Jaimito Cartero

I agree with you here. That was the biggest annoyance in this wonderful lounge. The staff is quite good, and I love to watch the helicopters taking people to work in the morning.

I made the mistake of taking my SIL here for her first South American trip last year. We stayed there first, and all the other hotels were a disappointment to her. She kept telling me, "Let's go back to the Hilton"!

wendySFO

This is my first visit to South American too and didn't know what to expect. I was glad my first stop was not Hilton Morumbi as well.

Spiderman1

I have a stay at the hotel in a few months and I'm just wondering if anybody knows if you receive points for the spa procedures and massages?

Redhead

So I'm sitting in the Exec Lounge about two tables away from Jay Jay French of Twisted Sister. His voice carries quite well and I'm enjoying the stories he is telling of other musicians and tours.

Last week Sonic Youth and Faith No More were both staying here and I saw Thurston Moore a couple of times in the elevator

sapguy

Spent 3 paid nights on company business at the Hilton Morumbi last week - enjoyed the stay very much!

My stay experience was very similar to WendySFO (in fact, I did a cut and paste of her post and started modifying )

I arrived on Monday from the international airport (GRU) around 10:30AM and reached the hotel around 12:00PM - the traffic was just AWFUL! Good thing that it was a car service arranged for me by my company instead of a taxi.

My admin booked the stay to begin on Sunday so that I can check in as soon as I arrive to take a shower and change in order to go to my local office for a business meeting. No problem with the check-in at all.

I walked into a very nice, airy and modern room and was pleasantly surprised what a nice room I had. There were a complimentary bottle of wine ^^ and a box of chocolate with glass/napkin sitting on the counter waiting for me too, plus tea/coffee available in the room.

My HHONORS welcome letter said that I can have up to 2 bottles of LOCAL water from the mini-bar each day at no charge! ^

Executive lounge is on the 26th floor, it is very spacious and have good supply of food/drink. Early evening I saw they have small sandwiches, sweets, meat plate, cheese plate, fruits, vegi dips, and two hot items (empenadas, potato, beef one night, chicken the other night). The beer, wine and assorted booze are free only during Happy Hours, from 5:30PM to 8:30PM.

Breakfast is also very good, eggs, salmon, meat, cheese, fruit, yogurt, pastry... coffee/tea serve at the table. All staffs there are wonderful.

Wifi at the lounge is free of charge. Just ask for a card with passcode which can last for two hours for access.

The wired Internet access in the room is 45 rials for 24 hours, quite steep but my company paid for it, so no issue for me (if I was there on my own dime, I would use the free Wifi in the lounge).

Apparently, the lounge is now non-smoking (not 100% sure) but I did not smell any smoke. The view from the lounge is very nice, especially that wonderful bridge that is the Sao Paulo landmark.

The hotel is close to my local office but it seems far away from downtown or other attractions - and the traffic is awful as mentioned earlier. The underground has many restaurants, some convenient shops so didn't need to go far for basic needs. But the swanky Morumbi Mall is nearby, a 5 minutes taxi ride (about 10 rials) and there are many excellent restaurants there.

BTW Sao Paulo and Brazil are dangerous places, with robbery everywhere and even kidnapping, so be careful if you want to venture out. Always ask to have a "safe taxi" booked for you.

I will be back in Sao Paulo next year, and will definitely stay here again.

360guy

I will be staying at this hotel for two nights in March.My wife is concerned about the crime in Sao Paulo. Any recommendations for airport transfers and how do you get "safe Taxis?

pauleeepaul

Book through the hotel concierge.

sapguy

Agree! You will be paying a bit more but it's worth it for peace of mind.

TrinaLC

How do you tip the concierge for this service? (Or do you?)

sapguy

For tipping concierge, put some money in an envelope and hand it discreetly to a concierge.
But in this case, you do not know which person helped you with this taxi or car service booking so I don't think that tipping is needed.

wendySFO

Hi sapguy, What you wrote does look familiar

I took a taxi from one lined up in front the hotel to airport. Did ask the executive floor lady to book a car service for me but she said no need as the taxi just as good. Not sure if those taxis are already ok'd by the hotel or not as I did hear horrified stories from others after I returned and will re-consider to only use car service from now on. Don't remember what type of taxi I took from Hilton Sau Paulo. In Rio I remember it was white taxi and it was a bit more expensive than the regular ones IIRC.

sapguy

LOL, I love cut and paste.

The taxis operating in front of the Hilton appear to be OK as I took them daily to go to the office, so presumably going to the airport would be OK too?

The car service was arranged for me by my company. PM me if you need information on how to book that car service. In Rio, my colleagues called a "safe taxi" (yeah, it was probably white, don't remember) so that I can go to GIG.
We arrived into Rio from Sao Paulo using both domestic airports (CGH in SP and SDM in Rio) and the taxi situation at SDM is crazy and can be very dangerous. You need to buy a taxi coupon INSIDE the terminal and board a safe taxi in order to not be robbed.
I had this romantic image of Rio, and it's been "shattered" during this last trip with all the worries about crime, robbery, kidnapping, and even murder. One of my local colleagues almost got robbed in front of our office in downtown Rio in the late afternoon, in broad daylight

pb9997

Hotels in Sao Paulo are fully aware of drivers that line up in front of their properties; Even small properties know the drivers allowed to queue there.

Large Hotels should have those drivers screened by their security and Joe Smith can't just queue his taxi among the others, as Joe Smith would not be entitled to queue on that line and might be enforced to leave.

You can agree with the taxi to pick you back to the hotel or have them full day to work for you for a fee.

Seems fully reasonable and practical the information you got from the lady in the Hotel.

360guy

Any suggestions on taxi service from GRU to Sao Paulo Hilton?

TrinaLC

It might just have gotten better [I am diamond level, so YMMV of course.]

I flew in (typical GRU flight, arrives 6 a.m), got checked into a great Executive level floor room. overlooking the bridge (so allowed in my room by 10:00a.m, though occupancy could obviously affect that).

Left for meetings, arrived back mid afternoon to find that my toileteries (which I had tossed about on arrival) were nicely arranged, as well as the clothes I had hastily discarded on the bed ...

Working at their great appointed desk ... knock at the door... a charming young woman with a cart - Would I like to have an adult beverage? Perhaps a cheese platter, fruit platter or some chocolates?

Seems they are testing a special welcome service, I think perhaps only for Diamond members. But how lovely! WOW!

And I also measure how well a hotel measures up to problems. My room was FREEZING. I called guest services, after 5oPM, and had 2 engineers in my room within 15 minutes. It wasn't an easy fix, they needed to get tools; guest services offered to move me - but I loved my room - and the engineers came back with tools and quietly fixed it in about a half hour.

And of course I could go on and on about how awesome the executive lounge is; others have posted but it is one of the best (if not the best) in terms of ambience, service, views, food, etc.