Bayfront Sheraton… um, not so much
The Erie Bayfront. Also known as the Sheraton, the same way the Bel-Air is known as a Comfort Inn. If you’re visiting Erie or have a friend who’s going to visit you in the Erie area, The Bayfront is probably high on the consider list b/c of the view. If you have a bay-side room (as opposed to a marina-side room), this is a sample of your view:
If you don’t have time to go out, don’t know your way around or you get worn out doing all the other stuff there is to do in Erie County, you should consider room service. The service is good, the food is good and the prices aren’t completely outrageous (for room service that is) b/c the portions are ginormous. The kid menu is limited to three items for lunch/dinner (more options for breakfast b/c there’s a wide cereal selection); this is not a family/kid hotel. This hotel is geared toward the business traveler. Kinda. More on that later.
So let’s see… I mentioned the view. I mentioned the food. Okay. Well there end the reasons I recommend the Bayfront. So once the sun goes down, all you have is food.
In-room movies are $15 a pop. Has it been that long since I’ve ordered an in-room movie that it would be cheaper to go buy the DVD? Forget about popping popcorn in your room. There’s no microwave. Nor is there a refrigerator. Hawk & I were trying to remember the last time we stayed in a hotel that didn’t provide a fridge. We think it may have been a Motel 6 on our move from Colorado back to Pennsylvania. If those had a fridge, then it might be a Red Roof Inn in Tallahassee 10 years ago, which was a mistake (ugh). Other than that, who doesn’t provide a fridge anymore? Especially a fucking Sheraton with rooms @ over $200/night?
Probably the same kind of Sheraton that doesn’t provide drawers. I’ve stayed in some dives in my life but I’ve never had a hotel room w/o a dresser. There are no dressers at the Bayfront. This also means there’s nothing to put your suitcase on top of except a bench under the wall-mounted flatscreen (a fairly small flatscreen I might add; I think the one in our bedroom is the same size) or on the desk. Oh and if you do the business traveler’s “coffeepot cooking” you can’t do that either. The coffeemaker makes your coffee in your cup. No hot water for you! The coffeemaker is on the desk, which is actually huge so I’m sure they intend you to use it to put your suitcase on.
If you’re in the lobby, you get WiFi. In your room, you have to pay $9.95 for 24 hours of high-speed wired-only Internet access. They can’t include that with your room cost. That would be wrong. But if you’re a lobby visitor, you think , “Hey! WiFi! Awesome! I’ll have to tell everyone I know to stay here!”
Speaking of the nickel & diming, according to the Bayfront, Erie cable does not include the Disney Channel. You know, something to keep kids quiet & entertained so they’re not jumping on the beds while the business travelers are trying to sleep. But you can get Disney Channel programming. Imagine my delight when I discovered a “kids” option on my in-room TV menu. Look! All Disney stuff! All I have to do is click a button and my kids will stop ripping the comforters off the beds.
$3.16 for a single 20-minute episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.
So for the cost of an hour’s worth of Disney entertainment, I could rent a movie. Or buy a DVD. Or get a day and a half of Internet access and stream movies from Netflix. Or all of us go to the zoo and have money left over for a Coke.
Be careful if you use the whirlpool. The U-shaped steps have sharp edges and sharp corners. While Zoe and I were swimming, I couldn’t figure why the guys in the hot tub kept going, “Ow! What is that?” Well I had an idea but it turned out to be the steps poking them in the back. Those sharp concrete corners get you in the ribs when you sit around the edge and when the bubbles are going, you can’t see them.
Also there are very hard, very painful raised grates as covers on the drains at the bottom of the pool. Step on the corners of one of those, you’ll scrape your foot. It’s bad enough accidentally stepping on the grates. And they’re pretty big, considering the pool is somewhat small, and therefore hard to miss. The pool is one meter deep (nice for lap swimming) and not as warm as you’d think. Warmer than the bay in November though.
