Sheraton Chapel Hill Hotel

Stayed for 12 nights as part of a work function, so I definitely got a sense of the lay of the land. Kudos to the front desk staff. They were always incredibly accommodating with any request. The event staff was also fabulous. They worked very hard and were always pleasant.
My room itself was just okay. As mentioned in other reviews, the rooms are pretty small, but what do you expect for such a reasonable price? The bedding was comfortable, and the room was very clean when I checked in. I appreciated the ‘green’ promotion that the hotel offers with 500 points per day that housekeeping is skipped. However, the housekeeping was very inconsistent on the few days that I did ask for it. I also wish that I would have known that microwaves were an option for the room. It would have been handy to have one considering the length of my stay.

Good, clean, safe hotel. My room had some strange thing going on with the pipes clanging. I’m sure they would have moved me if I really cared. I didn’t.

Stayed here 1 night for business. The staff were. hands down. very helpful and accommodating. The shuttle to places within a 5 mile radius is wonderful for guests without a vehicle. The bathroom was a bit dated, but the bedroom décor was modern, and the king size bed was relaxing. My room rate came with a breakfast voucher, so I was able to enjoy in the buffet. I had an early AM meeting so I was there the moment they opened, and they were ready to serve me as their first guest. Overall, a nice and convenient place to stay.

Amazing customer service! Ted from Revenue Management was amazing when I had changes to my stay. I would highly recommend staying at this hotel, I was so impressed with the high level of customer service and friendliness! Thank you Sheraton Chapel Hill. :)

Nice hotel, super clean and well kept. And when I requested a room with a microwave at the last minute they were more than accommodating. There was also some sort of baseball gathering going on, but I couldn’t hear a peep from my room. Upbeat and personable staff.

Great service and price! Honestly you cannot ask for more for $ 99 a night.
However, I have to knock 2 stars for the extremely close quarters. This place would be tight for me let alone having my wife and infant along for the ride. The staff was fantastic and brought up a crib for us, but we could not roll it in between the bed and the desk without picking it up. So cramped!

I’ve been to this hotel a few times already and my experiences have been good. I’ve never had a problem with the customer service but I have yet to be upgraded to the club lounge and I find that strange considering my Starwood level and the fact that I continue to stay with them whenever I’m in the area. I’ve tried their room service and the food is hit or miss; the banana bread pudding is not a winner but I had the steak one time and it was pretty good. I think my favorite part of this hotel is that every room has a nice little balcony which I like because I get to eat or read outside when the weather is nice.

I’ve stayed here many times, because this is the best hotel in the Chapel Hill/​UNC area in my opinion. Always clean, comfortable rooms, and friendly staff.
This time, I had Mistakenly booked a non-​refundable reservation for the wrong night, and in other experiences when this has happened at other hotels, I was just out of luck and had to pay for the night again and just take the hit on the mistaken booking. But the front desk staff was very accommodating and just switched my reservation to the night that I needed the room. You won’t see that happen in most hotels, because they don’t have to do it. But at this hotel, they were pleased to do it, even though it might mean they don’t get more money from me. It might seem like that doesn’t make business sense for them to do, but considerations like this by the staff are part of the reason I will return here again and again.
Plus, they offered me a $ 10 voucher for the hotel restaurant, which is supposed to be much nicer than your typical hotel restaurant. Looking forward to dinner tonight! The Sheraton Chapel Hill will continue to be my go-​to hotel while in town.

This is a really nice and clean hotel. It’s very spacious and the bed is soooooo comfortable. The pillows will make you fall asleep in an instant! Everything is up to date in terms of room furniture and nothing looks old. Definitely worth staying here!

My stay at this particular Sheraton was okay at best, but it was what occurred after that soured the entire experience.
Upon returning home and reviewing charges from the previous week, I noticed an additional fee of what appeared to be a duplicate charge. I contacted the facility and was told they would call back upon further review. I eventually was contacted and informed that the charge was accurate due to a no show the night prior to my stay. As my room was booked through an agency via work, I was unable to provide proof to the contrary (am still waiting on their response) and was stuck paying for the extra night. In the end I was told this was the hotels policy and they wouldn’t back down.
Now I understand enacting certain policies and have no qualms with this establishment standing by theirs. Why I’m mad and the reason I feel compelled to write this is the total lack of information. Upon arrival I was never told of a «no show» the day before and my bill the next day reflected only my one night stay. In fact upon arrival I had the impression that there was merely an error on the hotel’s part, as the receptionist indicated I was listed in their system for the day before and could easily change it. I only caught it after the charges took place.
During my conversation with the hotel, I brought this to their attention and was simply told that it must have been a new employee who wasn’t fully trained. I found that dismissive at best, which was the tone of the receptionist, and cut my losses. I guess that individual was trained properly.
The reason I write this is not only for catharses, but a warning for anyone going to this hotel. Make sure you have a properly trained receptionist, because apparently this establishment has no problem allowing improperly trained staff to run their front desk. I know I shall never return.

