Sheraton Park at Anaheim Resort Hotel Review
Sheraton Park Hotel at the Anaheim Resort is a Disneyland Good Neighbor Hotel within walking distance of the parks and Convention Center. In addition to being convenient to Disney California Adventure and Disneyland, it’s also an okay place to stay for SPG Members looking to stay on or earn points during their visit to Orange County. This review features photos of the hotel, plus thoughts about our experience of staying here.
Let’s start with distance to the parks. The Sheraton Park Hotel is located just past Katella, near Convention Center Way, but still on Harbor Boulevard. It’s less than a 15 minute walk to the parks, and maybe a 5 minute walk to the Anaheim Convention Center. Its location really makes it an ideal candidate for those splitting time between a convention and the parks, and I’d hazard a guess that it’s a pretty popular option during the D23 Expo.
Given its location and status as a business chained-brand hotel, it probably makes sense to compare it to the other hotels near the Convention Center. Unfortunately for Sheraton Park, it would not fare so well in any such comparison, except in terms of price. Relative to the other business-tier hotels in the area, the Sheraton is dated and in need of a refurbishment. Let’s take a look…
First up is the guest rooms. These reminded me a lot of the Marriott at the Convention Center, except minus updates and upkeep.
At first blush, the guest room don’t look overly worn or super-dated, but that’s probably thanks to a pretty nondescript style that is designed to age well.
On the plus side, the bedding is fairly nice and the mattress strikes a good balance between firm and soft.
Upon closer inspection of the furniture, carpet, and walls, you can see a decent amount of wear.
Another thing that is worth noting is that the guest rooms here are huge, but the room is so poorly laid out that there’s little advantage in the larger size.
I’d hazard a guess that this room is as large as (or perhaps larger) than the two new Hyatt hotels on Harbor, but of which have room for a separate lounging area with a sectional couch. I’d love to see a wholesale room redo with a similar layout here.
The bathroom here is pitiful. It’s exactly what you’d expect from one of the motels on Harbor Boulevard both in size and style, which is exactly what you would not expect from a major name among business hotels.
One positive about the Sheraton Park Hotel at the Anaheim Resort’s rooms is its large balconies. Our view was of the Anaheim Convention Center expansion construction and Tower of Terror covered with a paper bag, so I didn’t think to photograph it.
(Another thing: expect to wait for the elevator. It’s pretty inefficient, particularly during peak hours. We ended up just using the stairs.)
Now let’s take a look at the common areas and some of the features of this hotel. Of course, there’s a lounge, meeting spaces, and reception areas. I’m guessing the latter elements don’t matter to you if you’re reading a Disneyland vacation planning site. (Unless you hold a lot of meetings on your Disney vacations…)
The lobby is perfectly fine, and probably has been remodeled more recently than the guest rooms. It’s still bland, but it doesn’t feel cheap.
The Sheraton Park Hotel at the Anaheim Resort’s biggest strength is its lush grounds. Between the lobby and the main tower of the hotel (they aren’t the same building), there is a garden area with the pool in the middle.
Not only is the pool area sizable and secluded, but this whole area has something of a resort vibe to it.
Another plus is the convenience store in the lobby, which has a wide selection of items without much of a mark-up. The cafe inside also serves Starbucks coffee.
Prices at the Sheraton Park Hotel at the Anaheim Resort range from a modest $125/night to an upwards of $250/night, but most nights seem to fall into the middle of this range. (If you can book this hotel at the lower end of that spectrum, it nullifies almost all of our concerns in this review.) That makes it cheaper than its Convention Center counterparts, but still absurdly priced relative to hotels near Disneyland of comparable quality.
Oh, and that’s before you get to the fees! They charge $18/day for parking and $10/day for internet. Charging for parking is becoming the norm for Anaheim hotels as the area becomes more developed, but $18 is still at the high end of the spectrum. If there was just a parking fee, we could get past that, but the fee for internet is ludicrous.
We realize that some business chained-brand hotels still charge for internet with the assumption that those “paying” for it are using an expense account and not their own money (and thus, do not care), but this is not a business-caliber hotel. (And even if it were, such a fee is ridiculous nowadays.)
This review has hardly been a ringing endorsement, but it’s worth noting that this hotel is not terrible. It just doesn’t live up to the reputation of the Sheraton name, nor is it in the same league as the other chained-brand hotels near the Anaheim Convention Center at which we’ve stayed.
In our Disneyland Area Hotels Rankings & Reviews, this hotel comes in a notch above Paradise Pier Hotel (a similar story of dashed expectations), and isn’t in the top half of hotels. However, those are relative ratings, with value for money considered. In absolute terms, the Sheraton Park Hotel is in the top half. (In other words, it’s not sketchy.) If you’re looking for more planning resources, you can find them in our comprehensive Disneyland Trip Planning Guide!
