100,000miler

Any reports on this hotel. From the map it does not look like it is anywhere near La Colonia. Looks way inland not near the beautiful beach there?

grayland

I have been in Colonia, but only as a day trip from BA. I was not aware that there was a Starwood property there.
There actually is not very much in Colonia. Interesting for a day trip but it would not appeal to me to stay in the area unless there is a resort area or something outside of Colonia.

Ready2Go

I was just in Colonia on Tuesday, as a day trip from EZE, and I loved it. Really wished I had planned to stay overnight. However, I wouldn't have wanted to stay outside of town. The whole point of Colonia is the wonderful, unspoiled colonial atmosphere of its old walled city. That doesn't extend out to the "suburbs."

I should also say that an overnight in Colonia would not be for everyone. It is a beautiful but sleepy town, short on action of any kind. One of my traveling companions said he couldn't imagine staying overnight. YMMV.

I'm not sure what beautiful beach you are referring to. Colonia is on the Rio de la Plata, not the ocean. The river is extremely silty -- looks like Willy Wonka's chocolate river. You can swim in it, I suppose, but it's not very inviting. The nice beaches in Uruguay start around Montevideo and extend to the east from there.

GUWonder

I would not say that Colonia has a beautiful beach. For better beaches I would head further east. However, Colonia is great for a day and a night or even just a day trip.

The hotel is certainly outside the heart of Colonia. I don't remember seeing it on my last trip there but have a brochure about it that was picked up by me somewhere there or in Buenos Aires.

100,000miler

I too have been in the old town of Colonia, taking the ferry from EZE. The beaches are wonderful and I only wish this Sheraton was on them but sadly it looks like it is miles inland, like some 30 miles inland.

Still if anyone has been there at this hotel, I would love to have a report esp how far it is from the ferry landing. The SPG site makes it sound really close but the map shows otherwise.

ENIAC

I was considering a trip there, and found the following on TripAdvisor:

"We actually took a city bus, the #123, which runs every 30 minutes, to get to the hotel. It took less than 1/2 hour, and everyone on the bus was very attentive and concerned that we get off at the right stop. The bus costs about 50 U.S. cents. The hotel ordered a cab for us to go back to the ferry port, and the cab was right on time with a very kind driver (cost about $7 USD). If you take the bus you just have to walk about 5 minutes."

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR...acramento.html

The review is rather positive. According to the Time Out guide, it is next to some kind of ruined pleasure complex.

MileageAddict

Im at the Sheraton Colonia right now. Beautiful location about 100m from the beach with a nature trail from the hotel down to the water. The hotel has the look of a W Hotel with modern amenities and trendy design. Indoor and outdoor swimming pools, a spa with an extensive menu of services, outdoor fire pit to enjoy while looking at a bazillion stars.

I am here with my wife and son and we were upgraded to a gigantic suite. Views of the water, two jacuzzi bathtubs (one of which could hold a small party of people!) and a very tasty Platinum amenity of wine (of course) cheeses, breads, crackers and fruit.

Ill provide more details once I return home but for now, I wanted to let any interested readers know that this is an excellent property.

MKB

I stayed here last week on an overnight side-trip from Buenos Aires by ferry.

I concur with the previous poster that this is a W-style property and well worth a look. We also got an upgrade to a large suite with its own espresso vending machine. Oddly the two jacuzzi baths had no way of switching the water from the flexible shower hose output to the tap. Language problems meant that front desk just shrugged when the problem was reported.

The hotel is a five-minute taxi journey from the centre of Colonia (= about 3 miles) and this costs around 150 Uruguayan pesos, which is about $6. It's a very quiet and relaxing place to unwind. The spa has a nice sauna and steam room next to the indoor/outdoor pool, and spa treatments are cheap. There's also a separate outdoor pool.

Either side of the central lobby are four floors of suites. These are the only rooms with balconies. On any given floor, on either side of the lobby, the arrangement appears to be two junior suites either side of a living room, (with three entry doors from the corridor). My Platinum upgrade consisted of the living room linked to a junior suite to form a full suite. I would guess they could also link the other junior suite to form a two-bedroom suite.

Standard rooms are on floors 1 and 2 only, have no balcony and spread out either side of the suites.

When I stayed, floors 3 and 4 were closed, so the number of suites available was halved, so I was very lucky -- they said -- to be able to get one.

Compared to the Argentinians in BA, the Uruguayans are laid back and very friendly. There was no sense of feeling threatened here.

Incidentally, if you get the Buquebus high-speed ferry from Buenos Aires, go for first class. It's not significantly more expensive than second class, and you get access to the top deck with seats similar to US first class domestic airline seats, as opposed to the economy style airline seats on the deck below.

