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Viewline Resort Snowmass, Autograph Collection (formerly Westin) [Master Thread]

Viewline Resort Snowmass, Autograph Collection (formerly Westin) [Master Thread]

Old Nov 17, 2012, 4:38 pm
  #1  
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Viewline Resort Snowmass, Autograph Collection (formerly Westin) [Master Thread]

New hotel, looking to possibly visit for some skiing. New or remodel? Tru ski in/out?
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Old Nov 20, 2012, 12:30 pm
  #2  
 
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This was the Silvertree Hotel that has been remodeled and rebranded as the Westin Snowmass. It is true ski in ski out on Snowmass and is in the heart of Snowmass Village. The remodel looks very nice (planning a visit in February) and it's great to have another option in the Roaring Fork Valley now that the St Regis Aspen is a Cat 7.
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Old Nov 22, 2012, 10:28 am
  #3  
 
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We will be there in a week for a few days including 1 night at Wildwood next door. I'll post a detailed review afterwards. I'm hoping for a good stay although snow looks unlikely...
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Old Nov 26, 2012, 8:41 am
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Originally Posted by aussieinsf
We will be there in a week for a few days including 1 night at Wildwood next door. I'll post a detailed review afterwards. I'm hoping for a good stay although snow looks unlikely...
Aussie - I can't wait to see your trip report. I've got 5 days over xmas booked at the Westin Snowmass so am very curious to hear how the renovations turned out.

And forget presents, this year I'm asking Santa for as much snow as he can bring as possible. ::crossing fingers a couple good winter weather weeks come before xmas::
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Old Nov 26, 2012, 4:11 pm
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I'm also interested. Looking at booking a block of rooms for family during the holidays. None of us skis, so that's not a big deal. Looking for nice rooms, great views, and plenty of common areas around the resort to relax and watch the snow.
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Old Nov 26, 2012, 4:26 pm
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I'm booked three nights at the Wildwood the weekend before Christmas. Looking forward to trying it out, hoping that the snow will have decided to arrive in quantity by then
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Old Dec 8, 2012, 11:19 am
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Unfortunately we had a medical issue come up with my wife and so had to cancel our trip at the last minute. The hotel staff were very helpful in making the reservation changes but as a result I don't have a trip report. We are hoping to get back there again soon and if we do I'll post an update. The trip advisor reports sound good.

Anyone else been?
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Old Dec 30, 2012, 11:36 pm
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Anyone stay at the Wildwood lately? TripAdvisor reviews say the hotel is not ready. Rooms not finished, hot water issues, etc.
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Old Dec 31, 2012, 9:30 am
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Wildwood sounds like a real mess on TA. The Westin though sounds great except for the reviews by Platinums. Funny how that is.

I have two rooms booked for March at the Westin, so hopefully i dont have my own DYKWIA moment.

Last edited by ihavebeenseen; Dec 31, 2012 at 9:45 am
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Old Dec 31, 2012, 10:29 am
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I stayed here with family for 4 nights during the thanksgiving weekend in Nov 12, just a week after they opened.

+ves
1. I am a (new) platinum. They did not seem very busy and we were upgraded to a true one bedroom suite on the fifth floor with a nice view of the ski slope right outside out window. The room and all the details inside were really nice.

2. The employees seemed extremely eager to help in any way they can. In my (short) experience so far, this has not been very common. It seemed very refreshing that everybody from the Service Desk Manager to the table waiter and the room service employee was treating you as if you are a very special guest. Not sure if this was a function of the hotel being new or not and whether this will be there when you visit.

3. I was comped $25/day for breakfast at the restaurant in lieu of the platinum amenity of continental breakfast (which we didn't care for much).

4. The location of this resort is excellent. You can take an elevator to the Snowmass Mall. There is a free gondola outside that will take you downhill. Down there you have pretty much everything you need for skiing. My 4yo daughter took some ski classes at "Treehouose" and, in her own words, learned to "fall down". I gather that she had a good time there.

Neutral
5. The hotel restaurant overlooks the ski slope and the baby gondola (the free one). The chef is very skilled and the items come out perfect. However, the menu is somewhat uninspired and generic continental. There are lots of other food choices (the hotel is an elevator ride away from the mall), none of which we found to be really great. Most places are somewhat overprices (some way overpriced) and offering pretty generic and nothing-too-great fare.

-ves
I hate to get to the -ves given the overwhelmingly positive overall experience we had in this trip. However, there were some negatives that I need to mention for the sake of honesty.
6. The hotel operations seemed to have some growing pains. My room telephone did not work for all 4 nights we were there. When we leave trays (and other stuff) outside, they were not cleaned as frequently as we would like. Sometimes it took an entire day for it to be cleaned up. The front desk was not sure how they will treat the "platinum breakfast amenity" till the very end when we were going to check out, after which they decided to comp us $25/day in restaurant credit.
7. The hotel layout is not stroller/wheelchair friendly. The hotel is huge and very spread out. You have to juggle between two elevators situated pretty far apart in order to reach most of the areas in the hotel. The only "stroller friendly" connections these two elevators have (i.e. no steps) is in the 5th floor. Going to breakfast in the morning (from our room to the hotel restaurant) was a pretty good walk for us.

