Westin Times Square [Master Thread]

Old Aug 15, 2001, 9:37 am
  #1  
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Westin Times Square [Master Thread]

I was walking down in the Theater district over the past weekend and noticed a sign on a construction site for the Westin Times Square which is billed as an 800+ room hotel. I was a little suprised, as I didn't remember seeing any press on this property or information on this board.

From the construction progress, I would guess that the hotel will open in the late spring of 2002. This should be a great option for SPG people who like to stay in the Times square area but dislike the much lamented Sheraton NY.
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Old Aug 15, 2001, 10:02 am
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doc
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Indeed there has been little mention and some confusion!

In fact there will be a Westin eventually and a "W" Times Square opening sooner.

"The W Times Square is at 1567 Broadway. The scheduled opening date is September 2001.

The Westin Times Square is another planned hotel scheduled to open December 2002.

Please be advised that any pre-opening information is subject to change at any time for reasons beyond our control. I have no information regarding an additional Sheraton location in Manhattan.

Best regards,

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

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum74/HTML/001923.html

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Old Aug 29, 2001, 6:54 am
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From Planet Hollywood to a Hotel W in Gray

One generation's Gotham is another's Peninsula. The Shelton and Americana of yesterday are the Marriott East Side and Sheraton New York of today. Hotels change all the time.

Few, however, have changed as much before opening day as the 57- story hotel at Broadway and 47th Street an embryonic Planet Hollywood, prospective Sheraton and possible Radisson before it became the W New York-Times Square, which it now seems fairly certain to be when it makes its debut in December.

Everything is to open at once: Blue Fin, a 400-seat, seafood-sushi- and-jazz restaurant operated by Steve Hanson; the Whiskey, a basement bar, lounge and screening room operated by Rande Gerber; a lobby shop called Wish (or maybe Want), by the proprietors of Troy in SoHo; and 509 guest rooms that had to be redesigned and rebuilt to fit the W image cool, spare and all gray.

"We're launching the most important hotel in our brand," said Guy Hensley, senior vice president of W, the three-year-old boutique hotel division of Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide. "It should be complete."

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/29/nyregion/29REAL.html

(Bolding of opening date is mine)

[This message has been edited by wigstheone (edited 08-29-2001).]
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Old Aug 29, 2001, 10:40 am
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The rest of the article reveals that the rooms will average 280 square feet, and the design tricks used to make them seem bigger.

I'm not sure that you can maintain luxury-level pricing in New York City with rooms that small.
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Old Jan 4, 2002, 3:03 pm
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Westin Times Square [Master Thread]

Does anyone (Mr. Luker!?) know when the new Westin Times Square hotel will be taking reservations? I am planning to be in NYC over Thanksgiving this year (2002) and would love to stay there--any word? (The website just says open 11/02)
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Old Jan 4, 2002, 3:26 pm
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My personal opinion is that no one really knows. I know that the Westin St. Louis' opening date was pushed back several times and ended up opening about 6 months behind. I would have stayed there during my travels at STL but they opened too late and all my stays went to Hilton.
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Old Jan 4, 2002, 4:32 pm
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snackyx, the last crystal ball I looked into in August said that the property would open on December 20, 2002, but it may have been delayed due to financial contstraints that were necessary because of the tragic events of September 11th.

I can try to get an update, but please realize that there are numerous factors that can delay an opening besides money. Whenever we release a projected opening date, it is subject to change, and often does.

Best regards,

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

[email protected]
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Old Jan 5, 2002, 12:24 am
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While I'm not a construction expert, I walked by the site recently in NYC. The building is still only a concrete shell...I wouldn't think that it would be fully finished by Thanksgiving.
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Old Jan 5, 2002, 10:42 am
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A banner on the building implies that they will open in the fall of 2002...
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Old Oct 20, 2002, 11:34 am
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Westin Times Square [Master Thread]


From the lead story in the Arts and Leisure section of today's NY TImes
-------------------------------------

The redevelopment of Times Square has finally produced a building worth talking about: the new Westin Hotel on Eighth Avenue between 42nd and 43rd Streets. And people are talking about it for a welcome reason. The Westin has raised a flag over the issue of taste. Translation: many people find it ugly. Hideous. The very embodiment of beauty's evil twin.

