Nanook

We had a four-day stay here from Dec. 4-8, 2011. We upgraded to the Club Level for an extra 1500 points per day, and we were using points and cash for the stay. We felt it was worth the extra.

The staff were great...at the front desk, in the lounge,housekeeping, and in the restaurant on the top floor. I had received an email before we left the States saying that if I made an advance reservation at the restaurant, we would receive 20% off the bill. We made the advance reservation via email, and ate there on the day we arrived. The food was excellent, albeit a tad salty. We later were told by a Portuguesa that many visitors think the food is too salty, but that's just the way they like it. Forgot to ask about the 20% discount, but it showed up on our final bill.

There is a metro station just around the corner and it cost us about 3.5 euros together to get to near Rossio. The taxi is only slightly more that this, so we ended up using taxis. I felt they were very reasonable. Also, it's only about a 10-12 minute walk to El Corte Ingles, where you can buy some provisions in the grocery store on the lower level. We decided to stay in on the final night (as there was a US football game on ESPN) and bought some nice sandwiches and beer to enjoy in our room.

I love the location and the view from this hilltop location. I would definitely stay there again.

By the way, we took a local tour with WeHateTourismTours.com and had a fabulous trip to Sintra, Cascais, and Cabo da Roca (the westernmost point of land on the European Continent), as well as a little picnic which the driver provided. Young, funny, talented drivers...the van holds 6 extra people...that gave us a history lesson as well as a very fun time.

JFKSFOLAX_friend

Been a while since the last review of this property. Any updated thoughts? How is this hotel handling the breakfast amenity, etc.? Any other thoughts? Thx.

JFKSFOLAX_friend

I assume this is no longer the case...Platinums only get free breakfast foodstuffs in the lounge, right?

freeloader

The lounge breakfast is pretty solid, good spread, a few hot dishes. If that's all that's offered, it's not bad

JFKSFOLAX_friend

Currently at the property. Despite the generous Platinum benefits and wonderful staff, I can't possibly recommend this hotel.

Platinum guest and was allowed to check-in early/assigned a "Club" Room on the 22nd floor (25 total floors and the actual club is on the 24th floor). The room is small and just awfully laid out. Upon entry, there is (way too much) closet/storage space on the left and the bathroom on the right. The bathroom (shower, sink and toilet) take up more than 50% of the room. In the center of the room is the shower which is in glass (yes, the shower is in the center of the room in glass).

Continuing down the short hallway past the storage/bathroom is the queen size bed on the right and dresser drawer on the left (yes, even more storage!!). Unless you are staying for a month, there i just way too much storage (i.e., wasted space). Closets, drawers and the bathroom dominate the room. Above the dresser is the small'ish flat panel TV. Between the bed and the glassed shower is a very small aisle to squeeze by.

Continuing in the room after the dresser and bed is a desk (yet more furniture) and one chair. If I had to estimate, I would say the bathroom is 60% of the room, the bed/dresser 25% and the desk/chair 15% (estimates).

Since the bathroom is all glass, it is impossible to go to the bathroom at night without disturbing the other party in the room. There isn´t a night light in the bathroom, so it is either pitch dark or bright. Try navigating a new room in the pitch dark to find the toilet without waking someone.

The other reason why it is difficult to do anything without waking your roommate is the nonsensical layout of the light switches. It's almost like the property used a random number generator to determine light switch placement. Touch one switch: get the entry hall lights. But, the adjacent switch is for the lights near the windows on the other side of the room. The next adjacent switch will be for the blinds. Good luck figuring out the bathroom light switch at 3 AM in a strange room. Fun times....

On the bright side, Platinum benefits are generous. I was allowed to check in early. Platinums are given the 500 point amenity plus breakfast eiher in the club or downstairs restaurant (buffet). There was also a small bottle of port in the room which I did not drink or take with me.

Another downside was a potential dropped ball. When I checked in I inquired about a junior suite or suite upgrade. The only juniors available were smoking. I told the front desk I would be willing to move if a non-smoking room opened up. No one from the property reached out to me so not sure if that meant that a room didn´t open up or they forgot.

The gym was also a negative. Clearly, like the rooms, the property was more concerned with style over function. The property has 25 floors and the gym had a grand total of one adjustable bench in front of a rack of dumbells. There were also cardio and weight lifting machines...but, in such a large space and large property, it is amazing there is only one bench. Very cool looking gym and large footprint, but not well thought out in terms of equipment. The space is large enough for a much more robust selection of equipment.

