Sheraton Los Angeles San Gabriel [Master Thread]
 

I Passed the construction site of this property yesterday (after having a delicious lunch at "No.1 Juicy Dumpling" https://www.yelp.com/biz/long-xing-ji-san-gabriel-2) And it is well on its way. Exciting to have a new SPG hotel so close to home!
http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/busi...briels-economy

We ll have side by side the existing hilton and new sheraton and hyatt place.. hgi is almost done a few blocks down the road too...

flydj451
 

About time, this is great news!

​​There is a Marriott being built on N Atlantic Blvd near AMC. Great to see more options for this area.

Apparently now Jan 8th opening

Property page is up too:

https://www.starwoodhotels.com/prefe...ropertyID=4378

Category 5 seems a bit steep for the area though.

Staying here next week. Will update.

Quick visit during the first week they were open
 

I did a quick visit this weekend, they had been open for 6 days:

They did a beautiful job with the design and construction; it seems very few expenses were spared. This did not feel like a Sheraton in terms of a design that I'd call post-post Modern Art Deco. I didn't get photos of the lobby, which had expansive seating areas and beautiful glass bulbs over the check-in area.

The hotel is also larger than I expected, perhaps I'm missing something with the area and how much it can support a 4 start hotel?

The Club Lounge is very nice, mixed seating of couches, tables/chairs as well as a conference room. Again, very nice decor, with a lot of attention to detail such as knick-knacks on shelves, decorative pillows, etc. It's open 24/7 for access to coffee, tea and soda/waters from the fridge. They have a multi-function coffee/espresso machine that already seems to be problematic. I really wish Sheraton would step up and partner with a reliable maker of these machines and push that to all of their lounges; the inconsistency is frustrating. I'd call the spread for breakfast a little above average compared to most domestic Sheratons, certinally enough for a breakfast but nothing to go out of your way for. There were of course opening pains: sugar was on order and the agent was a little overwhelmed with restocking the buffet vs cleaning up tables. At times the fridge was empty; no water or soda.

The agent who checked me in originally assigned me a Club Level room; despite what i'd guess was less than 20% occupancy at the hotel. She said many suites were still being set-up by housekeeping, but when I pointed out that spg.com was selling 4 kinds of suites (1 bedroom, Executive, Club Level, and Corner) she quickly found one. (the website says they have 17 suites). That suite (658) was an interior facing suite and I quickly found out that the bedroom's curtain covered a... wall. No window. The same agent was nice enough to have the bellman show me another option, a corner suite, that was lovely in terms of the view and layout. That corner suite had an unfinished soundsystem half out of the box, and a few other boxes in it, but I didn't mind.

What I did mind was that internet didn't let me log into the premium version, only the slower free version. They acknowledged there were issues with that when I checked out.

Self parking is $15, they also have a very large valet area. Currently, there is no gate for the garage nor have signs been put up that are supposed to say self-parking is on the P2 level. I do appreciate that the elevators for the parking garage are the same for the guest rooms.

The steakhouse is open, a Chinese restaurant and Starbucks will open soon.

This hotel will clearly have a large amount of events. Those spaces looked very nice, and access designed to minimize impeeding on regular guests (ie glass doors between the lobby and the foyer to the ballrooms).

Despite the expected opening glitches, I think this is a beautiful property and hope this is the new (much higher) standard for Sheraton going forward.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...3ecf452a01.jpg
This is not a window!

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only 1/2 full

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Language appropriate for the area

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Suite living room

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6th floor map

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Robot in the lobby to direct you/walk you to your destination within the hotel. I believe Marriott has something similar.

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nice amenities

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unfinished set-up

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This machine in the Club Lounge is already problematic


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nice tub in the suite

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Good review above. I’m here tonight but didn’t get an upgrade—- not sure they know enough to check SPG status, and they laughed off my question about whether any suites were available..... so no Platinum recognition. Simple King Room I got was quite nice, facing outward over Valley Blvd, the place is well-soundproofed. The pics above do fair justice to the build quality. Nice friendly staff. No bathtub here, shower only.

i saw the robot wandering. Quite a gimmick, enjoyed seeing it go back to its dock, like a Roomba. Big, open high-ceilinged lobby and grand car entrance. Good computer hardware to use in the lobby, both Windows and Apple. The club lounge on 6 is nice, good espresso machine, nicely furnished. Nice contemporary pool. At night, the lighting is very well done.

