Mercure São José dos Campos

I have previously stayed at the Novotel, and decided to give the Mercure a try to compare and advise my colleagues for future trips. The price was about the same, and the area is slightly better — there are two supermarkets and a mall (with foodcourt) nearby, and plenty of restaurants and bars up the hill.
I arrived around 11:30am on a Sunday morning and checked in immediately. The front desk staff is great, and their English is generally wonderful — slightly better, in both aspects, than the Novotel staff.
My room was fairly typical — clean, comfortable, with a bed, chair, desk, closer, and decent sized bathroom. Nothing fancy, nothing bad. About the same as the Novotel. I was on the top floor and appreciated the higher viewpoint versus the Novotel which is only a couple of floors tall.
The first day, a holiday, meant many things were closed, so I went for a run in the area (didn’t see the gym, but the area is runner friendly and safe), went to the pool (which was very bad and full of insects — the Novotel pool is so much better), and ate at the restaurant (only okay food and drink — the Novotel is, again, better).
Breakfast each morning was fine, and about the same as the Novotel, but very busy. It had meats, cheeses, breads, cereals, fruits.
WiFi was free and decently fast, but slowed down quite a bit at times.
I honestly prefer the Novotel. You can’t go wrong with either, but given the choice in the future, I will return to the Novotel. But that does not mean the Mercure is bad by any means.

Clean, basic rooms with decent breakfast. Conveniently located near the Las Colinas mall and near good restaurants.