Speaking of outside, this is what happens when you try to leave the parking garage. There are two places to put a parking card/ticket. One is a slot and the other is a swipe. Over the swipe it says “employee card access only” on a P-Touch tape. The first time I went to leave the garage, I read that & thought, “Okay, it goes in the slot then.” I got “Invalid card” or “Insert correct card.” So I swiped instead. It did nothing. I had to re-park, get the kids out, go back in the hotel and get, “No you have to swipe it.” I say, “Where it says “employee card only?” The blonde at the desk says, “No not there. *pause* *gesture* You slide it.” Well I know there’s only one place to “slide it* and it’s exactly where she told me not to. So I get the kids back in the car & head back to the exit. I turn it the opposite of how the picture says to swipe the card & voila, the gate goes up.
The next day when we go out (the first time; I’ll come back to that), there is a clusterfuck at the exit. One person tries to make his card work & it doesn’t. So he backs out to park & go in. Next car, same thing. The third car eventually figures it out. The car in front of me has no trouble and since I know the trick, I don’t either. When we come back, two women at the exit flag me down and ask for help. They have a paper card. The only option for the paper card us to pay before you go to the exit. It only says that on the machine where you pay… which is by the exit gate. So until you’re sitting in your car waiting for the gate, you’ have no idea. I take their money over to the machine, pay, get the optional receipt and give them their card. They try swiping and inserting in slot, both in every direction, and nothing works. I said to take their receipt up to the hotel desk and raise a stink. I said it happened to me yesterday & to several people earlier. These were women from Erie & Corry, I said, “Tell everyone you know about this mess.”
It happened again every other time we left the garage & there was another vehicle attempting to exit. “Clusterfuck” is the only word for it.
Luckily Erie has tons to do b/c while Hawk was at his conference, I kept taking the kids out so our room would be vacant for housekeeping.
We checked in late Thursday and left noon Sunday and housekeeping never once came to our room.
On Friday, I took the kids to the zoo when I heard housekeeping in the hall (oh and forget getting a stroller, luggage cart, wheelchair, etc. through the halls with a housekeeping cart around). We then went out again to meet up with Emma, around 4:30, and we were out until after 9. Still no housekeeping. There was a card in the door saying “sorry we missed you” but there was no reason housekeeping couldn’t have come in. We didn’t have the sign on the door specifically b/c we wanted housekeeping to come. I had even left a healthy tip out for them.
On Saturday, I left a less healthy tip out for housekeeping. The kids and I waited for the mall opening time to go out, so we were out from 10-ish to 1:30. No housekeeping. We had lunch via room service and around the time we finished, I heard them out there. So I rushed the kids into shoes & coats and we walked down to Dobbins Landing. We walked around, went up the tower, etc. We were out a nice long time, judging by the sun/shadows when we returned. Housekeeping had been on one side of the hall when we left and now the cart was at the far end of the hall. Yay! Open the door to our room… like a punch in the face. Room service stuff still in there, dirty towels, poopy diapers. So I picked up the tip, closed the door & we left again and went to Romolo’s. That was at 3:30-ish.
We shopped, had ice cream, etc. until close to 5. I filled the car (with gas, not chocolate) & waited for Hawk to say he was on his way to the room. When he did, we met at the room. Still no housekeeping. By then, it was going on six and there was no sign of housekeeping anywhere. So we put the lunchtime cart in the hall (when Zoe and I left to go swimming soon after, it was gone) and decided that they weren’t coming and we would just live in squalor with our now-dark bay view and order some more room service after swimming time was over. Hawk & Holden stayed in the room w/o the do not disturb sign on the door & they never came nor did they leave one of their “sorry we missed you” cards. So whomever had to get our room ready between 12 & 3 on Sunday had his/her work cut out. And no tip.
So as I sat there & steamed, I read online reviews of the hotel praising the view and the “proximity to Presque Isle.” Yes, it is across the bay from Presque Isle and you can take a water taxi over there. But there are better hotels that actually are closer to Presque Isle (the aforementioned Bel-Air is about as close as you can get) and Erie has an abundance of much better hotels with more amenities (The Bayfront didn’t even have an amenities book in the room; probably b/c they don’t have any). We’ve stayed at several Erie hotels and our favorite is the Homewood Suites near the Millcreek Mall. Hawk says he’ll do the conference again but next time, we’re going back to the Homewood.
