WestLA-FF

Stayed there one weekend in summer. Took 10K points/night, and thought I was going to get beautiful room in hot property by Harbor. Instead received basic room in middling property 2 blocks from airport, so listened to takeoff/landings all day (starting 5 AM!) and until late at night. Pool mediocre, bar drinks weak and expensive.

My advice: stay at any other *wood property. This one should have been a 4pts, and only cost 2-4K pts/night.

PremEx

bigjim...how was your stay?

And any more recent updates/opinions from anyone else on this property that I should be aware of?

Thanks.

TimMeineke

I found the tennis courts to be overpriced, given that it's windy, there's sand and dirt on the courts, and they're generally run down. Such courts should be free IMO

bigjim

I was there on business so didn't take advantage of any of the pools etc. It's basically an old run-down Sheraton. Nice location, somewhat of an upgraded room - (high floor/view/club floor), had lounge access - although they kept sporadic hours. Room overheated in afternoon from sun hitting side of building - air conditioner couldn't keep up. Response was just to close the curtains to keep the sun out - they've heard the complaint before.

PremEx

HA! That's so funny! I'm at the hotel right now and just 30 minutes ago I called down with the same complaint!!! Had the thermostat turned down to 65 (the lowest it would go) but it just blew luke-cold air.

My outcome was a little different though. Then sent up a gentleman from Maintenance and he opened the unit up and bled the line a bit and it started to pump cold air finally. Then he went to the thermostat controls, punched in some secret combination of keys and the LCD display then displayed (I'm not kidding) "VIP" and now will go down to 60 instead of just 65. I asked him what that was all about and he said he programed the thing to be in the VIP mode for 3 days. During that time the 65 degree restrictor is off and also the air will continue to run even when I leave the room or open the sliding doors.

So the combination of him bleeding the line and now having all the restrictions turned off the thermostat...I've finally got a nice and comfortable room!

A more in-depth hotel report will come when I've completed my stay in a few days.

bigjim

LOL - I actually went through the same thing and just gave a more condensed version. He actually gave me the "secret" code - unfortunately, the room cooled for about 30 minutes but then stopped again. Hopefully, you'll have better luck. Ultimately, they said that there was nothing that they could do.

spellbound2

I'll be there for a week in a little over a month, so I can use all these helpful hints about air controls, etc...

PremEx

spellbound2 writes: Well, after spending 3 wonderful days and 2 glorious nights at the Sheraton San Diego Marina property...I can safely say you're in for a nice experience.

Or perhaps not.

This one is...well...complex, to say the least. This hotel is like the United Airlines of hotels. You got your United Express, TED, United Domestic, United p.s., United International. What I mean by that is at this hotel your stay can vary greatly from soup to nuts. At this hotel you could get a great room at a great location/view...or you may not. This is one of those hotels where if you want to guarantee you have a great room and stay, a little advance homework is in order. If you don't, you could still be lucky and get something very nice without saying a word.

Or perhaps not.

Let's Get Physical - The Lay Of The Land

Helps to have an idea of the general layout of this complex and spread out complex before arrival. In previous posts you may have read about the East and West towers. It can be a bit more complex than that however as within the "East Tower" there is also a tower called the "North Tower." And for all I know there could be a South Tower as well. Perhaps this should have been a Four Points? There is also a complex of 3 story motel type wings know as the Lanai Buildings. But despite these sub-divisions, there are really only 2 tower complexes at this hotel that most guests will deal with, each with their own check-in separate lobbies, although they are networked so you could check-in at either tower even if you weren't staying in that tower: The East and The West towers.

East Tower: I'm gonna call this the East Main Tower because this is the huge main one. Three buildings/towers interconnected into one. This is the one with huge lobby and most of the restaurants and main bar. It's the one with "The fish tank." And the main pool and spa. It easily has 3 times the number of rooms as the West Tower.

West Tower: This would be the second smaller tower that is completely separate from the East Main Tower. It probably was a separate hotel at one time. It's about a 5 minute walk down the Marina path to this tower.

Which Tower Do I Want?

Most of the posts in this thread indicate that the East Main Tower is the place you want to be. But I found this may not be the case depending on why you're staying here and what you want out of your stay. What type and price of room you reserved or if you have an upgrade opportunity because of status also plays a part. Both towers have possible advantages and disadvantages to them.

There can be no question that the East Main Tower is "where the action is." It has several restaurants, a large sports bar, the Club Lounge where breakfast is served if you've reserved a Club room or are a Platinum. It has the main heated pool, the fitness club and spa, and it also has free Wi-Fi in the lobby and a printme.com printer at the front counter for free wireless printing from your laptop. But if you're going to be in a standard sized room not on the Club Floor, most of them are a bit older in design. And they are rather small. Sweet Sleepers are in, but generally just a plain old room. The Jr. Suites and full Suites seem to be much nicer and newly decorated. No problem in this tower if you get one of those. But this tower is noisy and busy. This is definitely a huge convention hotel and this tower is where most of the activity is. It can get downright chaotic at times here.

