Sheraton Johor Bahru — Hotel in Johor

Stayed here for 1 night, 3 weeks after the hotel opened for business. Overall my stay experience in Sheraton JB (supposedly 5-Star) was relatively satisfactory but not special nor spectacular. My normal stay in JB would be the other Marriott, which is Renaissance JB.||The hotel is attached to a shopping mall, which is not in business yet. Location wise, it is close to the Bukit Chagar RTS Station (maybe around 200+m), though it is unclear if it would be convenient to walk there as the station is still under construction. ||There were not many people during the time of my arrival and it did not take me long to check in. However, some of the staffs attending to the lobby / front desk were probably new, and as such, they may not be clear or know completely every Bonvoy detail. Some other staffs were transferred from other Marriott hotels, and as such, they were more experienced.||As a Titanium Elite Member, I should be entitled to room upgrades. However, the front desk didn't mention anything about this. Thus, I presume I wasn't upgraded, even though the hotel didn't look full at all, and this was quite disappointing. Also, in many other Marriott hotel in Malaysia, a Titanium Elite Member would be offered breakfast, not just in the Exec / Club Lounge, but also the option to have breakfast in the main restaurant as well. This was not offered by the front desk, whom didn't quite know what to do when I requested. Eventually, I was offered breakfast for 2 adults and 2 kids in the main breakfast area after asking a more experienced front desk staff (from R-KL), whom was immediately familiar with the situation.||As this is a new hotel, you can expect everything in the room (and hotel) to be new. Though things are new, there are still some minor issues. For example, the bathroom shampoo / soap containers are double sided taped to the bathroom walls, and of course, that wasn't strong enough and the containers came tumbling down. There was also no bathtub in the bathroom, which is not the norm for a 5-star Sheraton. Normally, the 4-star Marriott (like Courtyard) would have bathroom without bathtub. In fact, one interesting thing that I felt was that the interior decoration & design of Sheraton JB was very much like a Courtyard by Marriott (example Melaka, Penang, Setia Alam etc). ||Otherwise, the room size is sufficiently large even with an extra bed in the room. The view was facing the Bkt Chagar RTS Station, so, not much to see. At least the aircon works fine and the wall sockets had both USB-C and USB-A inbuilt chargers, which was really useful.||The Exec / Club Lounge was located on the same floor as the lobby check-in area. Not sure if this is the new Marriott strategy, but it felt a bit too common, i.e. no differentiation. Normally, the Club Lounge would be located at the Club Floors, where the much more expensive Club Rooms would be. In Sheraton JB, if you stayed at the Club Rooms, you would have to come all the way down to the lobby area for the lounge.||Speaking of the Club Lounge, I guess it is OK, nothing much to shout about. However, the evening cocktail food was quite disappointing, not much variety and it felt more like teatime, rather than cocktail dinner. Considering that this is Sheraton, this could be better. ||We had breakfast at the main restaurant, while the spread was OK, probably quite similar with Renaissance JB (R-JB). However, the breakfast at R-JB felt more vibrant, since it had a more "open kitchen" concept, where you can see a lot more of the cooking being done. Also, I noticed that whilst there were many staff in the Sheraton restaurant (I think some of them were just "observers"), the service could be improved, example, nobody came and ask if we wanted coffee or tea, which should be a standard practice in a 5-star hotel. We didn't try dinner there, the menu looked rather limited, and we were not sure if they offered Elite Member discount (as the staff didn't know as well).||We didn't try most of the facilities, just the swimming pool and it was OK. We didn't find any games room. We did explore the other parts of the hotel and noticed a lot of conference and meeting rooms. I guess this could be Sheraton's main target. ||As a conclusion for the hotel stay, as with any new hotels, there would always be room for improvements. ||Reserving my most critical comment for the last (this was my feedback to the front desk who were asking for customer input) :||Having stayed in numerous Sheraton around the region, surprisingly, one of my favorites is an older Sheraton (way before Marriott took over) - Sheraton Grand Sukhumvit in Bangkok. This is a 30-year-old hotel which was mildly refurbished in 2015. BUT more importantly, it retains the CLASSIC SHERATON CHARM, which is lacking in many new Marriott hotels. ||Sadly, this Sheraton Charm is very much missing in this Johor Baru Sheraton, which appears just like another Marriott hotel, nothing special, nothing unique about it. In fact, Sheraton JB feels just like another Courtyard by Marriott, but more luxurious, higher quality and with a Club Lounge, qualifying it as a 5-star Sheraton ||I think it is important that Sheraton JB (and all new Sheratons) needs to become a SHERATON-BY-SHERATON hotel to standout from other surrounding hotels and not just another Hotel-by-Marriott. Sheraton is...

Avoid this hotel: absolutely horrible guest service!

