Been there just last week. Agree with all you said; no lounge, no compensation offer; but very friendly staff (Dutch shift manager).

Hotel itself very quiet, renovated room was small but nicely appointed (nice big shower). I'm on the edge whether I like it more than The Great Northern - one is dark (PLH) whereas the other one rather light (GNH).

Hope they get a 2nd elevator to work, the wait was sometimes quite cumbersome.

Great to have this option now since the Le Meridien Piccadilly is nothing more than a ruin with horrendous personnel.

How do the room sizes at the PL compare to the GN? I've got an upcoming stay and am trying to decide between the two hotels.

It sounds like the PL has larger rooms and a forthcoming club lounge and is near the neighborhood I want to base out of.

On the other hand, the GN has an excellent restaurant, is closer to the Underground, but has no club lounge and sounds like it has smaller rooms.

PL rooms are normal for London, which is small for other places. GN rooms are small for London and tiny for other places.

No club lounge at GN but pantries on each floor with snacks and coffee.

Overall GN feels more luxurious, even after the PL renovations, but the room sizes are really tiny. And location will depend on each person's own needs.

Also, if you are staying this month, worth considering that the Park Lane is technically a Sheraton and would earn triple points in the current promotion, vs double at the Great Northern.

Thanks, bgriff for your insights!

I completed a four-night stay here with my wife and one-year-old earlier this month. We took a day flight from NYC into LHR and the transit to the hotel was pretty painless compared to other London hotels I've stayed at - taking the Tube to Green Park, there are no stairs the entire way which made for a much less sweaty arrival than some other trips.

We booked and received a Superior room - the hotel was sold out for at least part of our stay and I didn't expect an upgrade. I really liked the room - it was very quiet and comfortable. My wife mentioned hearing noise one night but I never heard anything and slept great in the comfortable bed. The room had a large walk-in closet and very large bathroom. I really liked the finishes in the room and it felt a good notch above a typical Sheraton. The windows open to allow fresh air in.

I believe the lounge was set to open today, July 17, but when we were there it wasn't finished. Breakfast was in the restaurant and I will address that below. Although the hotel faces Park Lane, it's a pain to get through the hotel with luggage from that entrance due to stairs - the better bet is to go to the Brick Lane entrance. We enjoyed the location of the hotel and found it good for transit and sights. We didn't use the gym or other facilities thus cannot comment.

There were two problems during our stay: (1) the elevators. During our stay, only one elevator worked and at least two times it wasn't working at all, leaving only the stairs (which were also marked as being closed, but which people used anyway) or the very small staff elevator. This was a particular problem the morning we were leaving, when the only elevator didn't work and we burned a lot of time simply trying to get from the top floor to the ground floor with all of our stuff. For the size of the hotel, the elevator arrangement was not acceptable. (2) the service at breakfast, though the staff all seemed well-intentioned, was chaotic. Each day, we had to wait several minutes just to be seated and the staff always had a general look of panic on their faces with difficulty getting coffee or other items. The last day was especially bad, perhaps compounded by the elevator situation, but it took us so long to be seated we barely had time to eat before we had to leave. I'm not too picky and the staff really were kind, but something needs to be changed at breakfast.. perhaps opening the lounge will help.

For the price, coupled with the Sheraton triple-points promotion, I thought this hotel was a great deal. I would stay there again for the right price and depending on the news about the club lounge.

Seems that this has now happened - now appearing on search results as the Sheraton Grand London Park Lane.

At the hotel now.

The Club Lounge is finally open.

Space is quite nicely done, as are the rest of the renovated spaces in the hotel, very luxurious finishes and quite big, so hopefully shouldn't get too crowded. Only downside is there is no natural light.

Breakfast spread is okay but certainly not a full restaurant breakfast. My only other European Sheraton Club point of reference is the Amsterdam Airport location, and this is certainly inferior to the spread there. There was one hot dish, plus breads and pastries, cheese and meat/smoked fish, fruit, yogurt, and cereals. Not sure if you can still choose the restaurant breakfast as a platinum amenity.

But, there is an impressive afternoon tea service in the Club, complete with warm scones and clotted cream, and individual pastry towers with 5 different pastries. The only thing missing from a tourist attraction afternoon tea which you might pay quite dearly for is finger sandwiches. There are also about a dozen non-perishable snack options available like various nuts, crackers, and candy bars. Haven't seen the evening spread yet.


As for the rest of the hotel, the renovations are really quite impressive, and much nicer than I would have expected -- the Sheraton Grand label, which the staff are quite proud of, is clearly earned. There are still some renovations going on in some of the public spaces but most things seem to be close to ready. Though for all the work they did I do wish they had invested in reconfiguring the ground floor a bit more, as the odd location of reception only seems to have gotten odder with the renovation -- there are lots of columns and part-walls around the reception area that just make it feel claustrophobic and poorly thought-out despite the nice finishes. It's not clear but there is what looks like a Club specific check in counter near the Club that has a huge column directly in front of it. Like, making contact with the desk. It's strange.

