Atlanta ATL

Review $23 night at Marriott Atlanta Century Center/Emory Area

a triangular shaped building with lights

After a 2-night stay including breakfast at JW Marriott Atlanta Buckhead for $71, I made my way by MARTA train and public bus to Marriott Atlanta Century Center/Emory Area for a $23 hotel stay. Both of these hotel stays were booked using free stay certificates I won in the 2017 Marriott Omaha Business Council auction for Children’s Miracle Network. These cheap nights and a $96 Frontier Airlines San Jose SJC – Atlanta round trip ticket motivated me to spend four nights in Atlanta this week.

a triangular shaped building with lights
Marriott Atlanta Century Center/Emory Area hotel 15-floor interior atrium.

Arrival

MARTA Lenox Station to Chamblee is two stations north on the Gold Line. At Chamblee I picked up Bus 47 for what Google Maps said would be 26 stops. The issue I quickly realized is there were no bus stop names shown inside the bus on the dark electronic display. Bus stops on the street did not show any street names either. On top of that, the bus only had about six riders and did not stop at most of the bus stops. Trying to count 26 stops was not helpful either.

Riding the bus through Chamblee appeared to me to be an area predominantly Latino. So I was surprised when I looked up demographics for Chamblee to see it used to be nicknamed ‘Chambodia’. Apparently this part of the Atlanta suburbs developed a large immigrant contingent in the 1990s, but the majority demographic in Chamblee these days is Latino.

a building with cars parked in front of it
Chamblee, Georgia

As the bus approached the pin for Marriott Century Center on my iPhone map, I asked the driver to let me know where I needed to get off the bus.

a sign on a street

a building with cars parked in front of it

a sign in front of a tree

Marriott Century City hotel is in a business park area and remote from any commercial center. The hotel is not convenient for guests without a car. The nearest restaurants are one mile away with several Ethiopian restaurants on the other side of Interstate 85.

The hotel mitigates its remote location with complimentary shuttle rides within a three mile radius including the Brookhaven-Oglethorpe MARTA Station.

a white van parked next to a stone pillar

a building with glass windows

Marriott Atlanta Century City lobby

a room with a clock and couches

a room with couches and a tv

Marriott M Club Lounge in lobby

a black table in a room

a glass door to a room

a lobby with a reception desk

Marriott Fitness Center in lobby open 24 hours.

a sign on a wall

Outdoor pool

a pool with trees around it

a pool and parking lot with cars and trees
Pool view from Floor 10.

a high angle view of a building

Room 1010

a room with two beds and a television

a room with two beds

a view of a city from above

a room with a television

a room with two beds

a light on a wall
Bed reading light

a small black and white refrigerator

a blue carton of water on a tray

a closet with a black bag and swingers

Room 1010 Bathroom

a bathroom with a mirror

a bathroom with a sink and toilet

a shower with a toilet and a toilet

a shower head and faucet in a bathroom

The hotel was a great deal for my stay at $23 all-in. The bed pillows were softer and more comfortable than pillows at JW Marriott Buckhead Atlanta where I slept the previous two nights.

After checkout before 10am I took the hotel shuttle to Brookhaven MARTA station for downtown Civic Center and a different hotel.

My preference for Atlanta of the three locations I stayed was definitely being downtown Atlanta despite moving the following day to a lower market segment hotel with Choice Hotels Ascend Collection Inn at the Peachtrees for 6,000 Choice Privileges points (cost $30 when I bought 200,000+ points in April 2018).

Marriott Century Center Atlanta is a nice hotel room and a location I might prefer if in the city with a car. One of the hotel location’s main benefits is proximity to Interstate 85 and not too far a drive to downtown. This hotel in the suburbs removes some of the hassle and expense of a car in downtown Atlanta with city parking fees.

The hotel room had a comfortable environment.

a city landscape with trees and buildings
Marriott Atlanta Century Center on clear Oct morning with view of Atlanta Buckhead skyscrapers in distance.
a map of a city
Marriott Century Center/Emory area Google Maps satellite

Marriott Atlanta Century Center 

Marriott Rewards category 3 = 17,500 points per night Aug-Dec 2018.

 

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