On positive notes, I got to talk to Kimberly, Emma and Brandy — Erie Bloggers all — and wished I could have visited more. Actually, Emma and I shouldn’t be allowed out in public together. I’m sure there’s an ordinance against it. And everywhere we went, people asked, “Hey how’s it going?” or “How’re you today?” Not just people working in stores or restaurants but just people walking around. Altoona is a friendly place but I’d forgotten exactly how warm Erie is. I was thinking I knew these people, they were so friendly. Well not so much in the hotel (where I asked room service, “How’s your medium well?” and got “Uh, medium… well?” Ass.) or at the mall Starbucks, where I actually had to snap at a particuarly nasty employee, who decided to impart her Napoleonic powers. See if I spend money there any time soon 
I also loaded up on Romolo’s and Heritage goods but we didn’t get our Smith’s hot dogs. I think we have to make another trip. We also got Timbits, which (as you may remember) cure shingles.
Kimberly’s cupcakes (get some):
We love Erie & hate to leave (Zoe even cried a little when we said “Goodbye Erie! See you next time!”). Next time, we’ll just stay at a better place. And I’ll keep telling people that the Erie Bayfront Sheraton really needs competition b/c once someone else can offer that view, they’re screwed.
ETA: Kind of close, but not quite
Oh my, I’d be having words and demanding some money back.
Wow that is insanely bad. I second talking to the management and asking for your money back. There is no reason that it should be that bad at a Sheraton.
Why didn’t you just call the front desk and ask them to have housekeeping clean your room?
Like Dale says, we really didn’t think they wouldn’t show up.
Whatever the reason they decided not to show on Friday, we were doing okay w/ towels, general cleanliness, etc. We didn’t know until about 5 or 6 on Saturday that they had no intention of coming at all. Like I said, I left three times on Saturday & spent most of the day out of the room to give them a chance to come by.
So by 6 p.m. the night before you’re checking out when you’ve spent the day out & about wrangling two little kids (who just want to be in the room watching $15/hr TV), you just want to be relaxing instead of down raising hell at the front desk.
If I’d realized what time check-in was on Saturday, I might have gone down when people were checking in to do it but I really thought that they’d come. Why wouldn’t they?
Every time I saw someone from housekeeping in the hallway, it was a different person (and a fair amount of bickering). I have a strong suspicion there’s a mentality of “you do it; I won’t” going on.
Other than the snarky “medium well” guy, the room service staff on phone & in person was very good. That manager needs to sit down with the housekeeping manager and impart some wisdom.
SB, at $200 a night, one should not have to call the front desk to remind the staff to do their job.
But raising hell with the manager at the front desk at checkout time would surely relieve some of the stress, especially if there were customers waiting to sign in.
Thanks for writing this. What a surprise that a hotel owned by the tax payers is so bad! /sarc
Maybe they’ll go out of business. O that’s right, THEY CAN’T. We’ll just keep them afloat with our tax money.
Anyone think this would happen if Nick Scott had been allowed to build the bayfront hotel?
I didn’t realize that was the sole or primary funding source. Why would Sheraton rely on taxpayer money… never mind. I’m sure this has all been hashed out.
I think Nick Scott needs to find a nice slice of land on the bayfront (and we passed one for sale right by the convention center). I’m not a personal fan of his (I overheard him dissing Johnstown once while dining at the Olive Garden on upper Peach
) but his hotels are the ones we’ve found most welcoming and he has done a lot to make tourists feel welcome in Erie, which has brought some nice tax revenue to the area.
I stay in hotels all the time. There is no reason to shoulder absurd resentments about something like this. You should have called down and had them come up instead of stewing in your expectations.
I stay in hotels all the time too — often in Erie hotels — and I have every right to expect something as simple as a visit from housekeeping without having to take my time to go down and tell someone to do the job.
