Starwood Preferred Guest - Sheraton HK upgrades with award night?

I'm looking to book two award nights at the Sheraton HK and all the reviews say that the Tower is much nicers.

I'm Plat, but was looking to use SPG points. Can I guarantee a tower room or plat upgrade when using points?

I actually just came back from Hong Kong (literally, got home 3 hours ago) and as a gold using points, I only got the SPG floor with a street view. When I asked about different upgrades, I was told that they upgrade plats to Harbor View rooms. Now, I am not sure if they meant that they ONLY upgrade to Harbor View or that only plats can get a free upgrade to harbor view, not golds.

Never the less, its a great hotel in a great location.

You can try e-mailing them beforehand. I believe you can also use extra points to secure the Towers room.

As I discovered last year, you can actually book an award stay in the Towers, though only through the SPG res phone service. Online only provides access to regular properties -- unless these are dedicated Towers with no adjacent standard Sheraton -- for award bookings, but a call can get your booking upgraded if there is space. You won't get a suite upgrade necessarily as a Plat, but for about 1500 points additional per night, you'll be confirmed in a Towers room, and very likely get a Harbour or semi-Harbour (Penninsula Hotel) view. [I was a SPGPlat at the time.] I think it's well worth the extra points. Call today and do post to let us know the outcome.

This recent stay I posted about in another thread on the hotel, was an award stay and I'm also a Platinum:

If I'm traveling with my ladyfriend we usually ask for the non-view Platinum Suite upgrade as the harbor view rooms are rather small. 2 somewhat neat people without much luggage could do just fine with a harbor view, but there wouldn't be a lot of closet space or a whole lot of "spread out" room.

On my last stay I was traveling solo so I requested a harbor view and was upgraded (from a standard free award) to harbor view Room #1044 on one of the Starwood Preferred Guest Floors one floor above the Platinum Lounge on the 9th (the 9th harbor views are mainly smoking rooms).

The room was very nice and as others have mentioned, have the glass wall "view" bathroom, and the "water room" where both the separate shower and tub are enclosed in one shared space.

Personally, I really enjoyed the Platinum Lounge, especially for evening cocktails. The staff is really great and when I was there the whole week there was just me and a couple of other Platinums enjoying the comp cocktails and some rather nice hot and cold snacks. It's unattended the rest of the day and is a good place to conduct business or get some work done as you'll likely be the only one in there. All day long there's self-serve tea, coffee, and sodas along with fruit and a variety of bagged peanuts and such.

The breakfast in the restaurant is great, and often they didn't even charge me for the extra HK50 for the full buffet.

Here's some photos of 1044, it's great view, and the Platinum Lounge:

http://members.aol.com/premexfiles/sherHKG1044.jpg

Comment was made that there is free WiFi in the lobby. Is it in the Platinum lounge as well?

There didn't used to be, but they recently added free Wi-Fi to the Platinum Lounge. Worked great! And a much nicer place to surf and work than the lobby. :)

Personally, I wouldn't kill myself looking for a Tower room as you have a shot of getting a nice Harbor View just a floor or two down from the Tower floors. We really wanted for nothing. You can have almost or just as good a stay without it IMHO, depending on how much of the Tower services you really need or intend to really use. While the Platinum Lounge is not staffed all day except evenings, it is open all day. And the staff there is willing and able to do just about anything the Towers staff can accomplish. They're often the very same people just covering a different location!

I must be missing something, but I can't find the info elsewhere. What's the difference between a Towers room and a Regular room? Is the Tower just on a higher floor?

Should I just book a regular room and hope for an upgrade as a plat?

I had an award stay in Mar. I booked the harbor view room which requires 11500 pts. I don't remember the floor, but it was pretty high. I had access to the lounge and continental breakfast for two persons. The rooms on the left side of the building (further away from the elevators) are bigger than the ones on the right. Not much, like 3 ft or so, but definitely noticeable. Check out the swimming pool and jaccuzzi on the top floor. It is quite nice.

The Tower rooms are on separate building. They do not have ocean view. I prefer the ocean view more than the Tower amenities. Actually, others people in this forum have reported that the hotel doesn't provide Tower amenities if you are on award stay.

This hotel is excellent. It has great location - subway right across the street, a short walk to the ferries, and many excellent restaurant nearby. Everything in the room works. Service is excellent. The room next door to mine was noisy late at night. I called to complaint. They sent people right away and settled it down. The next day, they sent me a bottle of red wine for "my inconvenience". ^ I was pleasantly surprised!

In any case, you won't be disappointed with this hotel.

Does Ocean View=Harbor View?

The Tower rooms are on separate building. They do not have ocean view. I prefer the ocean view more than the Tower amenities. Actually, others people in this forum have reported that the hotel doesn't provide Tower amenities if you are on award stay.

Another building? Not here. The Towers is comprised of the top several floors of the building. There is no separate building as in Buenos Aires or Santiago. It is a much enhanced set of amenities from the normal Club level. Check in is on the reception level of the lounge...sorry but I cannot recall the actual floor number.

As I suggested, call SPG res and they will explain what the Towers is and how many extra points per night it would be to book.

Shareholder is correct. The "Towers" part of the Hong Kong Sheraton & Towers are not in a separate building. They are simply on the top couple of floors and they refer to them as "Tower Level Rooms." And many of those Tower rooms do have the harbor views. The Towers part of this hotel is basically a Concierge Level with separate check-in and service desks up in the Towers Lounge, and the rooms have a bit nicer amenities and some extra services that are "included" with your room.

Thanks PremEx for clarifying.

Just left the Sheraton HKG today. Plats can get upgraded to Harbor View rooms ore the Suites that PremEx mentions. I've been ore-upraded to a suite during my visits here. The Harbor View rooms are small as PremEx states. Ironically I got the same room (1589) this time as I did when i was there in April 2005.

Anyhow for those curious here are the Platinum benefits which haven't changed since my first visit in September 2003.

1. Complimentary Continental Breakfast served at the Cafe on 2/F Lobby.
2. Access to lounge exclusive for SPG Platinum Preferred Members on 9/F, Room 915. Self Service Tea/Coffee will be available from 0700-0000 Midnight. Evening cocktails served with Hors d'oeuvres from 1700-2000 daily.

There is complimentary wifi in the lobby area. To get access, just request a password from the front desk and one will be delivered to your room.

Also as a Platinum member there has been fruit basket/cookies in my room.

Room occupancy rates can be very high in HKG with the ongoing conventions and expos in town. The agent who checked me out mentioned last night the occupancy rate was at 96%.