Sheraton Carlsbad Resort & Spa — Attraction in Carlsbad

My wife and I have platinum status and own several SVO properties. We travel for pleasure only and bring along our now 21 month old daughter. We decided on Monday to take a quick trip to Legoland for Brick or Treat on Friday to enjoy some family time after a stressful week (my wife is a teacher and just had parent teacher conferences). Now let’s fast forward to the day of our arrival. I had called down the morning of our arrival to verify that our room would be ready around 4pm and to confirm Legolands hours. I was told no problem on the room and Legoland closes at 8pm.

We departed our home at 3:00 and arrived at 4:30 we were greeted at the door by a valet who told me “take your time’, which was a strange greeting but a greeting. During check in I asked the clerk to confirm that Legoland was open until 8 as I was told earlier and he verified with the other clerk and told me I was correct. I then asked about their Club Lounge and its hours. I was then informed that the club lounge has been permanently closed. I asked why and was told that the Club Lounge was getting too many complaints about it being small and having a poor selection so they decided to close it rather than make the changes and have to listen to the complaints. I was shocked to hear that! Why wouldn’t you listen to your customers and make changes to make their stays/experience better? I then asked about the parking charge was going to be waived as I am a Legoland Annual pass holder and was told that was no longer a perk to Legoland pass holders. Now frustrated I have to spend extra money on parking, afternoon snacks/beverages and breakfast (we didn’t pack breakfast for our family as the offerings of the Club Lounges are sufficient) I get my key and go back to the car to park and head to our room.

We drive to the underground parking beneath our room/building and park. I look around for a cart to help bring my bags up, but there is nothing of the sort. To get to the elevators we have to pass the laundry room, mechanical room and walk down a long hall way to the elevator. We get into the elevator and got to floor two. Getting out on floor two we can smell what can only be described as bad body odor and then find our room and enter. I then have to make 2 more trips down to get the rest of our bags while my wife attends to our daughter and unpacks. Our room (1201) is nice and clean. We were upgraded to a suite due to our status. It is now a little after 5 and we are anxious to head down to Legoland to let our daughter play and get something to eat. We then pack up the stroller and start the ½ mile walk to the private entrance. Upon arrival to the gate we are informed that the park closed at 5:00. What?!? How can this be? I was told by 3 different people that it is open until 8pm. Disappointed we walk another ½ mile back to the hotel and go back to our room and try to decide where to go for dinner. We settled on a short drive to the outlets. We get back and call it a night around 9pm to get a good night sleep.

We all woke up around 9 am on Saturday morning after a poor night of sleep (our suite was next to the elevators and it was relatively noisy) and we were planning on having breakfast at Twenty / 20 and then maybe a quick swim before my daughters daily nap which is normally around 11:30 daily. I called downstairs and requested a 4 pm checkout as it is a perk of being a Platinum member (based on occupancy) and was told that was not possible. I asked why and asked if we could compromise and have until 1pm so my daughter could get her nap in. Again I was shot down and informed that they are at 100% occupancy for the evening and because of the special event. I was then informed that the MS Bikeathon was having an event there from 10am – 6pm. I then asked to speak with a manager and talked to him about my above experience and that my daughter takes her daily nap from 11:30ish to 1:00 and that if we have to check out at 11 am it would ruin our day at Legoland as she would not be able to take a nap. The Manager/ Head of Security said it sounds like there was poor communication on the part of the hotel and that he would make an exception and allow us to stay until noon. I again asked if we could at least have until 1pm as it would still allow them a 3 hour timeframe before their 4pm check-in and was told that is not possible. I said ok and we ended our conversation.

Frustrated and disappointed we packed up our belongings and decided to check out and when down and went to have breakfast at Twenty / 20. The highlight of our trip was the nice young lady who waited on us. Aside from that the food being mediocre at best (someone needs to teach the chef to poach an egg for eggs benedict) the service was good and she was very nice and helpful and brought our daughters food out right away. After breakfast we got into our car and drove over to Legoland and parked in their lot for our visit. As anticipated our daughter was not able to fall asleep and was overly tired and as a result we ended up leaving Legoland and driving home at 1:30.

The net net is that we left very disappointed in our stay and will decided we would not be going back to the Sheraton Carlsbad ever again (mind you this was our 5th stay with each being worse than the last). It is very apparent they are not interested in their guests experience or voices and only care about their bottom line.

Lastly, if you are going to have a large function like the MS Bikeathon at your property you should let your guests know in advance through reservations or via e-mail that Special Conditions Apply to that day so they can make the determination of whether or not they want to stay there. Had I known it was there and I would have to be woken up by people setting up banquet tables beneath my rooms and I would have to leave early I would have not booked a room for Friday. I would have saved my $200 and drove down in the morning while my daughter napped in the back and been able to enjoy a whole day at Legoland with my family rather than a...

