Well, hate to break it to you, but it certainly has changed. In fact, the new owners of that property reflagged it 16 months ago to their own brand (Sandos). It was a significant loss. You're correct that it was a remarkably well run, little jewel of a hotel. They did the LM brand proud. Worth noting that it was also a LM, of course, before Starwood absorbed the LM brand.

This thread raises a point that has been fleshed out here on FT before ... the confounding decline in consumer perception of the Westin brand on the broad scale. In the past two decades, most of us have watched as Westin has fallen from a top tier brand to a mid-tier full service brand. Perhaps that's the modern day fiscal model that maximizes the owners' ROI.

Regardless, while other competitive brands (Hyatt, Marriott, Renaissance, Hilton) have worked to maintain or somewhat improve their overall positioning, the Westin brand folks seem to have almost wanted to pull that brand back a notch or two, which is an interesting stategy.

For my two cents (call me a romantic), I'd love to see LM go back to the 1990s branding campaign that had every global property loaded with the old Ken Maryanski prints. He was their corporate artist and his whimsical, French stylized caricatures were fabulous, flamboyant and unlike anything else in the industry by a long shot. I think his artwork was the mainstay of the LM brand's identity for 15 years or more. A remarkable accomplishment by any measure. I'd love to see all of it return.