(While I'm definitely biased toward the negative now, as a result of 3 bad hotel stays in 3 days, I'm trying to be as objective as possible.)

I'm at the Sheraton Jumeirah Beach now (in Dubai). It's in the middle of a construction zone; this isn't really the hotel's fault, but it does lower the quality of staying here.

I got a "landview" room; apparently Gold means "obviously you stay a small number of times per year; we'd prefer to give better rooms to non-SPG (who MIGHT stay often, or might be new customers) or SPG Plat". ("520", although I didn't get a map to see what the various rooms are like. It's next to the elevators, so it gets plenty of noise)

The beach is interesting -- down the beach (in front of the Ritz, etc.), it's quite nice, but here, there are vehicles parked on the beach, and trash. Not a whole lot of people. Maybe it's 1km down the beach to the nicer areas. Part of the problem is this is the last property on the beach before a massive construction zone.

The "business center" is a closet off the lobby with 2 PCs. It DOES have printers, and ethernet. It does close at 1800, which is amusing even though it's unattended. It has the standard Emirates filtered network (which I can punch through with SSH). Starwood UAE is bad, but Etisalat is a telco monopoly, and truly horrible. The business center is apparently also where parents park their kids for noisy babysitting.

I emailed Starwood and Sheraton Middle East 3 days ago with no response.

(I also tried room service at the Four Points last night, and have been sick all day from the undercooked mezzeh...mmm, red ground beef, always good)

I am cancelling my future Starwood reservations and switching to Jumeirah International in UAE; Pen/MO and local hotels in SE Asia, and something TBD in the US and Europe. I will still stay at the Sheraton Kuwait (and at Sheratons in Iraq), SGS BKK, but those are based on the individual hotel merits, and I'd continue with them if/when they left Starwood.

I guess I'd still stay in a Starwood Sheraton Four Points for $50/night in the US, but it's pretty hard to have a bad hotel at $50/night in the US, due to the competitive marketplace.

If I ever have to stay in a Sheraton Middle East property again, I'll bring my manpack satellite gear and a tent and set up outside.

I have no idea why a brand which does so well in some countries (Kuwait, US, Thailand, etc.) allows some areas to do so poorly. It would be better if the properties in the UAE were not part of Starwood at all.