So I did my AAdvntage/Sheraton/MasterCard promotion stay at Sheraton Anaheim the other night. Upon checkin, they told me the regular king room I had reserved was not available, and that they were putting me in a bigger room with the same size bed. An upgrade without being an SPG member (let alone not being SPG elite)? Ok, no problem I thought.

So what did I get for this upgrade?

No alarm clock or clock radio. I can't remember ever being in a Hilton HHonors or Priority Club property without one, and I've even generally gotten them at "low lifes" like Comfort or even Red Roof! I want to wake to music, how do I set the phone to do that???

A two-level suite with no furniture of any kind except the bed upstairs. Ie, no chairs except downstairs. Nothing to put my suitcase on.

One of the remotes was flakey, and one of the two lamps next to the bed didn't work.

Getting out of the elevator, the sign pointed the wrong (long) way around to my room's Wing.

Such a spacious suite, yet no minifridge (that's $$ optional) or microwave (I don't even know if you can get that). And the rooms there are usually $129 and up (plus $10/parking, the only hotel I've yet stayed at in the Anaheim area that charges, in fact across the street there's a Holiday Inn that doesn't!).

An exit or two down the freeway (still in the general Anaheim area) there's a Hilton Garden Inn where I get a microwave, minifridge, and clock radio and nice enough bed for $76ish usually (if there's no convention). And plenty other choices. (If I want a two-room suite, I find the single-level approach of the typical Embassy Suites much more practical.)

I'm not sure why I'd want to stay at this kind of Sheraton again for the rates they charge, given that my hotel stays are always on my own dime. (And this was no an examplary introduction for me to the SPG chain overall.) Is this sub-par for SPG value, or is it just SPG fans are typically people for whom their company pays for the room and thus they don't care whether the room is a good value or not?

(Now, don't get me wrong, the hotel seemed really nice. There was an extra bottle of something besides shampoo, conditioner, lotion, etc. There were two small bottles of water, the kind I have to be elite at Hilton HHonors to get. There was a sewing kit without asking for it. And there was a closet with a bathroom scale inside. But I can ask for the sewing kit if I need it elsewhere, I can go to the fitness center if I need to use a bathroom scale, but I see no way around the clock radio without lugging my own, which I don't need to do if I stay at other chains. In other words, if they're going to charge me much more than the competition, I'd expect them to ADD to the amenities, not subtract from them or substitute less useful ones.)