The Westin Seattle - 3 out of 5 stars for me!
Written: Aug 16 '05 (Updated Apr 08 '06)
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Pros: Good location and restaurants on site.
Cons: Valet service, no spa and creaking noises.
The Bottom Line: Unless you are getting a top notch suite in the Westin, take a look at other options first.
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| GOkinaka's Full Review: The Westin Seattle |
Looking to relax in the downtown Seattle area, my wife and I started to search through Expedia.com for a nice hotel. We didn't want to stay at some dirt cheap place, so we didn't mind spending a few bucks for a nice hotel room. And thus we can upon The Westin Seattle. We figured that the Westin was a well respected hotel chain, and that we would enjoy our stay there.
LOCATION/VALET
The Westin Seattle is in a pretty good location in the downtown Seattle area as it is close to many attractions and not too far away from the I-5 highway. I would highly suggest that you use Mapquest or consult the hotel's website otherwise you might get a little lost down there as there are a lot of one-way streets downtown.
Once arriving at the hotel, you pull up to the covered driveway to the valet area. I didn't really see where the self-parking was, so we wound up leaving our car in valet each day which cost $26 per day. The service from the valet attendants was spotty and inconsistent especially since we were paying for it. Sometimes, they would be attentive and rush to get you your car or greet you when you arrived.....at other times, we had to flag someone to help us (not what you would expect from the Westin). These guys could learn a lot from the Las Vegas strip hotels & casinos where the valet service relies only on tips, so they try to do a good job.
CHECK-IN
Upon entering the hotel from the valet, you'll see a set of elevators and an escalator to take you to the hotel lobby. The hotel lobby was nicely adorned with nice furniture and included an elegant lobby bar and a gift shop. We didn't have to wait too long to be greeted by one of the front desk staff who diligently performed the check-in process but was not very personable or overly friendly. It was like he was in the military and was checking us in like a robot......nothing wrong with that although it's always nice to have friendly and accommodating staff.
THE ROOM
Now onto the room, well, initially our room was on a lower level floor that was close to the elevators, and our view was......well, nothing to write home about. So, I had called to the front desk to get a room on a much higher level floor and a little bit further away from the elevators. We were brought up our key cards to the new room which didn't exactly have the greatest view but one of other skyscrapers in the downtown Seattle area, so it wasn't too bad.
The room itself was fairly spacious and had two queen beds, an armoire with a television, a desk with chair, and two other comfy chairs. The closet in the entryway had a safe which was large enough to put our laptop in. The bathroom was okay and simple, but not what I was expecting from a Westin as there wasn't a separate shower or an extra large, jetted bathtub as we've had in other higher quality hotels in the past.
Also, they offer Service Westin Style for their guests, so all that you would need to do is to dial "0" to make your request for items such as:
- Bath mats
- Bath robes & slippers
- Bath gel & mouthwash
- Clothes brush
- Tampons
- Collar stays
- Hangers
- Toothpaste
- Curling iron
- Fridgerator
- Bathroom scale
- Electric converters
- Raised toilet seat & rails
- Hand-held shower attachment
- Baby crib
- Diaper Genie
- High chair
- Booster seat
- Strollers
However, I do have some complaints about our room:
1. Internet Connection: High-speed internet is available in this Westin, but it's NOT FREE, and it's not WI-FI. It's a wired internet connection with an available cable in the room and is available through the Starwood Turbo Net for a flat rate fee for the day. Now, why is it that motels like Best Western and Holiday Inn Express offer FREE WI-FI, and higher priced hotels like Westin charge you for it? Does that make sense to you? Don't you think that the higher room rate should include some of these extras that everyone else is now offering for FREE?
2. Mini-Bar: There were drinks and snacks available in the "mini-bar" area, but it still perplexes me why they overcharge soooooo much for those items. Just because we can afford to stay in a Westin or any other high priced hotel, doesn't mean that we like to overpay for items that we know cost only pennies!
3. Heavenly Bed: Well, we were looking forward to a good night's sleep in the highly touted Heavenly Beds at the Westin. But, it's not like it was a Tempur Pedic bed or anything, so the actual mattress wasn't that big of a deal at all. Also, the pillows that came with the bed were soft.....way too soft and didn't provide the support for our heads that we usually liked. I was expecting some out of the ordinary experience with our beds, but I guess that I expected too much, eh?
4. The Dark: Well, when staying at a hotel, we usually like to have the room completely dark when we go to bed, but unfortunately the curtains were not cooperating, so I had to use a hanger (with clips) to clip the curtains together.
5. Noises: Okay, this was our biggest complaint about this hotel. On the second night that we were staying there, we started to hear "creaking" noises from the ceiling.....kind of like if you were in an old two-story house. I guess that it was a little windy outside, but is that the kind of noise that you would want to hear from a high-rise hotel.....especially in this day and age after 9/11? It was unnerving enough that we packed up our things and left to check out of our hotel early at about 4am in the morning.
HOTEL AMENITIES
As this is a full-service hotel, the Westin offers quite a lot of amenities with one exception:
Dining: There are several options for dining/drinking in this hotel.....
- 24 Hour Room Service
- Lobby Bar (for drinks and the usual bar menu items)
- Fifth Avenue Corner Cafe (light fare including sandwiches, burgers, salads, etc.)
- Coldwater Bar & Grill (this was previously the Roy's Restaurant which has been converted to a contemporary restaurant serving Pacific Northwest seafood)
WestinWORKOUT powered by Reebok Gym: This WestinWORKOUT powered by Reebok Gym is split up into several different areas. It's enough equipment to get a good workout, but if there are more than a few people there, it can get a little crowded.
- Indoor Pool and Jacuzzi
- Free weights and some strength machines
- Cardio machines
Meeting and Event Facilities: There are several floors of meeting and event rooms for company functions, parties, and etc.
The one thing that we noticed is that there was NO health spa or salon in the hotel. So, if you're looking for a facial, massage, manicure, etc., you'll have to go to the Jeremy Todd Wellness Spa & Salon which is located inside of the Fairmont Olympic Hotel. It isn't too far away but a hotel of this caliber should have one on site.
THE COST
We paid about $190 per night (including taxes) for our stay at the Westin Hotel, but in my opinion, it wasn't worth it.
OVERALL
All in all, we were looking for a nice, pampered stay at this Westin Hotel, and I must say that these guys came up short. The next time that we're in the area, we'll pony up some additional money for a much nicer hotel.
For more information on this hotel, see below:
http://www.starwoodhotels.com/westin/index.html
The Westin Seattle
1900 5th Avenue
Seattle, WA 98101
(206) 728-1000
(206) 728-2259
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
GOkinaka
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 - Top 1000 |
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Member: George Okinaka
Location: Las Vegas, NV (USA)
Reviews written: 130
Trusted by: 196 members
About Me:
George is a native Las Vegan in commercial real estate who loves to travel.
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