I just stayed at the W for a three day meeting -- what a unique experience. I've never stayed at the hotel, but I had heard it was like a European hotel -- never going to Europe, I didn't quite know what that meant but was somewhat eager to find out. Upon arriving on a Friday evening at 11pm at night, I was very disappointed and ready to turn around to find another hotel. The 'living room' = lobby was blaring with music and filled with people. I couldn't hear the front counter person when I was checking in, but with my name on my credit card and them writing down the room number on the key jacket, it all worked out. After I fought my way through the people to get to the elevators and finally figured out that I needed to use my key card to access any floor above 3, my frustration continued because I could hear the music up the entire elevator ride through floor 13. I was very relieved when I got out of the elevator and the music had finally faded. The size of my room wasn't anything spectacular, but the beds were wonderful!!! I hadn't had that nice of a sleep in months! My most favoriate part of the hotel, though, were the unique decorations and sundries. As I unpacked my bags and checked out the room, my mood quickly shifted from frustration and wanting to run to happiness and wanting to see what other cute things they could think of. The lighting was a bit to get used to, but every where you looked, the W thought of some cute way to "tag" items. An example was the little pencil on the night stand -- it said something like, 'Write down your idea.' Kind of corny, but different which made me smile constantly. The staff were also incredible! One of the ladies in our meeting rode up the elevator with one of the staff; they had a small conversation about the lady's recent cold still lingering; and the staff member sent her up some soup on the house. What an awesome touch! That's the Ritz example of empowerment for the customer!!! All the small unique touches turned me into a huge fan of this hotel!! As for the lobby, we stayed away on Saturday evening but ventured down during the days and other evenings. Surprisingly, we found some scrumptuous sweet/tart green apples and normal evenings. That just sweetened the ending - I'd return.
hotel reviews