I will forewarn all of you I am rather critical of hotels and service as I spent 10 years in the business myself including 3 years in management at a Luxury Collection property in Scottsdale AZ.
When I booked the room I choose the Westin over the Sheraton in Times Square purely based on rate. I was surprised that the Westin was cheaper. When I looked over other reviews it seemed the largest complaints involved long waiting times at check in.
I requested a 2PM early check in which was honored. Being a Gold level SPG member I was also upgraded at check in which was nice. Check in time was only about 5 minutes and the lady was very polite and helpful, I guess my only complaint about check in is what is the point of a SPG line for gold and platinum level members if that agent is helping everyone in line? Especially since the line was not very long. I say either do away with it or really make it a SPG only line. 5 minutes is a perfectly fine wait time for check in so I really can't complain...
The hotel room is a good size for a NYC room. The double head shower and slate tile in the bathroom was a nice touch. I personally did not care for the stainless steel sink and counter, there was almost no room to put personal care items, and you could tell the hotel did not have a lot of space either as they had the amenities on a shelf that looked like it was a afterthought. The bathroom was a decent size so I am surprised the vanity is not slightly larger.
I did come across a few issues with housekeeping. Another women's hair was on the floor in the bathroom, working in the business I know this is actually hard to control but it is disgusting. Perhaps the largest issues I had was there was some type of black gunk on the stainless steel rings that bolt the night stands to the floor. This is not an everyday cleaning item however it made me wonder if the housekeeping staff was lacking on a deep cleaning schedule. I am not an anal person so I of course did not do an inspection I used to do when working, but this is very noticeable to the eye and kind of makes you want to wear shoes while in the room. The largest complaint I have is the housekeeper did not turn off the alarm from the previous guest and I was too dumb to remember this is a common problem in the business, so at 6AM my wife and I were woken up by the alarm clock. I assume that before a room is marked vacant clean it has to be inspected by a supervisor. I know full well that the clock is a check list item so it is upsetting that this happened.
My wife did not eat dinner on the property but we did have a few beers in the bar. Even though the bar was jammed the service was excellent and our server made an effort to make conversation with us which I like!
We did order breakfast with room service. I placed the menu on the door selecting what we wanted and the time we wanted it. Everything was delivered on time, the room service server was excellent and the food was also very good which leads me to believe the restaurants on property are great as well.
I did not have to wait at all during checkout. Again the gentlemen I checked out with was very polite, helpful and provided great service. A bellman also helped us get a cab and load our luggage immediately which was great.
Overall the Westin is a nice place, with an outstanding location and larger standard rooms than most city hotels. The staff is very professional and make the property a welcoming place. For some reason the Sheraton Times Square has a higher end feel to it which surprises me because most Westin's I have stayed in seem much nicer in regards to the property itself than Sheraton. Regardless this is a nice property and the issues I had are very easily correctable, sounds like the General Manager just needs to mention some of my items to the executive housekeeper at their next meeting. Fix housekeeping issues and this would be a weak 4 star property.
My wife and I will be back here on our next trip to the city, we usually come down 2-3 times a year.
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