Good Value, Mixed Feelings at the Atlanta Airport Sheraton
With an early flight out the morning of New Year’s Day, I wanted something very close to the Atlanta airport. Looking a month out, no rooms were available on points, and paid stays required a minimum of two nights. But with room rates at a $100, and all the other surrounding hotels at $170 a night, I decided to go with the Sheraton Atlanta Airport.
When I checked back a week or two before my stay, availability had changed, not only could I do one night for $151, I could also just redeem 3000 points. Now that was a deal!
I unfortunately arrived at the same time as the airport shuttle bus. The entry was four lanes wide, two of which were completely full with parked cars but after circling eventually a place opened up for me to park and check in. The lobby was wide and spacious and a little dated looking. Also had a long line for check in (because of the airport shuttle arriving) and the SPG Platinum and Gold line appeared to be unmanned.
This is always a problem for me, because I tend to be shy about asserting status. In these cases I typically just stand in the normal line, but I was really tired after a long drive. So leaving my friends to hold our places, I walked over to the Gold and Platinum carpet area and waited patiently, getting dirty looks from other folks in line. When one of the agents had finished with a guest I tried to catch her eye and smile hopefully.
It worked, she asked if I was gold or platinum and I jumped to the head of the line. I did feel a little guilty but I was a Platinum and it was worth saving 30 minutes, since it appeared several of their systems were down and only one machine was able to make keys. I felt a little better about having jumped the queue because as we were leaving they called out for any other SPG elites to come forward (no one did).
Because of my status I had been upgraded to a room on the club floor, was told about the club being under renovation and given information about what my lounge options would be during the day. This was actually my biggest issue with my stay. The communications were consistently inconsistent as I would discover next morning when the temporary lounge was closed. 
Because of the renovations there was plastic wrap on the carpet from the lounge down the hallway past my room. The room also had a different door plates, so wasn’t sure if other rooms were also being renovated? Which one do you think would have the newer decor? 🙂
It was a basic room with a very foggy view of one of the Atlanta Airport runways and the Convention Center parking.
It had an extra sink outside the bathroom. The closet had a bathroom robe in dry cleaning plastic. And there was a mini fridge which was handy for keeping the New Year’s Eve champagne and bottled water cold.
The bathroom was new but small.
The couch had some stains on it, but overall I was happy with the room. The one thing I wasn’t expecting was the subtle leopard print decor.
The only restaurant nearby was Ruby Tuesday’s across the street. And nothing appealed on Uber Eats, so we decided to grab dinner at the hotel restaurant or do room service. Since the prices on the room service menu were the same as the restaurant and I was tired from driving, we all decided to do room service, which arrived somewhat promptly. Based on the Club Sandwich Price Index, our hotel is quite affordable.
The room didn’t have a corkscrew which our first bottle needed and I’d forgotten to pack my TSA corkscrew. We called room service and were instructed to go down to the bar, where it turns out they have a plastic bag full of disposable corkscrews. Pretty funny.
Breakfasted in the restaurant the next morning which was included with my Platinum status. Basic buffet with a Southern flair — bacon, scrambled eggs, biscuits and gravy, fruit, and yogurt. If I’d had to pay for it I probably would have gone for the lobby cafe instead.
Was a little worried there might not be enough room on the airport shuttles which run every 20 minutes and are shared with the Westin, but my friends had no problem getting space on the morning buses and my afternoon bus was almost empty.
At a similar price point I prefer the Westin Atlanta Airport, but for award redemptions you can’t beat 3,000 points for the Sheraton Atlanta Airport!
One of the nice things about this hotel is long term parking. I have used this hotel consistently for that purpose. You can call and negotiate a long term park fee of $100 to park there for 3 weeks or so. Big savings over airport rates. Worth paying for a night just for that.