This past week, my new wife and I spent our honeymoon in Portland, Oregon and on the Oregon coast. We spent 5 nights at the Westin Salishan Lodge in Gleneden Beach, OR on the Oregon coast using Starwood Points.
I'm going to give a VERY detailed report of our experience. Please don't be judgemental of what we did or how we did it. We were on our honeymoon and were trying to make it memorable. I'll give as much detail as I can so that future travellers may benefit from what we say, good and bad.
When we booked the trip, all reports indicated that the Salishan was a world-class luxury hotel. It was on the 2000 Conde-Nast list of top 25 resorts. It was described by friends as very desireable. It was described by Frommer's as "ultra-deluxe."
While, we were very happy to be there on our honeymoon and felt fortunate to have the opportunity for luxury travel in a safe country, we found Salishan had a number of key failings that we felt keep it out of the realm of truly exceptional properties.
The drive out to Salishan from Portland is about three hours. They offer two routes, one of which they call the more scenic route. We found the other route (the one they didn't say was scenic) to be more scenic. Once you reach the coast, you're travelling on highway US 101. By way of comparison, the towns along US 101 reminded us most of the towns in North Carolina's Outer Banks near Nag's Head - scenic in the 50's, plain old run down in the 21st century. There were lots of non-descript motels ($39/night midweek special!), icky restaurants and abandoned properties.
We arrived on a Monday night and were told at check-in that our Platinum concierge had arranged an upgraded room for us (thank you, Mark!). Each room has an assigned parking space under it. The rooms are mostly elevated or built into the side of a hill overlooking a bay onto which Salishan fronts. The upgraded room was on a corner facing out to the bay. Unfortunately, this upgraded room was also closest to the highway, Route 101, that separates Salishan from the bay and they beach. From our room's balcony, the rush of cars on the highway was unmistakable. No harm, no foul.
We didn't put our stuff in our room right away, opting to go to dinner and talk about what to do. We ate in the lower priced of the two on-property restaurants. The food was very good. At 9pm on a Monday, however, the restaurant was D-E-A-D dead. There were two other couples in the whole place.
After talking to our waitress (she told us she used to work in reservations) about what rooms were desireable, we went back to the desk and asked to see a room in the Chieftan North building. Chieftan North overlooks the bay, but is much further from the road. Chieftan South overlooks the golf course and the woods opposite the bay.
Based on the two or three rooms we looked at in the Chieftan North (yes, we asked to see a
few - it was our honeymoon...
), we determined that the rooms in the second floor of the Chieftan North are the most desirable. The upgraded rooms are a bit larger, but the Chieftan rooms are definitely further from the road. They have a great view of the bay and are largely shrouded by trees from the buildings on the property. It's far enough from the two lane (one in each direction) highway that the car noise is not audible from the room's balcony. In my opinion, these are the most desireable rooms.
We finally settled into the Chieftan North after dinner. To it's credit, the room itself has a gas fireplace, a great little balcony, a Heavenly Bed, a double bathrooom sink and a great view. It was connected with Salishan's main building (reception, pool, gift shop, restaurants) by an elegant covered walkway through the woods.
Unfortunately, there were several factors that really detracted from the room.
1. The room had a very dark, poorly lit bathroom with a vinyl stall shower (think I-95 motel somewhere between Virginia and Georgia).
2. The telephone service from the room was HORRIBLE. I had a telephone number for my ISP that was in the same area code (541), but that the front desk told me would not be considered "local" enough to avoid the Salishan's phone charges (an utterly, utterly outrageous rate of AT&T Operator Assisted rates + 45%!). I tried to use my calling card to dial local access numbers all over the US and Canada. The fastest I ever conneccted was 21K. Most of the time, I was connecting at 9600 baud - speeds that I haven't seen on a modem since 1994.
I finally got fed up and dialed the "local" access number directly, but still couldn't get connected faster than 12K. I tried every phone jack in the room and had the same results. This is totally unacceptable from a high end hotel, even if the problem resides with the local Bell monopoly.
3. There was no spa to speak of. We had intended to get a massage, or spend some time in the hot tub or something just to relax after a hectic weekend with family at our wedding. We could not find a spa anywhere on property. They may have one, but it was not well advertised or centrally located. You would think that in a down economy this would be a cash cow in the same way a point of sale display at the supermarket is. You've already made the committment to go 3 hours outside of Portland to an "ultra-deluxe" spa. It should be a no-brainer to sell massages and maincures.
4. There was an indoor pool that was under construction. No harm, no foul. We were there during low season. It's clearly the best time to do this work. The hot tub, however, was gross. It was old, noisy and just not in good condition. The spa towels were very small (not even bath sized) and very old. Again totally find for a run of the mill hotel, not in accord with what you'd expect from an "ultra-deluxe" or Conde-Nast top 25 hotel.
5. What is with LodgeNet!? Who decided to put this dreadful system in Starwood Hotels? we don't have a TV or cable at home. When we go away on vacation, we love to watch TV. The Salishan had LodgeNet instead of regular cable. There were about 20 channels. At least 5 were Westin related, Salishan related or cable system related. There were two weather channels and a preview channel that showed every channel the system had that we couldn't get - HBO, A&E, History Channel- none were on the TV. We got local networks, CNN, one movie channel, the HOME SHOPPING CHANNEL (?!) and a religion channel, but none of the channels that had any of the good stuff.
Also, the TV was put in a piece of furniture where the TV slid out on rails and could be
turned to face the bed on the other side of the room. Unfortunately, it didn't turn all the way to face the bed so we could only see the TV well from one side of the bed. No big deal in and of itself, just another papercut against the very, very high ratings the hotel has received.
6. The last item was had a beef with was the price of food. We live in Philadelphia. Some of the finest restaurants in the country are in Philadelphia, including Le Bec Fin, Brasserie Perrier, Deux Cheminees and the Fountain Room at the Four Seasons. If and when I go to these places, I'm willing to pay. The entrees in the Salishan's better dining room were equal in price or higher in price than in these world ranked urban restaurants. The night we went, the vegitarian platter entree was $25. Some entrees ranged as high as $38. I'm not one to notice prices, but these were way out of accord with our expectations.
Pricing on the breakfast buffet was similarly flawed. There was a $15-ish breakfast buffet that consisted of muffins, sausage, bacon, eggs and oatmeal, coffee and juice not included. It just made no sense. We'd pay $25 for a buffet if it were fully stocked, but again, as another papercut, the selection seemed just downright skimpy.
On a positive note, we found the staff to be very friendly. The grounds were exceptional and the setting was lovely. I hate hot weather. The Oregon coast was very beautiful in October - just the right temperature for hiking, going for walks on the beach (bundled up) and sightseeing.
When you go to the Salishan, make sure you check out the Attic Bar. Totally great atmosphere with a Tv, two pool tables and live entertainment most nights. It's upstairs from the lobby and is the only place to get reasonably priced food on-resort.
On balance, a good experience at a lovely hotel, but no where near the world-class status that is pitched in the literature, in the travel books and in the reviews we read.
Please feel free to write with other questions.
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Jonathan Goldstein
[email protected]
http://www.urbantechgroup.com
[This message has been edited by jsg143 (edited 10-22-2001).]
[This message has been edited by jsg143 (edited 02-16-2002).]