I booked the Sheraton Phoenix Airport Tempe hotel on a rate of $89+ tax which was really cheap for a Arizona property. The location of the hotel is literally 3 minutes from the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport which makes it an ideal stay if you have an early flight the next morning. The hotel offers a complimentary shuttle from and to the airport but I did not utilize their services since I had a rental car. When I pulled up to the hotel, the exteriors seemed pretty run down.
You can’t judge a book by its cover and I was certainly amazed at the beautiful lobby. It definitely felt like a higher category Sheraton.
The hotel also contains a pool and a business center that can be accessed from the ground floor of the lobby.
During check-in, I asked the front desk agent if there were any suites available as a courtesy Platinum upgrade, but she advised me that the hotel does not have any suites at all. I was certainly surprised as most Sheraton’s that I have stayed at contain at least one suite. As a Platinum member, I chose the 500 Starpoints as the amenity since the hotel has a Club Lounge for evening snacks and breakfast. She advised me that my two double bed standard room on the club floor was available.
When I went up to my room, I saw that a housekeeping cart was in front of the open door. I peeked inside and saw a housekeeping lady cleaning the room. I thought the front desk agent misspelled the room number on my key packet so I tried my key in an adjacent room. I was in shock and so was the housekeeping lady when I tried to put my key into my assigned room and the green light came on.
I trekked back to the front desk and informed the agent that the room was not ready and she profusely apologized. She quickly assigned me another room on the same club floor, but it was near the elevator and ice cream machine. In addition, I had a great view of the parking lot. The standard room was clean and adequate as a no frills airport stay which I did not expect any higher from an airport property.
The bathroom contained the usual Sheraton amenities.
I had a chance to try out the evening appetizers at the Club Lounge which start at 5pm and ends at 8pm.
The Club Lounge living room looks like as if it was suite before it was converted to a lounge. Maybe that was the only suite the property had, but the dry wall was knocked out and got converted into a Club Lounge.
Evening appetizers consisted of pork empanadas, seafood ceviche, chips, and salsa.
The Club Lounge also had a cash bar for beer, wine, and cocktails.
I’ve never seen fresh seafood ceviche served at any Sheraton Club Lounge, but it was pretty tasty. The cheesecake and cookie wasn’t too bad either.
Breakfast the next morning was also held in the Club Lounge from 6am to 9am and was set up as a buffet with hot and cold options.
I had some eggs, breakfast potatoes, and toast which was delicious.
Despite several inconveniences, the hotel was at capacity due to spring training and its proximity to the airport. I did indeed check-in early and very few rooms were available, so I did not complain about the ice machine and elevator issue. I didn’t stay much in the room any way and just needed an inexpensive stay and night credit. The WiFi was complimentary for Platinum members and it was blazing fast, so no complaints there. I would still stay at this location again since the service is top notch and the Club Lounge offerings were more than adequate.