I stayed at the Sheraton Premiere last week on a $159 rate and found the entire experience lousy. I had requested a King non-smoking room (which my Amex Travel reservations printout showed, and my Starwood profile indicated), and the hotel claimed I'd asked for a smoking room, so I was given the choice of a King smoking room on the 1st floor (more of the basement, since it's below the lobby), or two double beds in a non-smoking room on the first floor. Not the Starwood Gold upgrade I was expecting. I needed high speed Internet, but was told only floors 10 and above have that, and I could use the high-speed wireless in the lobby. I tried that, but balked at the $10 charge for what would be less than an hour of Internet use (which the front desk refused to waive), as it was already 11:30 p.m. when I checked in.

The room itself was one of the smallest rooms on the first floor (according to the fire escape diagram) and wasn't particularly clean. There was glitter all over the floor in the room and the bathroom and the bathroom sink didn't appear to have been cleaned. The bed certainly didn't seem like a Sweet Sleeper Bed, and there was no newspaper in the morning.

The front desk manager did reluctantly give me access to the club lounge, but complained about it.

I called the Starwood Customer Service line to let them know about my experience, and they promised the hotel would get back to me within a week. A call yesterday revealed the file had been closed with notes the hotel had called me and offered 2,500 points, which I'd accepted. I told the CSR I'd received no such call, and my account showed no points posted by the hotel, so he reopened the file. We'll see what they do. I'd like a free night with Starwood (the equivalent of 7,000 points, apparently), but I’m not sure they’ll be willing to give that to me.

-Merrick