Stay Report: Sheraton Overland Park Hotel at the Convention Center (Overland Park, KS - November 2015)

Stay Report: Sheraton Overland Park Hotel 

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photo courtesy of Marriott.com

A family friend was getting married at the Convention Center, so we decided to stay at the Sheraton as it connects to the Convention Center so it would be easier access.  From the outside the hotel does not look like a Sheraton, more like an upscale Hampton Inn.  As you walk inside the lobby, the check-in desks are to left and the elevators are behind the check-in desks.  To the right is the walkway to the convention center while straight ahead is a small sitting area and behind the partition is the hotel's restaurant.  Check-in was done quickly and we received the key and proceeded to the room.

The room was a standard hotel room with standard amenities.  As you entered the room,

on the right was the bathroom while on the left was the closet.  The closet was standard with hangers to hang your clothes beneath a shelf, a safe, an iron, and ironing board.  The bathroom was also standard with a tub, a toilet, a sink, and bathroom toiletries.  The room itself was also standard and it was a bit dark.  On the right side, against the wall, were two double beds with a nightstand in the middle.  Across from the beds was a chest with drawers on the bottom and a TV on top.  Additional furniture included a desk next to the chest, as well as a chair and lamp next to the window (the window looked out onto the parking lot).  While the room did not contain a fridge, there were plenty of outlets to plug in the devices so that was a nice touch.  The beds were extremely comfortable but both the room and bathroom looked liked a renovated older hotel (and you could clearly hear the bathroom through the wall).

photo courtesy of TripAdvisor.com

The hotel is a full-service hotel so there are amenities for the guests to enjoy including a fitness center, a pool, meeting rooms, parking, hotel restaurant, and wifi.  The parking was complimentary and there were plenty of spaces available; and the wifi was also complimentary and the speeds were decent.  As we were there for a wedding I was not able to try the fitness center or the pool, but the easy access walkway to the convention center (where the wedding took place) was convenient.

photo courtesy of Booking.com

Overall, the hotel provide a comfortable bed and a decent room; however, it did not feel like a Sheraton.  The overall feel and look of the room felt more like a Hampton Inn or a mid-priced budget hotel rather than a full-service Sheraton.  The hotel is a decent place to stay and it's a convenient location to the Convention Center,  but when you book a Sheraton you expect a Sheraton experience; we booked a Sheraton and received a Hampton Inn experience.

Stay Report: Sheraton Suites Houston Near The Galleria (Houston, Texas - January 2015)

Stay Report: Sheraton Suites Houston Near the Galleria
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I frequently travel to Houston, specifically to the Galleria area, and am constantly on the search to find a decent hotel in the area.  There are lots of hotels in the area, and more keep coming.  This time I decided to try out the Sheraton Suites near The Galleria.  Overall, the Sheraton Suites is a nice hotel with comfortable rooms and good customer service, but this is not my definition of suites and access to the hotel can be difficult.  

The hotel is located within the Galleria area and is either a 2 minute drive or a 3 minute walk to the Galleria – so it is very convenient in that sense.  What is not convenient is the entrance – there is only one entrance to the hotel and that is in the middle of the highway service road so you have to make a very long u-turn and then wait into traffic to get to the entrance of the hotel while competing with the drivers that want to turn onto the main street to access the Galleria - not very relaxing.  Parking is available behind the hotel and it costs $19 for in/out privileges and there are plenty of spaces. I checked in and was given my key as well as a detailed explanation of the hotel and its services.  


I had requested a suite with 2 double beds and the layout of my room was as follows.   As you entered into the room, on your right was the bathroom which had a long sink and counter space.  On the other side of the sink was a double closet and next to the sink was the door to the bathroom which contained a toilet and a shower.  You could also access the bathroom directly from the bedroom.  The bedroom itself contained two double beds, which were both spacious and comfortable.  In addition to the beds, the room also contained a dresser with a  TV on top and drawers on the bottom.  In between the two beds was a nightstand with lamps and plugs.  The room was a decent size so even though there was a lot of stuff in the room, the room did not feel too claustrophobic and only felt a bit snug.

Across from the beds was a door that led to the sitting room and this room contained a couch that could double as a sofa bed, an armoire that contained the TV, as well as a chair and a table.  Right next to the couch was a desk that faced towards the couch and behind the desk was a nook that housed a fridge, a coffee maker, and a sink.  I had said earlier that this was not my definition of a suite, because usually a suite has a more defined kitchen area with a larger fridge and microwave as well as dining table; this hotel had none of that.  While overall it was a pleasant and comfortable room, it just was not my definition of what a suite looked like (there are other hotels within the Galleria area that bill themselves as 'suites' and those are proper suites; see Doubletree Suites Houston Galleria review here).

There are many amenities for the guests to enjoy including a restaurant/bar, a very nice and spacious fitness center, a business center (with computers and printers), shuttle service to transport guests around the neighborhood, as well as wifi.  Since I was only here for one night I only got to experience the wifi which was complimentary and decent enough to stream videos.  

In the end, the positives of the hotel are the close proximity to the Galleria, the hotel has good customer service, and the room is divided between the sitting area and the bedroom.  Negatives include the lack of a full suite, lack of complimentary parking, and odd entrance to the hotel.

Stay Report: Sheraton North Houston at IAH Airport

Stay Report: Sheraton North Houston at IAH Airport
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I have stayed at many places near Houston Bush Airport (IAH) and some places have been better than others.  Most places have been away from the airport, but I was looking for something that was closer so decided to try the Sheraton Houston Airport North.  I had also choose Sheraton because of the following benefit: most Sheratons allow a 4p checkout for SPG members.

