Sheraton Suites Wilmington Downtown — Hotel in Wilmington

Absolutely terrible hospitality for SPG members. We were actually asked to leave the hotel early after requesting, calling, confirming late checkout... and even mentioning it once again at check-in. Unbelievable!! What is the point of remaining loyal to SPG if the one simple perk I actually use frequently is the ability to check out later than usual especially on weekends.

As a Starwood member with over 200 hotel stays and close to 100,000 points, I have been holding out on writing a one star review since usually it is simply better to bite my tongue and say nothing, but frankly this has been bugging me.

First the positive, and that is that the room was absolutely perfect for what I was looking for. Spacious, clean and very comfortable bed. I asked for a high floor and away from the elevators if possible and I got one, room 1101. That is about it for positive... and there should be nothing more expected. Normally this would be perfect.

The purpose of the stay was simply a one night getaway after some business meetings in Wilmington on a Friday, to then go visit the UDel campus on saturday and catch a ball game.

Upon check-in the people working at the reception were not exactly smiling and courteous. Not rude, but lets say noticeably not happy to be there.

There were large groups of people in the lobby and bar area and I asked what was going on. The answer was 3 wedding parties staying at the hotel. I then asked for the club floor, which is what I had reserved anyway and was told the Club Lounge is closed on weekends. Now the whole point of paying more to stay on the club floor as a Gold/Platinum SPG member is to get snacks/drinks in the afternoon where available and breakfast in the morning. In between it is also a good place to get work done which I usually do late at night anyway. But for this stay no lounge, simply because the Food and Beverage manager has decided not to open the lounge on weekends.

My wife was wondering why the armed guard in the lobby and the two bouncers by the bar and eventually it became clear the place becomes a zoo at night. Doors slamming, people running up and down the stairs at the end of the hall up until 3am with the door slamming there also. Out room was right next to the fire escape stairwell so we heard this go on all night. Experience tells me that it becomes pointless to call the front desk as I can't point to a specific person or room. It was clearly more than one door and one person...its 3 wedding parties, so this will happen, I get it.

Meanwhile, our room had a connecting door, one where you could hear everything and I mean everything emanating from the room next door. Not incredibly loud but the tv remained on from the moment we checked in, through the night as well. Just loud enough that we could hear it but not loud enough to call downstairs. So we didn't.

At 830 am, we started hearing another door slamming, this time I went outside to look and it was room 1102 right opposite of ours. Maintenance was doing some work in there and we could hear tools being used and people walking in and out consistently. What can we do, maintenance needs to do work. Again, not much grounds for complaining in my book.

9am on the dot...the phone rings and the person from reception simply said "we can't honor your late checkout request today" at which point I became furious at my 4 hours of sleep and all the bs we tolerated the night before. The manager came on and said "may I help you?", to which I replied, "you called me". He simply reiterated we needed to leave, that they were too busy and would not honor my late checkout request. I reminded him that I could contact SPG and let them know he is not honoring what the franchise has provided me with for years and that one could write a bad review if he chooses to treat his guests in this manner. This guy could care less, and basically wanted me out. I said a few things that frankly, I never do. So I simply threw my belongings in my bag and stormed out.

Let's recap, this place is party central on weekends, the bar is so loud and full of people I normally would not even consider sharing a drink with which explains the bouncers and armed guard. The check-in was not friendly, and I had to ask about the club floor or it would not have even been mentioned. I had to ask for the SPG perk, which is either a movie, drinks, or points. I had to ask about breakfast since the lounge which I paid extra for is now closed. The clerk simply was on autopilot trying to move me along. Not her fault, this is a situation caused by management.

Noise all night, people having fun running from room to room, etc.. It is a wedding, I get it been there done that.

Next door adjacent room with TV on all day and night. The door between the rooms is not soundproof, we could hear everything.

Saturday morning at 8:30 maintenance working on room across from us. A little consideration to the hotel guests would be in order. As in keep the noise down early in the morning... not too much to ask.

9am unsolicited wake up call asking us to leave the hotel early.

Combine all these events and you get one really crummy experience. Not to mention we did not even use the vouchers for breakfast.

But there is a silver lining, we have a large account in Wilmington now where some of the 60 people in my group will be visiting on a regular basis. I have made it clear that if anyone stays at the Sheraton Wilmington it will be on their dime and will not be reimbursed for the business expense. There are other hotels to choose from. As for me personally, I will never set foot on this property again.

An anecdote worth mentioning is that I called SPG and spoke to one of their customer service agents to ask if they changed their policy and now allow properties to not honor the late checkout commitment to SPG members. They said it was highly irregular and should never occur. However, they had logged a file from the Sheraton Wilimington about my stay in anticipation of this complaint. It was explained that when hotel managers feel that a guest will file a complaint, they can do so first and therefore there is no recourse for that guest going forward. Therefore this entire write-up goes on deaf ears and nothing gets done. At the same time it becomes proof that the hotel management simply does not care.

My advice to anyone looking to be treated well and get some rest, is...

I tried to check in on Sunday night and I was greeted by a front desk clerk who appeared to be high out of her mind. There was no manager on duty. The person at the front desk could barely speak or stand up. She asked me my name about ten different times. I repeated my name over and over, but she just kept wobbling back-and-forth between the computers and saying the wrong names. She was a danger to herself, and as I will describe below, a danger to every guest at the hotel.