Look up, people. This is New York. We live in one great ugly town. Not being too hung up on beauty is what makes life here possible, even thrilling. In exchange for surrendering refinement, we get a kind of urban poetry that is the envy of the world. Sometimes it takes outsiders to see it. Often, outsiders introduce new rhymes. The beauty resides, in some sense, in staying an outsider. The Westin is the consummate outsider's hotel....

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/20/ar...gn/20MUSC.html
--------------------------------------------
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Old Oct 20, 2002, 1:28 pm
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I think it fits right in to the Vegas style 42nd Street. I walked by the hotel yesterday and it is open; however, it looks as though work is still in progress.
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Old Oct 20, 2002, 4:14 pm
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by landspeed:
many people find it ugly. Hideous. The very embodiment of beauty's evil twin.
</font>
I'll second that.

And contrary to what the article says, just because some other buildings are unattractive, that's no reason to waste money on a new ugly building.

d
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Old Oct 20, 2002, 5:38 pm
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by landspeed:
...many people find it ugly. Hideous. The very embodiment of beauty's evil twin</font>
I will also be very surprised if it ages gracefully.
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Old Oct 21, 2002, 10:32 am
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We visited the hotel on Saturday and had a drink in the Bar. We may have been the first paying customers in the bar. We also did a room tour, the rooms being typical Westin Heavenly Bed rooms. The public areas are more "W" than Westin. Since I am not a fan of "W" decor, I found the public areas cold to the visitor. There is a lot of work to be done to finish the property, only half of the rooms are open. I think I will pass on this property for at least a year and continue to stay at the St. Regis or Westin Essex.
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Old Nov 12, 2002, 1:30 pm
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Arrow Westin Times Square (Master Thread)

We stayed at the Westin from October 30th-November 3rd. Karen, at the front desk checked us in. What a lovely staff. We checked in and went up to our room. The first night we were on a club floor, room #1209. The room was long and narrow, but there was more than enough space, too much space. The space on the other side of the bed was quite large. There was a padded bench, a small table and one arm chair. It was very stark.
We went down to the front desk to speak with Karen again as we realized that the wrong room rate was listed for our stay. It was listed at $269 for all four nights when we were supposed to be at the WARM rate of $209 for 2 nights and a AAA rate of $199 for the other 2 nights. Karen fixed it with no problem. We actually asked to have another chair brought up to the room so the two of us could sit together. There was only one bathrobe, so they brought us another one of those and the room safe didnt work, so they sent someone up to fix that also. The bathroom door was a standard swing in door and the heavenly shower curtain bar curved out. Every time the door opened it hit the bar.
At 3am we called down to the front desk and got Karen again. We needed to change rooms as we are light sleepers and there were metal plates on the street below us due to construction. Every time a car went over them there was a loud metal clanking sound that prevented us from falling asleep.
George the bellman came up to help us. Again, he was great. They moved us to room 1524. The room was like a corner king at the W in Seattle. It was a very large corner room. Again, there was not enough furniture for the size of the room and only one bathrobe. We slept ok, but we could still hear the metal plates even though we were further around the corner. No problem with the bathroom door as this one was a slider. The TV was quite far away from the bed and would have been difficult to see if we had stayed in this room.
The next morning we moved again. (Thanks again to Karen) Sam, the manager showed us a couple of choices. We chose room 1036. This room was smaller and much quieter. It faced over another building instead of the street, but we didnt realize that we were no longer on a club floor, no Molton Brown products and no turn-down service. Also, only one robe, but the fact that there was only one armchair wasnt an issue as the furniture fit the room. The door to the bathroom was a slider here also. We slept fine the rest of the trip.
We were given breakfast vouchers for all 4 mornings. The buffet was good and again, the staff was great. We also sat in the bar one night and service was good there also. Whichever staff member we ran across more than once remembered who we were and asked how we were doing the whole stay.
There were a few discrepancies as to what was functioning at the hotel. I called before we left and asked if there was an open concierge lounge and was told it was open, but that was not the case. I also asked if the gym was open and was told yes, but not the spa yet, however, when we got there we were told if we wanted to work out that the gym was not ready yet and they were sending people over to a workout club if a gym was needed. Also we were told that there were 3 restaurants and 2 lounges, but there was only the buffet and one lounge open when we got there.
All in all it was a nice stay with a great staff.


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