I left for the entire day specifically to allow them to come and do that job. And if I want to be pissed off about it? Then I’m going to be pissed off about it.
I stayed in a cheap motel in J-town and they knocked on my door twice the evening I checked in to ask if I had enough towels, wanted the bed turned down, needed extra blankets, etc. And that was only $65 a night and I had Disney TV (which I didn’t watch but was available if I wanted to). Besides, one should not need to go to the lobby or even call down there at the SHERATON of all places in order to have them DO THEIR JOBS!
“There is no reason to shoulder absurd resentments about something like this.”
She has all the right in the world to bitch about it. She paid $200 for the damn room, plus Erie County’s absurd hotel tax!
If it were me, I’d be on every damn hotel review site bitching away all night long.
And then I’d be writing to the hotel management and company.
Common sense that housekeeping people should clean a fucking hotel room.
Um, any hotel I’ve stayed in has been in the room when I’ve been out. Every.Single.Time. I should not have to ask for a service that is presumed INCLUDED with the price. It would be like reminded my waiter to bring my food. It’s part of the price.
And personally, if they haven’t come to my room, and I have to raise a stink, I’d then be worried about who is IN my room. A wack of drama for no reason-since someone isn’t doing their job.
Wow have had great times in Erie and at the Sheraton. Kids looked old which one stunck the room up with diapers. looking at the pick you were not all that clean. The pictures and cursing show you are a class act thanks for your opions.
Your spelling is a class act.
Oh my god! Thank you for your opinion! You’re so right! How dare I?
I shall go and grovel at the feet of the manager of the Erie Bayfront and say that… oops, didn’t get your actual name there. Think I’ll just say “Some Jackass.” I’ll say “Some Jackass helped me see the light! It was 100% my responsibility to come to you and make a special request that after two days, I should have given up my evening’s rest so that the housekeeping staff could come and do their jobs!”
Kids are not that old. They are the cutest, nicest kids in the world. Cursing – maybe not so classy but she has a right to do so. If you don’t like it – don’t read it, Troll. If you are going to be so critical, then you need to pay attention to your grammer, spelling, punctuation. Yes, she IS a class act. She is a very clean person – I stayed at her house. I could have eaten off the floor if I wanted to, it was so clean.
Good post. I’ll have to keep this in mind if I have any business travel that takes me by way of Erie (actually, I’d probably just bum my old room back from my parents.)
Seriously, though, I’d have complained, too. Especially at $200/night room charge. Speaking of the fridge situation – I was staying at a Country Inn in Atlanta, GA a couple months ago that had no fridge. I also thought “WTF?” isn’t this standard nowadays?
Melissa, I can recommend at least four other hotels in Erie that are completely wonderful. I would bet you can guess a couple of them
I’ve never stayed at a Country Inn that didn’t have a fridge. How bizarre. BTW: The one in Erie is very nice indeed
— and has a fridge!
I’m really stunned that the trolls are so upset about the housekeeping. Unless you’re a guest, WTF do you care? I’d be concerned about being able to get out of the parking garage, since that’s something I saw LOCAL PEOPLE having a real problem with. I also heard a fair share of swearing (oh noes!) about how they will “never fucking come here again.” I don’t know if that meant the restaurant, the parking garage, the hotel or what. I sure wouldn’t park in that garage and I’d tell people not to use it either. And so I have.
What a nimrod! Did The Bayfront send a second-rate writer to comment on a first-rate writer’s post? And picking on YOU for the cleanliness of the hotel room? Don’t you know that when you visit a hotel with a family that you are supposed to create no trash, keep everything in your luggage, and sit only on the floor, so as not to muss the perfect linens? Right?bwaahahaha
WTF is with people? WTF? You wrote about YOUR experiences, which were not the quality you paid for. Are you supposed to lie and tell everyone what a great deal you got?
I have never had to call the desk to ask for housekeeping in my entire adult life, and I’ve stayed in all classes of hotels.
If I’m ever in Erie, I’ll probably skip this place, unless I read some glowing reviews at Trip Advisor.
