Boraxo

ASE assuming the flight doesn't get cancelled or diverted due to weather. When roads are clear it is a 5-hour ride from DEN - not fun or cheap. If I am going to drive might as well go to Tahoe (3 hours from home) or Park City/Deer Valley (1 hour from SLC).

factory81

I went during a peak time and did not have any special treatment other than some beers and chips awaiting in the room.

Boraxo

January 2017 Trip Report:

Length of stay: 5 nights (using SPG points)

Dates: 12/30-1/04 - property at 100% of capacity!

Status: Both Gold

Arrival: Excellent. Shuttle van driver was waiting in baggage claim when we arrived and took all 8 bags to the van. Practice tip: Be sure to call hotel with airline info if you want to avoid waiting.

Upgrade: None. Arrived at 11pm and was promptly shown to room 101, which must be one of the worst rooms here as it is next to the stairs and directly above the ski valet and starbucks (think: lots of noise early a.m.) Mrs. B - having learned well from me - told the staff that the room was not acceptable at which point they called the night manager to assist. He re-assigned us to room 640, which had the same layout (2 Qs) but on a short hall with very little traffic. ^

Room condition Good. Pros: Fast wifi, quiet, comfy beds, room temp, lots of storage space for clothes. Cons: housekeeping was adequate though failed on a couple of my pet peeves: did not replace used glass with OJ and did not leave enough towels (for 4pp). Took 5 minutes to get hot water in shower and toilet chain kept getting caught when flushing, resulting in continuous water flow. Another pet peeve: bathroom counter was way too small, not enough storage space. No towel rack within reach of tub.

Room service: Mediocre food, worse than expected. Stale bread used for turkey sandwich. No alcohol after midnight. Alas no other options in village (remember you are in Snowmass, not Aspen).

Facility:
Pros: As noted above, a true ski in/ski out property with ski valet to bring out your skis and boots in morning and take your shoes, so you don't have to hike anywhere in your ski boots. Starbucks next to ski valet. Staff throughout hotel tries their best to please including outstanding concierge who found us a table for 7 on short notice for NYE. Awesome ski valet team! One of best Westin kids clubs I have ever seen and even better you get 2 hours FREE with a paid same-day meal in hotel restaurant. Fri-Mon 4-5pm free cookies & cider/hot choco in lobby. Free shuttle bus to Aspen is a short walk from hotel and departs every 15m through 8pm.
Cons: Food from main restaurant (Snowmass Kitchen) was overpriced and nothing special. As noted above, at busy times the two elevators are overworked and you can wait several minutes to go a couple of floors. Hallways are rarely cleared of room service detrius.

Departure: Final bill was correct. Shuttle leaves every hour on the hour, and left promptly at 7am. Driver and bell staff loaded all our bags onto van. Like clockwork.

Summary:One of the best chain ski resort hotels in the USA - particularly for the price - possibly better than Hyatt Incline Village where we stay often (but is not ski in/out) and Marriott Vail (smaller rooms, and a longer walk to slopes). At 12k/night this is a real bargain - the next step up would be St. Regis Aspen or Deer Valley, which both require 2x more points. Only major complaint was bad room assignment to Golds which unfortunately happens at far too many properties (and not unique to SPG).

MileHighColorado

I book a reservation on points at the Snowmass Westin For May 26-28. I went to book a second room and click on book again and stupid me I did not change the dates so I got a second room for Jan 17-18 (the date I did the book again). This is ski hotel during winter but this is a Tuesday night not a weekend. I was a no show for this reservation since I did not know my error. A few days ago I did not see my second room showing up so I found my error. I found I was charged $599.50 for no show plus 12,000 points. I contacted corp customer service and they refunded the 12,000 and said the hotel would need to deal with the charge. The hotel email today and said they could no nothing as reservation date has past (hotel customer service agent). I was wonder if a SPG corp Lurker could help me out. I understand I should be able to only be charged the 12,000 points.

Starwood Lurker

My apologies, but this is not an issue that we would be able to resolve. You should send an email to [email protected] no later than 60 days after the reservation arrival date to see what the possibilities are, but having already canceled the award and gotten the 12,000 Starpoints returned to your account might color the outcome.

Nevertheless, we wish you the best of luck.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, LLC

[email protected]

MileHighColorado

Clarification on the 12,000 vs $599.50 I did not request the point to be refunds -- it was just done. I have a copy of chat. I will email chargechange@Starwoods and see what they can do.

MSPeconomist

Why you were charged both points and money initially? AFAIK if you no show on a points booking, you're initially charged in money but can request to be charged in points instead.

TerryK

Sounds like it was points plus cash booking. Westin Snowmass is 6000 points + $110 per night. OP booked 2 nights. OP was charged 12000 points plus no show rate for two nights. I wonder why it wasn't $220? Perhaps it was treated as regular no show since 12000 points had been refunded.

MSPeconomist

Isn't the no show penalty normally just the first night, or is it different since this is a ski resort?

Maybe the OP can request to use the reservation at another date or to get a hotel credit for the amount. That may be easier than obtaining a refund.

UA-NYC

I've seen some mentions of SNA usage - I was told this is a property where SNAs can't be used? Any 2017 examples here? Thanks.

Starwood Lurker

This property is not exempt from accepting SNA's if the suite types are available and the rate booked is eligible.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts LLC

[email protected]

UA-NYC

Got it, thanks much William!

UA-NYC

Not a ton of activity in this thread compared to some of the other well known Starwood ski properties...heading there next month for 5 days, so if anyone is considering it for the future and wants a few photos or specific details on the experience, let me know what you'd like to see.

No SNAs due to occupancy apparently so I will be able to judge a base level room at least.

chipmaster

I'm interested I've been doing Whistler for 15+ years and thinking of something different.

Proximity to slopes, easy from hotel to slopes, I've been spoiled by Whistler

Do you need a car once you get to the resort, again spoiled by Whistler and how you can forget the car/SUV once you've settled

Mountain, we're advanced blue type skiers, beyond the black-diamond and groomed challenging blues are our favorite.

UA-NYC

Whistler is great. Haven't done the Westin but love the mountain.

There is a free shuttle from ASE apparently, so I'm going to try and roll with that vs. renting a car. $420 for anything AWD so I think I can get away w/it. Snowmass options easy, may pay to go to Aspen one day (25 min trip).

Plan on skiing 2 days Snowmass and 1 day Aspen most likely. Ski-in/ski-out of the Westin very attractive.