spellbound2 writes: Well, after spending 3 wonderful days and 2 glorious nights at the Sheraton San Diego Marina property...I can safely say you're in for a nice experience.

Or perhaps not.

This one is...well...complex, to say the least. This hotel is like the United Airlines of hotels. You got your United Express, TED, United Domestic, United p.s., United International. What I mean by that is at this hotel your stay can vary greatly from soup to nuts. At this hotel you could get a great room at a great location/view...or you may not. This is one of those hotels where if you want to guarantee you have a great room and stay, a little advance homework is in order. If you don't, you could still be lucky and get something very nice without saying a word.

Or perhaps not.

Let's Get Physical - The Lay Of The Land

Helps to have an idea of the general layout of this complex and spread out complex before arrival. In previous posts you may have read about the East and West towers. It can be a bit more complex than that however as within the "East Tower" there is also a tower called the "North Tower." And for all I know there could be a South Tower as well. Perhaps this should have been a Four Points? There is also a complex of 3 story motel type wings know as the Lanai Buildings. But despite these sub-divisions, there are really only 2 tower complexes at this hotel that most guests will deal with, each with their own check-in separate lobbies, although they are networked so you could check-in at either tower even if you weren't staying in that tower: The East and The West towers.

East Tower: I'm gonna call this the East Main Tower because this is the huge main one. Three buildings/towers interconnected into one. This is the one with huge lobby and most of the restaurants and main bar. It's the one with "The fish tank." And the main pool and spa. It easily has 3 times the number of rooms as the West Tower.

West Tower: This would be the second smaller tower that is completely separate from the East Main Tower. It probably was a separate hotel at one time. It's about a 5 minute walk down the Marina path to this tower.

Which Tower Do I Want?

Most of the posts in this thread indicate that the East Main Tower is the place you want to be. But I found this may not be the case depending on why you're staying here and what you want out of your stay. What type and price of room you reserved or if you have an upgrade opportunity because of status also plays a part. Both towers have possible advantages and disadvantages to them.

There can be no question that the East Main Tower is "where the action is." It has several restaurants, a large sports bar, the Club Lounge where breakfast is served if you've reserved a Club room or are a Platinum. It has the main heated pool, the fitness club and spa, and it also has free Wi-Fi in the lobby and a printme.com printer at the front counter for free wireless printing from your laptop. But if you're going to be in a standard sized room not on the Club Floor, most of them are a bit older in design. And they are rather small. Sweet Sleepers are in, but generally just a plain old room. The Jr. Suites and full Suites seem to be much nicer and newly decorated. No problem in this tower if you get one of those. But this tower is noisy and busy. This is definitely a huge convention hotel and this tower is where most of the activity is. It can get downright chaotic at times here.

Now the West Tower...well standard type rooms are where this tower really shines. The rooms are 33% larger in the West Tower. And their decor is all new. Wallpaper, carpets, furniture, bed...the works. They are almost Jr. Suites in that they have a sofa sitting area in addition to the bed. The 12th floor contains some really nice rooms plussed up a bit and it also has most of the Suites on it, that have private patios. The "feel" of this tower is completely different than at the East Main Tower. It's much quieter. Easier valet and self parking. The public spaces are done in a muted post-modern sandy beige nautical theme. Feels a little "classier" than the other tower's almost New York pace. This tower has it's own check-in lobby, Mediterranean restaurant, and bar. It has it's own pool, but it's smaller and it's not heated. Also between Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner when the restaurant is closed, you have to walk to the East Main Tower for food or drink (except Room Service, of course). And no Wi-Fi in this lobby. It is a short and rather pleasant 5 minute walk over to the East Main Tower however. But some folks may not like the isolation of this tower. Others may absolutely love it's quiet and ease of access and much larger standard room size.

So I think it depends on what you want and like. If you can get a Jr. Suite or Suite upgrade in the East Main Tower, you'll like it. If you don't, you might find yourself wishing for a standard room over in the West Tower.