Last edited by baburai; Dec 31, 2012 at 10:34 am
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Old Dec 31, 2012, 11:50 am
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Is this a review for Westin Snowmass, or Wildwood?
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Old Jan 2, 2013, 9:13 pm
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Westin Snowmass- anyone been?

Snowmass
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Old Jan 3, 2013, 12:05 am
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Stayed here for 2 nights in mid December as an SPG Plat (50+).
I really wanted to be positive about this place as we really like the Westin over at Avon/Beaver Creek but we did not like the Westin Snowmass.

- Apparently the hotel had a big group from ski.com staying for one night (the first night of our stay). This meant being asked numerous times if we were with the ski.com group (no we weren't) and also that the hotel could not provide any upgrade let alone a deluxe room with our bedding preference. They "pre upgraded" us into an accessible King directly facing the pool (ie. on the ground floor) and could not offer us a room with a King bed on a higher floor so we switched to two queens on the fourth floor facing the slopes.
- No upgrade (busy with ski.com group). The standard room was nothing special although the partial view of the slopes was nice. Bathroom was most unimpressive (small for nth america, little counter space).
- I went down to ask again for an upgrade and showed them that they still had standard suites showing for revenue sale online. They in turn walked me around the counter to show me their internal inventory on the check in computer showing no standard suites in available inventory.
- I asked what would happen if I booked a revenue suite. They said they did not know.
- The agent checked with her supervisor and they then offered to upgrade me to a larger suite (above standard suite) if I paid the room rate difference. No amount was quoted so I presumed they were not encouraging me to do that. They offered to upgrade us the following night (and did) but waiting for hours in the middle of the day for the 2nd room to be ready hardly made it worth it.
- Their were plenty of people around but the service level overall was pretty inexperienced. No greetings in corridors, double doors were never opened by staff even when moving our luggage through etc... They said they were overwhelmed with the check outs they had to process when the ski.com group left and said they had no cleaning staff scheduled that day. Maybe teething problems.
- Hotel location is excellent for downhill skiing and ski valet on ground floor is ideally located.
- Two property negatives (at least for us). I hesitate to mention this as it sounds petty, but it really does ruin a lot of the ambience they are trying to create with the remodel:
1. Lighting - just horrible - bright white fluorescent throughout made more painful by the very low ceilings in the hallways to rooms. Don't picture yourself wandering back to your room dozy and ready for bed after a digestive - the journey down the low ceilinged bright corridors is more like a couple of minutes in a doctor's waiting room. This is not about environmental choices - there are warm CFLs - somehow they chose white, cold lights and fixtures.
2. Lobby Ambience - not only lighting but just an open, empty feel rather than a cosy one. Not even close to the amazing feel of the Westin at Avon. More like the Westin at Mammoth with the plus that there is a bar directly connected to the lobby (unlike at mammoth).
- you can self park for $30 a week about a 2-3 minute walk down the snowy road (or valet at a per night charge)
- was not offered and did not ask for alternative platinum amenity (same at Mammoth - is asking for this a requirement?).

Bottom line - overall attitude to a Platinum guest was not positive/welcoming and that set the tone for the stay. It didn't feel like they tried particularly hard to look after me (surely they could have found a King on a higher floor and pre-blocked that at least). This was yet another hotel where despite only just opening the training seems to be to enforce minimum benefits to Plats. Unless the ski.com group all paid for their suites it was clear they were more important to the hotel than I was. My rate was not a rock bottom opening special.

Overall I understand hotels getting weary of "demanding" Plats - but surely as hoteliers and hosts its better to at least deliver for Platinum members staying or exceed their expectations then it is to have your frequent guests stay and feel their expectations were not met. The Platinum program creates an expectation of being treated well and when the attitude feels more like "you are lucky to get anything" the value of the program is diminished. It is possible to avoid this and I've stayed at lots of SPG hotels that achieve very positive treatments of Plats with a welcoming attitude and a little flexibility even when upgrades are not available.

I don't understand the revenue availability of suites via the SPG booking engine but not being able to get one on upgrade (maybe someone can explain).

Last edited by aussieinsf; Jan 3, 2013 at 12:11 am
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Old Jan 3, 2013, 9:58 am
  #14  
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Originally Posted by aussieinsf
...I don't understand the revenue availability of suites via the SPG booking engine but not being able to get one on upgrade (maybe someone can explain).
My best guess is that since this is a new property, they are having trouble utilizing all the tools at their disposal for closing out inventory. Sometimes even seasoned properties have the same difficulty.

Best regards,

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

[email protected]
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Old Jan 3, 2013, 1:54 pm
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Thanks William for the prompt explanation.
The more transparency there is available to members regarding upgrade availability the better. If there is a significant gap between inventory for sale and actual inventory I think folks will continue to be frustrated but it helps to know sale inventory doesn't reflect actual inventory.
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