OHNOMRBILL

sportychick I sent you a PM with my take on the Annex

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olimaspecto

I stayed in an Annex room for one night in early August on a layover in HNL, since the hotel was sold out otherwise. The room was dated and in a separate building, but mine did have a view of the ocean over a roof (even though the description said no view). I tried to upgrade using points/Gold status, and got nothing (since it was soldout).

mauld

As a Platinum, I was 'upgraded' ?? to the Manor Wing/Annex Room--but with an ocean view. Basically it is connected to the main part of the hotel via dingy corridors and it's decor resembled your typical roadside motel circa 1960's. I was on a cheap corporate rate/ paid stay and was only using it to gain stay credit while I waited for my 10:55 pm flight back to NJ, so for that it was ok, but I wouldn't have wanted to linger there for a couple of days, even with the beach view just outside my window. The room had a very strong mildew odor, and torn/dirty furnishings. At the time it appears they were remodeling some of the rooms on the floor I was given, as I could hear work going on around me. There were only a couple of other guests on my floor, and they didn't seem to like it any better than I did (from conversations at the elevator).

soonerfanatic

In May we were booked in a manor room at a rate of $128. As a Platinum, I was pleasantly surprised at checkin to be upgraded to a 2 room corner suite (great view over the water) with a nice basket of goodies waiting.

sportychick

Many thanks! Since I am only Gold, I may look elsewhere and not take my chances. I appreciate all your feedback! I will be there for 2007 Pro Bowl and unfortunately the current SPG 35% off offer seems to be blacked out so I will have to look at another chain.

Renard

The rooms in the main hotel that aren't renovated yet are bad enough. (they are in the process of renovating all the rooms in the main hotel...not sure if they're done yet) I was less than impressed with them when I was in one 15 months ago. The thought of the manor wing rooms scares me

Being gold too on Starwood, I'd rather gamble bidding on priceline for a 4* than on a upgrade from the manor wing at the sheraton.

Elena

I am currently at here at Sheraton Waikiki, I booked the annex room for $140/night for 5 nights and was upgraded to oceanfront room in the renovated wing as Plat. If you have status I suggest booking it, if not I wouldn't want to stay there. The nonrenovated rooms in the main wing are bad enough.

DawgmanOH

IMHO, the new renovated rooms are now among the best *Wood rooms (nonsuite) on Waikiki. THe non-renovated rooms and (especially) the Annex rooms? Not so much. If were just staying one night, I could grin and bear it in an Annex room for the points. Otherwise, no way.

PCTraveler

Stayed at the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani across the street back in May. It was less expensive, and a little disappointing. Had a great room with a clear view of the ocean, but no in room internet.

Ended up moving to the Royal Hawaiian on points for my last night, which was very disappointing - had a garden room, no upgrade, with a view of a courtyard and found the place to have character, but a little too stodgy for my taste.

doctorj

I stayed in a manor wing room for 5 nights in August. SPG gold but no upgrade.

The room was nothing to write home about but was clean, no mildew. I was able to be at the beachside pool one minute after leaving room.

Since I paid only $1135 as a single traveler on an Expedia package, I feel that I got my money's worth.

SPort

kawoh

Booked 3 rooms over x'mas and new years last year - hotel was fully sold out - contacted them b4 hand, was booked on the annex @ $125/night x 3 rooms. Was upgraded as a plat to main property. First night was given room in renovated floor full ocean view, v.v. high level - room was superb. Friends were put in a 1 b/r suite on a low floor, full ocean views, not renov. was great - but all just for 1 night. Remainder of stay on the other side (mountain view with some glimpses of the ocean). These rooms were unrenovated and really truly had alot to be desired - so don't get your hopes up at this property until they full renov it. Manor rooms never went in, but the entrance is just near the lobby, so not awkward, but i guess the rooms have alot to be desired. a tip - book the mai tai before you go - it's a green boat, has all you can drink and was just superb. They don't hold back on the booze either! enjoy the trip.

RTWSTARALLIANCE

Those of you who read the Starwood forum may know we make numerous trips into HNL. We buy United Vacation packages but stay here. I was getting to the end of my patience with this Hotel when we found the perfect room. In fact we will be in town in a couple of months and I already have booked another SPG property and the Hyatt Regency. Those decisions are going under review when I get back into the office. So here we go.

Preface: Fly into HNL to keep my wife on track to maintain UA 1k status.

Rate: We book the cheapest rate available. That means the Manor Wing of the Sheraton Waikiki. I know it is a risk but we are conservative.

Transportation: We rented a Avis rent a car. Like $107 all in for two nights.

Parking: I think the self parking rate went up. It is now $15 versus I believe $10 from the last visit.

Check-in: The SPG line did not look like it was moving so I stood in the regular line. Sure enough I beat the SPG line. I was welcomed back. I inquired about a upgrade and was told we had a nice full on ocean/diamond head view room. That works. At least it sounded good.

Perks: Offered amenity which I selected of course- points.

