Originally Posted by
united-guy ewr
I stay at the Westin River North probably 6-8 nights/month when travelling to my corp headquarters from NYC. After almost giving up on the property entirely about 18 months ago for a lot of the same reasons listed in the thread already, I finally lucked onto a gentleman who was essentially in charge of room blocking. I started calling him directly and was able to get an upgrade blocked out at least 50% of the time.
However, recently, he was transferred to a different dept and it is back to the same old "no upgrade available" status. Since they spruced up the place a couple of years ago, they seem to get a lot of convention bookings, and I think they give the suites to the big-wigs when a group comes in. Keep in mind, this place has a LOT of suites too- almost the entire 18th, 19th and 20th floors are suites.
PS- last week had my first (and hopefully last) experience with checking in, getting my key, and heading up to open my room, only to see an unmade bed, towels on the bathroom floor, and clothes in the closet!! Thankfully, there was no one in the room (although , I could think of a couple of interesting scenarios if there was
but this is a pretty big miss for a hotel of this caliber. Front desk was apologetic, but not terribly so, and no upgrade for the trouble.
Complicated to say the least
What is really incredible is that the GM at this property is an experienced luxury hotel operator with reasonable industry respect. Yet a number of the team members look unhappy in their jobs which reflect in my own experience in the overall lack of friendliness in the hotel. The Front door guy shouted at my driver for example when we pulled up at the front door to get out of the way.Which started the welcome on a bad note.
Others follwed in similar behaviors. The standout team member was a health club manager surprisingly who had outstanding guest skills that should be more the standard/norm throughout the hotel.
The property itself is a beauty originally designed by the brilliant Nikko Hotel folks who later sold and or reflagged it as a Westin before Starwood came on the scene.Some of the rooms are aging poorly but I understand they are all due for updating.
To put it in further perspective
I would rather be at the Sheraton Gateway Airport Hotel in LAX where I am recognized virtually 100% off the time even if only a guest room is available.
My expectations increase when I spend more and go to a Westin,St Regis,W or Luxury Collection property not decrease.Perhaps I am unfair but I expect a hotel to truly value our loyalty to Starwood and the program if we earned our stripes to be at a top tier elite level.