Now the West Tower...well standard type rooms are where this tower really shines. The rooms are 33% larger in the West Tower. And their decor is all new. Wallpaper, carpets, furniture, bed...the works. They are almost Jr. Suites in that they have a sofa sitting area in addition to the bed. The 12th floor contains some really nice rooms plussed up a bit and it also has most of the Suites on it, that have private patios. The "feel" of this tower is completely different than at the East Main Tower. It's much quieter. Easier valet and self parking. The public spaces are done in a muted post-modern sandy beige nautical theme. Feels a little "classier" than the other tower's almost New York pace. This tower has it's own check-in lobby, Mediterranean restaurant, and bar. It has it's own pool, but it's smaller and it's not heated. Also between Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner when the restaurant is closed, you have to walk to the East Main Tower for food or drink (except Room Service, of course). And no Wi-Fi in this lobby. It is a short and rather pleasant 5 minute walk over to the East Main Tower however. But some folks may not like the isolation of this tower. Others may absolutely love it's quiet and ease of access and much larger standard room size.

So I think it depends on what you want and like. If you can get a Jr. Suite or Suite upgrade in the East Main Tower, you'll like it. If you don't, you might find yourself wishing for a standard room over in the West Tower.

I didn't get the chance to photograph a standard room in the East Main Tower, but I did visit one. Here are some photos of the 2 types of rooms I stayed in just recently:

West Tower 11th Floor Standard Room, Harbor View

East Main Tower 9th Floor Jr. Suite, Marina View

The 3 story Lanai Buildings...I have no idea what quality of rooms they contain. I've walked through the area, but I can't report on any advantage or disadvantage to rooms or Suites there. They most certainly would be quieter and they have their own quiet pool, but views from many rooms here may not be too desirable. Here's a aerial shot to give you an idea:

Lanai Buildings Aerial View

Let's Get Animal - The Lay Of My Stay

How did I learn about all of the above? The hard way, my friends. The hard way.

Little getaway weekend. Arrived at the East Main Tower and the car valets have cheat sheets where they check your name on a list and tell which tower to go to check in at. Mine said I was in the West Tower but since I read here on FlyerTalk that the East Main Tower was more desirable, I told the valet I was going in to request a switch.

The place was packed with several huge conventions. I got to the Front Desk Clerk and asked if they might be able to move me to this East Main Tower. Nope...sold out for the next 3 days. How about a Suite upgrade? Nope...sold out for the next 3 days. Okay...I check in there since I'm allowed to and then head off to my pre-assigned room in the West Tower. Nice lobby. Even more impressed with the room on the 11th floor. Well...except for one thing. The heat. The sun is hitting the windows and the air conditioning is pumping nothing but luke-cold air. As I mentioned in my previous post in this thread...all was resolved to my satisfaction.

Or so I thought. Let me amend that part of the story based on what happened since then:

About 2am the darn things starts making noise. Loud noises. Gurgle. Pop. Bing. And I can't get it to stop. Even turning the darn thing totally off doesn't stop whatever air bubbles are in the line causing this Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang. I'm beginning to think that the Ghost of bigjim is inhabiting my AC unit! It's 2am. I'm tired. I don't want to screw with waiting for Maintenance and getting dressed and watching them poke around, so I just shove cotton in my ears and try to get back to sleep. I don't do a very good job of it.

It's morning. Now I'm a little steamed. I walk over to the East Main Tower to have my free breakfast in the Club Lounge (no free breakfast in the West Wing where I'm staying) and on the way I stop at the Front Desk to ask them to get Maintenance back up to deal with it again. Then I depart the hotel and return sometime around 2pm. To a boiling hot room.

Apparently in my room, it's either noisy bang-bang Air Conditioning, or quiet No Air Conditioning.

Walk back to the East Main Tower to complain as this time I want to talk to a Manager. Manager pops out and greets me and has apparently already looked at my dossier as she's aware of my problems with the AC. I hardly get anything out of my mouth before she offers to move me to a room in the East Main Tower. I told her I was told they had no rooms here for 3 days. What? Who told you that? Oh, brother. I say I rather like the larger rooms in the West Tower, could she move me to a new one there? She'd be happy to, but the room she was going to offer me in the East Main Tower is a Jr. Suite! Well, so much for no rooms or Suites being available for 3 days. She's very apologetic about the whole mess with the AC and with the misinformation I was given about changing rooms and upgrades at check in, and she offers me 5,000 Sheraton Promise Points for the hassle. I accept them and Thank her for the move. Yeech...I've spent a total collective time of about 4 hours of my weekend (and a disturbed night) dealing with all this. Oh well...

