Ed Thom

Am I the only one who thinks Westin is a dead brand? There has been basically no growth since 2015 or 2016. If my numbers are right, only 5 new Westins were added between 2016 and 2020 in North America. In Europe, Westin has decreased properties. I suspect that's because full-service hotels are too expensive for owners to develop and operate these days. The money seems to be in limited-service brands. Both Europe and North America are high-cost labor markets. When Starwood was separate, Westin was arguably their flagship brand. Now, under Marriott International, Westin seems lost with no path to more growth. Marriott has ended legacy Starwood agreements for Westin with Delta Air Lines and New Balance, for example. I concede that your average Westin isn't as bad as your average Sheraton (a brand that neither Starwood nor Marriott have managed to fix). But I don't see the path going forward. Especially with so many other brands in the Marriott portfolio.

LondonElite

Remind me, what is the difference between a Westin and a Sheraton? One is a totally faceless boring hotel brand, and the other is what? Which is which?

Ed Thom

To me, Sheraton is equivalent to Crowne Plaza and post-merger Marriott's Delta. Outside of the Moana Surfrider in Waikiki, I can't think of heritage building Westin properties. Most Westins are modern-built hotels and somewhere between a Marriott and JW Marriott. Under Starwood, they generally had good gyms and higher quality F&B offerings with an emphasis on healthier food options. I'm not sure that's true anymore. I don't see Westins with the healthier foods advertised, the fitness rooms with New Balance loaner gear, and the Delta Air Lines partnership. What made Westin a Westin seems to be stripped down. Hence why I said I think it's a dead brand.

andrewstahl

It might be a dying brand. However, I like Westin. I have a Heavenly Bed at home & like to sleep on the same mattress while traveling. Many Westins have Peloton bikes which allow me to ride while traveling. There are Westins near where I have to travel for work so they are convenient to stay at. Westin works for me even if the brand is “dying”

MSPeconomist

I like Westin. They're decorated in a way that's supposed to be relaxing and are generally above Sheraton or Marriott.

BTW, I consider Sheraton to be equivalent to a Marriott, except that the Marriott lounge is likely to be closed on weekends. Delta is definitely a step down from Sheraton/Marriott.

rrgg

Madrid Palace Hotel and Excelsior Rome are heritage hotels with history.

I also think Florence and Venice (now a St Regis) are unique but maybe not “heritage.”

mcsb11

I know the Renaissance DC is refurbing and rebranding as a Westin, take that for whatever its worth. Lobby is nice, rooms need a refresh.

Ive stayed at Westins in Princeton, Austin & Morristown NJ. Ive always enjoyed the brand. The Princeton Westin is leap years ahead of the Marriott that is across the st

James Luckard

There are actually a bunch of historic Westins:

- The Westin St Francis, San Francisco - 1904
- The Westin San Jose - 1926
- Moana Surfrider - 1901
- The Westin Portland Harborview - 1927 (admittedly, the historic interiors are all gone)
- The Westin Book Cadillac - 1924
- The Westin Great Southern, Columbus, Ohio - 1897
- The Westin Poinsett, Greenville, SC - 1925
- The Westin Nova Scotian, Halifax - 1928
- The Westin Paris - Vendome - 1878
- The Westin Excelsior, Florence - 1928, building much older
- The Westin Excelsior, Rome - 1906
- The Westin Palace, Madrid - 1912

Still, it's true, the vast majority of Westins are modern buildings.

The brand has had so many identities.

It started as a collection of existing Pacific Northwest/West Coast hotels. The St. Francis is the sole remaining hotel in the chain from this period.

In the late 50s, the chain started building modern hotels. The Bayshore Inn is the oldest remaining one of these, now called The Westin Bayshore Vancouver. At this point, the chain still owned and operated pretty much all of its properties.

In the 70s, the chain suddenly grew enormously, building a slew of huge, modern hotels in big cities, often designed by John Portman (LA Bonaventure, Atlanta Peachtree Placa, Detroit Renaissance Center, etc). These were often just managed or franchised, not owned anymore, like Sheraton and other chains were also doing.

The chain stayed focused on big city convention/business hotels until the Starwood era, when it started opening more suburban hotels and resorts.

