Starwood Preferred Guest - Best Pool/Slides

Which Starwood property has the best pools and slides for kids?

Westin Maui is the best I have seen, but I haven't been to very many Starwood resorts.

Thanks!

The one up the road at the Sheraton Maui isn't too shabby either. This place is not as kid oriented and doesn't have the big slides, but still has a nice meandering free-form pool.

It is not a resort hotel, but the Sheraton Cavalier in Calgary has two giant watersllides (the type you see in waterparks). They are bigger than the slides that I have seen at resort locations.

I hear the one at the Sheraton Bal Harbour Beach Resort is pretty nice. Regrettably, I've never been there, but perhaps JimAtTheBeach will come along and tell us about it. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Specialist, E-Communications Department
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

Isn't that Atlantis Resort somehow affiliated with Starwood?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by PremEx:
Isn't that Atlantis Resort somehow affiliated with Starwood?</font>

I think there is a Starwood Vacation Ownership association, but the Atlantis Resort is not a participant in Starwood Preferred Guest and isn't a Starwood property. Our property down there is the Sheraton Grand Resort Paradise Island.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Specialist, E-Communications Department
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

Yep. You are right. I just checked it out and found the following on Atlantis: <font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">In 1999, the Company formed a joint venture with Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc. ("SVO"), a subsidiary of Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc. to develop a timeshare project on Paradise Island adjacent to Atlantis ("Harborside Resort at Atlantis"). The Company and SVO each have a 50% interest in the joint venture. Construction of the first phase, consisting of 82 two-bedroom units, began in 2000 and was completed by February 2001. Sales of the timeshare units began in May 2000.</font>

I knew I had read something in the past about Starwood being affiliated with them in some way.

Longtime lurker first time responding

I've stayed at a few of Starwoods Resorts and found some great pools top of the list

Westin Diplomat Resort and Spa, Hollywood, FLA has a double decker pool. Essentially one pool on top of the other with the top pool having a glass sectional in the middle of the pool

The Bal Harbour Resort pool is huge. It;s shaped in an S and seemingly goes on and on and on. The slide is greater for kids than for adults

I second the vote for the pool @ the Sheraton Bal Harbour Resort. There was no need to go to the adjacent beach thanks to the wonderful tropical landscaping.

Was it just me or did anyone else notice the deepest part of the entire pool was only 4 feet? Great for kids and those that don't know how to swim but want to escape the heat and humidity.

Sheraton Phuket in Thailand has an AMAZING pool! Ah...now if I could only get back there...

Gotta throw my 2 cents in here! Bal Harbour does, indeed, have an amazing pool for kids (and adults). We've got a huge, free form lagoon-style pool, 2 jacuzzis and a waterslide. Depth is about 4 feet, perhaps just a tad deeper than that. For the little ones, we've also got a separate wading pool with toys, sandbox, etc.

And in fairness to my esteemed colleagues on the other side of the world, I also have to second the comment about the pool at the Sheraton in Phuket. Was there last year, and it too is great. And if the kids are looking for even more of a "wow," you've got to be there on the beach around 3 PM when they do their baby elephant swim. I kid you not, they have a baby elephant that comes out for a swim in the surf every afternoon. If anybody wants to see a pix, let me know & I can email you the proof!

I'll "3rd" the positive comments about Sheraton Bal Harbour pool facilities...was there mere weeks ago and had a super time w/ our 3 kids.

While I didn't personally go on the slide, my kids sure did...and had a grand time. This slide is as long as any I've seen at a hotel resort, to include the Hilton Waikoloa (couple of years ago). It's not water-park long like a Wet-n-Wild 500yarder, but still its no slouch.

The pool complex itself is what is so well laid out IMO. Because of the "s" curving, as one poster mentioned before, one gets the visual sensation that there are several pools...all separated by...well, only water, but visually you can't see around the corner and thus can enjoy the privacy of the part of the pool you're in. Make sense ?

Both hot tubs are set apart from the main body of the pool and isolated and private.

Yes, the main pool is all the same depth.

And all the water facilities were kept crystal-clean while we were there on a SAT-MON.

All in all - this one has to be top 2-3 for starwood, domestically at least.

FWIW - One that sadly needs some major work - Westin Galleria in the Dallas area. Wow - what that hotel could do w/ a glassed dome above the pool and heated water in the winter. Sad waste of potential for a rooftop pool.

No slides, but the pool at the Westin in Cabo San Lucas is one of the better pools I've seen. Freeform, with an illusionary edge facing the beach so it seems like the pool flows into the ocean at the right angle.

Its large enough that it takes several minutes at least to swim from one end to the other.

And, it has a swim-up bar which seems to be hard to find these days. (Are swim up bars illegal or uninsurable in most US states or what? I couldn't find a single Hawaii hotel with one). Obviously the bar aspect is far off topic from kiddie slides!

The Nusa Indah pool in Bali is real nice.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by PremEx:
Isn't that Atlantis Resort somehow affiliated with Starwood?</font>

Harborside, the SVO offering in Nassau, is related (and immediately adjacent) to Atlantis indeed, in terms of being able to use Atlantis' facilities etc.