Sheraton Fallsview Hotel

First of all, we enjoyed our visit. The overall experience was a good one, the view from our 16th story room was outstanding, the general friendliness and attentiveness was good, and the hotel staff listened to and addressed my concerns. It was a good visit, but was far from an exceptional one, which was the expectation that I had before we arrived given 1) this is the Sheraton, 2) I have many years of service industry work experience, and 3) this was our twentieth anniversary, so I chose this hotel so that my wife would be feel cared for and know that I had planned this trip with her in mind.

My main concern really came down to what seemed to be an overall lack of communication at the resort as a whole.

Again, the room's view was spectacular. The room was clean and comfortable. But my first and greatest disappointment was with the extra upgrades that I purchased. I felt that I spent an extra amount for something special and really didn't get that. However, I chose the room for that reason, and for the fireplace and the Jacuzzi with the king bed. I was also under the impression that there was supposed to be a bottle of wine waiting in the room. Three of those five were disappointing. The fireplace was more of a night lamp shining on fake logs (disappointing, but not the end of the world). The Jacuzzi tub turned out to be a large tub with jets (technically correct) whereas I thought we were going to have something like what is apparently on the corner rooms (again, not the end of the world, but I thought the website should have been more clear). The bottle of wine may be my misunderstanding. I thought the package I purchased had one and instead we were given a coupon for two non-premium drinks at Hard Rock (a restaurant we don’t normally seek out). I'm assuming that the wine was either for a different hotel and I changed my mind or that the package changed between the time I made the reservation and our arrival. Honestly, I wasn't expecting a great wine and didn't really care about the wine itself. What I really wanted was for my wife to arrive in the room and know, once again, that I had specifically thought ahead. Again, maybe I remember the original package wrong. It was just overall a poor first impression.

All this to say, I was not going to complain; and at this point, my wife was still impressed with the hotel and told me not to worry about it. I just chalked it up to marketing and that I just should have asked more questions.

However, the little things just kept on adding up and even my wife said, "Good grief. If a hotel is going to offer something, then they should deliver. Especially at the price you paid for this week."

The next item was a room service thing they offered where we can decline to have our sheets and towels changed. We were told we would receive a $5 Starbucks card for each of the first two nights we declined the service. We hung the card, but did not receive a gift card for either night. Not a huge deal; it was just annoying to get more promises that no one delivered on.

I mentioned all of the above at the registration desk. It was not my intent to be a nuisance, but to help. I've been in the service industry and know that things don't change if no one says anything. I felt that the two young men at the desk listened to my concerns. One of them went to check with the manager and I was surprised that the manager never came out to even make an appearance. But the second young man listened and stepped in. I was grateful for the free parking they offered for all three days. It was a nice gesture and unnecessary, but I do appreciate it. Mostly, I just wanted someone to listen and show they cared, which they did. I also received a $5 Starbucks voucher which was appreciated as well.

My wife appreciated that the hotel cared as well. But then the next night, we wanted to go to Windows for dinner and use our $40 voucher. I thought it was a little cheesy that I upgraded our package partially for the voucher and was given another one just for signing up for the rewards program when I got there. At that point, I thought I should have just bought the bottle of wine myself and skipped the upgrade. But then when I called to make my reservation at Windows I was told they were closed for a private event, which I had been told nothing of. Thankfully, we could still go to the Rainbow Room and we had an excellent experience there with a separate voucher. However, we were both disappointed that we were not able to enjoy our first choice for our twentieth anniversary dinner and that we were not given the information to accommodate our schedule. In the end, it was a great dinner, but we both felt like we had paid for something that the Sheraton did not provide.

Stuff happens and we both had a magnificent weekend. Overall, my only concern was that there was an overall lack of communication. The website did not fully communicate what we would receive. The reservation staff did not fully communicate what was in the package to the service staff. The service staff did not communicate with the Starbucks staff (or whoever). And the Windows restaurant staff did not communicate with the hotel staff as to when they would be closed.