Hotels round the world

Hotels round the world - Sheraton/Marriott Fraport

I have spent tens and tens of nights at the Sheraton at Frankfurt/Main airport (Fraport), virtually all of them in the Towers, being upgraded frequently in the suites at the end of the corridors at the Club Lounge level (9250 or 9251), otherwise at high floors (similar locations/numbers), and this before those Western Towers were converted into what is today the Marriott -- same owners and staff working indifferently at what remained as Sheraton and at the new Marriott.
The refurbishment of the Towers into the Marriott took ages, much longer that what was announced initially, and the result was disappointing, not only from my point of view, but also according to other customers I happened to talk to, as well as what was echoed in confidence by some staff members. This was another example of fancy ideas from hotel architects seeking fashionable originality rather than efficiency for customers in line with practicalities of business travel.
The working tables have become tiny; hanging lamps are so low that strategies have to be conceived to avoid banging repeatedly into them with the head; the nice tables in the suite salons have been replaced by three-level ones, making them unusable to spread anything of large dimension; and so on. Worst of all, the new covering of the floors (plastified sheet) has made them noisy. As such, the floors are definitely easier to clean than the old carpet covering, but when a customer was rolling a suitcase in the room above mine, it was as noisy as if that person had been moving next to me. Imagine how it becomes with heels tapping and tapping above your head. Even wax earplugs are unable to bring back peace to your brains. And I was not impressed by the redesigned Club Lounge.
All this led me to reduce my usage of this group of hotels and, whenever I had to stay at Fraport, I rather booked a room at the Sheraton, especially if I could get an upgrade to a suite looking Southwards (airport side).
But let me tell now a story that forced me to reconsider any stay at those hotels altogether.
When, on the BonVoy web site, the Fraport Sheraton appeared again open for reservations after the peak of the Covid crisis in the Spring-Summer 2020, I booked a room for the night Sept 03/04 with an upgrade to a suite. On Sept 02, the day before my arrival with virtually no time for cancelling without penalties, I received a message saying that the hotel was closed, with my reservation transferred to the Marriott. No indication whether the suite upgrade had followed.
After a long wait at check-in (no special channel for Platinum/Titanium members), the trainee in position happily announced a suite, but it turned out that this so-called junior suite was the nose on the noisy freeway with the head of the bed next to the elevator shaft. When I went back to the reception asking whether another less noisy accommodation would be available, the two trainees and the gentleman apparently in charge hid in the back office, probably hoping I would give up -- an attitude so unacceptable towards someone with the highest level in the BonVoy loyalty scheme that it would have deserved I filed a report. When, after waiting for half an hour, I finally went to that office, requesting an answer, I was shown another suite, one floor up, still on the freeway side, and with the head of the bed next to the service elevator shaft, admittedly less busy during the night.
During this episode, it also became obvious that the trainee dealing with me did not comprehend the computer system she was handling. I have nothing against trainees (they have to learn), but, if they are training on me, I should be paid by the hotel, not the reverse way ...
In view of that experience, I cancelled another reservation made at the Fraport Sheraton for the night Sep 06/07 since it would have had likely the same fate, and I stayed instead one more night at Düsseldorf airport.
(10 September 2020)

Hotels Round the World.