Overall, the only people who should stay at the Sheraton Park Hotel at the Anaheim Resort are those who are fiercely loyal SPG members. Even then, it’s hotels like this that make you question the very concept of brand loyalty. (Most people are better off redeeming SPG points elsewhere, or paying less and forgoing the points they would’ve earned by staying here.) Unfortunately, the mix of price, distance from the parks, and quality make it very difficult for me to recommend this to anyone else. It’s not that the Sheraton Park is scary or even bad (we’ve stayed in far, far worse in Anaheim), it’s just that you can do a lot better for the price. There should be a pretty clear difference in quality between the mom & pop motels on Harbor and a major-label offering. Yet, I could point to more than a few motels near Disneyland that are better than this. I feel like this hotel is coasting on the reputation of the name on its marquee–a name for which you’re paying a premium–without justification given this hotel’s quality. If you’ve stayed at the Sheraton Park Hotel, what did you think?
Hi Tom,
We are looking for a Good Neighbour Hotel for 7 nights. Do you recomment this Sheraton Hotel?
So I have the same question as Maria Palmiano. Would you change your ranking based on the updates?
Thank you!
The Sheraton Park hotel underwent a recent renovation. Would you change your ranking based on the updates?
I found a deal via TravelZoo for $99 per night for this hotel, Wifi included. I already have booked a room at the Park Vue however… is this low price worth the switch or is Park Vue still superior? We are a family of 4, two kids 4 and under. $99 per night seems like a great deal.
I think it depends upon how much you paid for Park Vue Inn. Also, how much does the shorter walk matter to you? I wouldn’t pay $30/night more for Park Vue Inn, but $10/night? Probably.
Just a few thoughts as I last stayed here over a decade ago. Back when it was the West Coast Anaheim Hotel (part of the Coast chain, not even sure whether it still exists). It was nice and often quite cheap (think less than half of the prices you are quoting). Rooms had good size because of their age. What I remember most is the quality of dining. First, they had room service that was so cheap, I got it regularly. That came from the coffee shop that had simple, but very tasty fare and GREAT desserts. There also was a western-themed steakhouse (something else is in the space now, but it isthisclose to the Morton’s, which didn’t exist back then) that had a stagecoach salad bar, lots of great western theming, nice red leather booths and great steaks. The Overland Stage Company, I believe.
Point is about a decade ago, Starwood had almost no presence in the DLR area. Just a very nice Sheraton hotel across from TDA with koi ponds and English Tudor decor. They realized the market was expanding and they were behind. Very quickly, they bought this property and then built another Sheraton further down Harbor, close to Target, in Garden Grove. That place looks very bland too. Considering that Starwood is now part of the huge Marriott, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this old property leave the portfolio despite its location. If not, it might close for a long makeover.
We stayed here for our first time to Anaheim last year since we are SPG members and had free nights to use. Given that it was a mostly free stay, it worked out great for us. Since we’re SPG members we were given complimentary bottled water each day and free wifi. Rooms have a coffeemaker and mini fridge, but no microwave. I thought the rooms were fairly nice with some noticeable wear. There was a promo that gave us vouchers for free plated breakfast at their restaurant on site. The food was good and the portions generous. We were able to walk to Disneyland, but also found that we could take a short walk to the Disneyland parking lot and the parking lot shuttle bus would take us to the front gates.
If you think, “I have points, so I might as well stay there,” you’re far better off transferring the points to Marriott and staying at either the Courtyard (rooms sleep SIX!), or the Fairfield.
Excellent point. I’d put the Courtyard FAR above this and the Fairfield slightly above it. Without looking, I’m guessing the Courtyard would cost significantly more in points, but the Fairfield should be about the same.
Nope. Every time I’ve checked, both hotels were 35,000 a night (fifth night free), even though the Courtyard is often $100 a night more than the Fairfield.
I really enjoy reading your reviews of the hotels around Disneyland. Taking your advise, when my family decided to stay off-site, we stayed at Park Vue Inn. We loved it! When it’s in our budget, is still rather stay on-site at the DLH or GCH, but wouldn’t hesitate to stay at PVI again. One review is love to see from you (when you have the time and inclination) is the Best Western Park Place Inn. Since both BWPPI and PVI are at the crosswalk directly across from the entrance, people often seem to point at the benefits to one of those two hotels. I’d be very interested to see how they compare from your perspective.
People keep asking about the Best Western Park Place Inn, and I’ll have a review of it eventually. We plan our hotel stays around off-season pricing (since we live locally, we never “need” a hotel room), and we just keep forgetting to book that when there are cheap rates.
