ryan754

Saturday was the second occasion when I needed to stay in the SF area and stayed at the Four Points SFO, it was late at night, and the city was pretty booked up. So I call SPG to get a hotel, and their line is down for maitenence. I want to burn some points and stay at the Four Points SFO as I only need the room for me and some friends for sleep shower etc. I call the hotel and reserve a room. I show up, and the FD person cannot issue me an award, so he gave me a $139 rate... I also got the Bi Level suite which is very nice, only lacking the jacuzzi... On checkout, I cannot get the FD to change to points or SPG.. So I write a email to SPG asking if they can contact the GM Jim McGuire is a really cool guy. And ask if he can change the charges, I didn't expect him to but it is always good to ask. Well today I got an email from Jim telling me that it is taken care of. What a great general manager. This hotel really takes care of it's guests, and is very "clean" for a four points although it lacks the heavenly bed, I have chose it over the Westin... I hope Fellow FT's can try this place out.

Thanks
Jim, Starwood, and Four Points
Now I cannot say that I will avoid four points like a plague.

seawolf

The place is relatively new. ANd I guess the GM did do you a favor. Awards are usually for a standard room.

Eastbay1K

Jim wrote me a personal letter in reply to some issues I had at that property. I have to say it has become my #1 choice of SFO properties. If it had heavenly beds, it would be just about perfect. The staff is from good to excellent, the restaurant is very good, the parking is easy and free (well, not to leave the car there when you aren't, but the Westin and Sheraton charge even for overnight guests), and the rooms are decent (albeit the upgrade gods weren't too kind on the last couple visits). It is better than a lot of Sheratons I have stayed at. It should be renamed the 6 Points. Many of the 4 Points should likewise be renamed 2 1/2 Points.

Eastbay1K

As an update to this property (I almost hesitate at times to say things because it creates expectations in other people and demands upon properties... but...)

I have to fly tomorrow morn for a same day trip to attend a funeral of a close relative, and I didn't want to deal with traffic over the Bay Bridge in the morning, etc. Tomorrow will be bad enough. So I made the res online (well I may be sad but I still want my 1K points...) - and then faxed the hotel re: a request that I be able to leave my car here for the day tomorrow. When I arrived, the clerk said he got my fax, not a problem at all, and "you have stayed here before" (I recognized him). I went to the bar after a short while and the bartender (I recognized her from a prior stay), and ordered a drink. My mind was a bit spacy so I told her why, and the second drink was on her. So nice.

This hotel surpasses most domestic Sheraton properties I have stayed in. The restaurant/bar, while casual, has very good food. Again, a class act.

Montys_Mayhem

I am writing this quick report from the Four Points Sheraton SFO Airport, where I arrived with my family (wife and two small kids) last night. I was looking forward to an uneventful, pleasant stay, but unfortunately I have been very disappointed. Quick summary:

Airport shuttle runs only once every 30 minutes. We missed the 8:15pm by 5 minutes, and had to wait 25 minutes for the next. Not a biggie, but several other hotel buses passed by two or three times while we waited for the Four Points shuttle.

Arrived at the hotel. Two small kids, lots of bags, but no help or offer of assistance of any kind. Struggled into the lobby with kids and multiple bags, but no help in sight. Agent at the check-in desk pretented not to notice we might need help.

No Platinum amenity offered at check-in.

All of the above we did not worry too much about, though. The room was nice, free high-speed internet. So we were not too bothered by the annoyances encountered thus far.

This morning is when things really took a turn for the worse. We ordered room-service breakfast. Boiled eggs (full boiled) and sausages, plus one full continental breakfast. So far so good.

Breakfast arrived. No boiled eggs, poached eggs. No juice with the continental breakfast. Two croissants instead of an "assorted bread basket". Still, no biggie. Innocent mistakes. We called room service. Here is how the conversation went:

Me: "Hi -- We wanted full boiled eggs, you sent poached. Can you have them replaced please?"

Room Service: "We don't do boiled eggs. They take too long. We told you you boiled eggs take long when you ordered"

Me: "I didn't say I had a problem with them taking long. I did not ask for poached eggs instead".

RS: "It'll take 40 minutes to do boiled eggs."

Me: "40 minutes? Why would it take 40 minutes to boil two eggs"?

RS: "That's how long it takes. You can speak to the cook if you like".

Me: "I don't want to speak to the cook. I want to speak to the manager".

RS: "I am the manager".

Me: "Well... That explains a lot. Why was there no juice either with the continental breakfast?"

RS: "You never said you wanted any juice"

Me: "But it is part of the continental breakfast description in the menu. You charged me for it, didn't you?"

RS: "What juice do you want"?

You get the drift....

I then called the front desk and asked to speak to the real manager. He/she apparently only comes in at about 9 or 10am. But the Front Desk sounded pretty concerned when they heard my problem, and lo and behold, 15 minutes later 2 nicely boiled eggs showed up at our door. Wonder what the cook would have to say about that? The person delivering it was nice, and said the breakfast was on the house. At least the front desk knows more about customer service than the room service "manager".


