DFW DL

Flew down from Delhi yesterday morning for my first (quick) visit to Bangalore. Checked in at around 2 pm (local office had reserved a Towers room). Finally! During my five months as a SPG Plat this was the first time I'd been treated as expected outside the US. Upon presenting my Platinum card at check-in, the receptionist immediately and without being asked upgraded me to a large suite on the top floor of the Towers.

The hotel is part of the Welcomgroup of Sheraton properties throughout India, and is a first-class property. Very nice grounds (there appears to be a golf course adjacent to the hotel) and public rooms. Several restaurants and bars, with a complimentary happy hour (drinks and snacks) in the evening for Towers guests. Had dinner at the South Indian restaurant last night and was favorably impressed.

Service in the hotel, bars, and restaurants is top-notch. During happy hour, my beer was replaced twice without asking, and the waiter brought by a continuous variety of snacks. When arriving in the room, the hostess didn't like the looks of the fruit basket and a new one was brought up within 5 minutes. Since I didn't have time for lunch, I noshed on the fruit...and upon returning in the evening found that the basket had been replaced!

All in all, a very positive experience, and a highly recommended hotel. I hope that I will return here again, and that my next stay will allow me to explore the hotel better.

Swanhunter

There doesn't seem to be any availability at all for this hotel over the next few months. I know Bangalore is busy with tech and outsourcing people - but surely it isn't this busy?

William - is this another hotel that hasn't loaded it's rates?

acnev

I have been checking for an award stay here and there doesn't seem to be much if any, availablity from here till January.

akm

I wonder if anyone has (recently) successfully booked an award with points at either of these hotels. I wanted to book nights using points for Jan 05 and tried several dates with no success. I then tried various random dates over the next 8 months or so at the Hyderbad Sheraton and still had no success. Anyone knows what is going on?

nowhereman

It'll be hard to get these hotels using points. They are always oversold. I often have to stay at the Taj in BLR (on paid stays) because the Windsor Sheraton is usually sold out. 2 out of my last 3 trips were like that. Stuck at the Taj (once at West End and once at Taj Residency)... definitely not as nice as the Sheraton. So, I believe that they are being honest when they say that point-stays are not available.


PS: One thing I should add that while the Taj hotels are not as nice as the Sheraton, their service tends to be at least 100% better than the Sheraton. The Sheraton staff have clearly become a bit cocky. Since their hotel is always oversold, they think that they can lower their service standards and get away with it. I'm not saying that they are rude, but they are simply not as attentive as the staff at the Taj hotels.

akm

Thanks Nowhereman. I will very likely be looking into alternative options as well- perhaps a Taj property following your advice. However, I find it hard to believe the Sheratons in Hyderabad/Bangalore are so heavily booked for a period of 8 months. One can obvousy get a paid room for pretty much any date one likes at these properties. I do understand how playing around with room designations can yield the result that paid rooms are available but award rooms are not but that is perhaps a counter productive strategy for a property to follow. In your case, when you could not find an award availability, you chose to pay for a stay at a different hotel chain. I will very likely end up doing the same thing, and make even less effort (award or paid stay) to use a Sheraton in either of these cities in future.

Compare this to my stays in Bangkok, where I have fair success in finding an award stay in a Starwood room. But if I don't occasionally find an award room when I want it, I am happy to buy a paid stay within Starwood because I am used to these properties. However, it is possible that the Sheratons in Hyderbad/Bangalore do not have to compete in the same way as the Starwoods in Bangkok, so they can get away with their current business practices.

nowhereman

Just a quick clarification. I have never attempted to use points at a Starwood (or any other hotel, for that matter) in India. All my stays have been for business purposes and were paid for by my company. What I am saying is that it is often very difficult for paying customers to get a room at the BLR Sheraton.
Yes, I too have used points for stays in BKK and have quite easily found rooms. But BLR and HYD don't have the plethora of 5 star hotels that BKK does, so rooms are scarce.

acnev

I too have found the same thing at the BLR hotel - I have randomly tried various dates and found no availablity even though I was really only interested in 1 night in January.

The website shows a room for sale that is called standard but SPG confirmed it is not the room that would be available as an award. Starwood lurker did check for me and let me know that the BLR hotel did have a 'windsor suite' for the night I needed. Since this was a suite it was twice the points. I found it strange that the first spg rep I talked with did not see this or did not mention it to me.

Based on what the other posters indicated, I guess business is so good that the hotel is normally sold out. This would indicate the lack of award rooms.

GUWonder

I have never had a problem getting a room at the Sheraton in HYD. Sheraton Bangalore is a different story often enough.

mzambani

Bangalore Leela and Sharaton are almost always fully booked for next 6 months. I work for a software company and we have offshore setup in Bangalore and 90% of the time none of us can get a room in these.

stimpy

I see rooms available at the Windsor for November 7-9 when I need to be there, but only at rack rate of 275 USD per night. No corporate discounts.

How is the Le Meridien? It is only 195 USD for a club room with airport transfer.

GUWonder

Isn't there a Hilton resort in the vicinity of (or in) Bangalore still?

pindi

Me neither - My most recent trip was in February of this year. I decided to use my points for Sheraton Hyderabad while I was in India.. Went online and booked it - piece of cake!

I can imagine why Sheraton Bangalore would be tougher - When I travelled to India on business, I could never find a room there for even paid stays.

Good luck.
Kamala

PhilC

I'm also wondering what the availability issue is with this hotel. I checked the last 2 weeks of February, first week of March, and all of April 2005 and nothing is available. It can't be that the hotel is sold out for all of these dates, can it???

Starwood Lurker

Yes. It can. This hotel is home to a lot of high tech companies who have offices in Bangalore. My understanding is that they are sold out almost every night.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

[email protected]