I was contacted by the customer service manager for this Sheraton and he genuinely wanted to know more details and offered to refund my upgrade charge of approx $ 50 (to a so called «suite») which I accepted as a fair compromise. Hopefully they will make some adjustments and perhaps we will try them again.
PS: he did say the WiFi issued was fixed right after our stay… that’s a good sign.

I am currently staying in the hotel and so far the experience has been great! I had to take a red eye flight from Los Angeles that got in at 6am (3am LA time). I arrived at the hotel at 7am knowing the check in time was 3pm. I asked the front desk if it would be possible to check in earlier and the front desk attendants could not have been more accommodating. There were no rooms available because they were booked the night before, so they took my luggage and gave me a key to the club room to relax until a room was ready. They also informed me there was complimentary breakfast in the club room. I only had to wait about 2 hours before they had a room cleaned and ready for me. That evening when I wanted to go to Franklin St. they had a complimentary shuttle to take me to and from town.
The hotel is nice and the room is comfortable, but what gives them the 5 star review is the staff, great job!

I like this hotel. Clean rooms. Nice fitness rooms, except that when I use he trail mill I am facing a brown wall. Restaurant is open until 11:00pm and is kind unusual around Chapel Hill. The stuff is very friendly and helpful.

First impressions were good, but it was downhill from there. I came to the Sheraton for a work conference and was overall pretty disappointed.
The good…
— The lobby was inviting and clean. Front desk staff were friendly (to me).
— The gym. Good selection of equipment, complimentary water, and chilled towels.
The bad…
— The bathroom. The shower didn’t look clean and the whole thing just looked shabby. Morning shower was luke warm with low water pressure.
— The conference food. The worst conference meal in years. And let’s face it, the bar for conference food isn’t very high.
— The conference rooms. Really hard to concentrate when you can hear the lobby music over the conference speakers.
— The front desk. Two colleagues with identical reservations checked in at the same time. Literally side by side. One was given a hard time about not having the corporate card in hand, the other was not. The two employees conferred and still resolved the matter differently.

We really enjoyed our stay. Love the large almost floor to ceiling windows with forest/​tree views! The décor was a nice tight/​finished masculine and classy look. I actually could get the coffee maker to work and enjoyed the starbucks. The associates we encountered were all very polite, friendly and helpful. There’s a free shuttle available for a 5 mile radius (although we didn’t need it, it was nice to know it was there). I can see why people say it looks a bit out of date. This probably refers to the architectural style when viewed from outside. But on the inside however things are up do date. The best part for me was the bedding. Real feather pillows and comforters. All the bed linens were crisp, clean and inviting. Will definitely stay there again!

I stayed here for about two months. It’s a relatively short drive from the airport (depending on traffic). The food is similar to other Sheratons — good salmon, good chicken quesadilla, good fruit plate, and that’s about it. There’s also a McDonalds right across the street for those moments when you get the sudden urge for chicken nuggets.
I stayed here during the summer time, and worked in the lobby a couple of times. It was freezing! One time we actually went to McDonalds to crank out some work because it was too cold in the lobby.
The staff was nice, and accommodating. I left my dry cleaning there on Thursdays and they were ready for me when I got back each Monday — less packing for me!