1. Room check-in, mentally check-out. Multiple reception staff seem to struggle with the booking system. Check-in queue got longer and longer. I was even asked to make "full payment" right at the reception before I even picked up my key cards!

2. Guest service, forget about it! If you call the guest service from your room, you will get a lazy "no" with totally nonsensical reasonings and no alternatives offered. No sewing kit or scissors; cannot assist in sending a Grab food order from the hotel's designated Grab area to our room; no lighter to light our father's birthday cake candle! Guest service is what sets great hotel apart from average ones, but this hotel is clearly not interested in hospitality.

3. Stand in long queues, fall short in expectations. Super long queues for check-ins, breakfast, even the lounge food stations. Prepare to wait and wait among other disgruntled guests. The worst part: service and food we waited for are not worth it at all.

4. Rich ideas, poor implementation. I arrived on the official opening day 31st October. A staff member passed me an invitation card and told me to: "join the opening". I thanked him and took the invitation card, thinking that the it would have more details about an opening ceremony. Nope: the card just read "6pm-10pm, venue Sheraton JB". No mention of the singers at the lobby, the lion dance, the free food at the lobby, and the exact timings of when specific events will happen. Management just expected guests to hang around for 4 hours at the lobby- what a joke! You will notice more of such funny details throughout your stay here. All flash, but no proper thought process on how to implement processes.

5. Plenty of staff, plenty of fluff. You will notice a lot of staff around. But all except one or two are actually alert and helpful. An example: we walked into the dinner buffett, ate, and walked out without anyone even asking for our room number. Only when I remembered and insisted a few times to the cashier that I want to make payment, then he understood, asked for our room number and how we would like to pay. Note to the supervisors wearing suits and just standing around the lobby: HELP THE GUESTS OR YOUR NEWER COLLEAGUES! YOU ARE NOT PAID TO STAND AROUND!

6. Mall next door, wait next time. The mall connected to the hotel is simply not in operation at the time of this review. Don't think you will have shopping and food nearby if you stay here. You will still have to travel out to JB Sentral or JBCC for the nearest food or shopping options.

In short, Sheraton JB is a brand new hotel, located at an ok location, with beautifully constructed rooms and facilities, but the abysmal operation systems and their disinterest in customer service have already turned away many guests from patrionizing again, including my family. This hotel is an insult to the Marriot Bonvoy name.

Reality check to the management team: the soft launch of this hotel was more than a month ago. The hotel is now officially in operation. You are either ready to operate or not, and evidently you are not. You already have plenty of negative reviews, which you replied by promising improvements. Obviously you are not interested or incapable of change. Wake up and smell the coffee!

I should have listened to the other reviews and chose another hotel: that is what I will do next...

My stay started off on a really good note thanks to some amazing staff.

At check-in, Nicole from the front office was absolutely wonderful — very warm, polite, and welcoming, with a genuine smile that instantly made me feel comfortable after my journey. She set the right tone for my stay, and I really appreciate her professionalism and positive attitude.

At the pool bar, I met Raymond Leong, one of the friendliest and most genuine hotel staff I’ve ever come across. He went out of his way to show me around the area, made great recommendations, and really represented the hotel’s hospitality spirit. Later in the evening, he even recommended the lounge, which turned out to be an excellent choice with great food and desserts — thank you, Raymond!

I also had a late lunch at &More, and Aizul provided one of the best dining experiences during my stay. He was attentive, patient, and took time to carefully walk me through the menu. It’s rare to see someone so dedicated and genuinely passionate about their service — truly impressive.

Unfortunately, not everything matched that same high standard. When I visited the main restaurant to survey the menu, I approached a staff member named Theresa to ask if I could see the menu before deciding. Instead of assisting or even acknowledging my request, she completely ignored me and left me standing there — very unprofessional and disappointing, especially for a hotel of this level.

The next day’s breakfast at the lounge was excellent — plenty of choices, fresh selections, and calm atmosphere. The checkout process was also smooth; even though the queue was long, one staff quickly stepped in to help me with express checkout, which I really appreciated.

Sadly, I decided to give the main restaurant another try for lunch before leaving, and it only confirmed my earlier impression. The staff seemed poorly trained or inexperienced — I ordered chicken rice and English breakfast tea. The chicken was dry and didn’t taste fresh, and to my surprise, the tea came served in a mug instead of a teapot. When I asked, I was told only “premium” tea is served in teapots — which honestly sounded ridiculous for a hotel standard. The whole experience felt below expectation and inconsistent with the excellent service elsewhere.

Overall, my stay had some wonderful highlights thanks to amazing staff like Nicole, Raymond, and Aizul, who really made me feel welcomed and well taken care of. They truly reflect what great hospitality should be. However, the main restaurant’s service and management clearly need improvement — both in staff training and food quality — to match the level of the rest...