Room: This is it. We have a standard room but it is very very comfortable. You enter onto tile which is quickly followed by carpet. To the right are sliding closet doors. In the closet you have shelves, iron, iron board and a safe. You have a connector door to the next room. Along the right wall runs a wood shelf with a Samsung flat panel tv above. A ac unit is also on this wall. We of course have a sliding glass door which steps out onto a balconey we a table and two chairs. You also have a small stiff chair, table and ottoman which are near the slider. The room has a nice desk with a piece that comes out and moves to the side. The side piece is nice as it has a glass top. The desk has a lamp on it would easy to access plugs. This has a small slide out chair with wheels. Not that comfortable since it does not have a back. We have a comfy bed which is probably a sweet sleeper. The otherside of the beds has a frig which doubles as a spot for the lamp. The bathroom is interesting. Small but functional with a pop out tub rod. What is intersting is the mirrors are in four pieces when you are inside the bathroom but fold into quarters so you can view Diamond Head from the bathroom. Not that you would. Looks like shutters from the bedroom. The bathroom is well lit. The view from the room and balconey are perfect. The room is renovated.

Communication: I think HSIA also went up. The rate is $13.49 all in. I think it was $9.95 plus before.

Gym: ?

Spa: There are numerous places to get a treatment around here. They are probably less than the Hotel. We have an appointment tomorrow. Will advise on how it is.

Eating venues: Lots of places to eat around here also.

Local markets: Lots of those also.

Location: Perfect if you want to be in the heart of Waikiki.

Negatives: You can hear the elevator banks slightly. Something near the door jam should take care of that. Also the real risk of not getting this room again.

Closing: The realization that it all depends on how filled the Hotel is. At least we found something we both like. This room of course is not as nice as a suite. The last time we were here they had not been renovated. This is much better as it stands. Regards from Hawaii.

ldsant

Nice report so far; looking forward to more details. Could you please post the # of the room that you are enjoying?

Elena

General:I just had a 5 day stay here and don't find it all that fabulous. The renovation order makes no sense- floors 29, 30, 31 remain unrenovated (they started at the 28th floor) and no suites have been renovated. The suites are very generic, old bedding and I would recommend a renovated room over a non-renovated suite. The largest rooms are the partial oceanviews (not oceanfront) but the renovated ones are often sold out.

I originally had a room on the 28th floor, when I decided to extend I was told that although the room was not preblocked I still had to switch (to the exact same room on another floor) for some reason. I requested a renovated room and they nicely let me borrow keys to look at two different ones, one on the 22nd floor which was an oceanfront series 7 and therefore somewhat larger than the standard rooms but I opted for a room on the 12th floor (also a renovated floor) because I prefer the view where you can see both the city/beach/ocean and there was a large Plasma tv. I might mention that the five different rooms I have stayed in all had different brands and types of televisions. I have seen a 20-inch Panasonic, a 32-inch Sony, two midsized Samsungs and an LG. I asked check-in staff about this out of curiosity but they didn't know why.

Housekeeping: I have been very disappointed with housekeeping during my stay. I called and asked for them to clean at 2pm when I came back at 7pm it was still not clean and they could not explain why (I did not leave a dnd sign up). They said they would send someone up so I stepped out for dinner. When I came back, the room had been partially cleaned.

The negatives were 1.Bathtub was still sticky from soap used the previous night, 2. The bed was made but the bed cover was wrinkled up over a chair (I understand that because of the late hour they might put it on the side but in that case it could have been folded nicely) 3. Only one coffeecup was replaced, 4. Drinking glasses were unwashed 5.Newspapers/magazines were not picked up off of the floor, 6. Two used towels were still on the bedroom floor.

Many hotels go to great lengths organizing shoes and bathroom products as well as hanging up clothes in the closet. I don't expect this kind of service at a standard Sheraton but my complaints about the cleaning are all pretty basic. The rest of the days housekeeping was not as bad as this but still quite unsatisfactory. I sent an email to the assistant manager (got his email from the front desk) but never received a response, not even a generic "Thank you for your comments".

Other negatives: I also was frustrated with the business center, every time I e-mailed documents for printing they could not find them and I had to email them to myself and print them from the guest computers. This had three occurences and they assured me I had the right e-mail. Also the in-room LAN was annoying as it takes a number of steps to purchase internet access, creating an account and then logging in, etc. and then you have to re log-in every couple hours.

A month earlier I was disappointed with the bellman where the taxidriver had to take out all the bags while several of them watched idly.

Dining: I did enjoy dinner at the Hano Hano room, tasty food, good service, 80s vibe. I did have to wait 20 minutes even though I was on-time for my reservation. I especially would recommend the flambeed desserts. The other restaurants at SW (and PK) leave much to be desired. I did have brunch at the Surf Room at the Royal Hawaiian which was good but there is a much better one at the Halekulani two blocks away.

My take on it is that staying at SW if you can book an annex rate and be upgraded is a good deal, but at regular rates I would rather stay at the Moana Surfrider. (and avoid the Sheraton Princess at all costs) which I think anyone who has stayed there will agree with.