Despite being the only game in town for SPG members, I would not stay here again. Will write more later...

acker

I also recently stayed at this property and reluctantly have to say I won't stay there again either.
We were able to check in at 10am - we had gotten off a cruise ship at 9am and they were very accommodating. I used points+cash, then upgraded to the club level for 1500 points.
The staff couldn't be nicer but the room just wasn't working for us - the room was beyond warm, no matter what we did. We even turned off the heating system, with no luck. I never did figure out the lighting, and it took a while to figure out that the shade control was by the bedside. Lack of outlets were an issue - no business hotel should have a lack of electrical outlets. I unplugged the bedside light to plug in my computer. We wound up using the wired internet in the room as I couldn't pull a strong enough signal with their wireless. I hate to complain because the staff is top notch and will bend over backwards for you. They clearly spent a lot of money on the redo, with leather/marble/glass/lighting. It reminded me of a "W" hotel - form over function. I'm a function type of person-I don't care how cool it looks if it doesn't work.
We were also on the 22nd floor, had club access, but ate breakfast in the lobby restaurant - a very very good buffet. The food at happy hour was peanuts, chips, two kinds of fried hors d'oeuvres -I tried a bite and think they were meat but not sure; I didn't care for them. Beer, wine, and some hard liquor was available. We stayed for just a few minutes - I always like checking out how a hotel handles their lounge.
The bathroom layout is interesting to say the least...it has the largest bathtub I've seen in ages. The hardware in the shower/tub is not intuitive.
We also didn't try the bottle of port in the room but that was a nice touch.
The 25th (top) floor has a restaurant and bar. We had drinks there after getting back from dinner, it draws a younger crowd but wasn't too busy. As SPG gold we had were given free Wi-fi for 2 devices.
I'm back in Lisbon soon but doubt very much I'd stay here again.
Lisbon is a very cool city. Looking forward to returning to it.

freeloader

Interestingly, i was told that it was redesigned to be a W, thus the very W feel to the rooms and hallways. rumor was that they didn't want europe's first W to be in portugal, so they kept it a sheraton and waited for the Wbarcelona to open

JFKSFOLAX_friend

Completely agree. It's a shame.

Same here. The room was way too warm regardless what we did. When you step out in the hallway, it was 10 degrees cooler. And, it wasn't particularly warm outside on the days we stayed (i.e., it wasn't summer).

Ditto. We had to unplug both of our bedside lights. This is a newly renovated hotel and it had a woeful number of useable plugs.

We thought the wireless was fine. Our room was right off the elevator.

Completely agree.

Completely agree. The food at the happy hour was pretty gross but I don't count this against the hotel since it is voluntary. They aren't required to have any lounge. The lounge is prime real estate...on the 24th floor with a good view.

Not intuitive in the least.

Sadly I agree.

susiesan

I just booked this hotel for 3 nights post cruise Nov. 4-7. The first night Nov. 4 is the 40eu special, the other 2 nights are cash plus points. I'd like to upgrade to club level for all 3 nights. Will I be able to use the 1500 SPG points for club level for the 1 night at the special rate? I don't want to have to change rooms after one night but want a club room for all 3 nights. I am SPG Gold. I don't know what extras that will get me.

3544quebec

I'd forgotten about that but on my stay a year back I had to call someone up to show me how to turn the water on or something equally mundane.

But I do have to say that I enjoyed my stay and can't remember anything that would make me avoid the hotel in the future.
The top floor restaurant was excellent

Shareholder

Sheraton's policy is to have Club lounges at all its properties, and most high end European and Asian hotels have club floors and lounges (unless they are boutique style hotels).

JFKSFOLAX_friend

Are the lounges required to provide foodstuffs?

jaejaez

I haven't seen it stated in black & white in any terms and conditions, but I believe it is commonly understood that hotel exec lounges will provide food items (canapes) along with evening drinks.

It's a bit like how it is expected for hotel breakfasts to also provide coffee and juice as a part of the package. I expect at least a few finger food items in all hotel lounges and have never had this expectation challeneged in my years of hotel stays.

JFKSFOLAX_friend

Gotcha. Thanks.

Well, if the property is required to provide victuals, I thought they were borderline inedible. The room is a nice place to chill but the evening rations were yuck.

Flyinace2000

Checked in at about 10:30pm. Was told no suites were available despite suites available on spg.com. Either way they said they could/would move us the day after if a a room opened up. We went up to the 25th floor. Our room was about 85 degrees! We buried the thermostat, but that didn't seem to do anything. We opened the window (which didn't do that much). The other thing was that the faucet wouldn't give us cold water either. It was either hot or "burn you skin off". I shot off an email to my ambassador and in the morning i was moved to a Junior Suite.