After zero progress with the front desk clerk, I logged into my Marriot-Bonvoy app and told the clerk what my room number was. She disagreed with me. She told me that my name was actually someone else's name. Then she proceeded to make me some room keys. When I got to the room I opened the door and discovered the room was already occupied. Someone else's stuff was on the floor, the lights were off, and I assume the room’s occupant was asleep in their bed in their room. Obviously, there are enormously-troubling security and safety implications of being given keys to someone else’s room.

I went back to the front desk and I went behind the counter myself and I found my own room key in a basket (since I knew the room number from my app and since there turned out to be already-made keys with room numbers on sticky notes). Again, there are enormous security and safety implications of my being allowed to rifle through a box full of keys that have the room numbers attached by sticky notes. Anyways, I found my own key and I let myself into my own room. And then I called the Marriot-Bonvoy app customer service number.

The Marriot-Bonvoy app customer service person took almost an hour to provide any help. They could not reach the manager. They could not reach the general manager. I told them that the front desk clerk was giving out random room keys and this is a safety risk. They said they were so sorry, but there was nothing they could do except call the police, but they also said they were "not allowed to" call the police. Finally, after about an hour on hold with the customer service person, they sent a security team from a different hotel to "assess the situation."

This is absolutely unacceptable and unsafe. This hotel is a disaster. Who knows what other kinds of shady business is happening at this hotel? I understand that it is difficult to staff hotels in this recently-post-COVID age, but if you do not have appropriate staff then you should not sell the room. I was sold a room and as such I believe that I have a reasonable expectation of hotel service, including hotel service that does not blatantly flaunt safety, security, and privacy.

There is nothing that this hotel or its manager or its general manager (or the Marriot-Bonvoy system in general) can do to make me whole. There is no way to repair this relationship. They failed miserably.

Oh, by the way, the same employee (now sober, at least temporarily) was back working the front desk two days later (I guess it was a long hangover).

Please note: The manager of this hotel might eventually respond to this Google review and might say how very very sorry they are that this happened. They might say they disciplined the employee. They might say that they will work hard to make sure this kind of thing does not happen again. These are probably lies; the staff usually has to respond to these negative reviews as part of their job (although the staff at this hotel is so incompetent, they may even fail to do this). I have no way to reply to any response to this review. So, preemptively I will reply and I will repeat that there is no way to make up for this ridiculous breach of hotel security and safety. There is no way to atone for this. I hope that the hotel manager is forced to respond to this review and I hope they are ashamed and I hope their face turns red as they type their disingenuous response with their incompetent fingers.

To sum up: I will never stay at this hotel again and I hope you never stay here either. I will also do my best to avoid any Marriot-Bonvoy hotels...

Upon arrival I was greeted with a warm welcome and beautiful room. The front desk receptionist (A lady with glasses) was kind and engaged in good conversation with me about Wilmington and my home in New York City. Everything was downhill following this. After a hour of unpacking and settling down in my room, my partner and I realized the heat was not on (or working well). It was a snow storm taking place outside so it was really cold. We called down to see if someone could help us with the heat and was told someone would come up and support us. Almost two hours passed and no one had came. I called the front desk back and was told the person who would help us was working on something related to the snowstorm outside of the hotel (This was understandable) but the person never came and we never received a call back about the heat in our room. We did receive a call shortly after, but it was about someone smoking in our room. My partner is a frequent smoker and with the utmost respect for the hotel policy he left the hotel and smoked on the corner of the block in the cold blizzard! Somehow, someone must have smelled smoke on his clothing when he walked back to our room and complained about us smoking in the room. The call was from the manger who told me he was calling everyone on our floor to see if we saw or smelled smoke. I told him no one was smoking in our room and he said ok (Nothing about the heat was mention). My partner felt upset that someone accused us of smoking when he went out of his way to smoke outside in a blizzard and that we still did not have heat after almost three hours after checking in. He did not want to stay in the hotel so we left five minutes after we received the call. Before heading out I ask the front desk receptionist to personally speak to the manger. The manger was in a room behind the desk and having a phone conversation that had nothing to do with anything or anyone smoking on the 7th floor. (I personally found this awkward because he just told me five minutes ago he was calling everyone on the 7th floor about smoking). I told him about my partner smoking outside and he seem as if he got it. He said if we didn't smoke in the room we would be fine, but he also made it obvious that we were the only people on the 7th floor who got a call about smoking. Having disconnect with the hotel we pretty much stayed out until the later evening. We did have a dinner and drink at Basil (The bartender was also really nice) and we were the only people in the restaurant. It seemed like the hotel was pretty empty due to the snow storm. Due to the snow storm the next morning our ride back to New York was delayed by almost two hours! Under the impression that the hotel space was not completely utilized and as a frequent hotel user, I assume we could get a late check-out (Just one extra hour). I told the receptions (A man with glasses) about our situation but was was denied any extra time. I even offer to pay a fee or extra money if needed but was turned down completely and told there was nothing the hotel could provide for us. In the past year I have stayed at dozens of hotel facilities (including a Sheraton) but never experienced being targeted, neglected, and unsupported. I do believe this hotel is a great space and some good people work here, but I wished our stay could have at least been good (not even great, just good). After all, we pretty much were snowed in for the first few hours and no options of leaving. Extremely upset about the way our stay went here, and still waiting for...