James Luckard

Marriott recently sold the Sheraton BA, it was one of the last owned properties they inherited from Starwood:

https://www.hotelmanagement.net/tran...itott-s-behalf

I wouldn't be shocked if there are some changes at that property with the new owners.

Starwood sold the Santiago property in 2015. The new owners are now building a big residential tower on an undeveloped portion of the land:

https://www.latercera.com/pulso/noti...-hotel/272120/

SkyTeam777

Is the wine in the Sheraton club lounge only served from the waiter? or is it self-serve, too? I find club lounges in South America to not be very generous in this regard.

Xeno

I am current PL but will move down to gold effective 2/1/19.

I am part of a large group staying at the Santiago Sheraton Hotel & Convention Center toward the end of February.

Prior to the merger, even some Marriott properties gave lounge access to golds outside the USA. My impression of this Sheraton is that golds would not be given lounge access, but I would like to know for sure before trying to determine the best way forward.

SkyTeam777

Are San Cristobal Tower rooms still sold as a separate brand? While I know the hotel itself is integrated into Sheraton, the tower is still completely separate with a private entrance and check-in area. As a Platinum Premier, I was put in the main tower with access to the lounge, but I can't figure out what makes that separate tower so premium?

ORD-TGU

Just completed a points stay as a Titanium Member.
Took airport bus to city center($3), purchased some items, then uber to hotel ($5). (uber is abundant and inexpensive)
9 am check in (I emailed in advance) and 4pm checkout (did not need, but was given anyways).
Upgraded to the Tower, high floor, city view.
Room decor is classic luxury (gold trim, dark carved wood, marble,etc), I personally prefer modern minimalist, but overall very comfortable.
Staff is very professional.
Complimentary access to lounge in tower, full buffet breakfast, including cooked to order eggs.
Welcome amenity is choice of 1,000 points or bottle of wine in room or fruit.
The basement gym is large, indoor heated pool, steam room. All good, a bit dated, but clean and functional.
Free wifi which fast in room, poor in lounge
Lounge located in 21st floor.
All day coffee machine, fruit, water and cookies.
Afternoon snacks from 6-8pm with very attentive wait staff. +6 Hot dishes, plus another +6 cold choices, very good, was enough for dinner.
Had complimentary wine and pisco sour which we had plenty (full cash bar for anything else, even beer).
Nice panoramic views at dusk.
Again, staff was very attentive and generous with refills;
Full buffet breakfast was also very generous.
Location in Providencia provided panoramic views, we were able to walk to Cerro San Cristobal where you can take cable car to top of hill where Statue is located.
20 minute walk to Metro
Overall nice stay, comfortable room, professional staff, good lounge.

flugvergnugen

Sounds like the Sheraton is a solid hotel. Any opinions vs the Renaissance? Looking at a 2-night stay for tourist purposes.

Adam1222

Posts from a few years ago indicate this hotel was a bit dated. Any change since 2019?

RafKa

The rooms at the Sheraton (i.e. not San Cristobal Tower, which as it seems, got merged with the Sheraton) were extensively refurbished in 2017. Most communal areas weren't so they will be a little dated, but nothing horrendous. Still a solid property, somewhat poorly located for walking.

ElevatorEnthusiast

I can assure everyone that the San Cristobal Tower rooms are sold as Sheraton rooms, and it appears that they have not been renovated since at least 1927 ;-) it's the grandma vibes I was hoping for!

ElevatorEnthusiast

Eeek, this is some hotel history that has me just giddy! So cool to see the ITT Sheraton Luxury Collection name and logo still out in the wild!

James Luckard

ITT owned Sheraton when the hotel was built. It opened in 1970:

I don't want to get political, but a quick look at Wikipedia or a Google search will bring up articles about ITT's long-alleged part in the events in Chile three years later. As soon as ITT took over Sheraton, they made a big push to open hotels overseas, often in places where they had an economic interest - they owned the national phone company in Chile. In the early 70s, ITT opened other huge flagship Sheraton hotels in Rio, Buenos Aires and Lima. Hotels as outposts of Cold War diplomacy were nothing new, Conrad Hilton did the same thing in the 50s and 60s. There's a great book about this:



I've always thought there's another great book to be written about ITT's construction of Sheratons in key cities around the world in the 70s.

Incidentally, the other Sheraton in Santiago in the 70s, the Carrera-Sheraton Hotel, mentioned in the ad above, was the setting for much of the movie "Missing," with Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek. The movie was shot in Mexico City, however.

Here are the brochures I have on the hotel. When the tower opened, the "San Cristobal" name was given to it, and the main hotel became just the Sheraton Santiago:

ElevatorEnthusiast

While I can't compete with James' historical knowledge, I can provide a review of how the Sheraton is doing these days. Note that I'm unsure of how different the rooms are between the low-rise Sheraton wing and the former San Cristobal Tower wing. My San Cristobal room had Sheraton bedding but they couldn't strike out the SC logo on the towels :-) - regardless, as these are now one hotel, here are my pros, cons, and photos:

Pros:

• Upgraded to an Executive Suite in the San Cristobal Tower - a full suite with 1.5 bathrooms and a separated bedroom
• The suite decor is Grandma-style - I loved it, so old fashioned
• The furniture is comfortable - especially the living room couch
• The bed is comfortable - plush mattress, plush pillows, decent covers
• Shower pressure is good
• Nice views of the gondola going up the mountain behind the hotel
• They asked about late checkout and gave me 4 PM when I asked for 3 PM (app had no option due to convention hotel)
• Billed in USD directly
• Brought a massive bottle of sparkling wine and nuts (Mother thinks Marriott is mad at me and got rid of macarons - just wait for the Renaissance - I've told her it's the local culinary culture)
• The 21st floor lounge is more of a restaurant but is where evening service and breakfast is served
  • Breakfast was good - nice moist chocolate chip muffins and made-to-order eggs
  • The server at breakfast was nice
• The views from the elevator lobbies of the San Cristobal Tower are divine - seriously amazing

Cons:

• No tissues - had to call down to get a box, which they had
• Shower door didn't seal all the way and could leak out a lot of water as the water shoots towards the door
• Too much knocking - despite having late checkout, the privacy light didn't work and there was no sign, so I had 3 separate people knock - first the minibar attendant (I also had another minibar attendant come in the day before), then the housekeeper, then the housekeeper manager - I feel a bit bad as I snapped a tad at the third
• Only one elevator seemed active in the tower for 22 floors
• Lounge offering in the evening is a bit odd - they give you a check for over 20000 CLP (way too much for what was on offer) and then stand over you while you sign it (perhaps to make sure you add a tip) - the charges are waived, but one service charge (already included in the check) did show up on my bill - they were very clear that liquor was not included, so I stuck with water - desserts were a mix of odd parfaits with fruit and chocolate cookie crumbs
• No Internet TV OS

Overall, I would consider returning.

Photos: