Essen, Germany, Sheraton Hotel [Master Thread]
 

Essen Sheraton Hotel

+ Platinum welcome gift: a variety of chocolates
+ very nice room, non-smoking floor
+ turndown service
+ firm, comfortable bed
+ big safe
+ excellent breakfast buffet: high quality of the food, many different fruit juices, open tea, ...
+ walking distance from main station (5-10min)
- light in the room and bathroom could be brighter

That's what I booked
1 Queen
Executive Floor, In Rm Safe, Desk/Dataport/Voicemail, Trouser Press In Room, Bathrobe, New Renovated Rooms Upper Floors Non Smoking, Park Vw On Req . Rob And Spec. Bthrm Amen. W/Heat Lamp & Radio

That's what I got
1 Queen
Executive Floor, In Rm Safe, Desk/Dataport/Voicemail, Trouser Press In Room, Bathrobe, New Renovated Rooms Upper Floors Non Smoking, Park Vw On Req . Rob And Spec. Bthrm Amen. W/Heat Lamp & Radio

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ideasmilie.gif Firstly I was surprised to find a Starwood property in Essen and it turned out to be a very pleasant choice. IMO, it's a really nice hotel: the architecture and the bathroom amenities remind me of the Sheraton Brussels Hotel and Towers.
The equipment in the room was quite good (Smart rooms that are advertised in a folder [+picture] have an additional large business chair and printer/fax/copier in the room).
I also liked that the folders/magazines about Starwood were up-to date (regularly hotels still have "old" folders about promotions/great weekend rates/... from last year lying on the desk. It seams that tzhe hotels want to use the customer to clean up the room. But that's not a Starwood-specific problem.)

Sheraton Essen
 

Hi guys,

as I am planning to be a week in Essen (Germany), any information about the Sheraton Essen?

E.g. Upgrades as Plat, ...

THX!

I have been staying there for much of the last two months. The food is average and not a very big selection from the hotel restaurant. Rooms are nice. As a platinum, I was upgraded 1 time out of the 8 or so stays and that upgrade was just to the preferred floor - not a suite. I noticed very little difference between the preferred floor rooms and regular rooms but the regular rooms were nice size.

The place is very clean, people are friendly and I would stay there again.

If you stay on a Sunday, the Jazz Brunch is quite good. Beside that, there is absolutely no need to use the hotel restaurants, plenty of eateries close by.

Location is good - walking distance (5 Minutes) to central station (from there very frequent fast trains to Cologne, Duesseldorf, Frankfurt Hamburg and Berlin), trains to Frankfurt, Cologne and Duessedorf Airport and a huge network of regional connections.

10 Minutes to the town centre and and subway station directly in front of the hotel. The hotel is by far upscale compared to many US Sheratons.

Have a great stay. My second home is close by, so if you need and more information, pls. feel free to PM me.

Last stay there was back in June:

- upgrade to large suite as Plat (1 night stay only - always easier to get upgrades like that)
- no complaints whatsoever : room was very nice, nice staff (didn't try restaurant in hotel) ... not "the" most modern hotel however, a bit classical interior
- location is good for Essen (refer to prior post) - even if it's indeed 5min minimum walk to anything of real interest, be it restaurants or things to see
- 500 bonus points never posted ... just checked now, not that big a deal

=> solid hotel, no complaints, at the same time not a "destination in itself" (Cologne LM Dom hotel would be nicer as a base for visiting the Ruhr area as a tourist)

I'm confused, the loung threat says there is no lounge in Essen, but You can book club floor rooms. Did they get a lounge latetly ? :confused:
How is it ? Any experience

There's a club lounge
http://www.starwoodhotels.com//pub/m...l.34636_md.jpg

Ok, I found it :-). There is lounge it is small. Free drinks (soft, wine, beer) snacks. 2 computers. Closes on Sundays from 18:00, but the opened it for me which was nice :-)
Breakfast choice is small but OK

Just curious if anyone knows how long a train ride this would be from Munich? Is it better to fly from Munich to Dusseldorf and take a train from the airport?

