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http://news.marriott.com/2016/07/mar...rra-da-tijuca/

Residence Inn: Category 6
Courtyard: Category 6

"Marriott International, Inc. expands its brand in the Caribbean and Latin America with the opening of the first ever dual-branded property in Brazil, the Courtyard by Marriott and the Residence Inn Rio de Janeiro Barra da Tijuca. The 140-room Residence Inn® Rio de Janeiro Barra da Tijuca and the 264-room Courtyard® Rio de Janeiro Barra da Tijuca.

The dual-branded hotel provides guests with free Wi-Fi and features common areas that include a state-of-the-art fitness center, an outdoor pool, self-service laundry center.

These two openings mark the first hotels that Marriott International will open this year in Rio de Janeiro, with two AC Hotels® opening in Porto Maravilha and Barra da Tijuca in time for Olympic Games. The Courtyard by Marriott and the Residence Inn Rio de Janeiro Barra da Tijuca are part of Marriott International’s commitment to development within the Brazilian market and are part of the company’s overall investment in the country.

Marriott International’s brand portfolio in Brazil includes the JW Marriott Hotel Rio de Janeiro, Marriott Executive Apartments São Paulo, Courtyard Recife Boa Viagem, Hotel & Spa do Vinho, Autograph Collection, São Paulo Airport Marriott Hotel and the Renaissance São Paulo Hotel."

Cheers.

lockman21

Has anyone ever stayed here before? Might be down that way in August.

Xeno

Ditto for October. The RI is a bit more than the CY and not sure if there is added value to that small additional expense.

ajeleonard

They're in the Olympic park in Barra, 45-90 minutes drive from anywhere you'd want to be depending on time of day. If it's your first trip this is not an ideal location

bosman

This +++++

Xeno

Jikes! Well, the JW Marriott rate is pretty high considering I am essentially looking to layover between flight from/to USA and on to VIX.

catocony

There is no reason whatsoever to stay at this location. It's not near the beach, it's not near the touristy stuff, it's not near anything. It is very far from GIG, so not suitable for a short layover.

Xeno

I will be staying at the RI tomorrow. I got an email saying I could accept 500 welcome points or "food and beverage".

My arrival is early afternoon after flying all night long from the USA. What kind of "food and beverage" would be provided at a RI at that time of the day? Is this fruit and a coke kind of thing?

RafKa

They have a pantry there, so it'll probably be a couple of items.

The property is in a terrible, terrible location, and unless there is a trade show happening at the nearby convention center, or a gig at the nearby Jeunesse Arena, the hotel will be at extremely low occupancy.

Fortunately, Uber in Rio is very cheap and the RI/CY sits right opposite the BRT station which can take you into the metro station at Jardim Oceanico (still a 20-30 min ride).

ethernal

Wait, this is a category 6? What possible justification could be used for that? Off-peak 40,000 points for what won't ever be more than a $100/night hotel (and realistically more like $60-80 most nights) given its location and amenities? Has Marriott traditionally debuted properties over-rated in the past or is this a future indicator of what Marriott rewards points will be worth?!

RafKa

It's a Category 3 (maybe an old Cat 6?), which is still overrated. Unlike SPG, Marriott assigns categories depending on popularity for redemptions. Since there are two MR properties in Rio, the other one being the Cat 5 JW Marriott in Copacabana, I believe they get a fair few guests looking at saving some points, but not realizing how inconvenient the location really is. The same happens with Hilton: the nearby one in Barra is 27k pts and whereas the other one in Copacabana is 55k pts. I recently saw a foreign tourist checking in for 10 days (yikes!!) on points.

ethernal

Ahh sorry I didn't realize the original post was a couple of years old. That is slightly less ridiculous.

catocony

You can get pretty nice apartments in Zona Sul for under US$50 a night these days off of AirBnB. The Real has dropped 25% since the Olympics, although it has recovered some in the last few weeks. If you get a block or two off of Atlantica, even restaurants have dropped prices. The economy there is a real mess, but they seem to actually be trying to follow basic economic concepts like supply and demand. In the past, if business was slow, they would actually raise prices to make up for the lost income, which of course dropped business even more.

The two properties in Barra are completely useless as far as a tourist base.