Sheraton Salt Lake City [Master Thread]
 

Hi, folks --

Does anyone have any info on the Sheraton Salt Lake City? It's the only Starwood property that comes up on spg.com, so just curious what people's impressions and experiences have been.

The ["Sheraton Salt Lake City" site:flyertalk.com] trick on Google only turned up a very old thread (2001) that was archived, so any "fresh" information would be very helpful.

Thanks!

I stay here quite a bit during ski season as it is convenient to both canyons and is cheap for both points and cash. (Book a triple A rate if you don't have your own corp rate).

The rooms are okay, but the club lounge actually offers a hot breakfast-type setup with some meats, eggs etc. That's a big plus for when you're about to go burn five thousand calories on the slopes. :D

There's not much in the area (I intensly dislike Salt Lake City, but that's not really the point). There's a brew-pub nearby that serves good brewski and decent pizza, as well as a P.F. Chang's. I tried the hotel's restaurant once. Won't be eating there again.

The staff is pleasant, the rooms are clean, the lobby/other areas are good enough.

Feel free to ask any specific questions and I'll answer what I can. I have a couple of stays in March so I may be able to post more then.

It is the only SPG property in SLC since the new Four Points at the airport changed flags last year.

It is a tired, old Sheraton. Last time I was there a year ago there were no Sheraton Sweet Sleepers in sight. That may have changed by now -- I hope so, as the prior beds were pretty poor. Rooms are pretty old and dated. Definitely nothing to brag about but it's fine -- clean at least.

In spite of my usual loyalty to SPG, this is one of the cities where I just won't stoop to the only available option. I stay at the Hotel Monaco three blocks away, which is sooooooo much better in every important respect. By the way, they have great weekend winter rates if you're looking for an inexpensive ski weekend.

How to get to the mountains
 

notsosmart or others:

How do you get up to the skia areas from the Sheraton?

I was told they have a ski-bus that leaves from the front of the hotel, but it's only once a day. But a friend says the local transit runs good service up to the ski areas.

Any info/advice/tips are appreciated.

BWI Flyer, I stayed at the SLC Sheraton two weeks ago. Nice staff. Convenient free shuttle will take you around the downtown area and to SLC. Great club lounge; and the new Sweet Sleeper beds are in place, but this should never have been flagged as a mainline Sheraton. Most of the high-floor rooms (SPG floors) are quite small (think Sheraton NY/Manhattan), took a day to fix a simple plumbing problem, the bathroom of my non-smoking room smelled of smoke, sheets on the bed torn. If you want free wi-fi, go up to the Club Lounge and if your laptop is near the south windows, you can pick up the signal of the Best Western across the street. Come to think of it, how much could I save by staying there next time??

Too bad, 'cause this town can use a good *wood. This ain't it, sadly.

I stay here a lot via Priceline.It's usually a $36 bid. The hotel is perfectly adequate...not great. It's on the fringe of downtown, but plenty of places to eat nearby (mostly chains: PF Changs, Macaroni Grill, Buca de Bepo). Very quick hop to the airport from here. What else? the exercise facility is smallish and equipment is limited. In fact, 2 machines were out of order when I last stayed a few weeks ago. It's about a block and a half to the light rail, but SLC blocks are very long. Never had any issues with room, staff, meals, etc.

The hotel is basic but clean and acceptable and will get me and my team *points during the next three weeks we spend in SLC. If you're in town mid-week, drop me a PM if you want to meet for a drink. Not sure of my schedule but it's worth a try.

BTW, they had a ski package rate that was less than what I saw online. I was told about it when I called Sheraton (800 #) to book the rooms for everyone. Not sure if it's still available or not - it included a lift ticket and the bus, I believe.

ps I tried the Monaco once and will not stay there again, too snobby with little substance when I was there a couple years back. Little America is a cheap alternative and in the same area of town but quality did vary during some of my previous trips.

I stayed there earlier this month. Now I'm at the Residence Inn on an extended stay, not because of the Sheraton but because of the pet policies and the kitchen.

Agree the hotel feels old. My room did have a sleeper bed. I called before dinner that my sink stopper was not working, and when I returned after dinner, it was fixed plus I had a message granting 1000 points for the trouble. So thumbs up for the service from me.

