Before departing on the Alaskan Railroad Aurora Winter Train Anchorage – Fairbanks, we needed a night in the Anchorage downtown central business district. With a choice between the Marriott Anchorage Downtown, the Sheraton Anchorage Downtown and the Four Points by Sheraton Anchorage Downtown, we ended up at the Marriott property. The Marriott Anchorage Downtown has been freshly renovated, offered a Concierge Executive Lounge, and represented a great value on a Marriott Bonvoy free night certificate. Read on to see how our stay in Anchorage fared at this property.

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This post is one chapter on a winter trip to Alaska, United States. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Alaska Mileage Plan and Hertz Gold Plus Rewards. For parts of the trip, please see this index.

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Review: Marriott Anchorage Downtown Hotel, Alaska, United States of America

“An updated Marriott Hotel that caters primarily to business travelers featuring a Concierge Executive Lounge and recently renovated rooms”

Booking the Marriott Hotel Anchorage Downtown:

Our visit to the Marriott Anchorage Downtown was intended to position us for a smooth departure on the Alaskan Railroad Aurora Winter Train Anchorage – Fairbanks. We were looking for a property that was close to the Alaska Railroad Train Station terminus in Anchorage, that we could access fairly easily by taxi.

There were three Marriott Bonvoy properties in downtown Anchorage. The Sheraton Anchorage, the four points by Sheraton Anchorage and this Marriott Anchorage downtown. I had read some reports at the Sheraton Anchorage was among the worst hotels in the Marriott system so through the process of elimination, we ended up select in the Marriott Anchorage Downtown instead.

I ended up redeeming an American Express Marriott Bonvoy Credit Card free night award valued at 35,000 Marriott Bonvoy points for this particular stay. I had these credit card certificates which are sometimes a little bit difficult to use. The Marriott Anchorage Downtown seemed to be an ideal property to use them on; an expensive business hotel midweek where the daily rate was higher than average. I had to spend an extra 5000 Marriott Bonvoy points on a top up basis, as the room was pricing at 40,000 Marriott Bonvoy points to stay.

We would end up getting upgraded into a concierge level room which was pricing at US$328 a night. That’s a fairly good redemption on a credit card with an annual fee of CAD $120 (USD $87).

As with other hotel stays on this trip, our booking strategy was to book the cheapest room possible and hope for a Marriott Bonvoy Platinum / Titanium level upgrade to a better room.

As always, I booked through the Marriott Bonvoy website, which as a Marriott Titanium Member, entitled me to a complimentary upgrade to the best available room, including select suites, and a complimentary late check out up to 4 PM.

Marriott Bonvoy Opportunities:

The Marriott Anchorage Downtown has variable pricing, dependent if you are travelling during the popular summer travel months, or the softer winter travel months Rooms can be found for as little as 31,000 Marriott Bonvoy points with variable pricing up to 59,000 Marriott Bonvoy points. It is worth checking out to see whether there are any Marriott Bonvoy point redemptions available in order to maximize value.

As a refresher, If you value Marriott Bonvoy points at 0.8 cents per point, it only makes sense to redeem points under the right circumstances. For example, it would only make sense to redeem 31,000 Marriott Bonvoy points for a room valued at over $248 USD. If you are redeeming against a room that is 59,000 Marriott Bonvoy points, then you’d have to have a room rate over when those same points are worth approximately $472 USD. While it’s unlikely you’ll get this much value out of your Marriott Bonvoy points, it is possible that room rates could get this high during a peak travel season.

in our case I wasn’t too bothered by the opportunity cost of redeeming against a free night certificate. We have the certificates anyways and they expire within one year.

Marriott Bonvoy members get the fifth night free when redeeming five or more day stay. Keep in mind that by redeeming five nights, and getting the fifth night free, will increase the value proposition by lowering the average number of points per night.

Getting to the Marriott Hotel Anchorage Downtown:

We arrived to the Marriott Anchorage Downtown by rental car. We drove from The Hotel Alyeska in Girdwood Alaska after three days of skiing at Alyeska Mountain Resort . We had a picturesque drive-in. We had no problem locating the hotel as a result of it’s large profile against the Anchorage skyline.

On arrival to the Marriott Anchorage downtown we arrived to the somewhat compact entrance Bay. We were offered valet parking at US$36 per night, which appear to be located in the Easy Park parkade lot situated a block and a half away.

Since I was returning the rental car later that evening at Anchorage International Airport and leaving town on the Alaska Railroad, I declined the valet and just ended up using the loading zone and street parking for the remaining hours that I needed the car.

We were offered assistance with our luggage by the valet and doorman which we declined. It is always appreciated to have a doorman offering luggage assistance although we didn’t take advantage of it for this particular stay.

