Originally Posted by
canon5dfan
Has anyone stayed here recently? I have 1 night at the Excelsior and I have one more night that I need to book either here or the Westin Palace.
I hear this hotel is more convenient and friendlier, but how does the hotel hold up compared to the Westin - beds, showers?
I stayed there a week ago but have never stayed at Westin. An interesting and fun part of city, about 20-min walk from Duomo area. Could use a bit of freshening, but had a pleasant stay after initial experience with front desk.
When I arrived, at about 2PM, I asked if a Plat upgrade was available ... was told I had been given an upgrade with a nice garden view on the first floor (above lobby and mezzanine floors). Got to the room and (according to the map on the door) it was probably the smallest room on the entire floor. And as for the garden view, all we could see was the tops of the trees. Went back to the front desk and asked for a larger room, said that view did not matter, and was given a very nice spacious 4th floor mini-suite with view of the neighborhood. Wife and I were very pleased with the second room, but the front desk guy disingenuously told us that this room was not ready yet when we first checked in ... but it was only 5 minutes later, so this was an obvious fabrication.
The garden is, indeed, a very nice place for breakfast (which I took instead of the 500 points), but the wait staff helpfulness was inconsistent.
Other front desk people were much nicer than the first guy.