I stayed earlier this year, the lounge was fully functioning and it is a pretty decent hotel.

They don't seem to have any real suites, but I got a nice corner room on my cheapest and smallest possible room. A nice welcome amenity of chocolates and snacks. No early check-in, but full use of lounge from early arrival. Late check out given automatically, no need to ask.

Did you see kids in the lounge?

I did in the non cocktail hours, can't remember if I did during the evening cocktail hours.

You must have been enjoying all the drinks!

It is more that I don't really pay attention to whether there are kids or not. As it is largely never something that affects me. So it is quite random if I actually notice, and actually pay attention enough to remember it past the lounge visit.

Any recent stays lately? Do you think this is worth paying a little more than double the price (also looking at a boutique hotel nearby)? Is breakfast in the restaurant buffet or lounge breakfast for elites? Is there an evening HH? Good to know about the suites.

It I can't remember if there was also breakfast in the lounge, but as it is a Westin the welcome amenity includes an option to get breakfast in the restaurant, so either way you can get it in the restaurant for sure.

There is an evening cocktail hour. Some decent options and there was a nice sparkling wine. That could of course have been rotated to something different by now.

I had a 5 night stay with my family last month.

Breakfast was in the restaurant and a small HH in the lounge. Beer and wine available all day in the lounge with nice views since the Westin is the tallest building in Sendai.

Here are some photos of the lounge

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...617247bd4d.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...59e15c4dfc.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...ca3395e35f.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...4f6daa05c6.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...1cb850bd11.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...f55e653a54.jpg

Thank you CPH-Flyer THECLIPPERS for the additional info and photos! I'm trying to decide and keep going back and forth with this or the boutique hotel by the station since it's so much cheaper and also includes a complimentary light/cold breakfast + lounge w coffee/tea (no alcohol). I don't need the Marriott nights so it's more about if it'll be worth the extra cost. From what I'm reading, the Westin Sendai is one of the nicer Westins and seems like everyone enjoys their stays there. I'm using Sendai as a base to take day trips to explore the area. It will be my first time in this part of Japan.

Any restaurant recommendations near by would be much appreciated. We are heading there for 4 nights in mid-March.

You are welcome. I chose this hotel because I was with family and wanted a big room with nightly lounge access. I could also use points while getting night credits for the stay which I wanted as well.
We were visiting friends in Sendai so it was a nice base for us.
If I was alone and leaving the hotel to explore everyday, I would just stay at a business hotel near the train station. Food is very inexpensive and good in Japan.

You can see some photos of my trip on instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/worldtravelguy/

My wife and I just completed a stay and I cannot say enough great about the hotel. We were upgraded to a corner room, the front desk staff went out of their way to book various activities and dinner reservations. The concierge lounge was great (we never ate just drinks), and great breakfasts. Really nice and helpful people and great suggestions for restaurants. What more could you ask for? Nothing really!

Recently came back from a two-night stay here during their Tanabata festival celebrations (August 5-7). I can see why so many locals keep calling this the nicest hotel in town!
I booked this using a couple of 35k FNCs, which was decent value for the ~30k cash rates (though with the yen plummeting it's perhaps not as good as it was when I'd booked it last year!).

About a month prior to our stay, I emailed their Service Express with several restaurant reservation requests, all of which they happily helped with. They were also great about recommending alternatives when some of the reservation attempts didn't work out. Very impressed with the Service Express staff all around.
I also bought several items from Amazon JP to be delivered to the hotel the day before check-in, which were already all placed in our room before our arrival.

We arrived at around 1 pm, but we were in a hurry with no time to check in so we simply left our bags with the valet on the first floor. He quickly checked our passport and reservation so that the bags could be delivered to our room, ready and waiting for us when we get back.

By the time we got back it was already 6 pm, and the check-in area on 26F was packed. Fortunately the lines moved quickly and we managed to check in within a few minutes of arrival.
No upgrade was available despite being Titanium Elite, but no surprises there because I saw that the hotel had already sold out long ago (likely due to Tanabata).
Late checkout was proactively offered to us, but we didn't need it anyway.
Free elite breakfast buffet at the restaurant on 26F, and the lounge was on the same floor as well.

The first thing that struck us before even entering our room was the views. From everywhere. Absolutely amazing views of Sendai from the tallest building in the city, even from the public spaces like the check-in area, breakfast restaurant, lounge etc. Definitely beats what we saw from the Aoba castle ruins.

Our room was nice and spacious, with a great view of the eastern side of the city. The shower was large and properly separated from the rest of the bathroom, and there was a separate tub on the other side of the bathroom. No complaints at all about the room or amenities.

The lounge was deserted in the morning, but quickly filled up in the afternoon when food started to be served. The lounge food options were pretty mediocre, but at least there were plenty of chilled green tea cans available.

The breakfast spread was pretty much as good as it gets for a buffet in Sendai. After being seated, our tea/coffee and egg orders were taken (their teas were always brewed perfectly!). There were plenty of options for both hot and cold food, though the Japanese options were much stronger than the Western ones and their pastries weren't great. Local specialties like gyutan (beef tongue) cooked on the spot, zundamochi and naganasuzuke (eggplant pickles) were also available.

The valet on the first floor sells Loople bus passes (which can be charged to your room), but do NOT buy these during peak tourist periods like Tanabata--you will barely be able to use it. The chances of the bus having any space for you to get on at non-terminus stops are slim to none, and even if you do manage to get on, expect to be jammed in like sardines. At the terminus stops, outside of the first few morning hours the line would stretch for miles, such that it would take hours just to be able to get on the bus. You'd be much better off riding other buses or the subway, and paying for single rides on the Loople should you need to use it.

The hotel location was ok; it wasn't that close to any bus stop or subway station so getting there on foot while towing several heavy roller bags wasn't really a practical option (especially in the summer heat), but at least it was still within walking distance of all the major shopping streets (where you'd find the Tanabata decorations) and the Morning Market. Good variety of dining options outside the hotel close by.

I stayed two nights (Fri ¥25,000 and Sunday ¥23,000) last weekend. Friday was busy, and on Saturday the check-in and lounge had long lines. The lounge opened up some private rooms to handle the overflow. The food was as described in previous reports.

I booked a "moderate" room and was upgraded to "superior." Nice room with top-of-the-city views from the 34th floor. No club/deluxe/premium upgrades for plats is seems.

Given a choice of 1,000 points or fruit plate.

I had the 4pm checkout and was fine at 3:30, but locked out at 3:45 when back to get the rest of my bags. Had to wait 10 minutes to get the door opened, which was irritating.

Gym wasn't very good. Just 4 cardio and one multi-machine that was hard to figure out. Plus dumbells up to 10kg. Not much space for stretching either.

Met a Japanese guy in the lounge who had 88 nights with Bonvoy already (and no credit card elite nights either). Seems he lives in the Westin for weeks at a time, waiting for the cherry blossoms. He knew most of the Marriott properties in Japan.

Any idea on how award rooms work in term of non-smoking and smoking rooms? I booked the most basic room "Moderate Guest room 1 King" using points and noticed if I paid cash there were options of non-smoking and smoking room. Does this mean that non-smoking rooms wont be guaranteed?