NBSPGMEMBER

This property is pretty unknown to me, so how is it? I know the location well, but not the hotel itself. I'm willing to give it a try (on a good rate). On the Westin website the (rate detail/room description) says; newly renovated room. How "newly" renovated is this place. Thanks!

/mod
Older reports can be found at http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/starw...er-thread.html

CIT85

I was there in Sept. '07. The hotel is standard Westin and all of the furnishings are in good condition, so, new enough that it wasn't showing signs of wear. You can sometimes get free Wi-Fi signal in the lobby area. The restaurant offers free take-out coffee in the morning.

Platinum upgrade was to a larger, maybe junior suite. I would definitely recommend this Westin for the area.

3Cforme

Details are fuzzy, but somehow I think there was a fee for parking in the deck, the only thing reasonably available in the typical suburban office park environment. This property can be an excellent value, only marginally more costly than Danvers & Framingham Sheratons.

vindesante

Just returned from a one night stay. This was a first stay @ this property. No overt recognition of Gold status, other than being handed the room key in a SPG Gold pocket. We were on a designated SPG floor, but no upgrade other than that, on what seemed like a pretty quiet Saturday night. The decor in both the room and the public areas was modern and reasonably fresh appearing. The atrium, in the central portion of the hotel, is attractive. The restaurant, with its wall of glass, was a little chillier near the multi story windows today, it was a frigid 7 degrees out! The exterior of reflective glass, in this particular neighborhood, struck me as somewhat off putting. This is an area of big box stores, office buildings and smaller retail businesses, quite close to the highway.

Fulkerson

I read it somewhere they charge parking fee.
Do they still charge it? Anyway to get waived for elite members?

mazzer

They still charge for parking, and there is no way I know of to get it waived. It is worth considering the Sheraton Needham as an alternative, as they are good about upgrading Plats and have an Executive Lounge with free breakfast in the morning. The Sheraton Needham is about 10 minutes drive from Waltham.

3Cforme

I have tried the aloft and Element in Lexington since my last Westin Waltham visit, and would probably go for the Element today. Parking is free at the aloft and Element; they face each other across a shared lot.

BVsmurfette

I stayed at the Westin Waltham earlier this month (on a great starpicks $87 rate). They do indeed charge parking - $9 IIRC. The lot is a covered one, so that's good in case it's snowing at least u don't have to dig your car out. Also, I got a great free upgrade to a lovely junior suite - I'm gold SPG.

Triley

Anyone ever see a hotel not have an e-mail address listed for a hotel? I wanted to see what they offer for instant awards at this hotel, and as it's not that important (I'm not doing my mattress run until Saturday night), I didn't want to bother calling.

Does anybody have any ideas what kind of instant awards are available at this hotel, or what types of things are generally offered, and the relative cost?

On a plus note, this is going to be my first time with Gold with SPG. I'm mostly looking forward to the extra points, as well as (hopeful) upgrades at the Westin Nova Scotian, whenever I visit the city (should be averaging three weeks easy next year at this one property alone.)

controller1

Many Starwood properties do not disclose their email addresses in the "Contact Us" section of their website.

thehowieee

You're doing a MR at the Westin Waltham?

... if you're doing it as a pure MR for the night why not stay at the Sheraton Framingham (they'll match or beat the rate at the Westin and you won't pay to park.)?

I did some hopping between the two of them earlier this year ... but didn't have to park a car.

freeupgrade

do yourself a big favor, and avoid the Westin Waltham.

Management there completely sucks....

Triley

Well, it's a MR combined with a bit of bringing my grandmother out to Legacy Place in Dedham. We're from southern New Hampshire, so we were trying to find a place that was a reasonable distance from the mall, and home.

Had it down to Sheraton Brainetree, Sheraton Needham, or Westin Waltham. Trying to keep it cheap, I have the room for $97.91 with tax.

sbtinme

You did just fine - the Westin Waltham is a perfectly okay hotel. I find the rooms there very nice and have never had a bad experience there. Is it the finest example of the Westin brand? Heck no, but it's a great deal at less than $100 all in. Just make sure you let them know you think it's outrageous that they charge you to park in their garage (which provided no cost parking for nearly 18 years prior!).

Every time I stay here, I make it a point to politely let the front desk manager know how inane it is that they're charging for parking. I'd stay there more often myself, but that nutty parking charge really makes me nuts, so I stay at the Courtyard across the street more often than not, which is a great little property.

Triley

I talked to a manager today after my questions, and he mentioned parking was $11, I believe? I don't know exactly where the hotel is situated, but that does seem a bit crazy to charge for parking. No doubt the Courtyard doesn't charge, right?

I use to love the Marriott chain (my other grandmother worked for them), so I was able to pull out her employee rate, ranging anywhere from $35 for a Fairfield Inn, $40 for Courtyard, $45 for Residence Inn, and $49 for Marriotts. Of course pricing varied a bit depending on the season, and if anything was available at all. For the RI in Halifax, Nova Scotia, I ended up paying $60CAD a night for a studio for 10 days, I believe it was.

Since losing the discount, I managed to find my way over to SPG, just on a whim (had used Hotwire in Halifax to get away from a bad Delta hotel, and got the Westin Nova Scotian for $99 a night), and have loved it since. In general, I can't say I've had many issues with any hotels I've stayed at.

In fact, I've had management bending over backwards for me, without even asking. For example, I've got a one night stay in Halifax (what a surprise, eh?) on Christmas Eve, and I was asking the MOD about their opinion of two restaurants around the city. Without even asking, he called both locations to inquire about their holiday hours for me. Unfortunately for me, they're both closed, but now their concierge to come up with a list of restaurants that will be open that evening, along with their hours.