Also if anyone is familar with the area do you know if the arena where the Essen Moskitos play hockey is near a train station or the Sheraton?

I'm going to watch a friend play hockey there next week and they have an away game in Essen. I'm trying to see if its worth the trip up from Munich.

I do not have flown this or stayed there but let me add this to help you out:

The german rail system is always available for check under http://bahn.de and you do have an english interface there as well. There are different train typs, you want to look for ICE (the fastest)

When people compare flight to train they often compare the complete time in train with just the flight time, which of course is not fair.


For Dus-Essen you have to train travel, to Muc airport you have to and you have to wait before.

Düsseldorf Essen should be a direct train available (btw the one you would take from Muc as well ;)

It seems the train is 5:32 train station to train station, while I see at least three hours with the flight: getting to muc, waiting an hour before, flying and hour and probably for getting from dus to essen.

During that time you can sit somewhere and do biz on the train especially if you reserve a seat with power plug.

The fully flexible ticket for second class ice costs 115 (and will not rise) on this though no miles nor lounge for you. ;) You can board any train with this although you will loose your seat reservation. Online checking for seat reservation is final at booking. You can buy and print your own boarding pass up to an hour before train drive - and maybe even more if you stretch it.. :D

Well, lets calculate city center Munich to city center Essen:

Flight: Take the sububan train from Munich central to the airport, leaving at 7:25, arriving at MUC at 8:06. Take LH 828 at 8:55, arrive at Duesseldorf 10:10. Transfer from the terminal to the rail station by Skytrain (without luggage) about 20 minutes after arrival. Take the suburban train to Essen at 10.29, arrive Essen Central at 10:51.

Train: Take the ICE (High Speed train) from Munich central to Essen central at 7:26, arrive Essen at 12:58.

So flying buys you two hours if everything works perfectly. With plenty of luggage and/or a a family I would think about taking the train.

Any recent stays here? Am looking at staying here in the future

It should be noted that the hotel is directly connected to the Philharmonie (the concert hall), and is just across the park from the Aalto Musiktheater (the opera house). The musical standards in Essen are very high (named Opera House of the Year 2008 by Opernwelt Magazine, and Orchestra of the Year 2008); if time permits, attending a performance would IMHO be quite rewarding.

I have been there last week. The rooms are ok. Nothing special. I room on the 3rd floor was a little noisy. You can hear the shower of the neighbour room. I fond the prices at the bar much too expensive. For a beer 6,70 €. I went out to a nice Restaurant at the corner and had 2 beer for 5,40 €!

Sorry guys but too much is too much:mad:

Did some stays at the Sheraton Essen recently...

+ nice club lounge offering quality food, limited opening hours on weekends, officially only until 6 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday, but not really enforced.

+ club rooms are quite nice and come with a sofa and seating area, would count as junior suites at some other SPG hotels.

+ suites are spacious, quality furniture, but very 'altbacken' & conservative. 42 inch LCD in living room, probably the classic example of a one bedroom suite, around 50 -60 sqm.

+ Wellness area is outstanding. Bio-sauna, Finnish sauna and a steam room with temperatures ranging from 45 to 95 degrees. Gym a little small.

+ Lots of free parking for short overnight stays around the hotel, 7-10 minutes by foot to the main station.



- prices in the bar & restaurant very ambitious ( as mentioned before by other posters ) Euro 18,50 for a summer salad with chicken in Essen is probably downright ridiculous, at least in this part of town.
- standard Sheraton toiletries offered in suites
- staff is not really going the extra mile, very friendly throughout the hotel, but expect to ask for your suite upgrade, otherwise you will be given a "nice room" on the club floor.
- even on slow weekends, hardly any rate below Euro 105, Euro 99 seems to be the absolute minimum rate during really slow weekends.

Clearly superior to the Sheraton Duesseldorf and also on average better than the Le Meridien Domhotel Cologne.