Michael Woodcum

Review of Sheraton Raleigh Hotel

My gf and I were going up to Raleigh for a concert...

My gf and I were going up to Raleigh for a concert Friday night and took advantage of grandparents wanting to watch the kids for the weekend, decided to make it a weekend getaway. Instead of staying at a hotel near the concert venue or a nearby town, I figured why not stay in the heart of the city.

The hotel configuration itself is a little confusing. The valet/parking entrance is on the 1st floor while the main desk is on the 2nd floor. This isn't clearly posted. The escalator to the 2nd floor was out so you had to take the elevator. Out of the 3 elevators available to the public, only one worked. (This would be an issue later on).

After finding the front desk, check-in was smooth, parking was simple as the garage is right across from the hotel ($15 per day). As we were getting ready for the concert, we decided to get some room service. Process was easy, food was hot and fast. After getting ready, we had some time to kill so we went down to the Jimmy-V bar and had some drinks. The bartender was great, very informative about the area. Drinks are a little pricey but to be expected considering location and the fact the restaurant was available to the public as well.

Returning from the concert, all the elevators were down. This would be a theme for the rest of the weekend. There are NO public stairs. None. Like? What?! We had to find someone to escort us to the service elevators to get up to our room.

They have a program where you can deny room service one day and get $ towards food/beverage. Since we didn't need room service Sat morning, I received the credit and thought I would just apply it to my bill, as we had charged drinks and room service to the room. You can't. It must be presented at time or purchase. So... yeah.

We went out during the day on Saturday to experience Raleigh. Upon return, there was a festival on Fayetteville St and the hotel parking structure was blocked off in the main entrance. Driving around to Gale St and it was full. Full? $15 a day and I couldn't park?! The attendant was attempting to remove 'non hotel guests' as we waited and the exit line out the parking garage was blocking any passage up the garage.

The hotel now had posted signs and directions to the service elevators, however only one was working. At this point, NONE of the guest elevators were working. Wait times for elevators on Saturday were upwards of 20 mins. This wouldn't have been an issue if there were public stairs you could access to use to get to your room. The emergency exit stairs were just that, the 2nd-4th floors didn't have access to those stairs and at the door at the 1st floor was wired for emergency alarms. (We found this out by walking down 13 floors trying to leave Saturday morning)

We got some room service upon getting back to the room and that included a bottle of wine. Once again, service was fast and the wine was cold. However, I was charged $17 more than the bottle was listed for on the room service menu.

Going out to dinner and coming back from dinner, the environment was still the same. Only one service elevator work and wait times still pretty long considering the little traffic at that time. This is when we noticed - room had no fridge. What? Like?! No fridge?! How?!? I go back home to small town Oklahoma and the local 'town inn' that brags about "HBO included" in their $39.99 rates... has a fridge in the rooms. So much for keep the leftovers from that amazing meal.

With all the aggravation of the elevators, parking, no fridge and just the overall experiencing not matching what you would expect for the location/price, this was going to be a one star review. I changed it to a two star review based on the customer service I received when I was checking out and informed the desk of the wine over charge. I can't specifically call out names, as the staff doesn't wear name tags (What?.. smh) but I was assisted by a gentleman who wasn't able to correct the over change but was able to find out how. He was very helpful and polite. That small touch was enough to give me hope for this place in the future