This past weekend my mother-in-law and her sister were in town visiting for the first time. Despite my urgings, they reserved an upgraded room at the Sheraton Hotel at Waterside in Downtown Norfolk. Now, I must admit, I was basing that recommendation only on word of mouth and I had not actually seen the rooms myself. Now I can make recommendations for myself.
A room at the Sheraton is currently over-priced and lower quality than the standard espoused by Sheraton around the country. There has been an obvious lack of maintenance throughout the building. Shoddy weight room, shoddy pool, shoddy rooms, etc. If you are paying top dollar for a downtown hotel the trim board along the floor (vinyl no less) certainly should not be attached to the wall with push-pins. Are they not advertising Sleep number beds in every hotel room? Well, no sleep number bed was to be found in the rooms we were shown.
What's worse, is after complaining they offered a club room on the top floor. Obvious water damage visible on the carpet and a rampant smell of must and mildew pervaded.
You are much better off reserving a room at the downtown Marriott Waterside where they stayed instead or the historic Tazwell hotel (which just underwent some renovations).
The good news, however, is the management at the Sheraton just changed hands and multi-million dollar renovations are underway.
But if you are planning a stay in downtown Norfolk, be sure to avoid the Sheraton until AFTER renovations are complete.
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