I was upgraded to what is apparently a superior room. It's about the same size as the rooms I've had the other two times I've stayed here, not sure what a standard room is like though I've heard some rooms are very tiny, whereas this feels appropriately sized for London. As mentioned above all of the finishes in the room are extremely high quality; I'd put it at about the same quality level as the Great Northern, which I also quite like. The soundproofing seems to be much improved, and the air conditioning is also excellent, a major turnaround from the old state of affairs. (On my second night the air conditioning broke down in my room and wasn't able to be fixed until the next morning, apparently an issue owing to the floor having only recently been released from renovations. The staff handled it fairly well, and offered to move me but only had a smaller room available so I stuck it out. Fortunately they still have the fans available that they used to offer to guests to help with the old lousy AC, and fortunately it's not quite as warm in London as it was a week ago.)

Only complaint with the room is that the shower design is trying a bit too hard: it's a small-ish stand-up shower with a giant rainfall shower head, so there's essentially no way to get out of the stream of water to lather up without shutting off the shower. There's also a separate tub; I'd personally have voted for removing the tub and making a nice big shower stall like the Great Northern offers, but perhaps offering a tub is a part of the Sheraton Grand brand standards or an attempt to achieve a higher star rating? Being able to offer something nicer than the standard Sheraton toiletries would also better match the investment that's been made in the property.


It will be interesting to see how prices here evolve; with all the money spent, and the fact that not many London hotels offer an experience quite as modern as this hotel now does, I've got to imagine rates are heading up once the renovations are fully complete. For now cash rates are still not too bad. If I were going to use points, I would still be tempted to go for one of the other Cat 6 properties that achieves higher cash rates, though the Park Lane is now more competitive than it was, and the club lounge could be an attractive value proposition to some, especially since I understand the Meridien Piccadilly club lounge is not what it once was.

Agree with you on the shower/tub setup... It's really quite awkward. I don't know if yours was the same as I experienced when I was there in April, but the volume control for the shower was actually *in the tub*. Meaning you had to actually get out of the shower to turn it off! I, too, would have much rather had one large shower. And personally, I hate directly-above "rain shower" heads. And there was no hand-held that could be mounted to provide a more traditional "from behind" type of shower head (like most Westin showers have).

BTW, where is the Club Lounge located? Is it where the temporary reception was a year or so ago?

Not sure where the temporary reception was but the club is basically in the northwest corner of the ground floor. The entrance is immediately adjacent to the west guest elevator.

BTW, got to see the evening spread as well. Same extensive selection of non-perishable snacks as in the afternoon, as well as beer and wine, and a selection of hot and cold canapés that the staff were offering to serve at people's tables. Again not as elaborate as some clubs -- definitely not a meal replacement -- but a decent little evening snack. No hard liquor available, which IIRC is consistent with most if not all Sheraton clubs.

Thanks for the Club report. Glad they are getting close to finishing the reno. The site in the Wiki says it's 75% done.

I think that is true for Europe as far as I can recall, but Sheraton's in Asia have hard liquor. Maybe the difference is those clubs are always fully staffed while in Europe it is mostly self-serve.

Several Sheraton club lounges in Europe do : the Sheraton Stockholm and Sheraton Grand Edinburgh for example.

If you say so. I've been to both hotels several times and I thought they were beer/wine, but maybe I just didn't look for alcohol. Edinburgh is staffed, and Stockholm is sometimes staffed by one person. But they have to leave from time to time.

So back to the Park Lane Club, is there someone there in the evening at all times? Do they serve the beer/wine or is it all self-serve?

I would say unbelievers should check the master threads for each of these hotels. @:-)

The Club is staffed throughout the day. This week they were quite proactive about offering to serve things at the table -- coffee during breakfast, and the entire snack and drink offering during afternoon tea and evening cocktails, which was more "full service" than I've seen in most hotel clubs. It may just be because it's brand new so the staff is more eager than usual. It would also be possible to serve yourself the drinks if the staff were otherwise occupied.

The LM Piccadilly, just down the street from the Park Lane, *used* to stock self-service hard liquor, but stopped doing so about a year or so ago. Now just beer and wine (and a selection of those that are also limited compared to what they used to have). It's a shame. One of my favorite parts of the day when staying at the LMP was going to the club in the evening after work and pouring myself a gin and Schweppes bitter lemon (which they also no longer stock).

Yep, that sounds like where the temporary reception was.

The Sheraton at FRA has hard alcohol. I don't think CDG does, and I don't remember AMS even though I was there most recently.

