We have stayed at the San Cristobal Tower three times now, and two times at the W. We prefer the W by far, as one can walk to restaurants and other nearby attractions. When one leaves the San Cristobal, one needs a cab from its remote location.
Some have commented that the W is "worn" or an "average W". In our experience, we did not find it worn. We were treated to 2 rooms on our last stay, as after the second night we were moved to a large suite across the hall that did not have the city view that the room we had the first night. We agree that the breakfast is not as good as what we recently experienced at the Hong Kong W, but it still was superior. We could not been treated better as a Life Platinum. Our special thanks to the front desk staff, some who just came over to the W from the Sheraton and the San Cristobal for their caring hospitality.
We were looking forward to the Japanese Restaurant, but the hotel had to cancel us on two consecutive nights as the air handling system broke and required a couple of weeks to repair.