Hotel Review of the Westin
Hotel Whistler
Feb 21, 2011
We have stayed at this hotel seven out of the last eight years and seen
the quality of staff and service slowly erode. However after our last
visit will will not return. The hotel has a lot going for it starting
with the location - 200 meters from lifts to whistler and Blackcomb
mountains. The bedrooms ,although pretty small are clean and feature a
kitchen area with fridge and dishwasher. However last time we visited
they had a problem with keys for connecting rooms. We had to get new
keys virtually every time we got back to the room, resulting in a total
of 46 keys used between 6 people for a week. The pool and steam are
great. However when a group of guests decided to drink beer out of glass
bottles in the pool, the staff did nothing- it was astounding. For some
reason this season they have decided to nickel and dime guests with
ridiculous charges for wifi and $6 fee per night for ski valet when you
are not allowed to take skis back to your room. They would be better
charging more for the rooms with less add on fees. Restaurant is
expensive and disappointing. If all you want is location stay here, if
you want to stay at a 5 star property set in a poorer location try the
four seasons in Blackcomb.
Hotel Review of the Westin
Hotel Whistler
Feb 18, 2011
Very pleased with the room, the hotel amenities and the service – though
wanting to charge C$95 for a week’s wifi internet is ridiculous (would
have received Excellent rating from us otherwise).
Things we liked: The room we had was lovely. High ceiling, fireplace,
galley kitchen (full oven, microwave, two-ring hob, dishwasher, small
fridge, coffee machine, good set of cooking utensils, crockery, etc.).
The bed truly is heavenly – it’s important to get a great night’s sleep
with all the exercise (nice bed linen too). Proper bath deep enough to
actually bath in (unlike some other hotels). Staff were friendly,
concierge very helpful, free hotel shuttle around the resort extremely
useful as we used it to get to restaurants. As an example of good
service: When we were checking in, a small queue started to form. One of
the managers saw and he opened another check-in desk straight away.
There was a self-service laundry not far from our room (one washer, one
dryer, C$2 each) – not heavily used by other guests so very convenient
for us (sorry, don’t know how many of these there are in the hotel).
Things we didn’t like: trying to charge for the wifi. This is ridiculous
in 2011. Rather than pay the Westin’s excessive charge, we went across
the road to the Hilton, bought a drink in their bar and used their free
wifi (no code required). Also there’s the Garibaldi Lift Co (GLC) above
the Whistler gondola station where wifi is free (code needed). There are
plenty of other places in the village with free wifi (some need codes,
some not). Also we didn’t like the cost of the ski concierge – this
charge can’t be avoided as you’re not allowed to take your skis or
snowboard into your room. For our stay (two people), this is additional
C$12 per night. Whilst it’s a nice thing to be able to give the ski
concierge your skis when you come off the slope, it really is only 250m
back to the hotel and, as you’re taking your boots (and poles) up to the
room anyway, to take your skis too isn’t a great hardship. (Other hotels
in Whistler have a free ski concierge.)
Because of the fridge and kitchen, we tended to have ‘first breakfast’
in our room and then take a break on the hill for ‘second breakfast’
before the lunchtime rush at the mountain restaurants.
In summary, we would consider staying here again as we got a great deal
as the Westin was including the lift pass at a big discount. It worked
out about C$30 each per day for the ski pass. (I think that other hotels
were also running this promotion.) However, we would look at the Hilton,
the Pan Pacific, the Four Seasons or the Fairmont. The first two are no
further than the Westin from the Whistler gondola base. The second two
are right at the Blackcomb base. We’d check out all of these to see
their deals.
Hotel Review of the Westin
Hotel Whistler
Feb 11, 2011
My husband and I recently went to Whistler for the very first time and
we have to say, it was a wonderful experience. We stayed at the Westin
for 4 days/nights and are starwood gold preferred members. We also are
owners of villas on Maui and Kauai.
First of all, we expected to be treated extremely well because 1) it was
our honeymoon and 2) we are owners at 2 properties. While we did receive
a room on the concierge level (ninth floor), we were a little
disappointed that we were not upgraded from a junior suite.
That being said, here are the pros and cons from our trip:
Pros: Room was decorated well, lobby is beautiful, vaulted ceilings on
the 9th floor are impressive. Kitchen is small but livable, bed is
comfortable. Fireplaces are nice and easy to turn on/off. The location
is stellar, right next to the Whistler gondola.
Cons: When we checked in, $400 was "held" on our debit card.
Unfortunately it was the only card we have as we do not like to keep
debt, so that money was unusable for our trip. Gravely disappointing as
this limited our activities for the rest of the trip. They said usually
the hold is $200, but "for some reason" ours was $400.
The price for parking is absurd. The thermostat never got to the
temperature we set it at. We were very warm in our rooms and had to keep
the tiny window open. The room was about 71 the whole time and we like
it cooler.
Bathrooms are small. We're used to larger bathrooms at Westin, with the
dual shower head, and this did not have it. A little disappointing.
The restaurant was not good...there are so many other options in town,
we made a mistake of eating here.
Even with that said though, I believe the hotel is very nice and really
does live up to it's expectations. We were just disappointed by a few
things but nothing that would deter us from returning to the property.
We wish they had gone above and beyond for our honeymoon, but oh well,
we werent going to let that ruin the trip.
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