How to Make the Most of 5 Days in Salt Lake City

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Where to Stay in Salt Lake City, Utah

Discover the perfect stay in Salt Lake City, Utah, with the recently revamped Salt Lake Marriott Downtown at City Creek. Conveniently located near Temple Square, this downtown hotel offers not just a location but an elevated experience. My platinum membership should have upgraded me to a spacious two-room suite. However, when I checked in, all the suites were occupied, so the hotel upgraded me to a large king room with a balcony on the concierge (16th) floor. The panoramic views of the city and mountains add a touch of luxury to my stay, thanks to my platinum membership.

Table of Contents

• Where to Stay in Salt Lake City, Utah
• Salt Lake Marriott Downtown at City Creek
• Amenities
• Getting There
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Salt Lake Marriott Downtown at City Creek

The Salt Lake Marriott Downtown at City Creek, featuring 515 rooms, completed an initial phase of a multi-million-dollar renovation. This phase refreshed and modernized the guest rooms, hallways, and bathrooms. Another phase will address the public areas of the hotel.

Although I don’t know what it looked like before, I appreciated the furniture, bedding, and vinyl tile flooring. My room has an a large doorway to the bathroom with a barn-style door. There is a large marble top vanity and massive mirror. The guest room corridors also received a facelift with new flooring and wall coverings. Although the guest rooms underwent a nice transformation, I can still see things that need improvement. For example, there was a large chip in the glass mirror in my bathroom.

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My Room at the Salt Lake Marriott Downtown at City Creek

I realized it was a sauna when I walked into the room, so I turned the heat off. However, the air conditioner stopped working too and I ended up calling maintenance at 3:30 am one morning. They had to move me to another room the next morning. The hotel awarded me 10,000 points for the inconvenience.

Besides that, I was pleasantly surprised by the size of the room, the view of downtown Salt Lake, and the snow-capped mountains in the distance. There are many outlets, USB receptors, smart TVs, and mirrors. In fact, if you love seeing yourself on the toilet and in the shower, you will be extremely satisfied.

Amenities

The hotel offers a range of amenities, including the Salt Stone, a ski-lodge inspired restaurant and Destinations Lounge. There is a fitness center, meeting space, free Wi-Fi, a convenience store, dry cleaning service, wake-up calls, daily housekeeping. A Starbucks on the ground floor open from 6am to 6pm daily. Check-in is at 3:00 pm, and check-out is at 12:00 pm. The property is a smoke-free environment. The hotel allows service animals. On-site parking is pretty expensive at $4 per hour or $24 per day. But off-site parking is even more expensive at City Creek Center, 0.1 miles away, with a daily rate of $32. On-site parking grants in/out privileges, but they recommend off-site parking for oversized vehicles due to the hotel garage’s low clearance.

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M-Club

I enjoy staying at places like the Salt Lake Marriott Downtown at City Creek, mainly because of the M-Club lounge they offer. This private lounge is located on the 16th floor and is open from 6:30 AM to 10:00 PM, Sunday through Friday. It serves a hot breakfast, snacks, hors d’oeuvres, and dessert every day. If you’re a Marriott Bonvoy Member with Platinum Elite, Titanium Elite, or Ambassador Elite status, you get in for free.

While it’s great to have hot food and soft drinks on hand, it’s worth noting that alcohol isn’t free. This is the only lounge I’ve been to where there’s no complimentary beer or wine. Also, I would prefer individually wrapped snacks instead of communal bowls of chips, pretzels, and nuts.

In addition, the lounge closed from Friday afternoon through Sunday morning. The hotel gave me (and a guest) vouchers to get breakfast in the restaurant each morning.

Non-Qualifying Rate

2.1.f. Non-Qualifying Rates. A “Non-Qualifying Rate” is a rate a Member pays for a Stay in a guest room at a Participating Property which does not qualify to earn Points or Miles, as well as membership tier benefits. Non-Qualifying Rates are those booked using the following methods:

i. The guest room was booked through a tour operator, online travel channel or other third-party channel including, without limitation, expedia.com, hotwire.com, priceline.com, orbitz.com, booking.com, travelocity.com; or

ii. The guest room was booked at a group rate as part of an event, meeting, conference or organized tour, and the Member does not directly pay the Participating Property for such room; or

iii. The guest room was booked at a tour operator, wholesaler, or crew room rate or package including, without limitation, organized tours or package bookings; or

iv. The guest room was complimentary; or

v. A voucher or third-party award was redeemed for the guest room.

Points Awarded

Initially, our stay wouldn’t earn points because it was classified as a Non-Qualifying Stay at the hotel due to a conference. However, a few days later, we did receive the points in our Bonvoy account. This experience is a great reminder of the importance of understanding the rules for any loyalty program you participate in. WeThe total points awarded was 28,675, which is pretty substantial.

Getting There

Getting to the Salt Lake Marriott Downtown at City Creek is quite easy. After collecting my luggage at the airport, I took the elevator to the ground level to catch the green line train, one of five lines that run through the city. The TRAX Station is conveniently located to the left. I bought a train ticket for $2.50 and waited around 15 minutes for the train.

The hotel is situated at the Temple Square stop, just seven stops away. After getting off the train, I crossed the street and walked half a block around the corner. You can see the hotel right from the train stop. This was particularly helpful since I sprained my ankle in Spain a few weeks prior and was wearing a walking boot, making the short journey a relief.

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Lively Downtown Salt Lake City

Downtown Salt Lake City is more bustling than many other cities I’ve recently visited. There’s a good mix of people walking and cars on the streets, plenty of open shops, and the hotel is really close to the Temple and City Creek Center Mall. You’ll find stores like Nordstrom, Sephora, H&M, and Macy’s. There’s everything from the Cheesecake Factory and Chick-fil-A to cocktail bars, cafes, and grills for eating out. The Salt Lake Marriott Downtown at City Creek is a modern hotel less than 7 miles from the Salt Lake City International Airport. The guest rooms have great views of downtown and Temple Square. Plus, it’s close to five national parks, numerous trails for hiking and biking, ski resorts, business headquarters, museums, and sports arenas.

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