Originally Posted by
Cathay Boy
Isn't Sheraton supposed to be "grand" in the first place? This new tier just means the new Sheraton Grand(e) will be the old Sheraton, and the old Sheraton will be dumbed-down a notch above Four Points but below what Sheraton used to be. I understand marketing and if they wanted to renamed all their Sheratons to Sheraton Grand that would be better, but instead, now we have another tier.... so...
Adding more tiers simply pushes others down a notch. I rather starwoods make the properties uphold the standards rather than creating more tiers to cover up the fact that many properties are falling behind in standards (like most Sheratons in the USA)
Sheratons overseas are, indeed, usually "grand", but in the US they are often not nearly as fancy. A lot of chains are like this. I remember being shocked by the first few nice Holiday Inns and Best Westerns I saw outside the US, since they're both budget brands here.
Sheraton in the US has always been a mid-range brand, so the new branding makes sense here to create a "fancy" level of Sheraton, like JW Marriott.