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Sheraton Indianapolis City Centre Hotel [Master Thread]

Sheraton Indianapolis City Centre Hotel [Master Thread]

Old Jun 25, 2007, 11:35 am
  #1  
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Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: Indiana
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Arrow Sheraton Indianapolis City Centre Hotel [Master Thread]

Does anyone know anything about this property. They are accepting reservations for middle of August onward.
scrog is offline  
Old Jun 29, 2007, 11:55 am
  #2  
 
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I was told by a Westin agent that the new Sheraton is currently the Radisson City Centre, and is being transitioned to a Sheraton in August. I don't know what prompted the change or if any upgrades are planned.
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Old Jul 11, 2007, 7:27 pm
  #3  
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
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Trip Report- Sheraton Indianapolis

Sheraton Indianapolis is horrible. The a/c in my room was broken and my carpet was wet. All of the furniture was extremely worn and tattered. I asked to be moved and they were surprised at my request since I was on a "preferred floor." While moving I encountered another guest who was checking out to switch hotels. The next room wasn't much better- but at least the a/c worked. The front desk said the hotel is scheduled for renovation early next year. (Nothing has been started yet.) I would avoid this hotel until renovations have been completed.
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Old Jan 26, 2008, 5:39 pm
  #4  
 
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Location: in your villages
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well, my weekend stay at the sheraton indianapolis city centre is probably the most bizarre stay i've had anywhere. not necessarily dire, but definitely bizarre.

i'll start by saying that all of the hotel employees i've encountered in person have been very kind and customer-service oriented.

that said, this place is a hole. i stayed here a few years ago as a radisson and it was nice. i was surprised to see that it was a cat 2...the rate was only $10 or $15 less than the westin. i don't stay at the westin anymore...the last time i was there, it was rundown and had terrible food. too many other decent places to stay in indy. but i thought i'd give this a shot.

starts out on a great note: i show up at 9am and just ask if i can leave bags, the guy tells me that i can check in (it's a business hotel, and i'm arriving on a friday...first night paid, second night points)...and that as an SPG gold he has a nice room for me. also gives a gift bag with...a small bag of pretzels, a hersey's bar and a small bottle of water. weird, but nice touch i guess.

get to room, it's a two-room suite...fake leather couch, tv, bar with sink, microwave and fridge in one room...sheraton bed, tv and sink in the other. normal sheraton bathroom connected. i had to go do business, so i dropped my stuff and left.

came back to use the in-room internet. modem sitting on desk with instructions. i follow instructions, no internet. i call service line. first question: are you airline crew? well, no. ok, then maybe it's because you didn't pay. what? it says that you pay when you log on. she tells me that i can either come to the front desk and pay or call tech support. i can tell it's a tech issue, so i call tech support.

tech support says that modem shouldn't be in the room, that there's an ethernet jack and to go look for it. so i hang up, go look for ethernet jack. two rooms, lots of furniture, so it takes a few minutes. no jack. call back tech support, get a different guy. he says "of course, the internet doesn't work in that room, it's on my list." probe a little further, and he says that he's been working with the hotel on several rooms where the internet doesn't work. of course, the front desk didn't tell me this when i checked in. did i mention that this is a business hotel? right smack in the middle of downtown indianapolis.

i call back to the service line. she is surprised. i tell her i want another room, one where the internet works. she says "ok, give me a minute and i'll call you right back." i waited 40 minutes and went down to the front desk and asked for the manager. i spoke with him -- very nice guy, very apologetic and no-nonsense. got me another 2-room suite, told me internet was comped, got me buffet breakfast comped for two days as well.

so that was weird, but problem resolved.

so go to new room. like the last one, it is pretty worn. scuffed, furniture chipped, stained...walls have stains...temporary paint jobs on parts of ceiling and walls. but still, it's clean, the bed is comfortable, bathroom is fine, etc.

everything works fine. on friday, i get two phone calls from different people making sure things are OK (i did not get the impression that they were following up on the problems earlier, although i did get a call from the shift manager along those lines) also had a voice mail message along the same lines.

awoken around 9am by the phone. another person wanting to make sure everything is OK. how odd. yes, things are fine.

get up, go to breakfast. it's terrible. i've seen better breakfast at holiday inn expresses, and every hotel i've ever visited in europe, including 30 euro/night family hotels. standard sausage/eggs/potatoes/unripe fruit. but i thought there was a bowl of real yogurt (withouth sugar or fruit), so i got some. turned out to be whipped cream. what? but it's free, so who's complaining. do not pay for breakfast here. don't even make your company pay for it. don't eat it. it's bad. i have another free coupon for the morning and i won't be using it.

because i was staying second night on points, i knew i had two reservations and i when i checked in, i was told that i'd have to get key card reswiped. not surprising, i've done same before. so after breakfast, i get it reswiped.

as i am coming down the hall, i see housekeeping knocking on the door 2 doors down...i tell her that i don't need service, i just want a couple more towels...she's very nice, brings me towels 3 minutes later.

