Four Points By Sheraton Georgetown, Guyana

The front desk staff member who helped us book was welcoming and did her best to find a good rate for our eight nights in a king room. We'd just come from a Kes concert. Unfortunately, the hotel itself let down her service. There was no hot water in our first room. We called in the morning, and an engineer said it should be fixed, but it wasn't. We were then told it was a hotel-wide issue and offered another room. That one also had no hot water. Staff took my wife to check four more rooms before we finally found one that worked. For a Sheraton with this reputation, having half the hotel without hot water is unacceptable. My wife's hair straightener also wouldn't work, even though it had worked at a family member's house. We were told its voltage was too high for the hotel's 110 volts. Most of the world uses 240 volts, so building an international hotel around 110 volts seems to leave most guests unserved. A place that should be a luxury hotel is struggling to provide even standard facilities.

It's a good alternative hotel in a nice location, though the on-site taxis are very limited. My main issue was the hot water at night. I called every night I was there, but never got it sorted. I'm not sure what happens, or whether the heater is solar powered, but don't count on a warm shower after 9PM.

The rooms are lovely, clean, and comfortable, and the staff are friendly. It's a shame the food and service don't match. The menu is limited, especially if you can't eat spicy food, and the food was mediocre at best. Even simple requests like coffee or water took a very long time despite repeated asks. On Valentine's Day, dinner was only available from a fixed menu. I wasn't told until that night. I asked for fried eggs and toast instead, 20 minutes before any customers had arrived for dinner, and it still took 45 minutes. I'm glad they made it, but it took multiple requests and escalation, which shouldn't happen at USD 333 a night. The car service also didn't show for my midnight arrival, though the hotel kindly paid for the taxi I had to take. I assume the high nightly price is meant to limit visitors during the soft opening, but the slow service and dining experience were totally unacceptable. Such a shame, since the rooms are beautiful.

The pool was great, and the cocktail service by it was excellent. The hotel would make a good option for international guests, and it's nice to have some competition in the industry since Marriott is overpriced. My only trouble was that the GPS sent me around too many turns and still didn't get me to the location.