StarpointsSlave

I stayed at both hotels, Westin then Grand, over Christmas last year.

Service levels at both hotels are comparable, as they are run by the same management team.

While I found the public areas of the Westin to be more appealing than those of the Grand (with the exception of the Grand's gorgeous Winter Garden room), if only because they're more spacious (the hallways at the Grand are incredibly narrow) -- I preferred the jr. suite I received at the Grand over the jr. suite I received at the Westin -- and I stayed in the largest jr. suite available at the Westin (so I was told). Granted, my suite at the Westin had two balconies, which was nice for gazing out over the brown waters of the Arno, and its color scheme of muted pink and light green was much more to my taste than the teal-and-gray scheme (teal furnishings and bedspread, gray wall trim) of my Grand room, but the Grand room just felt more elegant.

The Grand's elegance extended to the bed linens, which were in fact linen, while the Westin's bedding was regular cotton. I also found the bed in my Westin room to be too firm for comfort (it's not a Heavenly mattress), even though the Westin Rome uses the same mattress (I checked) and I had no problem sleeping in Rome. I guess the firmness was really just a matter of how well used (or not) the mattress was.

My preference also turned largely on the bathroom and amenities, as the Grand bathroom was more spacious and airy (fully clad in black-and-white marble) and was stocked with a very generous assortment of higher-end toiletries, while the Westin bathroom, decked out in reddish marble, was smaller and compartmentalized and carried the usual lineup of non-U.S. (i.e., not the eucalyptus-based Heavenly Bath) Westin toiletries.

However, the water pressure in the separate shower at the Westin was "stronger" than at the Grand, although both were very anemic. Water pressure in the hand-held showers at both properties was fine.

The Platinum amenity is also better at the Grand. Westin offered the usual list of amenities standardized throughout the European Westin/Sheraton properties, while the Grand came up with a bag of some of the best biscotti I've ever eaten, a box of chocolates (just Godiva, if I recall) and a bottle of wine. However, the Grand's amenity may have been tweaked for me, as I told the Westin desk clerk upon check-out that I didn't care for any more fruit, and he said that he would relay that to the Grand and that he was confident they would provide me with a very nice amenity.

I didn't dine at either hotel's restaurant for lunch or dinner, but a fellow U.S. traveller I met in Rome reported that the lunch she'd had at Il Canto (the Grand's restaurant) was the best meal she'd eaten in Italy.

In conclusion: Both properties are part of the Luxury Collection, but only the Grand acknowledges it. It flies the Luxury Collection flag, it stocks in-room bags and umbrellas with the Luxury Collection logo and carries higher-end toiletries. The Westin flies only the Westin flag, and all of its amenities and accessories are Westin-branded and therefore limited to the usual Westin offerings. Yes, the Westin Florence is a 5-star hotel, but for me on some levels it felt like what it proclaims to be, just a Westin.