I encountered something new and different at my Accor hotel in São Paulo, Brazil. It seems that I booked a room that was subleased to me?

My Subleased Hotel Room At Accor Mercure Hotel In Brazil

I landed in São Paulo at 9:30 am and my flight back to Los Angeles did not depart until 10:45 pm, leaving me just over 13 hours on the ground. While I could have just remained at the airport, I figured I’d go into the city (I love São Paulo) but needed a hotel room…I did not want to carry my bag around all day.

My preferred hotel in São Paulo is the Grand Hyatt, but it was over $300 whether I stayed for the day or the night and so I looked elsewhere. The Rosewood São Paulo was over $700 and I might well have splurged for that if I was staying longer or with Heidi, but instead I found a deal at the Mercure Sao Paulo Ibirapuera Privilege.

Oddly, though, the $60/night rate was only available on booking.com. It was $140/night through other booking channels like directly with the hotel or via online travel agencies like Priceline or Orbitz. I figured the booking.com rate was a glitch and the booking would not go through, but it did…though I guess I should have read the confirmation email closely.

I reached the hotel via Uber and approached the front desk, cobbling together what little Porteguese I know (and aided by Google translate) to ask if I could check-in early. The front desk clerk was nice (he also took pity on me and switched to English, oy…), but said he saw no reservation under my name.

Odd…

I pulled up my reservation confirmation and showed it to him. He had a short conversation with his colleague and said the booking was not through the hotel but through a guest there. Maybe Brazil is different than the USA, but I did not think that hotel guests carried any tenancy rights like apartment renters, but perhaps this hotel has long-term rentals? It did not appear to be that type of hotel.

So reading my confirmation email closely (all in Portuguese), I was apparently supposed to reach out to my “host” who would alert the front desk of my arrival. I reached out to her on WhatsApp and thankfully she quickly responded and said she would add my name to the room, which she did.

It took about an hour, during which I sat in the lobby and worked, but the same clerk called me back to the front desk and said I now showed up in the system. He checked me in and handed me a key card for room 1206.

The room, by the way, was more like an apartment than a hotel room with a kitchenette, living room, bedroom, and bathroom…like a cute city apartment (though it needed some green plants and artwork!).

It was very interesting…a little annoying, but the extra hassle meant I spent $60 instead of $140 for the room…and that difference paid for my Ubers and meals while in São Paulo. I’m just surprised the hotel allows stuff like that.

Have you ever run into anything like this at a hotel chain like Accor?