It's about a 15 minute walk down to Temple Square, and about halfway, tehre's a restaurant district with lots of choices, both local and chains. It's also in the "free fare zone" for all the buses, if you don't want to walk.

For ski bus info, see http://www.rideuta.com. It runs once a day (twice on weekends) to Alta & Snowbird, or you can transfer to the Solitude/Brighton bus. No service to Park City resorts.

If you are driving, head west a couple of blocks and get on 15 South. For Park City, exit onto 80 East and go about 30 miles. For the Cottonwood resorts, take 15 to the 215 loop east to 6200 South and follow ths signs. Snowbasin is about an hour north. Figure 40-60 minutes for any of these.

Edited to Add:
If you are coming in for the Great FlyerTalk Ski-DO! Park City, I can offer rides from downtown on Saturday & Sunday. I have room for 2 in my little economy rental car.

I stayed at the SLC Sheraton a couple of months ago. I agree with most of the previous posts. I had a sweet sleeper bed. The staff was friendly especially in the club lounge. I stayed on the club floor and found porn in the back of my dresser drawers. It is easy to walk around downtown depending on the weather. The brewpub someone previously referred to is Squatters and I would also recommend it. Next door to Squatters is an upscale restaurant, I think it was called the Metropolitan. It was pricey but good.

For a Sheraton it's not very good. Beds are being upgraded but the hotel had a pretty old feeling, staff is very nice but food is not good. It is also a longer walk to Temple Square than from the Monaco or the Hilton (which has a great, great steakhouse on the ground floor).

Also, the loft suites offered are not very good, IMHO. They are quite a trek from the lobby particularly if you have significant luggage.

This property changed in early 2006 from a Category 1 to a Category 2. I had previously stayed here in Feb 2004. At that time, there was not a Club Lounge. During that stay, we had a room in the tower, and I was very unhappy with how small the rooms were for three people. Tower rooms are offered with 1 King or 2 Doubles. There are not rooms with 2 Queens.

This year, instead of choosing a room with 2 Double beds, we chose a non-tower room with 1 King and a rollaway while we had 3 people. The hotel provided the rollaway for no additional charge, but I don't know if this was because of my Platinum status. We switched to a non-tower room with 2 Doubles after the third person left. The non-tower rooms are much bigger. These rooms are in an older part of the building. They seem to be renovated and are closer to the parking lot. We had a few minor maintenance problems, and they were mostly resolved as requested. The bathroom in our King had a large garden tub with shower. Our room with 2 Doubles had a regular bath/shower combo. Both rooms had curved shower rods and Sweet Sleeper beds.

HSIA is offered for $9.95 for 24 hours or $2.95 for 15 minutes. The rooms had wired HSIA ports, and my rooms had a weak wireless signal. The lobby has a stronger wireless signal, and I did not try the signal in the tower rooms or in the Club Lounge. The front desk clerk said that HSIA will be free soon as part of a corporate initiative, but he doesn't know exactly when. Since I'm on a personal stay and didn't need much online, I only used my dial-up connection -- 50 cents for a local call up to 45 minutes. (Phone charges waived on the 10th floor and for Plats.)

The Club Lounge is on the 10th floor in the tower, so it is not as convenient for us in the non-tower rooms. It offers a full breakfast during the work week until 9am, a continental breakfast on the weekend, and appetizers and non-alcoholic drinks from 5-8pm daily. The full breakfast consisted of a buffet with scrambled eggs, bacon, fresh fruit, oatmeal (with optional brown sugar and raisins), muffins and pastries, orange and cranberry juices, yogurt, cereals, etc. It was good but not great.

The weekend's continental breakfast included everything but the eggs and bacon. We didn't eat there on the weekend since we wanted a more substantial breakfast. Evening appetizers were okay on the one day that we went in. Soft drinks are free, and alcoholic drinks are available for purchase if you ask.

When returning with the need for just one bed next time, I'd definitely go with the newer tower rooms. I believe that they've already blocked my reservation in for a jacuzzi suite, though. I assume that this is in the tower, but I'm not sure. The loft suites with 1 Queen are in the old part of the building.

The hotel offers a free airport shuttle in nice vans or a small bus. I believe that the website gives its hours of operation. I think that it is necessary to call for pickup and that it doesn't just drive back and forth all day long. The drive from the airport is about 10 minutes.

