England London Sheraton Park Lane Soho Mayfair

[belgo]

We stayed at this hotel via a Priceline bid for two days before a cruise which left from Dover, and one day after our cruise. During our first stay, we were put in a tiny room on the first floor (I had a Starwood Preferred Guest Gold card, but I guess that didn't help). I have won at least a dozen bids through Priceline, and half a dozen more through Hotwire, and I can honestly say that this was the most disappointing room I've ever received. Under no stretch of the imagination was this even a 3* room, let alone a 4* room. It's not just that the room was quite small. The air conditioning consisted of a unit which they placed on the floor and had a plastic hose which connected to the outside window. Not only did it barely improve the room's humidity and temperature, but it had to be pulled apart every 10-12 hours and a tray of water dumped into the tub/shower unit (or it shut off). The shower curtain not only didn't surround the shower, but it was only 6 feet tall, so there was no way to take a shower without making a mess. Needless to say, there was no A/C in the bathroom, so it got quite steamy.

On our return visit (one night), we were kindly upgraded to a "suite." The room could not be described as a suite in the American sense, since it had no separate living area, but from the floor plan it was exactly twice the size of our previous room (i.e. they had one room on the 7th floor for every two rooms on the 1st). Again, there room itself was just a single room, but there was a couch in front of the beds, and a separate desk and a table in front of the couch. It also had central A/C--in both the room and bathroom. The bathroom was also twice the size as the previous room's. It had a separate bath and shower, as well as a bidet. It wasn't what I would call a suite, but it certainly qualified as a 4* room, and I imagine that this is the type of room they showed the Priceline people when it came time to assigning stars.

As for room service, I can't imagine that many people order the breakfast, which went for 20 Sterling plus tip, or about $40 per person! I realize that London is expensive, but they must think that there are a lot of rich or stupid foreigners out there. I also received incorrect advice from the concierge about visiting the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace (which he did apologize for as we left). Finally, when we were taking a (regular) cab from our hotel to Victoria Station after the first stay, our cab driver told us that this hotel takes a percentage from unofficial cabs which charge more than the going cab rates (we got our own transportation).

In summary, I guess we could have paid more, but I did not feel I received the 4* I bargained for during my pre-cruise stay (and we probably only got upgraded during our second stay due to cancellations from all of those bomb scares). :)

[ezed]

We just returned from our trip and enjoyed our stay at the Sheraton Park Lane. The hotel is quite old and has been mostly renovated; excellent bed! We had a nice large room that was quiet. The bath was old but adequate. Staff was very good. Location was excellent for us , being close to tube station, and was in a very good area, on Piccadilly. Only negatives was lack of provided breakfast and high-price for internet access. Recommended.