Moved from the Jakarta Forum
[QUOTE=LAGuy5;2069680]Just so no one gets mislead by false information earlier posted here, the one Sheraton in Jakarta is the Sheraton Gandaria, which is in South Jakarta. It has been open for close to two years.
There is no Sheraton near the airport although there once was.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=NattyBumpo;2069700]Currently there are 6 Starwood Hotels operating in Jakarta: The Sheraton Grand Jakarta Gandaria City, LE Meridien, Four Points by Sheraton, Keraton At the Plaza, The Hermitage, and The Westin. The Aloft Jakarta Wahid Hasyim is scheduled to open September 15 and two more hotels are slated to open in 2019: the Aloft Jakarta Simatupang, and The St. Regis Jakarta.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Smoothy;2069720]Hi Natty,
Have you stayed at any of those? I've stayed at Le Meridien in the past, but wouldn't recommend it.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Menteng;2069779]I've stayed at Sheraton Gandaria City a couple of months ago and found it very convenient. Thanks to the mall. Heck, I even did some mall hunting there. But I wasn't very successful, unlike Mighty Spearsman some time ago.[/QUOTE]No Smoothy, I have never stayed at a Starwood Hotel in Jakarta. My favorite hotels in Jakarta are the Grand Hyatt and the Ayana (former Intercontinental).
But I have stayed at the Sheraton Sukhumvit & BKK Weston and thought they were good, although I also thought the Sheraton Sukh seemed a little pricey. Additionally, I have stayed at the Macau Sheraton in Cotai and that was a nice and very reasonably priced and on my next trip I am booked for 4 nights at the Sheraton Singapore, again at a very reasonable price.
On my last visit to Jakarta I spent 8 nights at the Hyatt and 6 nights at the Ayana. I was originally booked into the then Intercontinental Jakarta for 6 nights free using points and voucher nights. Then two nights before check-in, while I was staying at the Hyatt, Intercontinental notified me that my free points and vouchers were no longer acceptable at the Ayana due to the change in ownership. Obviously, I was pretty pissed off with Intercontinental and the way they were treating me so I called them long distance collect via Skype. The supervisor expressed how sorry she was concerning my Intercontinental reservation, but said she couldn't do anything about it.
It was 2am, but the 1st thing I did after hanging up with Priority Club Intercontinental was make sure I could extend my stay at the Hyatt at a good rate if I wanted to. Then bright and early the next morning, I went over to the newly minted Ayana and talked to the manager there. She was very nice and also said she was sorry, but my Priority points and Intercontinental vouchers were no longer acceptable. She did, however, offer to upgrade my reservation to the exec suite at no additional cost and after she showed me the room I decided to accept her offer.
Nothing much had changed since the change in ownership. The bountiful and tasty buffet breakfast was the same and the wait staff were just as friendly and helpful. There had been a fire or something at the apartment building next door to the Ayana swimming pool and some building material had fallen into the pool breaking some tile, so the Ayana pool was out of commission while repairs were being made. The manager arranged for a pool voucher at the nearby Shangri La pool as well as providing me with a hotel limousine ride to and back from the Shangri la any time I wanted so I spent every afternoon over at the Shangri la.
I liked the Shangri La. The pool and garden grounds are just as nice and as large as the Hyatt Pool. I had lunch over at the Shangri La several times and the food was great. But on weekends the Shangri La pool is over run by Asian family guests and these Asian guests let their children run wild. So, I will never stay at the Shangri La Jakarta on a Saturday or Sunday. For some reason, the Hyatt attracts a different type of guest and its swimming pool is never crowded or overrun by Asian families. It is so much better, at least on weekends.
Anyway, I have already booked 5 nights on my next trip at the Ayana at $100/ night which is a really good rate. As I noted above, nothing has changed since the buyout, but when Intercontinental ran the show the rate was $140. At check in I plan to remind the receptionist that I have stayed here before and would appreciate an upgrade to the suite if it is available. It does not matter, but if you don't ask you won't get, or something like that. I also plan to book 9 nights at the Hyatt as soon as they begin to offer the good rates. And because I have expiring points, a free night voucher, a free suite upgrade, not to forget $100 food and drink certificate, I will book 4 nights at the Fairmont Jakarta. I know the Fairmont is a great hotel chain. I like to stay at the Fairmont Manila, but this next trip I will not be visiting the PI and all these vouchers and certificates will expire worthless unless I stay at the Fairmont Jakarta. The location is a little out of the way, but I can live with that for 4 nights and it will give me an excuse to delve more into the attractions available in the south of Jakarta.
And although I was really angry about the way Intercontinental treated me, leaving me high and dry with my reservation at their former Jakarta hotel, we have since made up. All my Priority points were restored to my account and I was able to use my 2017 free voucher night on a night in 2018 at their flagship Hong Kong Bay Intercontinental, a very swanky and upscale hotel. And in September or October Intercontinental will be sending me another free night voucher that I will apply to a 2nd night at the Hong Kong Intercontinental. Thus, I will be spending my last weekend of my 2018 trip in Kowloon at a $300 plus / night hotel gratis. So, things have worked out pretty good in the long run.
One last note: on this next trip, I have booked a different type of flight. Instead of my usual roundtrip from south Florida USA to pick one (MNL, BKK, or CGK) I have booked what they call a multi city flight and I will fly MIA to BKK with a plane change in Zurich going to Asia and I will fly HKG to Newark (nonstop) change planes and then on to PBI and home. The multi city flight costs one hundred dollars more than the round-trip flight, but it cuts 4 hours and 2nd change of planes out each way and in addition the flight times are much better too. I will arrive in BKK in the morning, not late at night and I will leave HKG in mid-morning so I can have one last night to party. This flight was not available on the United web site. I found it on Google Flights and then clicked on the link which took me back to United. Very tricky, but it worked! I can't wait for my next trip.
