nawlins

All Inclusive Experience

This may seem more of a rant but will get to the All Inclusive Review at the end.
I arrived Friday at 7pm at the Sheraton Buganvillas hotel. I booked the all inclusive and received a BRG confirming room and all inclusive. When I arrived at the hotel "their" system showed room only. All inclusive will be an additional $99 per night. Spoke to reception supervisor and on duty manager even showing them the confirmations. No its $99 extra. Period. I was basically told that I need to call SPG if I wanted to sort it out. I am not familiar with SPG procedures but having the guest required to make an international call doesn't seem correct. Hour and 45 minutes later still at front desk with the less than concerned reception staff. Not their problem. I was able to use the front desk phone to speak with SPG Customer Service and open a customer service file. Did not hear back so called customer service Saturday (yesterday) and was basically advised the staff that would be able to handle this will return Monday. In the mean time sent a note to the BRG department who sent me a response a couple hours later that they had contacted the hotel and the hotel will now honor the all inclusive 4 meals after the fact.

For the all inclusive the food and beverage service ranges from poor (20%), Fair (40%) and good (40%). The main restaurant is buffet style with a good selection of Mexican and American style food. Its a bit hectic right now as the hotel is fairly full. There are a couple of ala cart restaurants with limited menus but nice outdoor venues. For value it is not worth $99 per night unless you are a really heavy drinker. Downtown is a short distance away with a wonderful selection restaurants and bars with similar or better service and food

LovetoTravel83

I would have just done that from the beginning. The BRG team can work wonders sometimes.

Stgermainparis

I reserved two rooms here for our spring break. We're traveling with our children, an 8 year old and two teens. Spouse and I both have the SPG Amex Business card and are both SPG Gold. One of the primary reasons I booked this property was so that we could have breakfast with the kids in the club lounge (with our SPG Amex biz perk). I don't care about staying on the club level itself. Does the lounge not allow children for breakfast or beverages during the day? If not, and as gold (not Plat, sigh), can we take them for breakfast at one of the restaurants without incurring a fee?

Stgermainparis

We are here now. I think it's a great value for points redemption (before the devaluation). Two things:

1) I'd be happy to answer any questions for those of you planning a stay. We are using our Ax SPG biz card for club access.

2) I'm wondering what I should do re room issue. There is full blown room rehab going on right next to us. Banging, drilling, concrete and plaster blasting. Our room smells strongly of concrete and plaster and throughout the day there is a lot of construction noise. I'm reluctant to change rooms bc we already had to do that once (long story...booking error on hotel side). And bc we were told that to move would mean giving up our terrace room. And front desk said they are very booked up (and we occupy two rooms). These rooms next to the construction really should be taken out of commission until it's all finished.

But this isn't the occasional disturbance. It's construction. On the other side of the wall. What would you all expect in a situation like this. I do feel that this is not the relaxing vacation Id anticipated. Room is not a particularly pleasant place to be, in all honesty. No quiet time, no nap.

Maybe a better question is this: for those of you who've had, shall we say, challenges, what did you request. We are SPG Gold for what that's worth.

Tmpy

Did you use points for your stay? Is the SPG business card acceptable to gain club access or did you use it to pay for your stay? Is it true there are no rooms with balconies? The room I booked said it had a terrace. Thank you and enjoy your trip. Hope the noise stops.

Stgermainparis

Yes I used points. Yes the SPG AMEX biz gets you into club but no kids <12. Our room was the "terrace" room and has a balcony.

FWIW, if I had it to do over again, I'd take my Gold upgrade to a higher floor (like 19-23) and get no balcony but a nice ocean view. I thought we'd use the balcony but didn't really. The balconies are concrete floor and high walls with view of trees. After spending most of the day outside, I would've been happy with a broad view of water...whale watching, etc.

Quimby4

Great to hear!!
How is the beach there?
Are there any activities for the kids?

Stgermainparis

Beach is meh. We didn't even go in the ocean there. Great pool though. Cheap drinks.

I don't know about kids activities but there is a kids club and it's free. You must return once every hour to check in but otherwise can leave your kid there.

Bravada04

The Westin is much better in comparison to the Sheraton!! All rooms have fantastic views with large balconies........and they have a decent club lounge - not fantastic but plenty o.k..... Pool areas is also ten times nicer and relaxing.

Stgermainparis

I think many people with the spg amex are going for the Sheraton bc of the free lounge access. It had hot and cold breakfast options and heavy hors d'oeuvres at 5 PM. That's a nice perk.

I will say that right now with the $ exchange rate, the restaurants are really cheap. So lounge isn't saving you all that much.

Weekend Away

Hi all,

I'm currently staying at this hotel and I have a question about lounge access. I booked my stay using points and was "upgraded" at check-in to a club level room. Is it possible for the hotel to separate the room from lounge access? My first visit to the lounge had no problem, but I was asked to leave upon my second visit as the lounge was only for club level guests. I inquired at the front desk and they said my "upgrade" was only for the room, not the lounge. Just curious why they would tell me about it at check-in and why my room key would open the door to the lounge if I'm not supposed to have access.

Thank you

Sam P. Goodman

Sounds like funny business.

Starwood Lurker IV

Hello zhickman

If you were upgraded to the club room on a comp basis you should be receiving club lounge access as per the inclusions of the room. Please PM us your deets and we can follow up on this.


Best regards,

Lin Naseem | Social Media Specialist
Starwood Customer Contact Centre (AP) Pte Ltd
[email protected]

cur

hey yall, staying here soon, and oh golly what a poorly run property it seems to be. but it's a good points redemption, the pool looks nice, and we're getting food off site and availing the supermarket next door for our booze and snack needs.

how much for a taxi from the airport? we plan on doing the "walk outside, take the overpass, then go to that taxi lineup on the highway that doesn't rip you off as badly" or the "go to departures level and jump in a cab dropping off where they won't rip you off as badly" methods.

Stgermainparis

Stayed here in March 2017 with 2 rooms on points for our family of 5 (2 teens/1 younger). We prearranged a private taxi for about $50 and they were standing at the exit with our name on a board. Very easy. Not as cheap as a taxi via overpass, but it was worth it for how easy it was. Also, with the peso at nearly 19 to the $1, you will not spend much to have a great time. We ate several meals at the hotel and got drinks daily by the pool all day and our total for 6 nights and 5 people was, I'm not even kidding, $350. That's for all the food and drinks and etc that we consumed. The food wasn't great but the drinks were fine. I'd recommend doing the fiesta on Thursday night. It was kind of corny but fun and festive and lots of different buffet stations.