The hotel is located in the downtown core surrounded by parking lots, office buildings, court houses and support services. The area doesn’t seem to have a whole lot of personality and I can’t imagine that you’ll spend a lot of time walking the neighbourhood during your stay here. This is fairly consistent with the other Marriott Bonvoy hotels located downtown.

I will give a shout out to the Brown Jug Downtown Wine and Spirits located at 930 5th Ave, Anchorage that is located one and a half blocks from the hotel. After checking in, we ventured out looking for a bottle of wine and found what we thought was going to be a very derelict liquor store. After scanning our IDs to be let in, we found a liquor store that was offering quite high end wines spirits and champagnes. I was a little surprised as the neighbourhood wasn’t too spectacular after dark. This may come in handy if you’re staying at the Marriott Anchorage Downtown.

Checking into the Marriott Anchorage Downtown:

The front desk is located immediately after entering the front door. The lobby and its surrounding area has been upgraded to modern Marriott colours. We had no wait at the check-in desk where we had a friendly, professional and efficient check in.

We were thanked for our loyalty and offered 1000 Marriott Bonvoy points for being a titanium elite member, in addition to being offered Marriott Lounge Access for the concierge lounge on the 20th floor.

We had a friendly to check in at the front counter lobby. We were provided instructions on the location of the lounge, and the breakfast set up. If you happen to be parking a vehicle, self parking was 30€ a night

The Room: 1 King Bed – Concierge Lounge Access Guest Room

We found our way up to the 19th floor. Although I had booked a base level guest room, as a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium member we received a soft upgrade to a higher level floor with a little bit of view. Although most of the hotel had been renovated, there were still some portions of the hotel like the hallway, that looked a little bit more dated.

Once we entered the hotel room, we arrived to a beautifully renovated room that had modern colours and furniture. The renovation was recently completed and it brought the Marriott Anchorage downtown into the current contemporary business hotel era.

For probably what is the likely first time ever, the hotel provided extra feather pillows as reflected in my Marriott Bonvoy member profile. The pillows were waiting on the king size bed. I congratulate the hotel for actually catering to this level of service and attention to detail.

In addition to the king size bed, the room featured a Marriott chaise lounge her. I find these very practical as they double as great counter space for clothes in addition to being a reasonably comfortable to sit on (as compared to a sofa bed).

The room offered and urban concrete downtown view over the shores of Anchorage and the surrounding central business district. While it was nice to have a view, it was nothing like the views of mountains and glaciers that we had in Girdwood Alaska.

As a business hotel, the room offered a larger desk and charging space for computers, laptops and phones. The space was reasonably adequate, but it end up getting full of items during our stay.

The Marriott Anchorage Downtown offered a renovated bathroom. The bathroom was a little small for two people, however it’s much larger than a bathroom than you’d expect in a tiny older hotel. The bathroom offered a rain shower which was a little weak on water pressure, but fit the need perfectly.

In terms of sleep quality, the Marriott Anchorage Downtown was about “as expected”; reasonably quiet with the odd noise coming from the hall way. We didn’t have any neighbourhood noise or other distractions during our sleep.

Around the Hotel Property:

The Marriott Downtown Anchorage is an urban business hotel with amenities that you would expect under this category.

Marriott Concierge Executive Lounge:

The hotel offered a Marriott Concierge Executive lounge, which was among one of the incentives to book and stay at this particular property. The concierge lounge looked a little dated however it was certainly functional and met our needs

Upon our arrival, the lounge was offering order of snacks until 10 PM. This is a longer time period that is typically offered since most lounges end snack service at 7 – 8 PM. This is likely designed to cater to Acnhorage flights arriving at all hours.

The lounge also offered breakfast. We would end up taking breakfast in the lounge before departing on the Alaska railroad. There was a reasonable amount of food available at each service. This was handy as there are not a lot of independent restaurants located around the hotel.

Lastly, the Marriott Concierge Executive Lounge had a nice view over the downtown area from the 20th floor. This was an improvement over a lounge that faced in words or had no view otherwise.

Food and Beverage:

The Marriott Anchorage downtown has one lobby restaurant called “Great Room / Restaurant”. Along with other parts of the Marriott Anchorage downtown, it had been fully renovated. During our visit it appeared to be full of business travellers and consultants.

There did not appear to be a whole lot of restaurants off property that were within one to two blocks of the hotel. However, depending on the weather you could potentially walk to Alaska brewing which is five or six blocks away.

Bottom Line: The Marriott Anchorage Downtown

The Marriott Anchorage Downtown represents probably the nicest Anchorage Hotel in the downtown core area. While it offered everything you might expect from a Marriott hotel, it catered mostly to business travellers.

Our stay was marked with efficiency that you would expect from a Marriott business hotel. The location for departing on the Alaskan Railroad was also convenient to our needs, we found an Uber the next morning without any issues.

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If you have stayed at the Marriott Anchorage Downtown, was the hotel convenient for your stay needs ?

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