My brother's family & my family stayed in 2 rooms in the Tower building for 7 nights. We do a lot of traveling and have stayed in many different hotels (everything from a Comfort Inn to the Mandarin Orientals & the Penninsulas), and have never been as disappointed as we were with this hotel. We are definitely NOT picky people and ALWAYS try to give the benefit of the doubt to the hotel and their staff. I have NEVER given a hotel a one star rating & that itself tells a lot on my part. In addition, I am a Starwood Preferred Guest and our last three hotel stays have been in Westins.
We arrived at the hotel (our time 2 am-SF 11 pm) after traveling for 5 hours with a 9 mo. old & another child. When we arrived at the hotel, not a single person asked if they could assist us with our luggage. They saw us, but didn't even bother to open the door as we were struggling with the baby and the luggage. After check-in (which went ok), we asked 3 different people (including front desk) for luggage assistance to our room. 20 minutes after checking in and STILL standing in the lobby, WE had to hunt the bellman down. We asked kindly if he could bring the luggage as quickly as possible, as we were extremely exhausted (esp. with the baby). He said it would be 10-15 minutes for him to deliver the luggage (which we had no problem with). After 30 minutes of waiting in our room, we called the front desk and complained that our luggage was not with us yet. The bellman came after another 10 minutes and proceeded to THROW our luggage into our room and tell us that we need to be more patient (this, after waiting 40 minutes for him to deliver the luggage)! He not only threw our luggage into the room, berated us for not being patient, but also slammed the door on the way out! By this time, it is after our 3 am! My sister-in-law called the manager and complained and they did give us breakfast the next morning, but it had already left a sour taste in our mouths. However, we still we willing to give the benefit of the doubt to the rest of the hotel & their staff.
We found the hotel staff and the hotel itself to be very unaccomodating (with the exception of the Concierge-they were very helpful), cold, and unwelcoming. We did not feel any comfort coming back to the hotel at the end of the day and really didn't feel like we could enjoy the lobby or anything. Although it was spacious, the rooms itself were cold, outdated, very worn out, dim, and did not make you feel comfortable (and these were the tower rooms-can't imagine what the old part felt like). The environment made us not want to spend any time in the hotel or the room.
On top of that, room service was not only VERY expensive, but there were absolutely no choices on the menu. Our first night there, our daughter was starving. Since we don't eat meat, there was NOTHING on the menu that we could order. Even the kids menu was closed-not even pizza! So she had to settle for cookies & milk! After that, we went out & got food (there are numerous choices right outside the hotel).
This is a HORRIBLE, unwelcoming, & very old hotel and it needs some serious updating in every aspect of the hotel. Having paid approx. $300 a night (a piece for each of our rooms) for this hotel, we felt we had completely & utterly wasted our money. For us, the hotel experience is half the vacation, and this was a complete waste. This hotel DOES NOT live up to the Westin name. Don't stay here. My brother stayed at the Hyatt Embarcadero hotel and he said that was a palace compared to this dump. Better off going someplace else.
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