As part of a long spring weekend, I stayed in the beautiful city of Zagreb at the Sheraton, one of two hotels in the city owned by the Starwood group, the other being the Westin.

Croatia is one of the six countries that emerged from the former Yugoslavia. 25 years after its independence, the city is full of hidden treasures and has put on its best clothes to welcome the freshly returned visitors in a very pleasant way of life.

Booking

As usual, I booked this hotel through the SPG website. This time, I used my usual corporate code which allows me to benefit from an advantageous rate as well as maximum flexibility in case of problems.

A few days before my arrival, my reservation was upgraded to a Classic Suite.

Arrival

Due to the unavailability of an Uber upon arrival, I had to take a cab from the airport. Be careful with the budget:it is 3 times more expensive than the Uber service, almost 240 kn to the Sheraton, located in the lower city (the recent part).

When we arrived, the receptionist welcomed us, and carried out the arrival formalities: identity check, credit card printout and key making.

We were asked to choose between 500 welcome points and free breakfast. There is no question that breakfast, especially for two people, is worth far more than these 500 points.

He also confirmed the upgrade to a classic suite. Not a word about late checkout, a guaranteed benefit of Platinum membership.

Room

The assigned suite, located on the 3rd floor of the property, overlooked the inner courtyard of the hotel, thus protected from outside noises such as traffic or tramway. On the other hand, the interior noise generated by the ventilation was deafening.

A welcome service (very basic) had been arranged in the lounge area of the suite: a few whole fruits and a bottle of water, it is chiche!

The lounge area was a nice size, although the sort of kitchennette was of little use as its equipment was so weak. Although a recent renovation is noticeable, the wooden furniture betrays the age of the property and gives an aged look to a room that could nevertheless be very nice.

The night part, rather small but less furnished is more successful. The aged look is also less present. The bed, at the standards of the chain, is extremely comfortable.

The bathroom is cleverly divided into two parts: a toilet and bidet part accessible from the lounge, and a bath and sink part accessible from the night area, the two parts being separated by a sliding door. The bathroom is quite modern, and we regret that the furniture has not been changed in the lounge and the bedroom…

Finally, a virtual tour of the room:

Restaurants

The hotel has two restaurants: one for breakfast and the other for dinner

Breakfast service

We had breakfast every morning. If the buffet is very varied, the quality of the food remains rather average, with industrial juices and coffee (espresso or filter). Only the fruits were of high quality.

The service is just polite, and only the clearing up was proactive (maybe a little too much).

Dinner service

For testing purposes on TravelGuys, we tested the a la carte restaurant on one of the nights of our stay. I booked by phone from our room. The person was very surprised that someone called to make a reservation.

When I went down to the restaurant, I understood why: the room was totally empty, and we had two waiters just for us!

The menu is locally inspired: a large selection of starters and soups were available.

I chose to have only a main course of turbot and risotto: a delight.

On the other hand, the chosen dessert, Ricotta Fig ravioli, was really terrible.

Be careful with the wines: normally very affordable in Croatia, the hotel overcharges largely, in the French way!

Hotel facilities

This time I did not take advantage of the sports facilities. On the other hand, I made extensive use of the property’s swimming pool to do some laps. Although pleasant, few deckchairs are available, and remain squatted all day by, certainly, very pretty women!

We regret a few absurdities, such as the fact that it is not possible to enter the sauna with a bathing suit(in a 5-star hotel?) and that the Jacuzzi is not operational while it seems very pleasant to take a dip outside.

Departure

I had to ask for a late check-out until 1pm the day before my departure, since this was not offered before. Although granted without any problem, it would be normal to encode the room card directly until 4 pm upon check-in.

The formalities went smoothly, and my Uber to the airport was waiting for me.

Conclusion

A rather standard hotel with services that could be better. The catering clearly leaves something to be desired. Next time, I’ll give the Westin, located less than a mile from the Sheraton, a chance.