to stay

15:09 May 19, 2016 

I certainly won't say it's wrong, Erik (thus, my neutral). For example, I could hear myself saying "Wir waren zwei Wochen in Spanien," but would continue with "Wir hab'n drei Tage in Sevilla übernachtet und zwei Tage ging's nach Madrid. Den Rest des Urlaubs haben wir am Strand verbracht."

Frankly, the asker's sentence is a bit puzzling to me. I'd usually say "We stayed at the Marriot." But that's a hotel and then it'd be "übernachten." Especially when you flip it and say "We stayed in New York for nine years," it'd be "leben."

I only took issue with your note to the other answerers: "Wir haben ausreichend Kontext, um diesen Vorschlag verwerfen zu können." I agree with you that simple past in these cases is not warranted, nor colloquial, but what about present perfect (wir hab'n da übernachtet/vier Tage verbracht)?

I'll endorse your answer, but with a question mark regarding context. Considering I live in a bilingual household, I'm always a bit hesitant about "sein" unless it's absolutely necessary. You don't want language learners to sound like a robot (modular sentences; "to be" as the main verb).

14:10 May 19, 2016 

Klar, mehr Kontext hilft immer, und sicher ist meine Lösung nicht die in allen denkbaren Fällen allein richtige.

13:52 May 19, 2016 

Sorry to burst your "colloquial" bubble, but not every German is limited to "sein" in "colloquial." Besides, I'd say "für vier Tage" or "vier Tage lang." And this would possibly be served by "Wir ham drei Tage in Berlin übernachtet."

There is a definite lack of context. German colloquial is more often than not in present perfect.

Thus, even if there is no issue with the English version - as Armorel suggests - there are a multitude of options for the German.

11:49 May 19, 2016 

Even this apparently simply sentence highlights the fact that it is impossible to come up with just the right translation without the full context. For example, the sentence "My travelling companion was taken ill, so we stayed in Berlin for four days" uses "stay" to mean "remain - perhaps longer than originally intended", whereas in "On our tour of Europe, we stayed in Berlin for four days" simply means "we spent four days in Berlin". The two sentences could well need different translations of "stay".