I didn't get the chance to photograph a standard room in the East Main Tower, but I did visit one. Here are some photos of the 2 types of rooms I stayed in just recently:

West Tower 11th Floor Standard Room, Harbor View

East Main Tower 9th Floor Jr. Suite, Marina View

The 3 story Lanai Buildings...I have no idea what quality of rooms they contain. I've walked through the area, but I can't report on any advantage or disadvantage to rooms or Suites there. They most certainly would be quieter and they have their own quiet pool, but views from many rooms here may not be too desirable. Here's a aerial shot to give you an idea:

Lanai Buildings Aerial View

Let's Get Animal - The Lay Of My Stay

How did I learn about all of the above? The hard way, my friends. The hard way.

Little getaway weekend. Arrived at the East Main Tower and the car valets have cheat sheets where they check your name on a list and tell which tower to go to check in at. Mine said I was in the West Tower but since I read here on FlyerTalk that the East Main Tower was more desirable, I told the valet I was going in to request a switch.

The place was packed with several huge conventions. I got to the Front Desk Clerk and asked if they might be able to move me to this East Main Tower. Nope...sold out for the next 3 days. How about a Suite upgrade? Nope...sold out for the next 3 days. Okay...I check in there since I'm allowed to and then head off to my pre-assigned room in the West Tower. Nice lobby. Even more impressed with the room on the 11th floor. Well...except for one thing. The heat. The sun is hitting the windows and the air conditioning is pumping nothing but luke-cold air. As I mentioned in my previous post in this thread...all was resolved to my satisfaction.

Or so I thought. Let me amend that part of the story based on what happened since then:

About 2am the darn things starts making noise. Loud noises. Gurgle. Pop. Bing. And I can't get it to stop. Even turning the darn thing totally off doesn't stop whatever air bubbles are in the line causing this Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang. I'm beginning to think that the Ghost of bigjim is inhabiting my AC unit! It's 2am. I'm tired. I don't want to screw with waiting for Maintenance and getting dressed and watching them poke around, so I just shove cotton in my ears and try to get back to sleep. I don't do a very good job of it.

It's morning. Now I'm a little steamed. I walk over to the East Main Tower to have my free breakfast in the Club Lounge (no free breakfast in the West Wing where I'm staying) and on the way I stop at the Front Desk to ask them to get Maintenance back up to deal with it again. Then I depart the hotel and return sometime around 2pm. To a boiling hot room.

Apparently in my room, it's either noisy bang-bang Air Conditioning, or quiet No Air Conditioning.

Walk back to the East Main Tower to complain as this time I want to talk to a Manager. Manager pops out and greets me and has apparently already looked at my dossier as she's aware of my problems with the AC. I hardly get anything out of my mouth before she offers to move me to a room in the East Main Tower. I told her I was told they had no rooms here for 3 days. What? Who told you that? Oh, brother. I say I rather like the larger rooms in the West Tower, could she move me to a new one there? She'd be happy to, but the room she was going to offer me in the East Main Tower is a Jr. Suite! Well, so much for no rooms or Suites being available for 3 days. She's very apologetic about the whole mess with the AC and with the misinformation I was given about changing rooms and upgrades at check in, and she offers me 5,000 Sheraton Promise Points for the hassle. I accept them and Thank her for the move. Yeech...I've spent a total collective time of about 4 hours of my weekend (and a disturbed night) dealing with all this. Oh well...

Anyway, the new Jr. Suite is just great. Great room, new furnishings and decor, great view, and the AC quietly belches out cold and hot air at my every whim! And being in the East Main Building now...right downstairs to free Wi-Fi, main pool and all the goodies. Very "busy" over here though.

So needless to say, I have mixed general feelings about my stay here. I can see that when things go right and in your favor it could be a great stay. But if not...it can be a real bow-wowser! And there are so many towers and views and room types here. My advise would be to decide what you want and where you want to stay here, and try to get it all before you arrive or get your changes in at check-in if at all possible.

Hope this little report helps some of you in the future here. It's a nice place overall, IMHO.

By the way, there's a GREAT little independently owned Deli half way between the 2 towers on the marina, called Papanani's Deli. And on weekend afternoons they BBQ burgers, sausage, chicken and such outside in a very nice patio setting. Great food! Great surroundings! Man it's gorgeous down here!