There are many hotels near Houston Bush Airport, some of them are farther away while others are on the main airport road; the Sheraton is on the main airport road.  From the outside, the hotel looks big but not new.  There is plenty of free parking situated around the hotel.  I had pulled up to the lobby and went in to check in.

As you enter the hotel, on the right are the checkin desks while to the left are the

meeting rooms as well coffee shop.  Straight ahead are both the restaurant and bar.  I proceeded to the checkin desks and checked in; this is where one issue happened as I had to request the late checkout but it very difficult to get and the checkin staff was not very helpful.  I checked in, got my key and proceeded to the 8^th floor to my room.

There are 4 elevators located in the hotel and they quickly came each time we called the elevator.  The hotel is somewhat large and so that makes the hallways leading to the room very long.   We had to go down one hallway completely and then half the other hallway before we got to our room.  The room was located on the front side so it overlooked the front entrance and main airport road.  Even though the airport was close by, you could only hear the airplane noise in the parking lot and not in the rooms.

Our room was at the beginning of the second hallway – there was the initial hallway outside the elevator and that lead to the second hallway.  The room was a standard Sheraton room with two double beds.  As you opened the door, you entered into the hallway in which the closet were on the right and the bathroom on the left.  The bathroom was standard with a sink, a tub and a toilet and was a decent size.  The closet was also decent and came with a safe, an iron, and ironing board.  As you entered further into the room, on the left were the two double beds and on the right was the chest with TV on top.  Next to the chest was the desk which lead to the window, and there was also an armchair next to the window.  The beds themselves were decent, Sheraton style beds and provided a comfortable enough sleep.  While the room did not look modern, it looked like the fixtures had been updated.  There was a USB port adapter on the desk, but there were a lack of plugs in the room. 

The hotel is full service meaning they have a lot of amenities including a restaurant, a

bar, fitness center, a pool, free WiFi, conference rooms, and free parking.  Due to the short stay I was only able to try the free WiFi, which was decent but sometime slowed a bit.  The fitness center looked really nice and big, and the bar was definitely packed the night I was there.  The pool look underutilized and it seemed that there was a large outdoor space with a small pool.

Overall, it was an average stay at the Sheraton Houston Airport North.  While proximity to the airport was a convenience, the hotel did not impress me enough to make me want to stay there again.  There are other options at a lower cost that provide either the same or more standard of service, and with better service.

Stay Report: Sheraton Amsterdam Airport Hotel (February 2017)

Stay Report: Sheraton Amsterdam Airport Hotel
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For our last night in Amsterdam, we decided to stay near the airport as both of us had flights early in the morning the next day.  We had a choice between either staying in the city and  getting up early to leave for the airport, or stay near the airport and get some additional sleep - we choose the later.  Our plan was to leave our luggage in our hotel located in the city, go sightseeing, and then head to the airport hotel that night.

There are many hotels near Amsterdam Schipol airport - many are near the airport but there are three that are connected to the airport: the Hilton, the Sheraton, and the Mercure.  According to the reviews, the Sheraton is the one that is most centrally connected to the terminal (2-3 minute walk); the Mercure is located after security in the transit area (so has a lot of restrictions); and the Hilton is located a bit further from the terminal (5-10 minute).  Based on the reviews and information, we decided to book the Sheraton Amsterdam Airport hotel.

We had taken the bus directly from the city center to the airport.  The bus drops you off at Plaza Park 2 and from there you enter into the departures area.  You can see the Sheraton from Plaza Park 2, but the entrance is through the departures zone.  From the departures zone, you take a travellator that connects you to a bridge.  The bridge ultimate leads to a parking garage, but in the middle of the bridge is the entrance to the Sheraton.

You enter into the lobby area which has a nice open atrium with lots of windows and makes the place look very big.  As soon as you enter the lobby, on your left is the ‘business center’ with computer access (which is extremely slow) and some couches.  Further ahead in the lobby are the check-in desks.  Check-in was smooth and quick and we received our key to the room.  We were on the 6^th floor and the elevators were located opposite to the check-in desk.  In between the elevators and the check-in desk was the fitness center as well as the SPG check-in desk.  We took the elevators to our room.

The 6^th floor is an SPG floor which meant that one side had access to the SPG lounge while the other side did not.  Both sides had access to refreshment area which included free coffee.   We went to our room which was overlooking the atrium.

As you entered into the room, on your left was the entrance to the bathroom and on the right were the closets.  The closets contained an iron, an ironing board and a safe.  Even though the bathroom was pretty big, with a nice tub and long sink, the shower were pretty small comparatively.  The bathroom also contained nice Sheraton toiletries.  Further ahead in the room, on the left hand side were the two beds which were situated near each other.  Next to each bed was a nightstand.  The beds themselves were very comfortable and provided a really nice sleep.

Across from the bed was a chest with drawers on the bottom and the TV on top.  The chest also contained a fridge and the minibar. Between the bed and the window was a chair.  Overall the room size was very generous, and felt more like an American-size room versus the smaller European-size room.

The hotel had two restaurants, one on the bottom floor and one next to the lobby.  There was also a fitness center, which again was very large and provided a lot of nice equipment.  As an SPG member, free wifi was included but it was generally slow and always asked for the login.

Overall, it was a nice stay at the hotel.  The location was very good as the hotel is connected to the departure zone through a walkway, so it’s a 2-3 minute walk from the hotel to the departure zone.   The room size and bathroom size were also nice.  Negatives included slow in-room access and slow internet access in the business center.