Apparently so. Apparently it’s my fault that housekeeping didn’t come. *shrug* Oh that and I’m a filthy, foulmouthed bitch. I’m surprised no one’s called me a fat whore yet but the evening’s young.
I read some reviews online & most are all “The view! The view!” Okay… and? I’ll give them the view (provided you’re on the bay side; can’t speak for the marina side but it seemed nice), plus it was fairly quiet and the food was good.
Thank god I didn’t mention the fact that the French doors to the bathroom hit you in the knees when you’re on the toilet.
They hit you because you’re a fat whore. Duh. Whaddya expect from french doors? ;P
I’ll put my two-cents in now, as I was at the hotel as well. I’m Stephanie’s husband for those of you who don’t know.
Maybe the diapers were mine? Maybe I have a bowel problem and wear adult diapers? People just assume that diapers are from a kid. It still doesn’t change the fact that the housekeeping staff didn’t clean the room or knock on the door while we were in the room and ask us when they could come back to clean the room.
The diapers were form my non-potty trained son. At least we didn’t put the wastebasket in the hall and offend other guests. If there was a specified place I could find to dump the garbage, I would have. Of course the room was messed up. A six year old and a three year old are going to be messy. I’ve been in dorm rooms that were messed up far worse than the mess my kids made.
I’ve stayed in many hotels as well. This was the first place I’ve stayed at where there were no repeated attempts to clean the room. The only attempt was on Friday with a note in the door saying that an attempt was made to clean the room. Many housekeepers at other hotels would knock and talk with me if I was there and come back when I wasn’t in the room to do the cleaning. Of course, if I was out of the room, the housekeeper cleaned the room. Maybe we had a lazy housekeeper. At least we are sure that no one from housekeeping tried to steal our possessions as they didn’t come in the room. I’m sure that cleaning up after people is not the most pleasant job.
The view was nice. The room service was fine. The desk clerk at check-in was good. The beds were fine. The French doors for the bathroom were problematic. I did bump my knees on the one door while sitting on the toilet. It was a surprise to have the in room internet charge as well as limited cable options. I haven’t tried internet services in a hotel room until this trip. The automated parking gates with the access card at the parking garage was a bit confusing. A hand out with instructions for this would have been nice. A hardcopy of the hotel services in the room would have been nice as well. I believe that the only information on the hotel services was on the info channel on the TV.
We could have complained to the manager. We gave the housekeepers several chances. I wasn’t asked if there were any problems at check out. It was disappointing that the housekeeping service wasn’t very helpful with the level of quality associated with the hotel chain. I’m not one to complain to managers unless there is a major problem. I wasn’t about to call down on a Saturday night after there were many hours that day that the room was unoccupied to have a housekeeper clean the room after my kids were winding down and going to sleep. If we were going out, then I would have called for the room to be cleaned. If I’m not satisfied with a hotel, store, eating establishment, or any other business then I just don’t go back and take my business elsewhere.
Am I forever scarred by the experience? No.
Will I stay at the hotel again with my kids? No. There are other places that have better suited the needs of my family when we have visited Erie. I only stayed at the hotel because of the conference I attended at the convention center. The skyway from the hotel to the convention center did get tedious by the last day of the convention. Many other conference attendees shared this opinion with me.
If Stephanie wants to share her experiences, her interpretation of events, and her opinion on her blog, then that is her business. Blogging is a journal/diary in many ways in my opinion. If her entries entertain you, then that is great. Stephanie can write anything she wants on her blog (at least in the United States). It’s called freedom of speech, which is still protected under the Constitution. If she offends you, then don’t read her blog.
If you like to write comments to get a irritate people such as the blogger or commentors (as some of the above comments imply), then maybe you should get another hobby. It seems that Stephanie is not going to allow everyone access to her blog now.
That’s just my two-cents.
This turned me on so much.
oh he da MAN!
Hawk is awesome.
I knew Steph picked the right guy! I {heart} all of them, P, S, Z and H!
Hawk is hawt. I hope you give him the huh-huh tonite!!!