Review – Sheraton Austin at the Capitol

Introduction

You know how when you agree to go on a blind date even though you know he/she is probably going to be ugly, you still go thinking, “Maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised this time,” but alas, he/she turns out exactly what you expected – ugly.  Yeah that’s how I feel every time I get “upgraded” at a Sheraton in the US.  The checkin rep gave me an upgrade to the “club floor,” and I don’t know… I was thinking suite in my head, but sure enough, as soon as I opened the door, the first words that came out of my mouth… “ugh.”  Yes, that’s this Sheraton.

 

Cost

The hotels in Austin are ridiculously overpriced points-wise.  The hotel runs 10,000 points or $189 for the night I wanted.  A reader helped me find a BRG rate that cost me about $140 all-in.  I don’t like paying cash, but I also don’t like paying $30 for a sirloin steak.

 

Checkin

I was a Platinum when I checked in.  I chose the welcome amenity since I value 2 bottles of Shiner Bock and a bag of nuts over 500 points.  But that’s just me.  While I was checking in, the clerk called housekeeping and said to send up the welcome amenity to my room and said it’d be there shortly.  Two hours later, it hadn’t arrived yet, so  I went downstairs and told the receptionist, and she gave me 1000 goodwill points and delivered the amenity later that night.

 

Parking

By the way, the valet parking charges in Austin are RIDICULOUS.  This hotel wanted $22 a night while the W and Intercontinental are like $40 per night.  There is a street that intersects the Sheraton.  If you only need to park for a few hours and not overnight, I suggest you use the metered parking that is ~$1 an hour.  They also have an app based metering too.  And for the unicorn, if you go down that street about 3 blocks, you’ll notice this weird parking area that had no signs.  I parked there overnight and well into noon on Saturday just fine.  I took the 5th and last spot.  If that spot wasn’t available, I would have tried harder to find metered parking and then used the app to pay for parking the next morning at 8AM for 3 hours, and then get out of there by 11AM.

 

Wifi

The wifi was limited to 3 devices.  I actually didn’t even get on it, but my wife didn’t complain about it.

Room

Hey at least there was a free bottle of water in the room.  And while the room wasn’t special, at least it was on the top floor and at the end of the hall, so it was relatively quiet in the morning.

 

Conclusion

The hotel is sorta out of the way from the “action” in Austin.  I probably won’t stay here again.

 

Pictures