We stay at the Park Vue Inn and Best Western Park Place regularly. We never stay at the resort hotels because we are park warriors – pretty much a rope drop-to-close kind of family. So it doesn’t make sense to spend 2-3 times as much for a nicer room when we won’t be around the hotel enough to take advantage of its benefits. We’d love to stay at Grand Californian just once but can’t justify the cost. In any case, I think PVI and BWPP are quite similar in proximity, amenities, and cleanliness. While PVI has a slightly better breakfast, BWPP has the added benefit of hotel rewards and allowing AAA rates. I just book the one which provides the best rate at any given time.
Thanks for the feedback, Michelle!
We stayed here mid Dec 2015 when I found rooms for $107/night. Location was great. Staff was pleasant and helpful when we needed it. Room was fine, especially considering the price. Despite being adjacent to the elevator, it was not noisy. However… reading comments from past visitors I knew they had issues with their heating system and thought “It’s December, so it should not be that bad”. Wrong. First night it was comfortable but the remaining 4 nights we could not get control of the temperature. It was so bad we were sleeping on top of the covers, sweating.
For that price, this hotel is a great option. No hesitations in recommending it if that’s the case.
There was no issue with the rooms being too hot during our stay. Then again, it was freezing outside.
This is a great review. I would totally agree that SPG loyalists skew to staying here, and I would put myself in that category. I’ve stayed here three times during the Tinkerbell Half Marathon weekend and found your comments to be totally accurate. One thing that I would recommend is springing for the Club Level, which gives access to continental breakfast and snacks throughout the day, including an extensive happy hour at night. When compared to Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel – my the reference point for a trip to Disneyland – the Club level rooms ring in at about $225 (versus $600+ rack rate at the Californian Hotel), which makes it hard to justify the expense of staying on property. The elevators are terrible but the location is adequate, the price is acceptable and the Club Level makes it tolerable for the $400 a night savings.
If you use the Grand Californian as a baseline, literally every hotel in Anaheim seems like a bargain by comparison. I think if I compared this to Park Vue Inn, the comparison would look a lot less favorable. 🙂
We stayed here using a free night coupon in Nov 2015, when we did a day trip to the parks as an aside to our Palm Springs trip. We arrived late (9pm?) and left early – were at DCA for rope drop at 7am – but we found the place fine. Didn’t spend time looking around the place, but bed was comfy, and we had a lovely view of the fireworks before bed. We have booked it again for a possible trip this summer, though we are indeed using SPG points. While we prefer the location of the Disney hotels or the Desert Inn (which we just tried this past November), when $ is a factor & we need to use points, it’s a great option. Now that I’ve read this review & since we are staying 5 nights, I will probably notice some of the datedness you mention, but again, for free (points) it’s fantastic!
If SPG points are no object (i.e. you have a near-unlimited amount for personal travel due to business travel), I totally agree. However, if you have to budget your SPG points, I’m not so sure I agree. There’s the opportunity cost of using them here when you could instead use them at a nicer property (and pay for your Anaheim hotel out of pocket).
Tom….. any comment on the announcement of the cabanas leaving future world next month !?!?!
Hooray
My 8 year old daughter and I stayed here. I asked for a better room and was cheerfully accommodated. The first room they put us in had an odd electrical odor. For me, the lush grounds vastly increased the appeal. A lot of Anaheim hotel pools have all the appeal of a parking lot. They brought my daughter free drinks poolside, and generally doted on us during the entire stay.
I stayed here last September, I travelled with Virgin Holidays and this was the best recommended Anaheim hotel they had available. However, Virgin get the ‘suite’ rooms (or whatever they might be called) on the 12th & higher floors. We also didnt have to pay the parking/net fees as part of the package.
I had extremely low expectations as I arrived from Vegas after 4pm and was told my room wasnt ready. But I was pleasantly surprised. Had pool view room, had one or two very minor issues but the staff that came to fix them did so really quickly and remembered me and always said hello.
I spent a good few hours by the pool (especially before I went to the Halloween party) and it was lovely! Lots of sun and comfortable loungers and a huge abundance of fresh towels.
I didnt eat here, but the store inside was far less expensive than I thought it would be (obviously I was stocking up at CVS/Walgreens when I went past – I’m no newbie :-))
I had a really pleasant stay. If Disneyland hotel was not an option for me (I had spent loads on my stay in Vegas so it wasn’t this time) then I would definitely look to stay here again. Thats not to say I wouldn’t also try elsewhere near to the parks though. So yeah – totally inoffensive place, done nothing at all to stop me going back, but nothing to make me absolutely HAVE to go back either.