You might think that a Sheraton Grande would do more than the basic Sheraton lounge drinks.

Mmmm... afternoon tea. Evening nibbles. This can cut into sightseeing time or visiting friends. :)

Anyone know what are the hours of the afternoon tea? Hours of the evening snacks?

Has has anyone been able to confirm whether Plats can still eat free of charge at the restaurant during breakfast in lieu of the Club Lounge?

I had it confirmed that you can choose full breakfast as your Platinum Welcome Gift still yes.

Afternoon tea is 2:30-4:30pm, evening snacks are 5:30-7:30pm. (There may be an extra half hour that I am forgetting on either or both of those.)

Good to hear that restaurant breakfast is still an option. There was some confusion in the hotel's systems when I checked in with them thinking I was gold (based on my status at my previous stay, it seems), which did not get resolved until the third day of my stay, so I did not get to properly inquire. But the club breakfast spread is modest so it would definitely be worth taking the restaurant breakfast option IMO.

It is the only downside, the offering in that respect is far worse than Sheraton Grand Edinburgh and also Hilton Lounges in London.

I had hoped they may try and one up LeMerien who's lounge has been continuely 'enhanced' in past couple of years to the point I no longer stay there. Seems however they have simply decided to match it's offerings.

bgriff, UKTraveler4Fun, thanks for your replies.

I wonder if they would mind my picking up my afternoon tea items from the Club Lounge and consuming it in the Palm Court? It would help free up space in the Club Lounge for others. ;)

Between the afternoon tea and evening snacks, this could tether me to the hotel. Could be troublesome. May need to select a no frills hotel, like easyHotel. :)

Great Stay
 

My family stayed here for 5 days the first week in August. I booked two rooms using points. Being that I had 4 adults and 2 kids, I needed upgraded rooms.
After contacting the hotel, they offered to upgrade one room complimentary b/c of my status and for 5,000 points they would upgrade the other room...I jumped on it.
We had two rooms on the 7th floor...744 and 748. The rooms were very big...even by American Standards. We had a king sized bed and a roll away in each room and never felt crowded. The rooms were renovated and VERY comfortable. Modern bath, modern furnishings, etc., and a VERY comfortable bed.
Pros
-Club Lounge service was the best I've experienced. We were trying to decide one night after drinks (complimentary alcohol btw) where to eat for dinner. The staff had suggestions outside the hotel and then went and fetched menus for us from the in house restaurants. We ended up ordering from two restaurants and they served us in the lounge...very nice!
-Breakfast in the club was plentiful and had a great variety as well as a nice espresso machine, which I appreciated!
-Rooms (see above)
-Front desk service was very warm and friendly
-Housekeeping did a nice job of fixing up the room every day.
-location is fantastic for tourist activities
Cons
-The only con we had was the elevator situation. Two small elevators are not enough for this hotel. In addition, we couldn't walk down the stairs all the way because of construction, so we were stuck waiting. It wasn't ridiculous, but it was longer than most hotels.

I can say that this will be my go to hotel when heading back to London...really enjoyed my stay!

Press release today:

http://news.marriott.com/2016/10/she...nd-renovation/

"Sheraton Hotels & Resorts, part of Marriott International, Inc (NASDAQ:MAR), today announced the official unveil of the Sheraton Grand London Park Lane after a multi-million pound transformation of its 303 guest rooms and public spaces, including the famed Palm Court Lounge and Grade II listed Art Deco Ballroom and Silver Gallery."

Cheers.

Just had the pleasure of spending 3 days at this incredible hotel. We had booked for our Silver Anniversary, and had put in a request for "something special" if at all possible. To add, I do not hold any special status with SPG.

The hotel provided us with a Park View Suite which is more like an apartment - just sensational !!

http://www.sheratonparklane.com/rooms/parkview

When we came back from the theatre on our first night, a very nice Prosecco was waiting for us.

Club room staff were top notch, as well as any requests from housekeeping.

A wonderful taste of the 1930's Art Deco scene together with all the mod cons - and probably the most comfortable bed I have slept in.

And to top it all off - fabulous weather in London - ate outdoors twice and had drinks on the roof bar of The Trafalgar (part of the Hilton group) - wonderful views, and drinks at very fair prices, given the position.

It's weird to see the Marriott name on this press release as I'd think if they had been in charge prior to this remodel it would be very different with a lot of cheap formica/veneer and homogenizing the original Art Decor to something more in line with a tacky suburban Marriott.

How lovely. I've been upgraded to a suite here half a dozen times; never to one as nice as this. Nice to see good things happening at my go-to property in London. Congratulations on the anniversary!

Cheers,

I have an upcoming stay here and I'm pretty excited reading the recent reviews and I snagged this for 12k points before the category change.

