Sheraton Suites Calgary Eau Claire Review – We Really Liked It

Sheraton Suites Calgary Eau Claire Review – We Really Liked It

Bottom line up front: you’ll see from my Sheraton Suites Calgary Eau Claire review that we liked this property a lot. It’s not perfect, and some things could be improved, but we’d definitely stay here again.

My wife and I recently stayed in Calgary as the jumping off point for our RV adventure to Banff National Park (read more here). That brought us to the Sheraton Suites Calgary Eau Claire property, and my review will cover the hotel itself, the guest room, and the staff.

Booking Process

We used Marriott free night certificates to stay at the Sheraton Suites Calgary Eau Claire. My wife has 5 free night awards expiring January 3, 2022. There’s no way to use all of them in 2022 before expiration, so we opted to use some of them on this trip.

The Sheraton Suites Calgary Eau Claire is a category 5 property. We stayed here in mid-August, and the cash price per night was $252. Free night awards from Marriott credit cards are worth up to 35k per night, and the hotel priced at 35k per night (standard pricing for category 5) during our stay.

35,000 points per night with a cash price of $252 is a value of 0.7 cents per point. That’s slightly above average on our valuation of Marriott points.

Sheraton Suites Calgary Eau Claire Review – The Property

The Sheraton Suites Calgary Eau Claire property is an all-suite property, so my review will highlight this when discussing the property. We stayed in a basic suite and were not upgraded. All-suite properties are not obligated to provide upgrades, and we neither received nor expected one. There are other suite types with larger sizes / more bedrooms, but my review will focus on the 1-bedroom standard suite we stayed in, which is the basic room type at this property.

Location

Sheraton Suites Calgary Eau Claire is located in the Eau Claire neighborhood of central Calgary, Alberta in Canada. This is on the north side of the business district and near the Bow River / Prince’s Island Park. It also sits at the edge of the small Chinatown in Calgary. Access to the property is easy, due to the central location.

Parking

There is on-site parking. We didn’t have a rental car/no need to use the parking, but self parking (off site) and valet (on site) are both options. The former will cost $25 CAD per night, while the latter is $42 CAD per night.

Lobby

The lobby is spacious and uses natural light from the many windows. It’s not deep but is very wide, covering access from the main doors, rear doors, elevators on one side & restaurant on the other.

Restaurant

We did not dine at the restaurant. The menu in our room didn’t interest us much. However, it seems popular, as we never saw it empty.

Gym

The gym has all of the equipment you’d expect. It’s a standard hotel fitness center, which is sufficient.

Swimming Pool

Located next to the gym on the 2nd floor, the pool was PACKED the two times I went to take pictures. It’s not overly large, but it does have a waterslide on the opposite end.

I didn’t get any pictures of it, since I didn’t want to take pictures of other people’s children. Suffice to say the pool was very popular.

Salon

There is a salon just off the lobby. It’s “by appointment only” and the windows are all covered up. I couldn’t really tell how much (if at all) this feature is used, but it’s interesting nonetheless.

Business Center

If you turn left after entering the front door, there is a small business center. It has 2 computers plus ethernet ports/plugs for using your own computer. You can print for free if staying at the hotel.

Access To Guest Floors

I liked the elevator waiting area off the lobby. It’s spacious, bright, and looks great.

The elevators are standard and have no impressive features, but they had nothing wrong, either.

The hallways are wide and well lit. Carpet in the hallway is in good condition and does a good job eating up noise from the hallway.

We had room 1220, on the 12th floor.

Guest Room

We stayed in a “Traditional, 1-Bedroom Suite, 1 King, Sofa Bed” room. You enter into the kitchenette/living room area. The bathroom was immediately to the right. You could enter the bathroom from the kitchenette and from the bedroom, which is a nice feature. Here’s a look at the standard suite.

Kitchenette

This is the area you see first when entering the room. There is a small coffee maker and supplies on the counter.

Under the counter, there is a mini fridge, and the safe is surprisingly under the sink. There’s also a microwave above the counter.

Desk

The desk separates the kitchenette from the living room area. It has 2 different types of chairs, one on either side.

There’s a phone, drawers, multiple plugs to connect to, and an ethernet (high-speed internet) cord. The desk also has a lamp.

Living Room

The living room area of the suite was nice. It wasn’t spectacular, but having a separate space to “hang out” that isn’t sitting on the bed in your hotel room is always nice. There are 2 floor lamps, and I liked that they are connected to the light switch near the door (AKA you don’t have to walk over to them to turn them on/off).

A TV in the corner is a good size but positioned behind the armchair, so if someone is sitting there it’s an issue for sure.

The sofa folds out into a bed, but we had no need for it. This is a great perk for families with kids, though!

