Sheraton Zürich = Frequent Suite Upgrades

I have been several times to Sheraton Zürich in the past and found that it’s solid value for the money in an otherwise high-priced city. Sheraton is often cheaper than Four Points and benefits as Ambassador Elite are very good at Sheraton which makes me come back regularly.  I had another good stay and this time I thought I would provide a more complete review than my cursory comments from the past earlier in this thread.  

The hotel is right in front of tram station Toni Areal on line #4.  This part of town won’t be the most useful for many travelers but it is about 10 minutes from the main train station so personally I think given how convenient the tram is, the location discount embedded in the price of this hotel suits me just fine. 

The hotel is in the middle of an industrial area and there are not that many restaurants within a 5-minute walk – you have to walk 10-15 minutes to reach a higher density of restaurants available.  To make matters worse there was a fast casual dining Mexican restaurant next to the hotel but it has now closed.  There is a Migros grocery store on the other side of the street which can be convenient; they also have take-away meals but only during lunch time because most of their customers are local workers.  

For at least 90% of my stays at Sheraton Zürich I have been upgraded to a junior suite and this stay was not any different.  If I am not mistaken, there is a junior suite at each corner of the building on most if not all floors which means odds of upgrades are quite good because they have a lot of those rooms available. They try to upgrade elite members to a floor as high as possible and when I arrived at 3pm they offered me the 5th floor immediately or I could wait to get the 7th floor for a room that was not ready yet.  I do not mind as much as some others the noise from the train track which passes right next to the hotel so I took the room on the 5th floor. Obviously being higher would be better to limit the noise, but also which corner you are on can make a difference. For this stay I had the worst of the four corners and the elevated train track was just slightly below the height of my room so I got to experience what is probably close to maximum noise disturbance. It is still not enough to detract me from staying there and I appreciate the room upgrades with predictable regularity, but people who are sensitive to noise should be well aware that it is one of the weaknesses of this hotel.  The soundproofing on external walls and windows is decent but it cannot block 100% of the noise from trains.  

The soundproofing is actually weaker inside the hotel – you can occasionally hear nearby doors closing quite loudly in the hallway.  Fortunately the junior suite being in a corner and with the hallways being a dead end in each corner, you only have 1-2 direct neighbors in the corridor so there is very limited traffic outside the room.  

The room itself looks sharp and is built to a high standard compared to other Sheratons of the world.  The hardwood floors in the living room and the heated floor tiles in the bathroom are nice.  The bathroom is split in two: one portion for the toilet with a small sink, and the main bathroom has a large walk-in rain shower/bath section in addition to the vanity with a glossy black top.  The bathroom looks great and also has a large window next to the bath tub for excellent natural lighting, even when you draw the blinds down for privacy.  

In the bedroom there is a large pillar which gives the room a special twist relative to many cookie-cutter Sheratons and there is a working desk behind that pillar.  Another interesting feature is that there are cushions besides the large windows where you can sit down and enjoy the city views.  Behind the bedroom is a spacious walk-in closet with good storage space.  This being a relatively new and modern hotel, you also have control panels on the wall to operate blinds when needed and there are also several power plugs and USB ports but only on one side of the bed.  

Breakfast is offered in the lounge only for guests Platinum or above although we can also choose restaurant breakfast as the welcome amenity instead of points, but it is not nearly as good a choice as at many other hotels in my opinion even for longer stays, as explained below.  

Breakfast in the lounge is only Tuesday to Friday 6:30am-10am.  On other mornings since this is mostly a business hotel, weekends are quieter and they do not want to set up breakfast in the lounge for only a handful of people. People who have access to the lounge get their breakfast in the restaurant Saturday to Monday, and in the lounge on other days.  Timing on weekends is more leisurely 6:30am-11:30am.

I found breakfast in the lounge to be fine although nothing special.  The choice of fruits was not particularly impressive and pineapples seemed like they were half way spoiled.  There were a few hot dishes such as scrambled eggs, baked veggies, sausages, and bacon. 

Breakfast in the restaurant is not very different from the lounge.  The only differences are the live cooking station for omelets, the pancakes + waffles, and there were a few more fruits available in the restaurant than the lounge and pineapples there looked better.  Unless someone highly values the cooked-to-order eggs, I am not sure it’s worth paying extra for the restaurant (room rate including breakfast) or worth foregoing welcome points, particularly if you are going to have a few mornings in the restaurant by default if a stay includes weekend days.  

The environment in the restaurant is not crowded like some hotels are.  The tables are not close to each other so even when the restaurant is full, it remains relatively pleasant.  The décor is interesting particularly the Swiss cow watching diners at the far end. 

Despite those positive traits, the lounge remains more peaceful than the restaurant so during week days if given the choice I would choose the lounge.

Happy hour in the lounge includes hors d’oeuvres 6-9pm and alcohol 6-10pm which is quite generous timing-wise.  The offerings are ok but nothing out of the ordinary - at least it’s healthy stuff: cold cuts, several salads and veggies, fruits, bread, cheese, and soup.  Alcohol is only beer, one white wine, and one red wine which is pretty bare bones.  The other lounge I know of in Zurich is the Hilton near the airport and offerings there are superior – Sheraton could definitely improve in this aspect, or return to what it used to be.  When Sheraton opened in 2014, happy hour was quite good but they have been gradually cut back over time.  

They have done the same in the afternoon: there used to be sandwiches available but this has been eliminated.  There are still some desserts and snacks however.

The lounge itself is quite small so it can get full quickly during week evenings.  The views from the lounge are nice however.  

Service at this hotel is ok but not overly positive. On this trip they helped me out with sending a fax and mailing a document for me after check-out on a day when the post office was closed.  In the lounge there is only one attendant and everything is self-served; the lady was there mostly to refill the buffet and clear tables rather than serve customers directly.  During the day the lounge is unattended so you cannot not expect personal service – you need to go to reception for any kind of issue.  Housekeeping was done at the time requested and the room very clean, however they are not the most thorough in terms of refills for example many items were not replenished sufficiently during the stay such as mouthwash, toilet paper, and face cloths.  

Wifi worked well during my stay, 26 Mbps for both download and upload.

Overall this is a good hotel in its price range if you don’t mind the location by the train tracks.  Besides the Four Points, the other hotels I have stayed at in Zurich are not part of Marriott so perhaps that is a less useful comparison, but in any event I have stayed at enough hotels in the city to have a rough idea of what represents good value.  At Sheraton, having frequent room upgrades and access to a decent Club Lounge at realistic prices particularly for stays which include weekend day(s) makes me a return guest.  Someone staying Monday to Friday might not find that this hotel is as good a deal because I sometimes notice rates flirting with the 300 CHF level during week days so I do not stay at Sheraton at any price.  When it’s about 200 CHF or below then it’s a no brainer.