Anyway, the new Jr. Suite is just great. Great room, new furnishings and decor, great view, and the AC quietly belches out cold and hot air at my every whim! And being in the East Main Building now...right downstairs to free Wi-Fi, main pool and all the goodies. Very "busy" over here though.

So needless to say, I have mixed general feelings about my stay here. I can see that when things go right and in your favor it could be a great stay. But if not...it can be a real bow-wowser! And there are so many towers and views and room types here. My advise would be to decide what you want and where you want to stay here, and try to get it all before you arrive or get your changes in at check-in if at all possible.

Hope this little report helps some of you in the future here. It's a nice place overall, IMHO.

By the way, there's a GREAT little independently owned Deli half way between the 2 towers on the marina, called Papanani's Deli. And on weekend afternoons they BBQ burgers, sausage, chicken and such outside in a very nice patio setting. Great food! Great surroundings! Man it's gorgeous down here!

bigjim

It wasn't my left-over karma though - unless I migrated over to the west tower.

wth

PremEx, this was a very nice report. Having stayed at this property, I think you did a very nice job of outlining the options available.

traveldog

Have stayed at this property on a number of times and as a Plat have found the upgrade experience to be inconsistent but continue to return because of the area (most unusual when you consider the location is within walking distance of the airport), the free self parking and complimentary local calls for plats and the attitude of the management. Have always been upgraded although at times have needed to request one and have had to move rooms halfway through a stay or two.

The management at this hotel genuinely tries and cares about it's guests (or at least it's plats) if a problem is brought to their attention. Was fortunate enough to receive an upgrade from Kelly Sanders the GM to the Governor's Suite in the main part of the East Tower at Christmas after having a disappointing check in experience and enduring a few room moves.

Have only stayed in the Lanai buildings once but was pleasantly surprised. Parking is convenient and the suite I stayed in was a small 2 level floorplan with the living room and a bathroom on the main level and the bedroom and addtional bathroom on the second level. My suite had a nice view of the pool area. Would suggest that if you are given a choice of staying in the Lanai Building, you confirm the location as some of these rooms appear to have less than desirable views.

Breakfast in the club lounge isn't what I would call "deluxe" but then again it is complimentary and obtaining a parking space close to the main part of the east tower is virtually impossible, but these are just minor points.

spellbound2

I think the West Tower rooms are very nice, and if I won't be able to upgraded (highly likely due to the volume of conference attendees) I think the new renovations are something I prefer to being in the scene in the East Tower. I hope the hvac issue is cleared up in a month! Is this a new GM? I thought it was Robert Cartwright? I'm looking forward to visiting San Diego again and seeing what the Silicon Border is.

Snowcap

Just got back from a four night stay at the Sheraton SD Hotel & Marina. I used my Starpoints (1,500 per night) to upgrade to a 12th floor Club Level room in the East Tower. The room faced the marina and the inlet and the view was great - especially with a full moon one evening. The room itself was spacious but the carpeting was a little dreary/older. Club level provided access to Penthouse (one floor up) for Continental breakfast which consisted of fruit, cereals, pastries/muffins/bread, OJ, and coffee. The upgrade also included free usage of the fitness center - which was a very good fitness center I thought, and I worked out with (name drop here) Bill Rancic of The Apprentice. Other amenities of the upgrade included free self-parking or half-off the $16.00 day valet parking, and one free large bottle of H2O per day. The main pool was real nice although I was expecting bigger given the pictures on the website. I had to go to the Lanai pool early one morning as they were power washing the main pool deck and lounge chairs. Had lunch at the Harborside Cafe in between the two pools and looking out over the marina. Food was just OK. Played ping-pong just outside the fitness center but they really should invest a few $ in some new paddles.

I had major problems getting a few packages delivered to my room as I had to sign for them and they could not coordinate getting them up to my room. I waited for an hour before I called again and told them it wasn't fair that I had to be held hostage to my room to sign for packages when they couldn't tell me when they would be delivering them. They finally agreed to leave them at the bellstand but not without a little persuasion on my part.

For some strange reason, I was not charged at all for the many LD telephone calls I made from my room. I was pleasantly surprised to not see those charges on my final bill and now wonder if my total charge on my corp. Amex will be higher than what it indicated on my folio at checkout.

The hotel is on the outskirts of the downtown area, but not far at all. Even at rush hour it was only 15 minutes to get to the Gaslamp Quarter. It did get a little crazy (traffic-wise) the night I drove down to the Gaslamp Quarter when the Padres were playing the Dodgers as the park is right at the foot of Fifth Street where the Gaslamp Quarter begins.

