If I came running up to you excitedly proclaiming I've found this great, modern, luxury hotel at Heathrow, you'd probably think I'd be either lying, gone mad, or both..and you'd be right..
In the third of the Marriott Heathrow series, last week I stayed at the Sheraton Heathrow, on Bath Road. Not to be confused with the Sheraton Skyline, also on Bath Road, which I'll be featuring in the fifth in the Marriott Heathrow series.
Regular readers will know that I am currently reviewing all six (yes, six!) Marriott properties in and around Heathrow Airport. Previously we looked at the Marriott Moxy, London Heathrow and the Marriott Courtyard, London Heathrow.
Today, I'm reviewing the Sheraton - and from the off let me tell you it was a dubious honour!
As a regular visitor to the area, I'm really spoiled for choice when it comes to hotels, but they're airport hotels, so generally, not great!
About Sheraton..
The Sheraton brand can trace its roots back to 1933, when two Harvard classmates bought their first hotel in Cambridge, Massachusetts. But it wasn't until 1939 when the Sheraton name was adopted, following the purchase of their third hotel in Boston which was called Sheraton, and too costly to move the sign above the hotel!
The Sheraton brand was acquired by Starwood in 1998 and then subsequently became part of the Marriott family following the merger of the two hotel giants in 2016.
With 436 properties globally, the Sheraton sub-brand sits in Marriott's 'Luxury' range and the strap line is "Sheraton Hotels & Resorts is on a mission to bring people together through communal experiences because we believe that travel is better when shared".
The Room
I booked an Executive Twin room in order to access the hotel's executive lounge and having previously stayed in standard rooms, I couldn't really point to the difference in room fittings - I presume it becomes an executive room simply to confer executive lounge access - and the price difference is only about £50.
It felt modern enough but the clues about the age of this hotel which was opened in 1971 were clear to see. At some point all the rooms have had cheap upvc double glazing fitted and it looked tacky to me. The bathroom was ok but notice no bath.
I slept well enough in the single bed but needing to be up at 5am the following morning, there was little time to fully enjoy it.
The Executive Lounge
This was a very peculiar and disappointing experience, especially as the previous week I had experienced the glorious IHG InterContinental Club Lounge at the o2 arena in East London. You can't compare these lounges because InterContinental run their lounges as uber-luxury profit centres in their own right. But it shows what can be done, and equally, at this Sheraton lounge, what isn't being done.
Left to right: the entrance to the lounge, the meagre alcohol offering and embarrassing food provision
I can honestly say that I love writing these reviews because when you're a travel blogger you occasionally come across something so laughable that you just sit back and start typing whilst chuckling. You learn not to take anything too seriously in the travel industry and it's a good job because this was one of those situations.
Now I've been in some dreadful lounges in my time..ask anyone who has a Priority Pass card and they'll confirm that. But as hotel lounges go, this was probably the worst one I've ever come across. The alcohol selection consisted of some random red or white wine, or beer. Spirits? Erm, no, not even Bells whisky, which actually makes the third party lounges at Manchester Airport look good. Prosecco was available by request to the lounge host but when I asked for some she said "sorry, we have run out, we're only allocated two bottles each evening in the lounge".
The food consisted of spring rolls with some salad. Tasty enough, but come on, how many spring rolls can you eat in one sitting?!
I quickly moved to the bar..where I got a few whiskies..which had to be paid for, obviously..
Left to right: the lounge decor, along with the (and I quote) "roaring fire" - which wasn't even flickering
The Bar Area
I must confess to being slightly disappointed by this point. Neither my room nor the executive lounge felt premium at all and it's made worse by being wrapped up in a very old building.
That said, the bar area is nice and the waiter who served me was very friendly and stopped by for a chat when he brought my drink.
Conclusion
Globally, the Sheraton brand brings Marriott around $10bn in revenues each year. But it also poses a problem for Marriott as despite launching a re-brand and re-focus in 2018, Sheraton is suffering from a confused dual personality. Sheraton's properties in Asia particularly are well regarded. In the US and Europe however, and as I saw during my stay here, some Sheraton's are ageing and it does show.
Check in was painfully slow, with nobody really manning reception until they noticed a queue building up and even when I did get served the receptionist asked "do you have Marriott Bonvoy status?" (I do have Platinum Elite, but assumed she could see that), the room was sub-par for even Heathrow pricing and the executive lounge was laughable.
The Sheraton Heathrow has had more facelifts than Simon Cowell, but continues to advertise a premium experience at what is now a 53 year old building. What's the problem with that you might ask? Well, trying to turn a 1971 hotel fit for 2024 standards is like trying to bash the round peg in to the square hole - it's nigh on impossible.
When all is said and done though, there are 196 million Marriott Bonvoy (Marriott's loyalty scheme) members around the world and they all need somewhere to sleep - so this hotel remains a popular choice.
My stay was comfortable, but pound for pound, there are much better value hotels here at Heathrow than this one.
I paid £185 for one night in an executive twin with lounge access.
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An interesting insight and very well explained.