Holiday Inn Sao Paulo Parque Anhembi by IHG — Attraction in Região Imediata de São Paulo

How can I begin to count the ways that this hotel was possibly the most disorganized and worst customer service experience I've had?

I went to this hotel with a group of about 14 other people from my company to attend the Campus Party, a gigantic tech event that was happening next door at Parque Anhembi. I stayed here for 10 days, while others stayed anywhere from 3 to 10 days. We had about 10 rooms and the problems started from day 1, with new nuisances happening every day.

I will sort my experience in bullet points to avoid ranting through all the negativity that surrounds this expensive customer experience nightmare.

• POSITIVES: The hotel bellman was extremely nice The hotel concierge was extremely helpful and nice The pão de queijo for the breakfast is abundant! Very close location to Parque Anhembi and the Campus Party event The Campus Party tech event next door at Parque Anhembi was amazing! This hotel, however, had nothing to do with this positive experience.

• NEGATIVES: The hotel is EXTREMELY noisy in the days weeks leading up to Carnival. My room was literally shaking with the bassline and I could clearly listen to Zeca Pagodinho playing next door until 5:30am on the weekend. One hundred Reais (for a visitation fee) to let my friend go upstairs with me so that she could leave her purse in my room before we went out. She stayed in the lobby while I took her purse upstairs, and the hotel still attempted to charge me this fee during checkout. The hotel is far from everything, and they use this to their advantage on their pricing of food and drinks. Breakfast is expensive and has limited options, same menu everyday. Hot items include potatoes, chicken nuggets, waffles, eggs, and hot dog stew. That's it. Everyday. Billing issues. The hotel confirmation was registered to the company and the hotel was unable to charge the company accordingly - this has never happened in the past. People in my party who had breakfast included in their stay were asked to pay for breakfast multiple times. During check in, I chose NOT to pay extra to have breakfast included in my stay. When I went to have breakfast for the first time, on my 4th day at the hotel, I was told that they had included breakfast and that I had been paying all along. Members of my party had the hotel canceling their rooms before their scheduled checkout date. The elevator system is a joke and irritating. You push the elevator to go down, and it stops when it's going up. Sounds minor, but think about going through that for 10 days, and in times where you're in a rush. The hotel bar advertises "open every day until 1am" but they will close early if it's not crowded. Also, their Long Island Ice Tea is really really bad. One of the front desk ladies looks like she is sucking on a sour candy all day. I never saw her smile during the 10 days I was there.

• INTERNET NIGHTMARE: Internet did not work (no credentials page showing). I called the desk who called a technician to my room and was unable to solve the problem. He promised to be back in a few minutes and after a few hours the internet was still not working. I called the front desk again, who sent another technician who was also unable to solve the problem and also promised to be back in a few minutes. After a few hours, he was still not back. The next day I called the front desk AGAIN, who sent another technician who was also unable to solve the problem and also promised to be back in a few minutes and also did not come back. I called the front desk to request a room change, which made my internet work. To my surprise, their idea of "fast internet" is throttled to a 256kbps=32KBps download speed. If you would like 1mbps=128KBps, you need to pay an atrocious price each day.

I'm sure I could think of other issues, but this will have to do for now.

The best thing about this hotel was it's closeness to the Parque Anhembi. If you are going for an event there, and do not mind possibly going through a plethora of nuisances, stay here - the rooms are comfy.

If you have no business in Parque Anhembi, you have no business staying in this hotel. You can find a better...

What a lovely, stress-free, enjoyable experience. Holiday Inn São Paulo was able to turn an aggravating circumstance into a surprise getaway of luxury and comfort.

My family and I had our flight home from São Paulo to Miami severely delayed, to the point where it caused us to miss MULTIPLE flights. The one thing LATAM did right was provide us a voucher for a place to stay and a ride, plus meal vouchers.

It was around 3am in the morning, and we were all sufficiently defeated and drained from all our traveling and staying holed up in airports. Our stay at this Holiday Inn was a needed and much appreciated blessing.

It probably helps that we had vouchers for free food, but only a little--I don't want to downplay the food's excellence at the buffet, during all meals. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner--the food was beautifully and deliciously prepared to perfection, all local cuisines that reflect a Brazilian's appetite. I got to try new dishes like Moqueca de banana da terra, and enjoy staples like black beans and rice, soup, a wide variety of salads. The DESSERTS. I could go on and on and on. The talented chefs lending their culinary gifts here cannot be understated. They deserve a raise, all the beneficial benefits, all the good things in the world. Seriously, the food is just so good and I crave more...

Speaking of the staff, everyone here at this location provides top-notch service. Everyone was very professional, warm, and helpful. It was such a balm after all the frustration dealing with the airport. One individual I would like to especially highlight was garçon Walter. What a hardworking and humorous person. We really felt at home here. While we are very eager to finally be back in our country after so much traveling, I will miss this place.

The hotel's lobby is also so stylish and clean. I love the pop of color from the art. It looks so elegant without being stuffy, just very inviting and gives you a feeling of being on vacation. The beds were so, so comfy and while the rooms may need some updating someday down the line, they were otherwise very clean and comfortable.

Thank you, Holiday Inn Sao Paulo...

I'm a frequent traveller and this is one of the best hotels I've stayed at. There had been a problem with my booking, which the front desk clerk sorted out quickly and in a very professional manner. The room on the 13th floor was clean and had a nice view. Some of the features I particularly liked:

The Wi-Fi was probably the best I've enjoyed in a hotel ever. Very fast and steady, could even be used for uploading photos and videos, which is what you want to do when you're abroad and want to share your experience with people back home. And it was free for IHG-members, very easy login process as well - no long, hopeless passwords to keep track of and no credit card hassle. I loved this!

All kinds of free toiletries, even for shaving and sowing. :)

Generous shower (no need to feel claustrophobic) clean, and with clean shower-shelves.

I like that this hotel also considers female guests, so the magnifying, big mirror and the good bathroom-light was a big plus.

There were PLENTY of power outlets, which is also a huge plus! Most hotels let guests search behind beds to find more than one power outlet for laptops, cellphones, cameras and everything else that needs to be charged. This was great, and in all the right locations in the room too.

Good selection in the mini bar, and the fridge.

Coffee machine available

Safe that fits a laptop and other larger objects, that was very easy to operate.

Very comfortable bed with a choice of pillows (feathers or foam, which is great for me, as I'm allergic to feathers)

Great breakfast buffet! And if you're hungry anytime during the day or late evening, you can get a snack, a sandwich, pizza or something smaller in the snackbar/restaurant in the lobby.

The check-in and checkout process was quick and easy and the staff was great.

I'm very pleased with this hotel and am happy to recommend it to anyone going to...