It looks like the lounge has a nice breakfast option but is there also a platinum amneity breakfast at their restaurant? Any one know if it is vastly better then the lounge?

Doubt it. Realize you're anti-Marriott (and have a fixation on suburban Marriotts :p :D), but in historic & upscale properties Marriott's been good about preserving what makes them unique, including some of its London properties.

This property used to be old & tired, so I'm delighted it's gotten a renovation & is getting glowing reviews. And it's not very far from a pub that FTers meet up at when in London. :)

Cheers.

Think of the lounge as beverages only and you'll be happy
 

Good recent stay here. Nice to see the renovations complete.

Mix-up with suite nights: they downgraded me but they made the best of the situation. I love that suites offer Molton Brown soaps instead of the rather down-market Shine stuff in most Sheraton suites.

The Club Lounge is beautiful; lots of great seating options: tables, booths, couches, even a boardroom with a large TV and its own coffee machine. Service in the lounge was very attentive with the staff offering to refill drinks and make tea/coffee. I loved that espresso and tea were seemingly available 24/7 with take-away cups. Same with water and soda. Evenings had wine + a small selection of alcohol and mixers. The disappointment was the food: on most of my visits only 1 of the hot trays had something on offer and what was on offer was unappetizing. There were crocks of dry things to scoop from (pretzels, cookies, bad nuts, etc.) and in the evening there were tiny canapes, but no veggies or cheese. Not that I was looking for a meal, but didn't find the selection evening worth whetting my appetite.

Breakfast was better, but never any meats nor potatoes (I know, American). Lots of breads, decent fruits and always 1 egg dish. It made me miss the full breakfast on offer prior to the lounge.

SNA 3 Night on Points
 

Full suite, SPG floor, facing Park, bedroom did not face street.
Lounge breakfast (as always with rare exception) needs work.
Superior craft cocktails.

Full Breakfast 10£ upgrade fine, except in the U.K. I expect to eat real bacon. They had shoe leather masquerading as bacon here.

Only complaint, lol. Well, actually - the 70's Retro refit is not to my liking although done perfectly. Your taste may differ up to wildly approving.

I finished a five-night stay this week. I stayed at this hotel a bunch of times until about nine years ago when it became long-overdue for a refurb. They've done a very nice job of bringing the hotel up to date.

I was given what I believe to be a Superior Room (807) on the top floor. The room is large, well laid out and well lit. The bed is very comfortable and there are lots of electrical outlets (insufficient outlets is a particular annoyance for me) including USB charging outlets and a euro-style prong outlet at the desk. There is a Nespresso machine in the room. The bathroom is very nice. My room had a shower (I think other rooms may have baths) with a rainfall and a hand-held shower heads. Standard Sheraton amenities.

The lounge is very nice. It is fairly large although it may fill up at peak times. I thought breakfast was very good. They have an egg dish that varies day-to-day (e.g., scrambled, fried, fritatta, benedict). A couple of days the eggs were accompanied by sausages. There is also a selection of deli meats, smoked fish and cheese plus fruit, yogurt and cereal. There are an espresso machine and pitchers of drip coffee and tea. At tea time there are beers and wine (I don't recall if there were liquors on offer) plus a selection of snacks. Later in the evening there are some snacks and cookies. The lounge staff is very good. They go well beyond what I expect of lounge staff.

The Palm Court, which was always very nice, is even nicer now. I didn't eat in either restaurant.

The gym is expanded from what I recall. It has the usual cardio machines plus weight machines and free weights.

Yes, there are still only the two elevators and I'm a bit surprised that they weren't speeded up as part of the renovation, but they weren't a problem (although this isn't peak season). FYI, I think the elevator on the east side is a bit faster.

In conclusion, what had become a frumpy old hotel in great need of renovation (remember how the floors creaked?) has lost its frump and is now fully up to a standard commensurate with its location. I'll be back.

Thanks for the review Eric.

Just to clarify: the adult beverages, are they gratis or at a fee? I assume that there are adult beverages in the evening as well?

Gratis, at least for beer and wine. I don't recall if there was anything else as I wasn't in the market for anything else.

The cocktails were gratis as well.

I'm looking at booking this room on points, for a trip with my wife and 6 year old daughter. The room certainly looks big enough to get a rollaway into. Is there just one bathroom in the room or is there a half bath as well?

Any recent update to this?

They no longer offer this, they honoured it for all my bookings made before policy change.

Last I heard it is a £5 per person per day cost to upgrade to breakfast in the restaurant rather than lounge.

Had a stay in November. It was £10 per person and not worth it as it was very similar to what they had in the lounge. The lounge is a slight upgrade to normal hotel lounge breakfast but nothing special. The majority of the food was cold (even the food that was supposed to be hot)