Just finished a stay at the Sheraton Perth...

As pervious posters have said, the lobby and main areas are nice, however I found the room to be incredibly disappointing. So much so, I cut short what was meant to be a 3-night stay, and am now investigating other options.

First drama: I booked the Sheraton Perth through the Singapore SPG call centre about 2 weeks ago. Everything seemed hunky dory, however a quick check of spg.com after the reservation was made, and I found a cheaper rate had become available for the same room type. So, I cancelled the first reservation and made a new one. So far, so good!

Anyway, fast forward to yesterday. Long day at work, a couple of bevvies in the Qantas Club, and a hop over to the other side of Aus. Looking forward to a relaxing weekend, SPG style! Have I mentioned I love Starwood??

11pm Check-In - The lady at the front desk said she had no reservation for me, and all she could see is that the original one I had, had been cancelled.

Fortunately, I was able to whip out my booking confirmation, and after checking with the Duty Manager, she reinstated the first booking at the original rate. She wasn't apologetic, but I was just happy they had a room for me, as the hotel is 100% over the long weekend. Whatever happened to the second reservation, I don't know.
I spoke to the Platinum Concierge (Ireland call centre) after I got into the room, and she said everything looked fine from her end, and she couldn't understand why the hotel couldn't see this 2nd reservation in their system. She has filed this with Corporate Customer Service, and someone will get back to me. Stay Tuned!

Meanwhile, now to the room. Well - it's definitely an old hotel. You can tell renovations have been done, however the rooms are tiny, there are issues with the Hot & Cold water pressure, wallpaper is peeling in parts, and I don't think this hotel has ever seen a Sweet Sleeper. The corridors have no air-conditioning therefore smell musty during the Perth Heatwave (40C degrees), and the place has a very early 90s feel to it. This was on a very high SPG Preferred Floor.

On the upside, the bed was comfortable though and platinum benefits were offered, bar the suite but that is understandable at 100% occupancy. I think though, all in all, I'm a bit spoilt coming from Sydney which has 3 great Starwood hotels and travelling through Asia and Europe where I have stayed in some magnificent SPG properties.

All in all, I think this has been the most disappointing Starwood experience to date. The staff were delightful though and exceptionally friendly, and best of all didn't penalise me for leaving 2 days early. After all, it's not their fault this property is run-down.

Lessons learnt from this - always take a copy of your booking confirmation; and don't always believe "recently renovated" means recently. From a visit to this property, this is obviously not the case.

If I was in Perth on business next, I would give this another shot to rack up a few Starpoints, especially if I was not going to spend time in the room anyway, but definantely wouldn't spend a long weekend/holiday here.