The other half had some business to attend to through UNC Chapel Hill, and the institution was nice enough to put us up in the Sheraton Chapel Hill on their dime. I thought that this disclosure would be helpful, as maybe my opinion of the property would be different if we had to personally fund any of the stay (even if it were through priceline or hotwire).
Location: 3 out of 5
Far enough from campus that there was very little (none) residual noise from the hubbub of a normal college town, but close enough that the free shuttle can take you there, I think. Since we had rented a car, we drove in from RDU and found the drive to be hassle free with minimal traffic. Parking is free and ample, and I think that the signs that say, «We’re not responsible for any thefts» is becoming more common in outdoor «unattended» hotel parking lots in the area. I remember a few years ago I was on business myself at the Four Points, and the front desk attendant let me know up front that there had been a rash of GPS thefts due to people leaving their units in plain sight.
Customer Service: 4 out of 5
All of the people that we encountered during our stay were professional and friendly. As others have alluded to, the front desk (more of a kiosk) staff are great, and very eager to be helpful. I ran into a few other people the next morning, and they were also amicable.
Quality and Amenities of Room: 4 out of 5
Yes, this is an older hotel, and it’s starting to show its age, but the room that we were in was nice. The room we were in was on the first floor, and it was a Starwood Preferred Guest Room. Not having a «regular» room to compare it to, I didn’t find anything to be amiss. The toiletries were mid-​level boutique, the towels were soft and not too scratchy, the bed was firm but comfortable, and the electronic amenities were modern enough. A coffee maker with Starbucks coffee was provided in our room, but for the life of me, I couldn’t get it to work right, and I just ended up with coffee everywhere on the counter. Ooops. There were complimentary bottles of water which was a nice touch, but I suppose that I could have just as easily walked to the workout facility to grab those bottles. There was a double locking balcony mechanism and two outdoor patio chairs on the veranda, which I was not able to use that day since it was already mid November. The bushes were high enough that I couldn’t easily see over them (and therefore people couldn’t easily see me) but I do agree that it could be a bit odd or awkward if you were just hanging out on the veranda and people were strolling by. Noise insulation was average, as I could hear people walk on the carpeted hallways, but it wasn’t atrocious to a point where it distracted me from getting a good night’s rest. I could hear the neighbor’s three alarm clocks going off for 30 minutes at a time, though this is really a function of terrible hotel neighbors rather than terrible hotels. As others have alluded to, the free wifi is also a welcome touch.
Public spaces: 4.5 out of 5
I thought the public spaces were quite tidy. I didn’t go into the attached restaurant, but I did take a walk around the lounge and breakfast area and they were both well maintained. I did, however — use the workout facility. The machines in there are quite new, and the specific treadmill I used had this interactive function where I could pretend like I was running on a track, or running on a trail, or running in the desert. Not that I’d ever think I was really doing any of those things, but still — it provided a neat little distraction. They also have each of the treadmills wired for a few TV channels. The free weights were in good shape too, and the little studio area at the far end provided enough space for me to do weights, and it also had a TV/​DVD combo where you could conceivably do a workout of your choice. I’m not entirely certain, though — that there’d be enough space for more than 1 person to be doing something like Richard Simmons’ 2012 workout DVD extravaganza without being cramped. There’s free bottled water in the facility, as well as damp cool towels at two different temperatures.
Pricing: N/​A for room
Like I mentioned earlier, I have to caveat my review by saying that we didn’t have to pay for it. I did take a gander at the breakfast buffet pricing, and it ran 10 $. Commensurate with other breakfast buffets I’m sure, but I can’t speak to the types of food or the selection/​quality of food on the buffet as I didn’t actually go in there. I checked their website now, and the list prices are 129 for a traditional room. I’m not sure that I’d pay the full 129, but I suppose if I did one of the discount travel sites and this room came up for 70 — 80 bucks, it might not be the worst of deals.
Overall: 4 out of 5
Take into account one more time that we didn’t have to pay for our room, and this would be a solid 4 star establishment.

I’m wavering between a 3 and a 4-​star review for this hotel, but I’m going to err on the generous side and go with a 4. Even though there is nothing super-​amazing about this hotel, the good points far outweigh the bad, tipping it into the 4-​star category for me.
The Great — The bed! Wonderfully comfortable mattress…4 extra-​long, extra-​soft pillows… double sheeted… fabulous comforter. An incredible night’s sleep every night I was there.
The Good — Check-​in was quick and easy, and the front desk clerks are all helpful and nice. They have a complimentary shuttle that will drop you to nearby locations like Franklin Street… especially nice, because it was door-​to-​door to my restaurant. The gym is a decent size, with free weights, mats and lots of up-​to-​date and working cardio equipment. Free bottled water in the gym, and 2 free bottles each day in the room (at least for Starwood Preferred guests). An in-​room microwave and nice sized refrigerator comes in handy. And finally, the hotel bar (in the Shula Restaurant) although never overly-​crowded, had a nice selection of local craft beers and friendly and attentive bartenders… Casey is particularly great!
The Bad — I was a bit disappointed in their Club Lounge… small (pretty sure it’s a converted room), no bar or alcohol for happy hour, and the snack selection is kind of sparse. And although most of the décor in my room’s bathroom was quite nice, the tile in the shower was pretty dated, and had some mold in the grout.
But, based on the price of this hotel, all in all, I think it’s 4-​star worthy.

