monitor

I would agree with this post, having just returned from a two night stay at the Westin Tysons and over the years having had at least a half-dozen stays at the Sheraton Premiere.

The signal problem at the Westin is that the staff is so poorly trained that all of the pleasantness and willingness to help (which is clearly in evidence) does not help much if you are checking in near midnight after having experienced an extremely slow check-in caused by two inexperienced and tentative night desk clerks.

And then to find, piece-by-piece. that the room has not been properly (not even minimally) supplied. No regular coffee, no coffee cups, no shower cap, no mouthwash available, and, to top it all off, the water bottle had been opened and partially consumed, I presume by the prior guest.

Yes, the (free) water bottles that room service sent up with our salads was a very pleasant surprise, but the waiter was completely clueless about the need for a bottle opener for the glass bottles. It actually took him a full 15-20 minutes to find one for us after he had brought the order.

Even more interesting was that when I left a note for the housekeeper to leave a shower cap for the second day, that was not forthcoming. Since there was no memo pad supplied in the room, I needed to use one that I had picked up at my last stop, a Marriott in Louisville (where there is no Starwood property at all). As I wrote the note, it occurred to me that my need to use a Marriott pad to communicate with the Westin staff would certainly not have pleased our friend William, the Starwood Lurker.

There are a few other comments that I have. Altho the common areas were quite nicely redone, the elevators, which actually worked quite well, seemed to be drab and claustrophobic. I think that a cosmetic overhaul of the elevators is needed. The other observation that I made that is IMO noteworthy is that it appears that nobody has informed the valet and bell staff that the handicapped parking spaces smack in front of the hotel are not to be considered convenient places for them to park the shuttle van, contractor's trucks, limousines, and as unbelievable as it sounds, their own personal cars. I would like to see the face of the manager of that hotel if he gets socked with one of those massive fines for ADA violations.

But, all things considered, the location is very good for me, nearly as good as the Fairview Park Marriott, and I surely will return to this hotel from time-to-time. I imagine when someone decides to properly train the very nice people who are working there, most of the rough edges will be smoothed out.