I recently attended a group event at the Sheraton. I was privy to a lot of the behind the scenes information on the planning and execution of the event, in addition to my three night stay.

First of all, let me review the room. The room is fairly small, with a king bed, a desk, a dresser, a closet, small bathroom. There was a basketball sized stain on the carpet in the hallway right out our door. (It made finding our room very easy). The wallpaper, and furnishings were not bad, it had a more upscale look to it, but still lacked the features of a first class establishment.

The service staff was a mixed bag. In the few times we attempted to call the front desk, the call was routed around a bit, and could be difficult to get someone in a short time frame. At checkout, the front desk was unwilling to extend to a 1PM checkout, and was rather abrupt about telling us 'No', though we ended up defying them anyway. We attempted to contact the concierge on one occasion and got voice mail. The first two nights I was there, I failed to have the 'do not disturb' sign out. The maids start to clean early at about 8:30 am. What bothered me is that they would simultaneously knock and enter the room. They'd be three steps into the room before my girlfriend and I let out a startled 'later'. We forgot the second night as well, to have a repeat of the maid barging into the room (again knocking and entering at the same time). By the same token, other areas of service were good, the doorman was immediately ready to hail a cab, the people at the front desk were good to deal with face to face and the business center personnel were cordial. It did appear that the business center charged $2 for receiving a FedEx package. (on two occasions).

The banquet I attended was serviced by the hotel staff. I can say that the experience was interesting. The service staff for the banquet were made up of mostly elderly gentlemen. I'm aware that they did not serve the entree that the client had contracted for. If I didn't know this, the food was not bad - a little better than average banquet food - and the only thing that really detracted from the dinner was the service staff. It seemed as if they didn't care. They would serve the wine in such a rapid fashion that they would splash wine all over the table cloth (and you, if you weren't careful), same with the water. When they put the coffee cups down for dessert, they seemed to intentionally drop the cups from a high enough level to make as loud a sound as they could with the cups - thus interfering with the speaker on the stage.

I also ate at the breakfast place off the lobby. I had the $21.00 breakfast buffet. It was ok as far as breakfast buffets are concerned. A good selection of meat and egg items, no omelet station though, and the pastries were below dunkin donut level, slightly stale. They did have a asian station with rice and some other stuff that I couldn't identify - somewhat interesting for a breakfast buffet.

If the hotel has other positives, it is well located, just north of Times Square on 7th ave, and within brief walking distance to Central Park, Rockefeller Plaza, Saks 5th Ave, St. Patricks Cathedral, all the Broadway theaters, etc.

I guess the bottom line is if you want a roof over your head, with small, yet clean rooms, and don't expect very much in service (and can remember to hang your do not disturb sign) there would be nothing wrong with staying here, especially with a good price.







Recommended: No