I stayed at the Essex House four times in the last 3 months. Location is great. But the attention and service is poor :
As a gold *wood member, although always asking for, I had no upgrades at all !
Last time, I requested an early check-in and a room with High Speed Internet Connection (very important for me).
When I arrived at 9AM (after flying for 15 hours), there was no room available and the girl at Reception Desk didn't even try to help to find any : "Please come back at 1 PM when we'll have a room ready for you". Finally I checked in at 1:30'PM to the reserved room (no upgrade).
My real problem was with the High Speed Internet Access. From the time I checked in to 6 PM next day, I could't connect to the Internet. I talked with more than 12 different people from the Reception Desk to Maintenance. Even with the System Help Desk. Some people told me to reconfigure my computer (I always connected it in this and another hotels), some people told that they have to change the Cisco-modem box in the room, but there were no more boxes available.
Finally a "wizard" from the Desk informed that this is normal to happen and the only solution was to take another room !!!
So, they sent me to another room , BUT : THERE WAS NO INTERNET CONNECTION IN THAT ROOM !!! AT 6PM I got my room (no upgrades) and could connect to the Internet !!!!
I learned from this bad experience to trust my computer settings and not to trust in Westin's connections and their people.