Evanthia K.
Yelp
Stay: We booked a King Suite overlooking the Waterway
It was our anniversary so we decided to get a Suite to feel like Kings for a few days and celebrate living the high-life. Unfortunately, we were pretty bummed at the overall lack of care and quality of our room.
Location: Amazing - right on the Waterway in the square by the fountain. Several great restaurants within walking distance, and poppin' square at night. The Fountain and surrounding sidewalks along the waterway light up at night, so nighttime walks were great. Couldn't have picked a better spot!
Amenities: So-So. The food was super pricey, but it's the Westin, so as to be expected, I guess. Nice restaurant attached that included a fun spiral staircase.
The Room (King-Suite): Walking up to the door, there's a doorbell. I don't know about you, but that made me feel fancy, and thought it was a fun feature for room service. We tried opening the door with the keyless entry on the app but it didn't work at first. We were able to call the front desk to activate easily while using our physical key in the meantime.
Upon walking into the front entryway, there is a small washroom away from the rest of the suite. Convenient for those needing privacy. Our bathroom door did not work and the lock was broken, so we were unable to grab the privacy we would have liked during our four-day stay.
Going down the hallway from the entry, you pass a small set bar with a sink, coffee amenities, and a mini-fridge. Along the other side of the wall is a small closet. It was a one-door accordion style that could have been much larger for those longer stays, such as ours. My fiancé decided to put his clothes in the bedroom area for more space.
Once you pass through the hallway, the room opens up to a large semi-circular couch situated in front of a television affixed to the wall with wrap-around windows. Truly, a beautiful view. We could see all the way to the City and watch the rain come rolling in. The view made the room.
Behind the partition separating the living room is the massive King bed. So comfy and full of pillows. The sleeps were heavenly. (except for the broken blind that put sun in our eyes.) When in bed facing the partition, there's another Television with a large attached dresser underneath. There were nightstands on either side and the headboard had a nice lighting option to uplight the room for a nicer ambiance. Loved this feature.
The Bathroom: When booking a stay away, besides the view, the bathroom is my favorite spot. I like it to feel like a day spa that I get all to myself, so naturally, I spend more time in there than a quick shower off. One of the reasons for picking this room was the soaking tub. A cup of tea, a book, some backlighting in a soak-tub? Sign me up.
Unfortunately, the shower door was broken and wouldn't close and the cleanliness of the bath was iffy; there was hair (not ours) upon arrival in the bath, on the floor, and in the sink...wasn't the best entry. We asked housekeeping to revisit our bathroom and we don't mind stepping out for a bit. We were hungry anyway and needed to grab a bite.
We came back to the room to discover the same issues we had called about still there. No one had cleaned (we had left for 2 hours). The housekeepers finally came upstairs to clean while we were in the room which was very awkward. They complained most of the time that there were too many rooms and they had skipped our room because no one was in it and they ran out of time. We were pretty surprised they admitted this. They hurriedly cleaned the bath and left. It was visibly unclean, but we were over it at that point and let it go.
A few days into our stay, we noticed blood in the grout by our shower. Neither of us was bleeding and checked for cuts to be sure it wasn't us. We let housekeeping know and asked to have the bathroom cleaned again. I had coffee in the bathroom with me earlier and had spilled a little next to the spot on the grout, so it was noticeable. I didn't think I needed to point it out. When we came back to the room after housekeeping had cleaned, we were shocked to see not only the blood in the grout, but the coffee spill was still on the floor, accompanied by more hair.
The overall takeaway for the Westin - they need NEW housekeeping standards of service, and or new staff to execute optimal cleanliness, especially when touting a "covid clean inspection" throughout the hotel. Simple cleanliness should not be an issue when working in Hospitality. The Westin has always been a higher-end stay, but this was not my experience at this location. We let management know about the issues during our stay, and they offered us a free breakfast buffet upon check-out. For the money and time spent at this location, and the understanding manner on our end (we didn't Karen out on them or act rudely, knowing customer service can be challenging), we thought they'd offer to be more attentive or reimburse some of our stay.