Sheraton Club des Pins Resort — Hotel in Staoueli

During my last visit, unfortunately there happened some issues where I was a suprised to face this in the Sheraton. First issue was during the Check-In. The lady at the front desk wanted a early check in fee from my side, although I´m a silver member. She didn´t checked it before, even though my membership number was registrated during booking. My Feeling here is, that not well qualified people are at the front desk. Please keep in mind, a great stay starts at the front desk. Second issue was during our visit in the the restaurant "La Brasserie" on January 22nd. Here we faced to waiters which made mistakes and didn´t accept them and discussed with us! We ordered Heineken Beer. This beer was warm and not from the fridge. I told the waiter, that I´ll not drink a warm beer, I want a cold one. He bring it, but at the end I had the second one on my bill/check. By the way, my colleague had only one, so all in all 3 beers at the end on the check. I told him, that I´ll not pay for a warm beer which I didn´t drunk, so that he has to delete it from the bill. It was his mistake. But he refused and told me, that I´ve to pay it. He can´t cancel it from the bill due to the fact, that he already opened the bottle. I think it is incomplaint with the Sheraton Standards, to treat the guests like this. In addition to that, since I´m guest in the Hotel (4 or 5 times in 2019), there is no English speaking waiter. For an international Hotel like Sheraton which accommodate international guests, which are in this country for Business, my expectation is english speaking waiters to provide a good service to their guests. The third issue was on January 23rd. The room was not make up. The bed was the same like I´ve left it in the morning. Only water in the room was filled up and a card was next to the TV with "thank you for your loyality". Now I´ll raise this question: Is this how Sheraton is handling his loyal customers? Last but not least is the check out which really takes at least 15-20 minutes. This is really disappointing. It is too long.

It is also not professional and not a Sheraton Standard to see all the staff looking to their mobile phones, where they are watching movies or typing messages continuously, even though the guests are around them. Another example are the groups of staff of 2-3 people which are everywhere around the hotel and discussing or talking to each other. At the breakfast area, around the front desk, in front of the hotel,...

I have been staying in Sheraton Club des Pins for the past 3 months and half. The hotel offers a great atmosphere overall (2 pools, gym, beach, lounge, good breakfast, nice staff, etc..)

But some things are just unbelievable for a 5* hotel.

Examples:

I arrive to check-in with 3 other colleagues at 4am. Only one sleepy receptionist is available. When asked about his colleague who should be with him at the reception, the answer we get is: "my colleague is at the cafeteria having a break". So we ask him to cal him in. 25 minutes later, the colleague still has not shown up, the receptionist has succeeded in finalizing one of the four check-ins, and 5 new guests have arrived and are queuing for check-in

During the past 3 months and a half, I have had the time to tell every single receptionist about my room preferences. I even got the manager to put these preferences in the hotel "system". But for some unexplained reasons I have never succeeded in getting the type of room I want (which is something very basic: standard room, no smoking, twin beds). Last week before I checked-out, I spent 20 minutes with one receptionist to pre-book a room as per my preferences for my arrival this morning. He promised it is OK. On my arrival this morning, surprise, the pre-booking was gone and once again I was not able to get the type of room I want !

I can add to this multiple stories that just show how everything in this hotel is so unorganized and inefficient: reaching the reception by phone is mission impossible (several times I called 5 times, each time I was put on hold for more than 4 minutes and then was not able to speak to anyone) regularly delayed or even wrong room service order delivery unprofessional staff at the breakfast who just seem to ignore guests bad laundry cleaning quality taxis called by the hotel who rip you off by charging higher than the standard fair regular electricity black-outs service in hotel restaurants that degrades terribly when hotel reaches maximum occupancy

Hope all this will improve...

I speak for colleagues and I when I list the review below:

The Good:

Courteous staff Regular upgrades to suite for Platinum guests Decent and spacious rooms Refurbishment of lobby and restaurant was needed and improved the look and feel of the hotel

The Bad:

Internet! extremely slow and gets interrupted very often and for long periods, making working, accessing emails, or even streaming anything near impossible. When I called to complain about internet interruptions, the response I got was "C'est comme ca"/ "Thats the way it is". The hotel will often blame the Algerian Telecom provider, which may indeed be the case, but as a 5 star business hotel, a way MUST be found (e.g., 3G, back up system, etc.). Internet at various clients and other hotels in Algeria was never a problem. I dont see why an SPG 5 star business hotel that charges a premium cant resolve this basic issue!

Food. Food at the restaurants is average at best but acceptable. Room service on the other hand, serves what I consider the most tasteless food I have ever had to eat in an hotel during my past 8 years of traveling as a management consultant. The menu is extremely limited as well. When I asked if the hotel could accommodate a platinum guest and let him order from the restaurant to his room, the request was promptly rejected, even though this is very common practice in other sheratons.

There are no projectors, no laptop to TV connector cables, no extra phone chargers. Basic stuff that the average businessman expects from a business hotel.

Overall, even though the hotel has its advantages, I would not recommend it for long term stay business travelers. I still have a few weeks to go and I doubt anything will be done to address any of the pain points me and my colleagues have...