about an hour later, quick knock, then housekeeping walks into my room while i'm sitting there. i tell her that i don't need service, i already told the other woman. she apologizes and leaves. i take a shower, when i get out, i'm drying off and another quick knock and walk in. i'm a little irritated now. granted, my problem for not putting on deadbolt, but COME ON.

then another hour later, i get a somewhat curt call from the front desk wanting to know when i'm leaving the room. sigh. explain, once again that i will not be leaving the room, that i am staying for the weekend.

so i leave...come back... go upstairs and ....key card doesn't work. go back to elevators to go down. wait literally more than 10 minutes for the elevator to finally come. go downstairs and ask my keycard to be reprogrammed for the second time today. ask if there's anything wrong with the elevator. no sir, nothing wrong.

again, nothing dire. and everyone is very pleasant. i think they are trying hard, but the bottom line is that this hotel does not have its .... together.

great SPG recognition. very friendly, personable, and conscientious staff. poor everything else. if you need a place to crash in downtown indy on a busy weekend and can use points, i guess it's fine. keep expectations low. i won't come back.
inyourvillages is offline  
Old Jan 27, 2008, 6:22 am
  #5  
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
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unbelievable.

it is sunday morning, 8:20 a.m. local time. just got a phone call from the front desk to make sure that my "accommodations were satisfactory last night." are you kidding me?

i called her on it. what is going on? why are you waking people up?

"i am sorry sir, but this is our policy"

like i said, not the end of the world, but totally weird.

EDITED: i spoke with the manager about being woken twice, about being walked in on twice, about not having key card programmed properly, about waiting 10+ minutes for elevator. he offered me 4000 points, which i took. he also offered excuses about some of the other things: crusaders for christ group was in hotel and "the kids are messing with the elevators." don't know if that meant playing around with, or just using excessivly. i've never waited that long for an elevator in my life though. because i was on two reservations, that was the problem with the key card and why housekeeping kept coming in. yes, i understood that was an issue when i checked in. that's why i went to the front desk on day two and had my key (incorrectly) reprogrammed. that's why i spoke with the houskeeping supervisor, apparently to no avail.

again, good SPG recognition (on a weekend though). very personable and friendly staff. but not a good experience and i didn't really get the impression that it was the perfect storm ... there just seems to be a good deal of people who don't know what they're doing.

Last edited by inyourvillages; Jan 28, 2008 at 9:10 am
inyourvillages is offline  
Old Feb 1, 2008, 4:12 pm
  #6  
 
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Heh. This is kinda funny...I was at this hotel at the same time as you, and could echo quite a bit of your posts word for word. I was just there one night (Saturday 1/26), but it's uncanny how closely our stays resembled each other.

Originally Posted by inyourvillages
i'll start by saying that all of the hotel employees i've encountered in person have been very kind and customer-service oriented.
Almost comically so, in some cases. Just over the top pleasant and accomodating.

i show up at 9am and just ask if i can leave bags, the guy tells me that i can check in (it's a business hotel, and i'm arriving on a friday...first night paid, second night points)...and that as an SPG gold he has a nice room for me. also gives a gift bag with...a small bag of pretzels, a hersey's bar and a small bottle of water. weird, but nice touch i guess.

get to room, it's a two-room suite...fake leather couch, tv, bar with sink, microwave and fridge in one room...sheraton bed, tv and sink in the other. normal sheraton bathroom connected.
I arrived around 1-ish, so I wasn't that surprised that the room was ready, but otherwise identical. SPG gold as well, and got the same speech, same gift bag, same upgrade to the same suite.

Didn't bring my laptop, so I didn't have your problems with the internet. My only real problem with the room was that half the channels on the TV in the sitting room didn't work, but I wasn't watching TV for that long, and the one in the bedroom did work fine, so I didn't stress about it.

it is sunday morning, 8:20 a.m. local time. just got a phone call from the front desk to make sure that my "accommodations were satisfactory last night." are you kidding me?
And the fun continues. I was allowed to sleep until 9 a.m., luckily, since I had been out until about 3:30 the night before. I was too flabbergasted/asleep to actually say anything to the person who called, other than a mumbled "yeah, whatever". Policy? To wake up their guests at an arbitrary time? Unbelievable. I had also been called the afternoon before, around 5:00 or so, to make sure that everything was satisfactory up to that point--but at least I was awake then.

Probably should have made a bigger stink with the front desk when I left, but I was running late and, frankly, just didn't feel like it. I did jot it down on their comment card when I checked out, but of course I don't expect anything to come of that.
Scott in LA is offline  
Old Dec 5, 2008, 3:02 pm
  #7  
 
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I did a couple 1-night stays at this property in October. Upgraded both times to a nice suite. Nice lounge. Expensive parking. Recently renovated, IIRC.