The lobby and grounds of this hotel are lovely. The room we had was quite spacious and the beds had nice, fluffy, comfy pillows, although the bed itself was very soft and not comfortable for my taste. They also supplied nice toiletries, and the tub had a laundry line, which is always helpful. However, the line was just outside of the tub itself, so we had to line towels across the floor where our bathing suits dripped. The shower had great hot water, although the water pressure wasn't so great. A nice, thoughtful touch was when housekeeping noticed that I had used a certain type of tea by the empty wrapper and left me a few more of that kind. However, other times I tried calling guest services for something and no one ever answered. I walked down to the desk to ask for extra full sets of towels, hand towels, and washcloths and they left me only a couple of bath towels. ||The person checking us in didn't seem to know about things going on or policies at the hotel. For example, he couldn't tell us what time the family movie started that evening. Also, the brochure indicates that the resort fee includes a $15 voucher for the restaurant AND on top of that, gold status members receive a free drink. When I asked about why I only received one voucher, they said that the voucher was supposed to cover the free drink. But that's not what the brochure states. ||As far as the room itself, there were also many oversights. The air conditioning only goes down to 67 degrees, and the first night wasn't working, so we were sweltering. If I'm paying that much money, I want to have more control over the temperature of my room. Also, the large empty corner where the suitcase wrack naturally went had no light nearby. I had to use my headlamp just to see what I was looking for in my suitcase. In the bathroom, it often takes a while to get hot water. Here, it was the opposite: I had to let the water run for quite a long time in order to get cold water. The tub also didn't drain properly. The chair at the desk looked like it was from 1980 and was ripped apart. Not something I would have expected in a "resort." ||The pool with its water slide was the highlight. However, they have posted hours until 6:00. We thought we'd only have one opportunity to use it when we arrived and raced to the pool at 5:40 to find it already closed. That was very disappointing. We ended up getting up early and asking for a late check-out to use the water slide on the day we left. As an aside, the front desk would not grant me a late check-out when I asked the night before, and they only gave me a one-hour delay even though I am gold status. That was disappointing. Also disappointing was the hot tub, which was more of a barely lukewarm tub.||The food at the restaurant was good, but we had incredibly poor service two nights in a row. We only got our cocktails after the food arrived, and only when we walked up to the bar and asked if the ones sitting there were ours. Our server never reappeared after taking our order--we never saw him again. While our server the next night was more attentive, we still didn't get our drinks until after the food arrived. I was grateful that there was a convenient place to grab a quick breakfast, but it cost almost $40 for 4 pastries that tasted like they were from a grocery store and sitting on a shelf for a month. That, as well as the ridiculously high resort fee (for services that are typically already included in a hotel stay) plus the ridiculously high parking fee were really disappointing. ||To end on a positive, the convenience of walking to Legoland with a private entrance was really great. It was a pretty quick, easy walk. Although next time I might check out the Westin next door since we'd still have access to the...

Like others with low review scores I too agree that the Sheraton Carlsbad has poor customer service, both with their front desk and management. Front desk service was disappointing and not hospitable at all. There’s a serious lack of personal service, which should be the standard in a hotel like this. No smile or greeting or recognition on being a loyalty rewards member, and don't expect any upgrades for SPG members.

I called in advance to request early check-in and was told every accommodation would be made to ensure early check-in. I was driving down with my family from San Francisco, which was approximately an 8-hour drive. We arrived around 9am and were told no rooms were available and to register and we would receive a text once our rooms were available. I made it clear to the front desk that I called in advance to request the early check-in. I was told that they saw my request in the notes and they will accommodate me.

Around noon we returned and still nothing. Front desk, by then irritated by my constant presence, then stated the room is not guaranteed until 4pm. I then explained to the representative that my mother-in-law is disabled and can't walk much, and that we’ve traveled all morning from San Francisco.

After dozing off on the couch in the main lobby I woke up to see a few individuals checking in and receiving keys. I walked back to the front desk at 2pm, and overheard the person before me was also complaining about what had just transpired. They too had been waiting for hours to get their room, and felt that they should be compensated for the wait. They were only compensated with fake smiles and excuses. Instead of wasting any more of my energy and time, I proceeded to the bar to drown my sorrows.

Finally a highlight! Meeting Victor and Nestor! Victor and Nestor at the 7-mile kitchen could give a class on service and hospitality to the rest of the staff (management included). They provided awesome service, friendly conversation, and apologized to everyone who was waiting to check-in.

We finally received a text around 3:30pm that our rooms were ready. We proceeded to the front desk only to find out only one room is available. The other would be ready in about 15 minutes. After getting everyone settled I returned to the front desk to retrieve the key for the second room. It still was not available. Around 4:20 the room was finally ready!! YAYYYYY!!! So much for the rooms are guaranteed at 4pm.

The "resort" only supplies basic toiletries, and no microwave. I've gotten much better amenities and service in other Sheraton Properties that didn't portray themselves as a "resort".

Rooms are big and clean! Beds are very comfy and I slept like a baby once I finally received a room.

Room service was lacking. I ordered a salad one night and waited for over an hour and a half. Finally called and canceled.

This property has huge 24-hour swimming pool. (Word of advice do not take your kids after 10pm). One night my family and I were out enjoying the pool, and there was a couple getting hot and heavy in front of everybody. Normally, this would not be a problem, but there were little kids around.

Needless to say, we have visited many SPG properties and I can say the front desk customer service at this hotel can be considered the absolute worst. They were rude, and unwilling to accommodate. My suggestion for anyone thinking of staying at this hotel, to look at a different location...