Martin

vulle

This is my take on Sheraton Colonia, I sent this to TripAdvisor yesterday:

We stayed for three nights at Colonia Sheraton in December of 2006. Hotel really feels new when arriving there, everything seems modern. We had booked three nights there through Sheratons home page and paid US$189:-/night for a classic river view queen room.

Hotel is situated very well by the river with a beautiful view of sunset and if it isn't too hazy you can see the skyscrapers of Buenos Aires. Pool area is also fantastic with a huge pool and a lot of space. Spa treatments were also very nice and the spa area is luxurious.

First noticeable problem is service. Surely there were few friendly and professional members of staff but most of the staff were quite clueless with no initiative. We asked at reception if we could leave a few postcards which already had stamps to be sent... third person could give us an answer that it would be ok if we paid US$1:- per postcard. First two persons didn't have a clue. So as can be guessed we didn't leave the postcards there. Luckily my fiance is fluent in Spanish as otherwise I don't think we would have really gotten much service as most members of staff didn't even understand basic English.

On our second night after spa treatments we thought we'd order some room service. There was supposed to be a bottle opener by the mini bar but as it wasn't there we asked room service to bring one to us but after asking it for three times, receiving ok every time, first when ordering dinner, second when dinner was delivered and third time when the check came (wasn't delivered with dinner) we never received it. So we never had wine with our food. But in a way it was ok as during our dinner THREE cockroaches appeared in our room so we pretty fast lost our appetite. So about 22:30 I went down to reception to ask for a new room. It was supposed to take about 30 minutes to get the it and we were supposed to get a phone call when the new room was ready. Of course the phone call never came so after an hour I went down to the reception to get the keys for the room. But at least there weren't any uninvited guests at the new room...

The old town of Colonia is really beautiful with some nice restaurants. We had a nice dinner at "El Drugstore", recommended!

I feel very mixed about this hotel. It has great potential but as it is right now I wouldn't go back there as the quality is definetly not worth the price. I expected much more from a Sheraton resort. But do visit Colonia for a day or two, it is an easy boat trip away from Buenos Aires with the ferry company Buque Bus.

charly

Any updates of the Hotel ?
I'll be there next weekend .. but at least by phone it seems the staff is still not very professional .
Thanks.

Carlos.

skye1

Additional question: would it be a worthwhile stay in June? I've done the "daytrip to Colonia" before, and when back in EZE in June, was thinking on doing it again w/ an overnight at this hotel. But, it looks like most of the outside-of-your-room stuff seems more geared for summer than what the weather may be like in June..not sure.

charly

It's hard to say , but I agree with you the Hotel seems to be better for summer.
Take care about the weather in terms of rain. We are having more rainy days than ever.

Anglo Large Clawed Otter

I'll be down there in Late January, and plan to take pictures and post a review. The Jacuzzi suites sound nice, and I'm hoping to score an upgrade. Is approx. $7 USD still accurate for the cost of a cab from the Ferry Terminal?

I would also suggest a thread title modification from "Sh" to "Sheraton," thus making this thread easily searchable...

Anglo Large Clawed Otter

Better late than never, here's my take on the Sheraton La Colonia, Uruguay. I happened to check in when the hotel was fully booked, so did not manage to score an upgrade. However, I was pleasantly surprised with the accommodations. This is one of the nicest Sheratons I have had the pleasure of staying at, and reminded me of a high-end Le Meridien property. The common areas were fitted out to very high standards, with beautiful marble and hardwood floors, mixing well with stone walls. The bar staff were extremely friendly, and quite adept at making the Uruguayan version of Caipirinhas (don't recall the name of the liquor that they use, but the Uruguayan version uses something other than Cachaça). The pool/deck area was also well designed, with a view towards both the Golf Course and el Río de la Plata. From the pool/deck area, it was only a short walk down to sandy beaches abutting the river.

The town of Colonia del Sacramento is rather small, and one can easily see all the sights there in a day. However, I could relax at the Sheraton for days on end without worry. The Spa is quite nice, and I regret that I did not manage to snap any photos of the spa area. Next time I'm headed down towards EZE, I think I'll opt for several days at the Sheraton Colonia, lounging by the pool and enjoying the sunsets over the river.

The Obligatory Photo Link

kyushuman

What do you think about 2 nights there in mid-July? I was thinking about a romantic, 2-day escape from BsAs, to visit Colonia. Actually we'd be there from Sunday to Tuesday. Or should we go elsewhere in Argentina? We only have a couple days, so want it to be easy, pleasant, and romantic.
Thanks in advance!