I also had a few 1-night stays at the Sheraton Indianapolis Hotel & Suites at Keystone Crossing. A fair drive from downtown. Upgraded to a three different types of suites. The new tower was nicer, but the lounge (which I never visited) was in the old tower. Rooms in the old tower were tired. (Partially refurbished?) But parking was free.
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Old Mar 3, 2009, 3:51 pm
  #8  
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
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stayed at this hotel last week. disappointing overall. staff was very friendly and nice and that was encouraging... but almost falsely so b/c that didn't follow through in excecution!! i won't get into a long rant about what happened here... everything from finding trash on the floor when i first walked into the room -- to them never getting & never delivering a breakfast room service order i wanted to place. I did end up writing the manager a email explaining my disappointment, and got a nice response back.

so - pros: great recognition of SPG status, v friendly staff
cons: almost everything else!!
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Old Jul 29, 2009, 8:57 am
  #9  
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
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Stayed here last weekend. The Sheraton City Centre is definitely rough around the edges. Staff was friendly, but the property is just old. The room decor and lobby have been updated, but still old parking ($23+), mechanicals, elevators, bath fixtures, doors, etc. It was busy for the NASCAR Brickyard 400 weekend, so I'll cut them a break on some of the general untidyness I saw.

Club lounge has no service on weekend. As a substitute, they provided me w/ free breakfast buffet coupons in the restaurant as a plat. That was quite nice.
cliff_rock is offline  
Old Sep 14, 2010, 11:57 am
  #10  
 
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Staying at the Indy Sheraton City Center in a few days. Expectations are low but hoping for a sweet as a Plat.
jjgollum is offline  
Old Sep 14, 2010, 12:09 pm
  #11  
 
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Originally Posted by jjgollum
Staying at the Indy Sheraton City Center in a few days. Expectations are low but hoping for a sweet as a Plat.
Or a suite...unless it really is a nice dessert you are hoping for, which might at least exceed the low expectations!

We were due there later this week myself, but have moved to the Indy Sheraton Suites out at Keystone Crossing. Saves on parking costs and a better location for our schedule. Both hotels seem to get the same indifferent reviews, so I'm in the same boat as you hoping for a decent upgrade.

We'll have to compare notes. Good luck with your stay in the City Center!
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Old Sep 14, 2010, 12:38 pm
  #12  
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
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Originally Posted by RAPC
Or a suite...unless it really is a nice dessert you are hoping for, which might at least exceed the low expectations!
Touche! A suite would be much preferred over a "sweet".

I'll let you know how it goes!
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Old May 19, 2011, 8:04 pm
  #13  
 
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Thumbs up Sheraton Indianapolis Downtown Update

Arrival:
Very smooth, I took the IndyGo Green line service which takes you delivered in around 30 min direct infront of the entrance for $7. walk from hotel to malls, city center and convention center only one block.
Reservation was set correct, already upgraded to a suite room as Platinum benefit.

Room:
I have got a two room suite, nicely decorated, microwave and kitchenette. I guess it was newly renovated. the luaggage room is a bit tiny if you travel with the spouse, but there are pleanty options to leave your stuff.
The hotel takes part on the green choice program, so I declined housekeeping for one night. We will see if I will get some points for it (many others complained in other properties that no points or credit have been posted so far).

Breakfast:
took the buffet at circles cafe, it was ok. several other a la card options of hot stuff where available on reasonable prices around $10. I have got access for continental bf at the sheraton club lounge, but they finish at 9 am, so I took the restaurant where bf is available until 10:30am.

Sheraton Club:
I have got club acces as Platinum benefit. I have to say for non-elite members an upsell to club is worth the money.
very nice design (singapore style), 2 big plasma tv, free internet access (very good speed), continental bf, hors d'oevre featuring a hot selection, salad and snacks, cheese selection and californian wine tasting containing around 10 selection of red, white and rose wine - free of charge!
I think most *wood properties in the US charge even in club for drinks (this is an typical american thing), but not at sheraton dt indi.

Overall experience:
very nice and smooth, very good service for the money paid.
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Old May 20, 2011, 5:16 pm
  #14  
 
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Old but Good

I stayed here twice and had a good experience. I was upgraded to a 1 room suite both times as a SPG Gold. The staff was friendly but the hotel is old. The hotel was in a good location but the nightlife is dead.

The room was nice, the beds were very comfortable. The A/C was a bit noisy and the bathroom is small but clean. They did upgrade the TV's to the big flatscreens and gave a small but nice gift bag. I think mine had a bottle of water, a full size hershey bar and a few other snack items.
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Old May 22, 2011, 6:04 am
  #15  
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
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Indy 500

We have had tickets in my family for 40 years and are now mine (great seats Paddock near finish line) and we are going this year. Trying to find a hotel in Indy that weekend is always hard, but was able to use points for the Sheraton - one room with double beds and a small suite all for 3 nights total both rooms = 23,000.

I am glad to see that the hotel has been improved and now am actually looking forward to staying here.

Thanks again for the review!
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