Well, since the Westin Grand Frankfurt is in fact participating in SPG (see above), here's my trip report then:
Booked Internet prepaid rate @ EUR 189 (room only), which is not bad considering there was a big trade fair in Frankfurt (IAA motor show). For reference, rates started at EUR 105 at Le Meridien, EUR 99 at AS Offenbach, EUR 199
at AS Congress Hotel and EUR 220 at Sheraton Frankfurt H&T.
The property, formerly the ArabellaSheraton Grand Hotel, has had a big makeover, and was officially rebranded on September 5th this year. It no longer looks late-80s-ish, but very contemporary. Gone are the polished brass elements (well most, some linger inside the lifts, but I was told these would eventually disappear as well). Instead, the place is now decorated in brown, light brown, beige, cream and mauve taupe colours throughout (that includes a re-carpeting as well). Looks very up-to-date, although sometimes a bit over-the-top (am I the only one who doesn't like strictly-no-uppercase room service menus?). Still no lounge.
I was upgraded at check-in to a "Grand Deluxe" room facing the courtyard. The room was pretty big and felt a bit empty. It did, however, have the Westin bed and the Westin showers (the brass has disappeared from the bathroom as well). Looks very nice. The bathroom features Bvlgari bathroom amenities and a heated main mirror - step out of the shower, and the bit of mirror just above the sink is fog-free. Nice. I also liked the in-room Nespresso coffee machine.
The spa and sauna area has been refurbished (it was already quite nice before). Do however listen carefully to the attendant as you walk in - if she says "left and left", she means precisely that, turn left and walk though the door on the left to enter the changing rooms leading to the pool area. That's if you're male, for female guests it's "left and right". There are no "male" or "female" signs next to the changing room doors
.
The rebranding is not quite complete - not in the sense that "ArabellaSheraton" signage lurks in corners, but some features await rebranding and cannot be provided for the time being. These include desk pads, the hotel service directory, and comment forms which I was told are unavailable for that reason when I asked for one. Also, the rooms are advertised as featuring 32-inch flat screen LCD TVs. Well mine didn't, it had the old TV set from the AS Grand days, but this looked very much like a temporary solution.
Staff are great. The concierge, a friendly Italian lady (no names on FT!), and the "Express Service" desk not only provided me with a copy of the hotel's new Chinese restaurant's menu, but let me order room service from it. Nice kung pao chicken it was, too.
However, there were some oddities about the room.
For starters, there is no wardrobe space available other than hangers. There is a wardrobe all right, just after the door as you enter the room, but the shelves are occupied not only by the in-room safe, but also by glassware, cutlery and non-refrigerated minibar items. Why these are not stocked in the storage racks provided for that very purpose next to the minibar fridge escapes me.
There's no kettle in the room. This makes it somewhat pointless to provide teabags. Also, in a double room, if you provide two coffee mugs, you might as well provide two spoons - not everybody is happy sharing.
No chair. There's a low leather armchair (nice), and an executive chair at the desk, but no ordinary chair to sit on and put your shoes on. Why? Not cool enough? There's certainly a lot of empty space in the GrandDeluxe room where a chair would easily fit.
At night, the room is dimly lit. The lamps are all very nice, especially the cone-shaped floor lamp, but overall, the lamps are just not brigt enough. I struggled to read the room service bill standing in the middle of the room, with every available light turned on, and had to put it on the desk directly underneath the desk light.
Finally, there's
no toilet brush. I find this entirely unacceptable. How am I going to clean the loo should need arise? Call housekeeping? Use toilet paper and my bare hands (urgh)? Ignore it?!? I was actually upset enough to ask that question to front desk staff. The astonishing answer was that they had had quite a few similar complaints, but that as per Westin brand policy, toilet brushes are a big no-no, and would not be provided, full stop. Is this actually Westin policy? I have never noticed that before. (The fornt desk clerk did promise to escalate this to local management.)
Summary? Don't know really.
Once things at the Westin Grand settle in, it's going to be a nice property. However, so is the Meridien Parkhotel, and while the latter does not have a pool, its rates are almost always substantially lower that the Westin Grand's. To be fair, some of the rooms are also a lot smaller - but there are some fantastic suites at the Meridien, and they do upgrade Plats to these if available. Also, both the Le Meridien and the Sheraton Frankfurt H&T are, in my opinion, a much better choice if you actually want to work in your room after sunset, and are better located for transport. The Frankfurt Sheraton H&T also has an excellent lounge where the (free) food on offer includes a full cooked breakfast and a full bar, at rates often similar to what the Westin Grand charges.
The jury's still out
Tom