(let me first start off by saying that i did a search of Topic titles and while there were threads that discussed this property, many were comparing the Westin to the Sheraton on the Park or were more general (such as "Favorite Property in Australia or Sydney"). accordingly, i felt it was appropriate to start a new thread. had there been an existing thread dedicated to this property, i would have added to that thread.)

on a five star system, i believe five star properties have excellent physical plants along with superior service. while many hotels have outstanding facilities, service may fail to deliver making that property a four star in my book. alternatively, a property can have pedestrian facilities but excellent service pushes it to the four star level (but still not five star level).

the westin sydney is definitely a four star property. while the hotel is magnificent, multiple customer service failures on successive days limited my enjoyment. i was at the property for six nights, but i checked in after 10 PM on my first night and left around 6:30 AM on the last day, so i was really only around for five full days.

as i mentioned in another thread, several email messages to the hotel went unanswered in the days leading up to my stay. after investigating the situation, management told me that while the emails were received, they were forwarded to the concierge department to be addressed. unfortunately, the concierges' email system was down for a number of days prior to my stay and, accordingly, my emails were not returned. clearly, the department that originally gets the emails (from the address listed on spg.com) and forwards them to the appropriate department should have known about this situation.

next, on the first full day of my stay, i noticed that the door of my room sometimes didn't close unless it was pulled. so, each time i left my room i made sure the door was shut before i continued down the hall. upon returning from the beach (5 PM), my room was inadvertently left open by housekeeping as they failed to pull the door shut. i called "Service Express" and was told that someone would be up to look at the door. i showered, went to dinner, and returned home assuming that the door had been fixed. the next morning when i left for breakfast, the door still wasn't closing properly. accordingly, i bypassed Service Express and asked the manager on duty (MOD) to address the situation.

in the bathroom of my room, the tub was flush against the window and the curtains were operated mechanically by separate up and down switches on the wall. on the second full day of my stay when i pushed the button to lower the blinds, they crashed to the floor. upon leaving the hotel around 10 AM, i asked the concierge to send someone to the room to fix the curtains after he helped me with another issue. when i arrived back at my room at 7 PM'ish, the curtains will still on the floor and the problem unaddressed. so, instead of taking a shower and relaxing, engineering was in and out of my room for the next hour drilling, getting a new curtain, etc. the MOD investigated and told me that the concierge had, in fact, passed along the message to engineering. why engineering did not dispatch someone to my room is anyone's guess. why housekeeping didn't send someone to my room is also anyone's guess.

then, that night at around 3 AM water started gushing from the ceiling in my bathroom. the MOD came up to the room and we were eventually moved to another room to sleep around 6 AM'ish. the way it was left with the manager that gave me the sleeping room, i was to call the MOD when i woke up to discuss a room switch. for some unexplained reason, the MOD called me around 10:30 AM'ish to discuss the room move thereby waking me from my sleep. the manager said that the room charge was going to be comp'd since i basically lost a night sleep and much of the next day of my stay (since i had to sleep). while i appreciated the gesture, given the numerous snafus up to that point i also wanted a meal of some sort (whether it be breakfast or dinner, whatever). the MOD on duty promised to get back to me on that request. i never heard back from him.

another "downer" was the gym hours which were curtailed during the entire length of my stay due to the holidays. the gym is run by a private company but i would have to think that hotel accounts for a material portion of gym's revenue stream. despite the hotel being full for new year's eve, the gym was completely closed on January 1. also, during the length of my stay, the gym mostly closed at 6 PM (7 PM on a few days). so, unless i came back to the hotel early from the beach or sightseeing, i had to blow off working out. personally, i don't think i should have to plan my day around beating the closing hours of the hotel gym. also, i can't imagine a true five star hotel not having any gym facilities the day after the hotel is at 100% capacity. the gym hours were a disappointment for the entire length of my stay.

finally, when i checked out i was rushing to the airport. so, i asked the front desk to fax me the final bill and i gave my fax number. about three days later....no fax.

okay, those are the bad points. now, for the good.

since it was a special occasion, the hotel was able to give me a much-coveted xx09 suite for the beginning of my stay. while the suite was a disaster (flood, door, curtain), it was a nice gesture. the hotel also sent up a bottle of sparkling wine and a piece of cake on the first night.

for the last few nights of my stay, i stayed in a "Heritage" room. basically, these are the rooms in the old wing of the hotel that used to be Post Office offices. these rooms have very high ceilings and are really stunning. i highly recommend these rooms, even though my corner room only had a queen size bed (the suites in the new building have king size beds).

another positive was the Executive Club. the staff in the Club was very professional and friendly. while the grub was better at night (6 PM - 8 PM) than in the morning, the Club was also satisfying.

finally, the concierge was able to get me a reservation at rockpool, a truly phenomenal restaurant.

overall, this is an excellent facility in a great location with some service issues. Claire, one of the managers, was a bright spot in terms of customer service. another bright spot was claire's brother eric, a bellman at the hotel. during our room change, we had an icebucket with a cold bottle of wine. since i hadn't filled the bucket in a few hours, it was mostly filled with water. when he brought in our luggage to the new room, eric noticed the empty ice bucket and stopped to fill it. now that's attention to detail!!

(edited to add: this is my first cut and will add more comments as they come to mind. thanks!)

[This message has been edited by fly co to see the yanks (edited Jan 05, 2004).]