I had some outstanding dinners at Blue Point Coastal Cuisine (Seafood located in the heart of the Gaslamp Quarter), Lou & Mickeys (steak and seafood located near Petco Park), and McCormick & Schmicks (Seafood located right next to Petco Park). For entertainment I went to the new Shout House, a dueling Piano Bar on Fourth Street in the GL Quarter (next to Hooters) and had a GREAT time. I highly recommend Shout House for an evening of sing-alongs to great songs (sounds corny but it's not - trust me) and some irrerevant fun. Drinks are way watered down though! Also went to Petco Park after McCormick & Schmicks to see the Padres beat the Dodgers 2-1. Nice park but nowhere near as good as Citizen's Bank Park in Phila.

All in all, I thought my stay at the Sheraton was a good one - not outstanding though. The next time I visit SD, I'll make it a point to try to stay in the GasLamp Quarter so I don't have to drive back and forth all the time.

Snowcap

BigBopper

I spent 2 nights there last summer. On arrival, I was told I was the "guest of the Day". I'm assuming it was the PLT upgrade. They gave me a little gold Sheraton pin (same one the front desk wears), reserved self parking space right next to the front door and an upgrade to the governor's suite (I guess Arnold was out of town that week lol). It was one of the nicest upgrades I've ever gotten.

About 15 minutes after we got into the room, there was a knock at the door. The manager had sent up some chocolates, fruit, cookies and water to welcome us. The experience was so nice I'll never stay there again so I'm not disappointed.

Steffo

We just spent 4 nights there over 4th of July. We had booked 3 nights and then decided to extend an extra day because we were treated so well. We were upgraded at check in to a 3 bay executive suite in the East Tower, 8th floor. I asked about a 12th floor suite, but was informed they were smaller, 2.5 bays instead of 3. Actually, we had originally been booked on the 9th floor, but for some reason the room was not clean (odd since we checked in at 10 PM!). They caught it before we went up and very quickly and graciously reassigned us.

The suite was spacious with a dining room with a full sized dining table and chairs, entertainment center with TV and a murphy bed, and a full bath with shower; adjoining living room with sofa bed and chairs, TV and wet bar; and then a nice master bedroom with a king and a nice full bath (no jacuzzi tub or anything exceptional there though). There were 3 private balconies overlooking pool and marina.

The hotel offered us numerous platinum amenities, including free self parking, free phone calls, free continental breakfast in the club lounge each day, a free bottle of water each day, etc. We just booked a standard room and I feel we got TREMENDOUS value with all these perks. I ABSOLUTELY plan to return to this hotel with my family again soon. We were there over July 4th, the hotel was very full and busy with both a large convention and holiday/vacation travellers. We got terrific service. The concierge, housekeeping, desk and bell staff impressed us in every interaction we had with them. The suite was really nice, and while there were some stains on the carpet and other minor imperfections, I felt absolutely comfortable and happy there.

The only areas I really felt could use improvement were:
1) club lounge was just TOO crowded at breakfast. Wait time to get food was longer than I have ever experienced, and they were out of things like bagels well before the service ended. Even coffee was in short supply one day (though I will say the coffee served was probably the best I have had in a club lounge). I don't know if it was so full because they have tons of club level rooms or if people who should not have been using it were in there, or what. It seemed to work on honor system, with no key required to access the floor and no sign in. I did not feel like complaining, since we were given access as a platinum perk and had not paid for a club level room. But I did feel uncomfortable in the crowded, loud and chaotic environment. I don't really care about breakfast and would have just gotten coffee in the nice cafe downstairs (which looked almost deserted) but with my wife and kids all being breakfast eaters, the club lounge offered significant savings so we braved it.

2) pool area was not very well kept. It was only on the third day I actually found where to get a CLEAN pool towel (in the gym, which is outside the pool area). I found hundreds of wet ones piled everywhere and of course that detracts from the experience. Great hot tub. Surprising there is only one, but it's huge and has jets that are powerful enough to launch you across the tub.

I offer these comments really as constructive criticism. Overall, I think this property offers a very good value, particularly for platinums.

BTW, we live in the mountains and like it COOL. We were worried about all the complaints we had read here about the poor air conditioning at this hotel. We had no problem. We closed the drapes before we went out each day (our room was in full sun in the afternoon). Housekeeping would come in and partially re-open them, but even so the temperature was only a little warmer than we liked (with AC set to 65 all the time). To cool it off, we just opened one door to the balcony and propped the parlor room door to the hall open, and the sea breeze roared through and cooled the suite down immediately. Since it was blazing hot and sunny the whole time we were there, I'd think that the AC issue is fixed, at least for these rooms. We did not need to request the "VIP" fix.

I give the Sheraton San Diego Marina two thumbs up. We'll be back!