iah-plat

Can you stay at the W New Orleans or W French Quarter instead? Both are a short walk from the Sheraton, and IMHO are wonderful properties. Sometimes the W New Orleans has great rates n(for New Orleans, that is).

RichardMannion

Unfortunately not as it was booked by my company on a disc corp rate, and there are 3 huge conferences going on at the same time and none are showing availability

Thansk,
Richard

fly co to see the yanks

well, if i am any indication, i don't think this hotel tries to insulate platinum guests from noisy construction.

i got an upgrade...and the room was directly below a construction site.

please see my earlier posts on the subject.

RichardMannion

Jury is still out on this property:-

a) Room was upgraded to a Club room on 45th Floor, my colleague who I am sharing checked in first. I checked this when I checked in. I inquired about suites and told that I wasn't allowed to be upgraded to a suite. Huh? I checked this with them asking if it was considered a select suite, and it was. I then pointed out that Platinum members are entitled to a suite if there's availabilty and there was suites available. Took the corner suite, same description as before in other posts on this hotel.

b) Why do they bother with the Preferred Guest check-in line. I have spent a considerable amount of time in the last day waiting in the queue, when there are people checking in that have no SPG status. Can they not have a Platinum/ Gold only line?

c) Club Lounge is closed. They have made a corner suite on 42nd floor temp lounge. Issue with lounge hours, the hotel guidebook says its 24hrs, SPG rep for hotel tells me its never been 24hrs. SOunds like a lot of guidebooks need reprinting at this hotel.

d) Gym facility, had a look round earlier and inquired about gym access. Told point blank its $10 regardless of what room or status you have. Bizarre! SPG web says its comp for Platinum. Check with SPG desk at hotel and they say I have to sign for the $10 at the Gym and then they will take it off the bill at the end.

Lost count of number of times I have had to go down to reception so far, and I've not been here 24 hrs yet. Staff are kind of trying, but I am still not convinced I am been looked after or treated as a Platinum member.

On the otherhand I suppose it could be worse, could be stuck in the Doubletree which appalling.

Thanks,
Richard

fly co to see the yanks

knowing what i know now, i would have jumped at the Doubletree.

Pietro

Why not switch to the W N.O.? It's a few blocks away and sounds like a much nicer hotel.

skofarrell

Because its full, and he's on a convention/corp booking (read the entire thread...)

[This message has been edited by skofarrell (edited 07-20-2002).]

Pietro

skofarrell -- I have the entire thread. I suggested the W (actually either W in N.O.) as there may be some cancellations that would free up some rooms. It's bound to happen somewhere, especially with convention crowds in town.

RichardMannion

Jury have returned a verdict:-

Nice hotel, but worst service ever from a Starwood property. I would get better service showing my HHonors card.

Tried calling SPG hotline but to no use. They can't do anything, tried transferring me to some service dept but they were not there.

Such a shame after the brilliant service I got at the Boston Sheraton.

I've yet to come across a member of staff here that knows the SPG program properly, even the SPG co-ordinator left a lot to be desired. Comne on I had to remind them about my Platinum amenity at check-in!

Thanks,
Richard

fly co to see the yanks

1) the Sheraton Boston is pure gold.
2) RichardMannion: the SPG coordinator at the Sheraton N.O. was the single most incompetent person I met during my stay, and that's saying something. It was Y.H., right?

Varus

The Sheraton New Orleans is in a bad state right now due to the renovations. They are working on at least half a dozen floors (especially club level floors), and while the service is as good as ever in the club lounge, the locale in the corner stinks. I have been staying at the Sheraton every week since March (work down in NOLA), and I find the service on average to be excellent and better then the W New Orleans where I am staying this week. I have been situated near rooms undergoing renovation, and have never heard a single related noise of the past 2 months. Others have not been so lucky however, so bear that in mind. I arrived at the W last night (Sheraton was full when I arrived and I forgot to reserve in advance), they made no mention of my status, showed no signs friendliness, and offered me no upgrade. When I asked politely if any suites were available, I was asked if I would like to book into one! When I told the dolt that I would like a platinum upgrade, he then told me nothing was available.

This has been very typical of my experiences there, and the experiences of a dozen or so of my colleagues who have stayed at the W (some of them 4 nights per week for 2 years). Once again I am dismayed by the poor service that the W offers compared to the Sheraton - I will NEVER EVER go back there for the rest of my time in New Orleans.(2 more months at least).

In my experience, the only time the W beats the Sheraton is when comparing beds and air conditioning units (both of which the Sheraton will catch up on after the renovations). The Sheraton has a much nicer gym, free bottled water and 1-800 calls (perfect for callig cards), and aside from the renovation is much quieter then the W.

Pietro

Varus -- I need a job where I spend that much time in NOLA! What do you do?

Interesting to see the range of opinions here. It goes to show you how lucky or unlucky one can be when checking into a hotel.

RichardMannion

Update:-

Starwood have recovered the situation here and no it didn't take compensation to make me happy.

Spoke to the Director of Rooms here at the Sheraton and he was very helpful (Also knowledgable about FT too!).

I came away feeling that things were going to get changed, looks like they are going to rethink the SPG check-in line.

Club lounge is now complete and open properly.

Now I know what the term 'roadwarrior' means too

Thanks,
Richard

fly co to see the yanks

on july 2, 2002, corporate services promised me that the GM of the property was going to call me regarding my file.

july 23, 2002-still no call.

Varus

That sucks... I find that the Sheraton sometimes doesn't deal with you in a timely fashion, but when they do, they do a GREAT job of correcting mistakes. In contrast, I find the W likes to deal with problems by continually passing the buck in a circular fashion until you get so frustrated that you give up trying.

As for what I do, I am a consultant working on a project down at Entergy (A large utility that has operations in 5 southern states). It's a cool city but I still fly home every weekend to my hometown - Vancouver BC.