travellingcari

Thanks. Booked the HI.

Not a great rate (anyone know what's sending rates through the roof Aug 2-4 compared to any other summer weekend in Middlebury/Burlington?) but better than the Sheraton and reviews are better so I've gone for it.

May give the Sheraton a go next visit. Usually we do Marriott in VT as my traveling partner has status there and they're better represented in NE outside of MA, but they wanted ~$400/night. No thanks.

Enjoy your time in Burlington.

greenlotus

I've stayed here 3 times over the last year and a half. Last time was last Saturday. Before this recent visit I was here in January 2013.

The Pro's:

Great pool area for kids and nice place for parents to hang around!
Nice lobby area and wide open space!
Nice bar with decent selection of drinks!
Huge restaurant space and places to relax if you don't want to be in your room!
Staff were pleasant helpful and very professional!
Platinum lounge (nicely renovated) had decent selection of snacks in the evening and breakfast was very tasty and family was happy!

The Con's:

Hotel needs a facelift to keep up with some of the other Sheraton's out there! Looking a bit dated!
Carpet's smelled a bit wet and stinky on our second floor rooms! Maybe because of the rain and wet ski boots the last 15 years!! Other hallways didn't smell as bad!
This place is like a big gerbil maze! A bit difficult to get around but not bad when you get use to it!

Out of it all I'd rate this a 3.5 out of 5. Not bad, Not great! We were satisfied and we will be back!

travellingcari

We booked the HI which is next to the Sheraton on Williston Rd. Friends who we were traveling with who are "Starwood or Bust" (as in, will not go to a city if there isn't a Starwood) stayed at the Sheraton for the first night. Citing construction noise, two foul rooms and poor service, they moved to the HI with us the 2nd night.

They said the noise was worse than the poor room condition, although the broken shower handle and night table that "fell apart" when setting the phone on it were bad. They also mentioned road noise as unbearable. I'm not sure whether that's a condition of the Sheraton's windows as our room was road-facing at the HI and we heard negligible road noise.

HI isn't perfect by any stretch, but it's a solid HI and, it seems, better than the Sheraton at this point. This stretch of South Burlington is hotel central (just up the road from UVM campus) and the Best Western Windjammer, Comfort Inn and DoubleTree are within a stone's throw so there are plenty of choices.

AAerSTL

Upcoming trip here, will report back on my stay.

makin'miles

I was there overnight earlier this week, and as other posters has mentioned, the rooms are showing their age. The hotel has, however, renovated portions of the lobby, which look great. They have also begun renovations to guest rooms with nice 'standard Sheraton' finishes, apparently starting on some of those on the first floor right near the front desk (rooms are in four different 'blocks' here, of up to four floors each).

Club lounge has also been renovated, and judging from the hallway carpets one wing of the Club Level as well. I was also on the other wing of the club level - definitely an older room, but clean.

sbtinme

Believe me, these were the rooms that needed it the most. This section of the hotel was the old motor lodge from the 1950s. And, yes, these rooms were part of that motor lodge -- they're original! They're also small and boxy and are the rooms reserved for bus tours, opaque bidding site inventory, etc. But, they were, frankly, unacceptable in recent years and the hotel themselves knew it.

I'll be happy when *ALL* of the rooms are finally done here. It's looking like very late spring now.

EnvoyBoy

Am here now and in a renovated room. It doesn't look as though all the room are done. It's done in the new Sheraton dark green/brown tones. Bathroom vanity but not the tub--still has mold under the grout and grey-ish tubs that were once white. Maddeningly, nothing done about bedside outlets. There are four on the wall behind the nightstand and three are occupied. It's 2014--that's ridiculous.

Also ridiculous was my check-in. Through my ambassador I had made arrangements for an early check-in, due to a 4am start. Confirmed directly with the hotel. Told when I arrived no rooms available. Desk agent tried their hardest to get rid of me--offered a shuttle ride downtown, would call me on my cell when a room was ready, etc.

When I indicated that I would prefer to wait in the lobby in sight of the front desk, then a room magically appeared. Why the unnecessary games for a repeat plat guest who had a confirmed early check-in??

dcstudent

Stayed Thursday the 26th of June. Arrived at 1am, checked-out at about 6am. (Just needed a brief rest on a long drive.)

Check-in and check-out was smooth, but rest of my very short stay was underwhelming.

The room's air conditioning was not working. When my wife and I entered the room the temperature was 76 degrees, 4 hours later....75 degrees and we set the thermostat at 60, fan at highest blast. If we had been staying longer I would have asked for a new room, but again, just needed some sleep.

Also, hotel overcharged me. But, to be fair, they fixed the charge in 48 hours.

sbtinme

Sadly, you are not the only one to whom his has happened. Over the years, this very scenario has happened to me probably half a dozen times at this hotel. What's worse is when the room is cool at bedtime, but then I wake up at 3:18am and it's 80 degrees in the room!

It's a known issue here and their old window units are buggy. The GM told me that once all of the new a/c units are in (assumed it would be done by now?!?) this issue would forever go away. Sounds as if that has not happened.

EnvoyBoy

Although I was in a newly renovated room last month, the AC unit clearly was not new. Old, loud, rumbling...

dcstudent

I didn't have a window unit, but the unit I had was sure not working. It was loud enough though!

dtwdoc

Looking forward to a stay this weekend. Anyone know if the renovation has been completed?

dionnec123

I was last there a few months ago. I believe the renovation is complete but the renovation was not done well. They re-used a lot of old hardware. I had a room that looked new but had rusty hinges and a beat up door. There was still a lot of painters tape that was never removed. I would not really call it a renovation but more of a refresh. They did as little work as possible to make it slightly better. Take advantage of the UVM rate. Lounge is nicely done but offerings are minimal. Customer service is pretty much non-existent.

James Luckard

Leaving Marriott on December 1, 2017, after 51 years as a Sheraton. Converting to DoubleTree.

http://www.starwoodhotels.com/sherat...propertyID=606

travellingcari

Interesting. When I was there a few years ago there was another Doubletree right there. Has that one reflagged?