well, my weekend stay at the sheraton indianapolis city centre is probably the most bizarre stay i've had anywhere. not necessarily dire, but definitely bizarre.
i'll start by saying that all of the hotel employees i've encountered in person have been very kind and customer-service oriented.
that said, this place is a hole. i stayed here a few years ago as a radisson and it was nice. i was surprised to see that it was a cat 2...the rate was only $10 or $15 less than the westin. i don't stay at the westin anymore...the last time i was there, it was rundown and had terrible food. too many other decent places to stay in indy. but i thought i'd give this a shot.
starts out on a great note: i show up at 9am and just ask if i can leave bags, the guy tells me that i can check in (it's a business hotel, and i'm arriving on a friday...first night paid, second night points)...and that as an SPG gold he has a nice room for me. also gives a gift bag with...a small bag of pretzels, a hersey's bar and a small bottle of water. weird, but nice touch i guess.
get to room, it's a two-room suite...fake leather couch, tv, bar with sink, microwave and fridge in one room...sheraton bed, tv and sink in the other. normal sheraton bathroom connected. i had to go do business, so i dropped my stuff and left.
came back to use the in-room internet. modem sitting on desk with instructions. i follow instructions, no internet. i call service line. first question: are you airline crew? well, no. ok, then maybe it's because you didn't pay. what? it says that you pay when you log on. she tells me that i can either come to the front desk and pay or call tech support. i can tell it's a tech issue, so i call tech support.
tech support says that modem shouldn't be in the room, that there's an ethernet jack and to go look for it. so i hang up, go look for ethernet jack. two rooms, lots of furniture, so it takes a few minutes. no jack. call back tech support, get a different guy. he says "of course, the internet doesn't work in that room, it's on my list." probe a little further, and he says that he's been working with the hotel on several rooms where the internet doesn't work. of course, the front desk didn't tell me this when i checked in. did i mention that this is a business hotel? right smack in the middle of downtown indianapolis.
i call back to the service line. she is surprised. i tell her i want another room, one where the internet works. she says "ok, give me a minute and i'll call you right back." i waited 40 minutes and went down to the front desk and asked for the manager. i spoke with him -- very nice guy, very apologetic and no-nonsense. got me another 2-room suite, told me internet was comped, got me buffet breakfast comped for two days as well.
so that was weird, but problem resolved.
so go to new room. like the last one, it is pretty worn. scuffed, furniture chipped, stained...walls have stains...temporary paint jobs on parts of ceiling and walls. but still, it's clean, the bed is comfortable, bathroom is fine, etc.
everything works fine. on friday, i get two phone calls from different people making sure things are OK (i did not get the impression that they were following up on the problems earlier, although i did get a call from the shift manager along those lines) also had a voice mail message along the same lines.
awoken around 9am by the phone. another person wanting to make sure everything is OK. how odd. yes, things are fine.
get up, go to breakfast. it's terrible. i've seen better breakfast at holiday inn expresses, and every hotel i've ever visited in europe, including 30 euro/night family hotels. standard sausage/eggs/potatoes/unripe fruit. but i thought there was a bowl of real yogurt (withouth sugar or fruit), so i got some. turned out to be whipped cream. what? but it's free, so who's complaining. do not pay for breakfast here. don't even make your company pay for it. don't eat it. it's bad. i have another free coupon for the morning and i won't be using it.
because i was staying second night on points, i knew i had two reservations and i when i checked in, i was told that i'd have to get key card reswiped. not surprising, i've done same before. so after breakfast, i get it reswiped.
as i am coming down the hall, i see housekeeping knocking on the door 2 doors down...i tell her that i don't need service, i just want a couple more towels...she's very nice, brings me towels 3 minutes later.
about an hour later, quick knock, then housekeeping walks into my room while i'm sitting there. i tell her that i don't need service, i already told the other woman. she apologizes and leaves. i take a shower, when i get out, i'm drying off and another quick knock and walk in. i'm a little irritated now. granted, my problem for not putting on deadbolt, but COME ON.
then another hour later, i get a somewhat curt call from the front desk wanting to know when i'm leaving the room. sigh. explain, once again that i will not be leaving the room, that i am staying for the weekend.
so i leave...come back... go upstairs and ....key card doesn't work. go back to elevators to go down. wait literally more than 10 minutes for the elevator to finally come. go downstairs and ask my keycard to be reprogrammed for the second time today. ask if there's anything wrong with the elevator. no sir, nothing wrong.
again, nothing dire. and everyone is very pleasant. i think they are trying hard, but the bottom line is that this hotel does not have its .... together.
great SPG recognition. very friendly, personable, and conscientious staff. poor everything else. if you need a place to crash in downtown indy on a busy weekend and can use points, i guess it's fine. keep expectations low. i won't come back.