It feels like the chain has stayed pretty much static since the sale to Marriott, except in China, much like Sheraton.

dw

In North America, sadly the same can be said of many legacy full service flags- almost all the development pipeline is now in select service.

For Hyatt, it’s almost all Hyatt Place and my understanding is that for Hilton, Tru and Home2Suites now make up almost all of the pipeline.

ElevatorEnthusiast

Westin is generally one of my preferred brands - however, it is also very inconsistent. Bed quality differs greatly as many properties seem to have gotten rid of the pillow toppers and thick comforters that make Heavenly Beds so heavenly. Of course, some of them are still amazing (including my latest Westin stay at the Moana Surfrider).

To those in my personal life, Westin is definitely seen as higher quality than other brands (one might say "bougie".) There are some Westins with really great designs - the Westin Galleria Dallas sticks out in that regard with the timeless wooden built-ins and window seat (for some reason, it reminds me of Frasier's Seattle apartment).

GoSh4rks

Westin definitely has a more modern and fresh feel to me when compared to Sheraton. Given the choice and if both have a lounge and are similar in age/location/price, I’ll pick Westin over Sheraton every time,

Horace

I wouldn't call Westin a dead brand. Perhaps it could be considered a mature brand, as opposed to newer, fast-growing brands such as Moxy and AC Hotels.

According to Westin’s development website, Westin has 228 open properties, 61 pipeline properties, 82,985 open rooms, and 17,008 pipeline rooms.

That’s very far from dead.

I agree that hotel developers are largely focusing on select service brands for new construction, but Westin would still seem to be good brand choice when a developer has location that calls for a full-service hotel.

Also... considering that 1972 was 50 years ago, I would consider a hotel from 1972 to be a heritage hotel. Westin Michigan Avenue (previously Continental Plaza Hotel, a Western International Hotel) in Chicago was completed in 1972.

James Luckard

Actually, the main wing of the Continental Plaza opened in November 1963, while the adjacent tower wing, which doubled the hotel's size, opened in August 1974.


The original 1963 wing is in the foreground, the much taller 1974 addition is behind it, on the right.

It's true, any building over 50 years is eligible to be part of the Historic Hotels of America, for example.

However, I tend to think that only pre-WWII hotels really count as historic. Hotels before the era of mass automobile/air travel were built to a different standard. They were built to last forever, with stone, marble, hard woods, etc, and they were built with classical interiors of permanent materials.

Post-WWII hotels were built with facades that were often radically altered within a few years, and with interiors of mainly flimsy materials that were refreshed countless times, so almost none of them retain their original design.

There have been a few noble attempts to renovate grand post-WWII hotels in a historically faithful manner, like the Statler in Dallas, but most have been remodeled beyond all recognition, like The Westin Michigan Avenue, for example.




Hotels like this only tend to retain historic elements if they were too expensive to remove over the years, like the spiral staircase in the lobby of The Westin Michigan Avenue

James Luckard

The historic hotels listed above are all fairly recent additions to the Westin chain, aside from the St Francis, which is the longest current member of the chain, having joined in 1954.

These other hotels are also over 50 years old, like the Continental Plaza/Westin Michigan Avenue, and have been part of Western International/Westin the entire time:

- Bayshore Inn / The Westin Bayshore - 1961
- Calgary Inn / The Westin Calgary - 1964
- Washington Plaza / The Westin Seattle - 1969
- Crown Center Hotel / The Westin Crown Center - 1970
- Houston Oaks Hotel / The Westin Oaks, Houston - 1971
- South Coast Plaza / The Westin South Coast Plaza - 1971
- Edmonton Plaza / The Westin Edmonton - 1972

Although they're all technically over 50 years old, they've all been gutted and renovated numerous times, and none of them have any particular charm. I don't think anyone would classify them as historic.

BTW, Western International Hotels properties didn't carry the chain name, they all had individual names. That changed when the chain became Westin in 1981. Within a few years, pretty much all the hotels in every city were renamed simply The Westin. This was obviously hugely confusing, so they started getting geographically specific names later in the 80s/90s, like The Westin Michigan Avenue.

travelinmanS

There are a few new Westins in China. I like the smell of their body wash/shampoo better than some of the other brands.

I can’t tell the difference between a Marriott, Renaissance, Sheraton or Westin. Don’t know why they have so many brands to be honest.