chipmaster

I stayed at this hotel a few years ago passing thru LAX on the way to Europe.

Was in LAX on a PVG-LAX-PDX stop and had a four hour layover. My mother who lives in LA came to visit and decided to hang out at the hotel as it is minutes from LAX. Thought WTH ask if they would let me in the lounge ( I'm a platinum with > 170 nights this year) The front manager a really nice service oriented lady manager, gave me a nice smile and said sure and ask another employee to take me up. Wasn't totally amazing lounge but my mother, who was 80 and I had a nice hour catching up and enjoyed the light snacks.

Was in LAX again and my mom decide to bring my dad, who is 91 this time. Sadly decided to give the Gateway another go and we met a very uncustomer friendly manager Seth, who said NO, we have our policies. Lounge is only for registered guest, sadly he wasn't going to bend the rules even for a long time platinum and his more than senior parents. We were clearly going to eat and drink them clean

So we chilled in the lounge, limited dinner selection and pricey, but at least the food and service was good.

Yes this is a bit of a rant, so should the manager Seth let me use the lounge, or was I asking too much?

Ocn Vw 1K

Per the full terms of the SPG program, it seems that you were asking too much.
https://www.spgpromos.com/fullterms/...MS_CREDS_TERMS

The following is under a main heading of "in-house" benefits, which equate to having a qualifying reservation at the property:

This is also reinforced by the specific language about lounge access related to a member and guest staying in a room:
"Complimentary Sheraton Club / Executive-Level Access

Platinum members receive complimentary access to the Sheraton Club® lounges, Westin Executive Club® Lounges and Le Méridien lounges, where available.

This benefit is limited to the member and one guest, as long as that guest is staying in the same room as the member.
A hotel may refuse access based on occupancy capacity availability.
If a lounge is closed for a holiday or weekend night, or if it’s closed for renovations, an alternate benefit may not be offered."

I've had the LAX Sheraton and nearby Westin --each with lounges -- invite me to use the club or executive lounge prior to my room being ready, but I had a confirmed reservation for the date the hotel invited me into the lounge.

JackE

You weren't asking too much; you were expecting too much.

margarita girl

I may be wrong, but I seem to remember reading that Sheraton FRA allows non-registered Plat members to use the lounge.

Kacee

Just did a quick overnight here on points. Upgraded to a corner suite on the 11th floor (1145) that had AWESOME runway views. Room was really nice. Wish I had been here during daylight hours so could have enjoyed the view more.

Shared shuttle with the parking structure next door sucks, but it seems many of the LAX hotels are doing this. At least the shuttle runs frequently.

JackE

Sharing is what makes the frequent runs feasible.

iluvdoco

Does this property participate in the Z3H (stay 3 nights get 1 night free) Starwood promotions? Checked several random dates without success.

OPENROAD

Just completed a one night stay after a return ten hour flight. We had previously stayed at the Hyatt Regency LAX a couple of weeks earlier before our flight to Dublin. Sheraton for the win despite some negatives.

Booked a Club Room, was advised at check in that we did not have lounge access ? Didn't really argue at the time as we were pretty exhausted. I did however have a word with the manager next morning who very kindly offered a partial refund. Had dinner in main restaurant that evening, service was very slow and food was rather disappointing. Restaurant is also a shared space with the bar and the tv's were blaring with some American football game.

Room though was a very decent size, we were on 14th floor facing the airport, bed was incredibly comfortable, though discovered one of my pillows was dirty, called down and had it replaced, bathroom was decent size and room had ample storage.

Breakfast buffet was pretty good for a US hotel, good selection of hot and cold options and eggs made to order. Main lobby was very pleasant and comfortable and with someone playing piano, it made for a relaxing morning after the previous days long journey from Dublin. Also a very decent size Starbucks on the premises. Airport shuttle was very good. Best part was that we got a complementary 16:00 check out before our return flight to Seattle.

All in all a very pleasant stay for one night, would definitely consider the Sheraton again if we fly out of LAX, though would also like to try the Westin.

MSPeconomist

OPENROAD

\
It was quite a strange reason tbh, she just referred to my room request of a high floor facing the airport and just told me I did not have lounge access, I tried to bring up my reservation confirmation on my phone, but it didn't download. It was 6:30 in the evening and we were pretty tired, so possibly would not have used the lounge that evening. Manager made sure we had access the next day and did apologise and said he would follow up with the person who checked us in. We essentially got the breakfast buffet paid for as compensation.

I should have tried to sort it out on check in, but was just too tired and not functioning 100%, it definitely seemed a pleasant lounge from the small time I spent in it on day of departure.

MSPeconomist

Ocn Vw 1K

With a long guest history at this property, my take is that OPENROAD got a fair on-premises service recovery of free buffet breakfast in the hotel restaurant. This is a bountiful spread including smoked salmon, other proteins and made-to-order eggs. It's one of the greatest-choice, and quality spreads in the entire LAX environs. Rack buffet rate is $27 p.p., incl. tax.
Generally, the few times in the scheduled open evenings that the Club lounge has been closed has result in only a chit for 1-2 drinks downstairs in the bar or a free appetizer, since Club lounge drinks are not free and the staff does not consider the evening food selection to be anywhere near a dinner.

Hopefully, as a result of manager's follow-up into what happened to cause denial of lounge access, there will be a further recovery offer in the form of an invitation to rebook, into a pre-blocked corner suite, at a very attractive rate -- with Club lounge access assured for the stay. That's a typical offer here for an elite level guest at this or the nearby Westin LAX who has been dis-served in the way which OP seems to have experienced.

orca15

Now quite sick of lounge scrambled eggs, I elected the "breakfast" in the hotel restaurant as my Titanium gift during a recent stay. The joke was on me, the breakfast coupon only gave me the rights to some fruit or pasties.Oh, and to top it off, when I got home I reconfirmed what was nagging me - that I had actually booked a "with breakfast" stay rate.

I just don't get it, how is giving you a selection half as large as what is already in the club a Titanium welcome gift? Learned my lesson. No more Sheratons for me.

HNLbasedFlyer

Checked in last night, upgraded to large corner suite.

Regarding breakfast, I was about to elect the breakfast amenity, and front desk person told me breakfast was continental in restaurant and would be similar to what is in lounge. So, not happy about continental - but happy he at least told me upfront and did not elect that benefit.

bocastephen

This is not a Sheraton issue, this is Marriott-Destroying-Everything-Good-About-SPG issue. What you describe is not how it used to be at this property - for years, the front desk gave me free breakfast coupons for the restaurant buffet because there was nothing in the lounge I could eat. They always took care of me as a regular guest, suite upgrades 90% of the time, always friendly and helpful - now if you look at many large-scale Sheratons, Marriott has been clamping down and stopping the free handouts and repeat guest recognition. They pretty much decimated the experience across of all Starwood Hawaii for those of us who were repeat guests there over the years, resulting in a number of key hotel resignations.

I don't know why franchise owners are tolerating this from Marriott since it's really up the the franchisee to make these types of decisions, but whatever - the experience is gone, Bonvoy is bleeding members by the bucketload, Arne Sorensen has been proven to be a moron, but nothing will be changed.

"Bonvoy" (yuck) Lifetime Platinum has taught me one important thing when I travel abroad - check AirBNB first, then Marriott next.

LAX Gateway was one of my favorite hotels in the system - now it's just a memory as I drive past it on my way to stay elsewhere.