The W is a celebrated hard (and soft) product that people have loved for years. No one talks about it feeling dated even now. There's a reason it's got a 4.8 rating out of 5.0 even on Google. That is saying something.

The Viceroy-now-JW had a quirky hard product and layout that never was particularly well regarded. I doubt the renovation has changed that much.

Generally, I would expect a better product from a W than a JW--because that's most often the case in any location. In this case, the JW will be newly refurbished but the W is just too celebrated to ignore. This is considered one of the best if not perhaps the very best W in the world for a reason. The service is a big part of that, but the hard product is still considered very good even so many years after opening.

Certainly, not much is going to change in the first 6-12 months after opening for the JW--the hard product won't be as much an issue as the soft product needing to come up to standard. Yet the hard product is likely to have its issues on reopening, too--some things not quite working the way they're supposed to.

I wouldn't recommend that risk when the W is available (let alone the StR!).