I wonder if the psychology of better dressed patrons in a higher end hotel yields higher sales; thus higher tips?
The property is patrolled by explosive-sniffing dogs. That is good. As related to the above, the dog handler tripped over a UA roller bag, and practically pushed one of the pilots out of the way, to bring the dog to me as I was entering. However, the door woman waived him off because she recognized me.
Last edited by lamphs; Jun 19, 2018 at 8:23 am