There is a restaurant at the hotel named Olio. We ate there one night a couple years ago, but not this year. I don't remember anything about it other than that the service was slow and that the restaurant was practically empty. There is also a private club here off the main lobby, but I have not been into it. As with other private clubs in SLC, membership is just a few dollars, is only necessary for one person in the group, and should be valid for 3 weeks. FWIW, there's a liquor store across the street from the back side of the hotel. There's also a Starbucks off of the lobby. (However, the rooms have Maxwell House.)

Squatters and Red Rock are a couple good brew pubs nearby. We went to Iggy's one night since they had a big screen TV with sound on for the Olympics, but I didn't think that the food was very good. We really like the restaurants owned by Gastronomy Inc: Cafe Pierpont, New Yorker, Market Street Grill, etc.

Staff at the hotel was very friendly. I think that they have some maintenance problems that they should deal with, but I'm happy with the hotel for the price. This was a good award bargain when it was a Cat1. Now that it's up to Category 2, it's a fair value.

Just stayed there this week. I usually stay at the SLC Hilton, but it was fully booked, as was the Sheraton. I had to use my SPG Plat status to force availability at the Sheraton, for Rack Rate of $189.

I wasn´t expecting much, but upon arrival the clerk confirmed I was only staying for one night and gave me an unsolicited upgrade to their VIP suite, room 1025. The room was the best I have seen at a US Sheraton, very large sitting/dining room with a (unstocked) bar. I assume a standard room would have been equivalent to my (tiny) bedroom. Bed sheets and pillows were much better than typical Sheraton, but not sure if this was unique to this room. Unfortunately, even in this room, two lights were burned out and one of the toilets ran constantly. Otherwise furnishings looked new and clean.

Club lounge is pretty good, but food is not of the best quality.

The gym stinks.

I ordered a room service dinner which took 1 hr 20 minutes to arrive...they wound up comping it and bringing me some free cheesecake.

Given my upgrade I was very happy with the overall experience but I will still return to the Hilton when in SLC in the future.

I stayed here last week. The hotel is a bit tired, but the room was clean and large (I had been upgraded to a "superior" room or something like that according to the front desk). The bathroom was functional and clean. I had a nice view of downtown (such that it is) and the mountains. Kudos to the very nice and helpful bell staff. The location is nice as the hotel is walkable to all of the downtown area.

For the $79 I paid, it was a fine one-night stay.

Club Floor - Room next to Lounge
 

Watch out....it is 1 of 2 rooms in hotel that has seperate A/C..controlled by outside air temp. Had bad exp, but GM/SPG correct issue with 4500 pts:)

Sheraton Salt Lake City as bad as all that?
 

Ha ha, I tried to do a search on the Sheraton in downtown Salt Lake City and got a database error on Flyertalk!

Anyway, this Sheraton is listed as a category 2 with a 3K point discounted stay for the weekend, and is the only Starwood property in Utah. I jumped at that and booked a Sat night with points during an upcoming personal trip. Then on looking at different hotel review sites, I am getting really bad reviews on this property, along with some mediocre ones --- is this hotel as bad as all that? Only some reviews are current, but they are bad about service, hotel condition, etc with several people complaining about a $10 parking fee where I guess downtown Salt Lake City doesn't really warrant a parking fee. I am flying in at night into SLC and wanted a 1 night stay but will be w/ family & 2 small children. Should I just book a generic hotel near the airport for like $60 instead? The reviews are kind of indicating the Sheraton isn't much better.

Oh, and on booking a stay with points, I also got the following message in my email confirmation:
Taxes
STATE 6.6 Percent Per Room Per Night NOT In The Rate
HOSPITALITY 5.86 Percent Per Room Per Night NOT In The Rate

If the attitude of the hotel staff is as bad as some reviews say, then they will not honor the "point stays include taxes" thing and will point to my email confirmation stating that I need to pay for these taxes.
So in addition to the $10 parking fee and also high speed internet fees if we decide to do that too, this "free" stay is starting to creep up towards the $60 generic airport hotel rate (with btw includes free parking, free internet, and free breakfast too), especially if you consider that I'm using 3K Starwood points.

Thoughts?