I travel frequently to participate in academic conferences and for pleasure. I have stayed at big hotels all over the U.S. and Canada and never had as awful an experience as I did here. In fact, I usually have a good time, and am not a whiner, or "whinner" as one reviewer says those who don't love this hotel are. Generally I like to go for a walk every day to relax and explore the city I'm in, trying new restaurants, shopping, sight seeing, and checking out little neighborhoods. That was impossible here because the hotel has been designed so that it is almost impossible to go anywhere outside if you are not in a car. The proximity to freeways where the traffic never stops makes the air quality disgustingly bad outside, and you can't walk more than a couple of blocks without coming to an uncrossable freeway or road. The hotel staff seemed to have no idea how to get to anything in any way other than driving and had no maps to give out to tourists. There were also no maps or city guides in the room. On Saturday I found that even the small cafes near the hotel -- all grotesquely overpriced -- were closed for the weekend and there was nowhere to go for breakfast except the hotel restaurant where the simplest meal on the menu cost $22. The staff are nice and do the best they can in a bad situation, but the hotel is claustrophobic and there's no escape except to rent a car and drive away. Due to a physical disability I can;t do that. But they did give us free Wifi, so at least I got a lot of work done. Like all Westins, the rooms are clean and comfortable with a great bed.
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