More later after I speak to the Manager after he/she comes in.

Starwood Lurker

Sounds like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed...and it wasn't Montys_Mayhem.

Please let us know how it turns out after speaking to the manager.

Sincerely,

William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

[email protected]

Eastbay1K

I generally find that hotel great. My last stay had a serious problem with the hotel shuttle (a contract service) - I waited an hour, and didn't place my first call to the hotel until having waited 1/2 hour. I asked the desk person to have the general manager get back in touch with me (he has been responsive in the past) - it has been 21 days, and I have had no reply - I'm going to drop him a line soon.

MileCompiler

I have stayed at this hotel a few times and have found it to be a good hotel. I don't use the shuttle service, but everyone there has been friendly and professional. I have not had to ask for the platinum amenity, it has always been offered. I go back everytime I am in the bay area for at least an evening.

Happy Travels

TabascoGuy

I'm really disappointed to hear this. I stayed there once and it turned me on to trying Starwood after using Hiltons for years.

I've now stayed there three times and everything has been very nice. The rooms are always clean and everyone has been extremely nice. It's too bad you didn't get that level of service.

Dudemon

I've stayed at this hotel 10 or more times and have had great service each and every time. On my inaugural Platinum stay they even made sure I got an UG to one of their suites.

The suite is nice, 2 levels but the gesture was greatly appreciated!

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this hotel to anyone so I hope your problem is resolved to your satisfaction.

Jeff Anders

Eastbay1K

I wrote/faxed the GM regarding my above-mentioned issue a few hours ago (a polite, complimentary when compliments are due, complaint letter) and within under 2 hours, I received a faxed reply letter directly from him with a response well above and beyond the call of what was in order. Once again, a class act. Since this hotel opened, I don't think I've stayed at the Sheraton Gateway and Westin more than once or twice - even when the rates are similar.

Montys_Mayhem

Sorry I was not able to post as I have been on the road since I wrote the original post. The manager did call after he came in, heard what happended, and apologised profusely. At check-out, I asked about the Platinum amenity card and was offered one -- I selected the 250 points option.

So that's how the story ends. All in all, the hotel was nice physically, decent rooms, great to have free high-speed internet, and had some good staff. But the negatives on this particular stay really left a poor, lasting impression -- specifically the bizarre room service operator incident. I think I'd stay at the excellent Hyatt SFO next time, despite being Starwood Platinum.

Eastbay1K

I'd really suggest that you give this hotel one more chance. And if you had any problems at all with the shuttle driver (ie, maybe to get your bags at least off the street), please let the hotel know, as they recently contracted with a different service. That breakfast experience was bizzare, and in fact (although I have never had room service breakfast there), the kitchen and bar is of very high caliber for what is a "mid range" hotel.

Despite a couple of "not-so-hot" experiences at that hotel, it still remains my first Starwood choice around the airport.

Generally

This property is my choice when I need to stay near the airport. They do have their occasional quirk every now and then, but their overall attempt to please has made this a repeat for me.

This hotel is very new, and the property still seems to appear and smell that way. It has a very nice atmosphere. They generally don't have someone readily available to help with bags, but maintenance is always glad to help if you don't mind waiting for the bags to get there. If I have a lot of luggage, I usually just grab the cart.

The room service isn't the fastest, but I think the problem mentioned before might have been just one of those days.

The free internet is great...just plug your CAT5 cable in the socket, authenticate on the server page when you open your browser, and you are on your way!

I'm glad to hear they changed the contract service, since I couldn't figure out why that contractor arranged the routing and split the buses between properties like they did (sometimes the hotels were right next to each other but two different buses went to each) which is why you always seem to see another one pass you by.

Late last year I was there for almost two months because of a family emergency and they were very nice/concerned and made sure we felt at home.

We did have excitement like the fire alarm being set off by a prankster (hotel guest) in the middle of the night (they discharged a fire extinguisher on the top floor hallway). The entire hotel evacuated and when the fire department responded they told us that the hotel had the best safety systems since it was recently built from the ground up. (The funny thing was that we were the first out, and while the extinguisher dust was making it very hard to breathe and see in front of you, people actually took the time to pack their bags, and carry them out of the building five or ten minutes later.)

We had flooding because of heavy rains and the lower parking had a couple feet of water in it as well as the street & 101fwy. The maintenance man immediately offered to try to drive our SUV out when he saw us looking at the water. He took our key and trekked out into the water and he got soaked but he got our vehicle out.

Overall, they try their best. They are above average for a CAT3 property!

I can understand how you felt Montys_Mayhem - it can be frustrating.

Have a great day!

Football Fan

Just made a reservation at this hotel, even though I am only Starwood Gold and will be Hilton Diamond at the time. I like the free highspeed Internet and it looks like this is a really modern, well-run hotel .