The neighborhood of course has zillions of asian restaurants, way too many to pick at random. Be sure to do a little research. About 12 minutes to Pasadena, for more upscale fare. I’d be more than interested to hear other FT’ers Asian recommendations nearby.

I got street parking— free/convenient since I have to be out first thing for work.

The room has has a nice marble bathroom; excellent water pressure in the shower. Large wardrobe with a small ironing board that was perfectly adequate. Decent lighting, bedside controls. A roomy feel, one couch, one chair, both new and tasteful, reasonably comfy for sitting watching the 48” flat panel tv, which has Hulu, Netflix, CNBC, CNN and dozens more, all apparently in HD (about time, Starwood). Finally, TV as good as we have at home. Excellent climate control, effective and quiet. Adequate desk, adequate power outlets, decent internet speed for my use.

The staff said the Starbucks will open in a few weeks, March or April. Szechuan restaurant will also open soon. The bar opens tomorrow evening. Wine list by the glass pretty decent, not particularly pricey (especially as a contrast to the Westin Pasadena, where I spend much more for a glass of Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc than it costs for a bottle at Costco. Last time I think the larger glass was $22+). Six beers on tap seemed pretty decent, reasonably priced.

This is probably NOT a good family destination because of the business nature of the hotel decor, the limited shopping and attractions nearby, and a spartan pool, but for a business traveler it seems like it will fit in for my regular round-robin of SPG LA destinations, especially if I want authentic Asian food for dinner. I’d say it fits in my picture like staying in Flushing, Queens, when on a trip to NYC. New hotel: reasonably priced, pleasant surroundings, good work, Starwood. .

I'm guessing the name "Sheraton" has more brand value in China than in the US at this point?

SPG 100. Upon check in, FD Agent thanked me for being platinum. FD Agent then gave me a normal non-club level room despite SPG app showing suite & club room availability.

When I stayed here on the opening week, I had to specifically request for an upgrade despite there were only 88 guests checked-in that night.... To be honest, the club room that I was offered wasn't that spectacular apart from the easier access to the club lounge.

I was there when I think they had even less than that and still had to push for an upgrade. Seems they are trying to use the Marriott technique of only 1 category upgrade.

Steakhouse is now open
 

The Eater preview looks good and has a full menu too: https://la.eater.com/2018/2/6/169765...ak-los-angeles

If I was blind, the toothbrush would be a sure sign the hotel is targeting a specific demographic.

I stayed here on business last week. The hotel feels like a Sheraton in Asia. Signage is in English and Chinese. It has a much higher-end feel than any other US Sheraton that I have been in. No upgrade as an SPG Plat 100 but they said the hotel was sold out for the first time since opening. Club lounge is nice and had a good variety in the evening. It was picked over (right before breakfast ended, so my fault) and crowded when I arrived but the staff got me a bottle of juice from the back before they started putting away breakfast. The bed was comfortable. There was a fire alarm going off at 3 AM one night but they made an announcement and shut it off quickly. I enjoyed my stay and would return. A Starbucks is opening in the lobby soon!

Any more recent experiences?

Looks like a good option in Pasadena area.

Had a four day stay recently and was very pleased with the hotel. Very modern, new....

Suite upgrade showed up on my SPG Ap within a few hours of checking in the night before. Was checked in by assistant manager at front desk who apologized it was a handicapped suite (not a problem). Suite was on 2nd floor facing interior court yard ... very quite. Large room sized, very high ceiling

Lounge is better than average Sheraton. Breakfast offering scrambled eggs, often sausages, and congee. Very attentive service from 3 to 4 people in morning and evening.

Nice food at steak house restaurant but a little expensive for the wife and I. They also supply bar food and had some great sandwiches etc at the bar.

My wife was a little disappointed in the area around the hotel, in that all local restaurants are Asian and she wanted to try Californian Cuisine. $15 Uber ride for that to happen.