Bedroom

The bedroom is a good size. It’s not entirely eaten up by the bed, so there is ample space to move around. French doors connect the bed to the living room, while a sliding door provides access to the bathroom.

There is also another (smaller) TV in the bedroom, connected to the built-in closet & dresser.

Closet

The closet and dresser are built into the wall. This maximizes space well to make the room feel bigger than it really is.

There’s a TV in here, as well as hangers, iron & ironing board.

Note that if you’re a couple with a kid or 2, this is probably not enough storage space for your family.

Bed

The bed is awesome. We slept well, found it comfortable, and we liked that it came with a bunch of pillows of various types. This way, hopefully everyone can find something they like. Great bed. We liked it a lot.

Each side of the bed had a nightstand with a lamp. The nightstands had power sockets built into them, which is an almost-mandatory feature these days.

Views

The view from the room was nothing impressive. We overlooked the business district, so most of the buildings were taller than our floor (thus obstructing the view). However, we were repeatedly impressed with how “new” everything looks in this part of the city.

Bathroom

While not overly large, the bathroom has all of the features you need. It also has the bonus of entering from the kitchenette area and from the bedroom area. The location of the bathroom is its best feature.

The counter has 1 sink, a lit mirror (not large, but good size) and a rack underneath the sink with spare towels and a hair dryer. Toiletries near the sink smelled good and were decent quality.

The shower was very standard and nothing special. It worked well, though.

The toilet was…really low. It almost felt like sitting on a child’s toilet. Not sure what’s going on with that.

Overall Thoughts On The Room

This is a really nice room. As the basic room, it has a good amount of stuff going on. The layout is nice. There are numerous features. It’s obviously not a full kitchen, but we didn’t expect one. The bed is the high point, while the low toilet and small-ish shower would be the low points. Neither of these is a deal-breaker, though.

Sheraton Suites Calgary Eau Claire Review – Staff

OK, so the property and the room are nice. How’s the staff? Bad staff ruins a good hotel, while great staff can make an “OK” hotel become “great”. Let’s look at the staff in this part of my review for the Sheraton Suites Calgary Eau Claire

Prior To Arrival

My wife has Marriott Gold status automatically, because of credit cards that she has (1 personal card and 1 business card is sufficient to accomplish this). Prior to arrival, she received an email from the hotel thanking her for booking, thanking her for her loyalty to the brand, and informing us about Covid-19 protocols in place. We didn’t have any questions for them, so we didn’t reply.

Check In

On arrival at the hotel, we were greeted by a doorman and then warmly welcomed by the 2 front desk agents. The man who completed our check in was friendly and efficient. He verified the reservation details, asked if we had any questions, and explained some of the features of the hotel / where they’re located. He also informed us that housekeeping was available only after the 3rd night, due to the pandemic. As we were staying only 2 nights, we could not opt in. However, should we need anything, he said to simply call and ask.

Check in was quick, despite covering a lot of information, and we were on our way to room 1220.

During The Stay

We had very minimal interactions with staff during our stay. Because we did not have a rental car, we did not interact with parking / valet staff. We stopped by the front desk for 2 simple questions during our stay: asking for more water for the room and requesting a late check out.

Both requests were handled easily and in a friendly manner. When requesting a 2pm late check out, the man at the desk said that they were completely booked and could only give us 1pm at the latest. He was apologetic and professional.

Check Out

On the last day, when we returned from lunch to grab our stuff and check out, our keys didn’t work. We had to stop at the desk to get a new key card. By the time we got upstairs to get our stuff and leave, the phone rang. It was an employee calling to say “it’s now 1:05pm” and remind us that we need to check out. He tried to put a smile in his voice, but we could tell they wanted us to get out…time now.

At the desk, we didn’t see the man who gave us the new key just 5 minutes before. There were 2 women at the desk, and they seemed unaware of the new key / phone call situation. They proceeded like a normal check out: smiles, thanks for coming, and wishing us a pleasant onward journey.

I understand that the hotel was sold out, and they wanted us out, but it came off a bit weird. And the fact the employees clearly weren’t talking to each other could be improved. Our check-out experience was mixed. Our Uber ride up to get our RV rental arrived shortly after, and we were off with a friendly wave from the doorman.

Sheraton Suites Calgary Eau Claire Review – Final Thoughts

As you can see from my Sheraton Suites Calgary Eau Claire review, we liked the property. An all-suite type of property is great, and the fact I work online while traveling made this really nice for my wife. She puts up with a lot of odd hours, video chats, and other times where I’m working and she needs to sit in the corner quietly or go do something solo. Having a suite where she could close the door to tune me out or keep sleeping while I worked at the desk was a huge plus for her. The hotel staff was a bit overwhelmed with a busy check-in schedule, but they were still friendly when interacting face-to-face. We liked this property and would stay here again.