Sometimes it’s about expectations.
This was a last minute «4-​star» Hotwire purchase. If I were this Sheraton, I would want Hotwire to lower expectations to a more reasonable 3 or 3.5 for this property. Isn’t it better to have expectations exceeded, rather than not even met? Having stayed in many 4-​star hotels over the years, it is easy to expect a lot of a 4-​star experience.
Honestly, I wasn’t sure how this older hotel that I don’t believe was ever considered 4-​stars even when it was The Hotel Europa could realistically be labeled 4-​stars, but was sure ready to give it the benefit of the doubt, and looking forward to our one night escape!
First thing we were met with was signs in the parking lot that they weren’t responsible for what happened to our cars. Okay, that’s nice and friendly… realistic, but didn’t know if we should be concerned? Parked anyway, which is at least free, and went in to a very friendly check-​in.
First impressions were very good. Lobby looked modern and with the friendly check-​in we felt most welcome, which is how the staff continued to treat us. This is a staff that CARES. Seriously, they are giving it their all, and it was much appreciated by us! Was asked if we were Starwood members, and I said yes. He was kind enough to look me up, saw that my membership had expired and renewed it for me. Nice! (although not sure what it means)
We were assigned a room on the first floor. Haven’t stayed on the first floor in any hotel recently, but with the friendly start that included notification of special «Earth Hour» happenings that night, we were pumped about our stay at this caring place.
I practically skipped to our room, and didn’t even notice at first the signs in the hall, but as soon as we dropped off our luggage in our small, but clean-​looking, ok room, with a small patio that overlooked 15 – 501 (I commented to Husband that I wouldn’t be happy to have a first-​floor room if I were a female traveling alone, but since I wasn’t and the locks on the sliding-​glass door looked efficient, it felt okay), we headed back out to the lobby.
That’s when I saw the sign on the room next to ours that I admit, made me instantly feel like some kind of second-​rate person. The sign said «Starwood Preferred Guestroom», which brought up all kinds of questions in my instantly insulted brain. What did that mean that we weren’t preferred? What did the preferred folks get that we didn’t? Why not put the preferred people on a different floor so the rest of us didn’t know we weren’t preferred? Or why not put their special sign IN their room, so the rest of us didn’t know that we were lower-​class?
If this is a new Sheraton trend, I haven’t seen it before now, and hope that I don’t run into it again. Making people feel special at the expense of others is, well, not cool. Especially considering that whoever the «preferred» guest was in the room next to ours ruined most of our night and made sure it was pretty sleepless due to her loud yelling, door slamming and shouting… the latest being at 2:36 a.m. which didn’t stop until she must have finally passed out after 3am. «Preferred» meant «disturbed» to us neighbors.
That being said, there are some real pros to this hotel. FREE internet. Very rare, especially in 4-​stars. FREE shuttle within 5 miles and to Franklin Street. And instant, I might add. We went to the front desk to inquire and were told, okay let’s go. When we wanted to return, we called, told where we were, and within 15 minutes, were picked up with a smile. Truly awesome shuttle service, so I hate to nitpick, but I would recommend that the shuttle van get a good cleaning. It smelled like many sweaty sports teams might have ridden it it. (sorry, but it was a pretty strong sweat smell that made athletes come to mind).
Another PRO about the service here. After our very lengthy Shula’s experience, Husband wanted Tums. We found them at the front desk, and when we mentioned we wanted to break a bill for the drink machines, again the service was wonderful that we were given coins and warned that bills didn’t work in the machines. We have certainly been in hotels in the past, where they could have cared less whether drink machines worked or not. Again, every one of the staff members we came in contact with here were top-​notch caring.
That being said, this is not, imho a 4-​star hotel. It’s a great 3-​star. It’s an okay 3.5 star. The bed was pretty comfy. The bathroom had an old tub, the sink plumbing leaked, and the bathroom products were the usual 3-​star «Shine» lotion, shampoo, conditioner and bar of soap. Paint on doors & stuff worn. Again, perfectly fine for 3-​star. And everything was clean, which is way more important than paint.
Am adding photos, so you can see for yourself. Do know that if you stay here, you won’t find a more friendly staff. Talented too… the band that performed for Earth hour was very talented!

Very nice SPG recognition got me bumped to a sweet little suite for my last stay here.
The rooms’ décor was somewhat dated and wanting, but there was enough space that I never felt cramped, and everything worked as expected, and the bed mattered most, and it was right what I expected from a Sheraton.
Little bit of crossed wires when the staff told me that they’d already packed up my gear and checked me out when I had a guaranteed late checkout, but that ended up not being the case. Didn’t help my blood pressure much, but I got over it.
The location is a bit far from everything, and the parking lot could be better-​lit, but all-​in-​all it was just a good Starwood stay.