Mediocre stay this week.

First problem was a problem with my room type - when I booked a AAA Club Lounge/Room rate (I'm only Gold), I called reservations and asked what the difference was between the rate I booked and a higher Club room rate, and was told none, that I would receive a club level room. When I arrived, I was told no, I only received club lounge access, and there were no available club rooms with king size beds. After I pointed out my confirmation that said room and lounge, and that I had been told differently by reservations, they comped me my parking, which was slightly less than the difference between my rate and the non-Club AAA rate. Suboptimal, but it was late.

Room itself was fairly nice from a hardware perspective, although the AC sockets are falling apart. Light sensor switches turn out lights way too quickly. The biggest problem I had with the room was that they were pumping so much fragrance into my room that I sneezed for an hour before some sudafed helped settle things down. It was after midnight, so I didn't ask for another room.

Triggering my pet peeve was that their miss on my wake-up call. I called directly down to the front desk for the request, but none was received. Fortunately I had set an alarm.

I had a business meeting nearby, but I wouldn't be racing to stay here again. Next time I'll try the Hilton.

Anyone with a recent stay experience(s) or a comparison between this and the Sheraton Pasadena?

Sheraton Pasadena is much older than the Sheraton San Gabriel. The rooms at the San Gabriel are much better. The SG lounge is much better than the Pasadena lounge.

Sheraton Pasadena has been recently renovated though (past 1-2 years). Are you referring to those rooms?

Recent Stay
 

Had a stay recently in mid May. Booked cheapest room (around $100 a night) and didn't get an upgrade as titanium; I think all the suites were blocked off because I couldn't see anything on the website either. Room was large enough for myself. The lounge was closed and there was no breakfast, so the property offered me one starbucks drink voucher for my 8 day stay in lieu of breakfast. :( I thought that was pretty bad because most other Hyatt properties I've stayed at recently had breakfast but Marriotts didn't. I expected them to at least to give me a starbucks breakfast voucher, or even just a drink voucher per day, but nope. Oh well, SGV had lots of great delicious Asian breakfast places. Around a 20-minute drive to and from LA (DTLA / Koreatown, around 25 - 30 mins to Hollywood), avoiding rush hour. Parking was around $15 a night with unlimited in and out. Will definitely stay here next time; close enough to LA (and surrounding areas) to explore but also a lot cheaper than other hotels in LA.

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Stayed over Thanksgiving.

Breakfast: No breakfast amenity beyond what's available at the club, despite breakfast service having opened up in the restaurant.
Club: The club was semi-operational. Pretty bare breakfast service (three hot plates served by staff), and no other service during the day.
Current Offerings: Letter covering current hotel offerings attached below.
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What's "Californian cuisine"? Asking as a Californian.

What's more surprising is that you made it 4 days without a car. Wow! LA without a car is horrible.

The breakfast offering is brand standard for Sheraton. The alternative is to cash in your amenity points for breakfast in the restaurant.

Take any dish, add avocado - bam! - Californian cuisine :D

Actually this is the area where one can easily get by without car assuming the goal is to explore local Asian stuff. Multiple plazas within a few blocks packed with restaurants shops salons etc - many as authentic as you will find outside asia... for any foodie interested in a variety of asian Chinese cuisines this is an awesome place to stay. Note this is Chinese (not Japanese Korean etc - there are other areas for those) and this is where many families from all over la area come for grocery shopping haircuts eating etc. Plenty of Asian students from usc ucla etc..
Basically as close to china as you will get during this pandemic.
(And try to find a single American brand car on a parking lot of 99 ranch mall - quite entertaining)

Take a drive through the Central Valley, note what is grown there, and then try to find it into incorporated into food items in a restaurant.

In speaking of agriculture, I found it interesting that in Miami I found many stores selling mangoes. But almost none of them were from the Homestead area, where they grow mangoes. They were all imported.
And in Texas it was hard to find Texas oranges (admittedly some oranges weren't labelled, so presumably they could be grown in Texas, but many that had an origin listed were from California).

so restaurant breakfast is much better than club one?