Rom Sac

I actually rather like this hotel. However, while I've stayed there 3-4 times this summer as a plat, I've never been given a room on the 3rd floor (the club area).

Curious about this, I asked the manager last month. She said that SPG Platinum members were not eligible for these rooms. She said that the Plat benefit, besides the usual check-in options, was access to the club room.

Now, to be fair, I don't really think this is such a big deal, since I doubt the rooms are that much better. And, like most people, I'm only there just before or after a flight. But isn't this an obvious violation of the SPG Platinum benefits policy?

Starwood Lurker

I guess we won't know for sure until someone can provide a paper trail for SPG to follow. Want to volunteer? Send me the stay details along with your SPG account number and I'll forward it on to interested parties.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

stc

I think the issue may be that the "club" rooms are not necessarily on the 3rd floor. I've seen my reservation change to a "club room" and then been given a room on the 2nd floor. The hotel may consider the 3rd floor rooms "luxury" rather than "club" rooms or something like that.

RAPC

Correct - the club floors are on the 2nd floor as well, having upgraded amenities etc from what I remember.

Sounds like the staff member who spoke to Ron Sac may have had the wrong end of the stick, or was just talking rubbish. They do actively upgrade Plats to the Club Rooms. I have had upgraded rooms on the 2nd and 3rd floors. Even when I had Gold status I still got a Club Room upgrade, just no access to the lounge.

As stc says, it may just be a different naming convention for the 3rd floor rooms, but I don't remember any difference between the 2nd and 3rd floor rooms I have been given that were considered as Club.

stimpy

I've never not gotten a 3rd floor Club room upgrade.

Land-of-Miles

They never used to have club rooms on the 3rd floor, the 3rd floor club rooms are a new addition following the refurbishment of the 3rd floor, previously the 3rd floor had "family" type rooms. I have been offered a 3rd floor room without asking for each of my stays since the 3rd floor renovation completed. There is very little difference between the 2nd and 3rd floor club rooms (are there actually any non club rooms at this property?). The 3rd floor rooms may have a sofa bed if the room is on an outside wall which some guests may prefer. The rooms are also slightly fresher with subtly different furnishings to the 2nd floor rooms.

GVA

Does anybody ever find good rates mid week at either properties using corporate rates?

I never seem to be below 90GBP a night on any of the companies I contract for, so was quite interested in what others are getting.

Land-of-Miles

Very rare but I have had rates c. £80-£90 at the Skyline on Thursday nights. Strangely this has always coincided with the Sheraton Heathrow being very expensive.

Frenchie Flyer

Just completed a stay on Thursday night at the Sheraton Heathrow. Got it on Priceline for $60 ($78.04 all in). Arrived before noon and was allowed check in without comment about the hour. Mention was made that I was pre-paid and that it was Priceline. I had sent an email at the time of reservation requesting a two bedded room and for directions to the hotel and to the airport. I got no response and so it did not surprise me that we were booked into a single bedded room. We were able to change to a 2 twin bedded room at check in. They gladly added my Starwood number to the reservation. The room was a very good value for the price. On the third floor and renovated, but did not have a LCD tv. The tv has a channel where you can check your flight times. Did not try to access the lounge. Used the Hotel Hoppa (4 pounds each way) mainly because my travel companion wanted to. I used the public bus to get to the airport and tube during the day. Accidentally took the bus the wrong direction as the hotel clerk told me to "cross the street". He meant to cross the side street and not the street the hotel is on. The bus driver set me straight and I got to see some of the suburban neighborhood. Very near the bus stop is a sandwich shop - that I did not have a chance to try, but I saw several fancy cars do u-turns to get to. It certainly didn't look expensive.
Coming back from London late at night I rode the tube to Heathrow and planned to take the public bus to the hotel. It was nearing midnight when I got to the bus terminal. There are two areas, one on each side of the station where you pick up the bus. I picked the side with two busses thinking that I had a better chance of catching one. Only to discover too late that only the U3 bus runs past about 10:30 at night and it was on the other side of the station. I saw it go by twice and that second one was the last of the night around midnight. So I had to find a taxi and that cost me 12 pounds...had to scrape it up from pounds and euros. He would have taken US dollars, but I only had a $50. The hotel told me earlier that day that the fare was 10 pounds. Got a wake up call for our 8am flight when we asked for it. The flight was another matter...we knew it was delayed (mechanical) and we ended up on another flight that was non-stop and only departed a few minutes earlier than the original. ^

At checkout it was noted that we were pre-paid and owed nothing. Now checking my credit charges I find that they charged me for a night's stay at $ 89.94. I have sent an email to the only email address I can find, [email protected], asking them to reverse the charge for the pre-paid room. I was looking for a manager's email and have not found it, but did find the name of what I think is the current manager:

Andrew Huxsted General Manager

Anyway wish me luck. I'm sure that it will be resolved at some point.

Frenchie Flyer

Starwood Lurker II

Hi Frenchie Flyer,

Do give Customer Care a call if you do not receive any response from the property on the over-charge issue.

[email protected]

Land-of-Miles

A brief update on these 2 properties after recent stays at both.

The Sheraton Heathrow now offers bliss toiletries (at least they did in the club rooms).

The Sheraton Skyline now has some construction work happening in the pool area which has closed the side entrance from the car park and also the lift in the west wing of the property is "under maintenance". The coffee machine in the club lounge is broken so only very rough filter type coffee is available from an urn in the lounge. Whilst the property has an excellent small gym the exercise bike has had a broken pedal for the last 6 months to my knowledge, so this does not bode well for a rapid coffee machine fix. On a more positive note the property (again in club rooms) is now equipped with more modern LCD TV's and a VOD service which is available at an all inclusive price of £19.99 including 24 hours internet, this is much better value than the Sheraton Heathrow. No bliss toiletries at the Skyline though

mcgahat

I have decided to book my one night stay at LHR at the Skyline. I will have access to the lounge as a Plat but I can get a rate with breakfast for an additional 10 pounds.

Is the lounge breakfast toast and coffee or more substantial? I dont mind paying the extra for a nicer spread but if the lounge has some hot items the perhaps save the cash.

GUWonder

The lounge breakfast at the Sheraton Skyline was pretty basic but it was enough for me and went somewhat beyond toast and coffee since I certainly didn't consume toast and coffee but do recall having some cereal and fruits there. Getting an omlette upstairs wasn't an option.

GUWonder

Earlier this week, I found them in standard rooms too.

stc

But, IIRC, they (Skyline Club Lounge) have hard boiled eggs, cheeses, yogurt and the like.

Maybe I should try the Sheraton Heathrow again, but the couple of times I've stayed there I have been disappointed. I've never been disappointed at the Skyline.