speedy_j

Stayed here for 5 days over Christmas and it was definitely a more enjoyable experience as compared to the Sheraton near Orchard. We were upgraded to a Seaview room that is very spacious (vs. typical Singapore hotel standards). Club lounge is small, filled up quickly especially during breakfast but the staff try their best and accommodating.

Plus: Service, location very near the Downtown station and easily walkable to Marina Station
Minus: Noise level from all the surrounding construction is annoying, especially with a toddler in tow. Soundproofing is not up to par at all! Also, taxi queue on the weekend/rush hour can be 15-20' wait so keep that in mind if you're flying out at that time.

Here's a virtual tour of the view from the lobby, as "explained" by a 20 month old.

http://youtu.be/U1elgVSfrug

awxm88

stayed for one night 2 weeks ago. i really like the place, the staff were trying really hard and the whole place had new house smell. i was pseudo-upgraded to a bayfront view room with a long access corridor. the lounge had great snacks at tea time (fried noodles with lobster was one of the more delicious options) and the pool was amazing (though I swam at 6am because it rained the whole of the previous day and I had to check out early).

As for platinum benefits- hit and miss. no suite upgrade offered despite availability on website. however breakfast was the full buffet and very substantial

a note about noise: if you get a room facing the MRT construction then it's going to be very annoying the whole day. the drilling is very loud and there's nothing much the front desk can do about it, except move you to a room facing the other side.

Condition One

Do taxi drivers know where to find this hotel?

Starwood Lurker II

Yes. As far as I have experienced, all you need to tell them is to drive you to "Asia Square Tower 2" and that it is "near to Lau Pa Sat", that should be fine.

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Thyetus Lee | Social Media Specialist
Starwood Customer Contact Centre (AP) Pte Ltd

lcpteck

They may or may not know where Westin is since it is still new. Tell them it's at Asia Square 2 building (which is beside Asia Square 1).

Nevsky

This hotel may be in a Green Building (LEED Platinum--Core and Shell), which is really good, but the staff should not be.

Stayed at this new Westin property right after New Year's and thought the property was generally very nice, even if the staff was too green, especially as it has been open since November. Still, compared to the Sheraton in Singapore, this seems to be a good choice.

The biggest failure was with the Dining Room staff, which were generally clueless, in particular in the morning. Housekeeping had some serious issues too.

I do not mind getting my own water or coffee, actually in some ways I prefer it, but when it is not self-service, I expect to at least once be asked if I want any. I was never (at least after sitting down) asked if I wanted any. When I did it took some time. I asked for a pot as I did not want to keep asking and it was done somewhat reluctantly. Even when asked for water, it took a long time and got hot water (which may have been a communication problem), but then took more time to get cold water. Never asked if I wanted refills of water or coffee (except possibly at dinner for the water). I do not think it was a matter of the staff being green. I do not think they were trained. Further, they generally did not seem eager to please, at least in the morning. At the dinner buffet, some of the staff was a bit green, but eager to please and some offered extraordinary service.

Special thanks to P. She is a star. She could tell that I was straining my eyes using my laptop and came over with great courtesy and told me there was a way to adjust the type size. I happened to know that (and for my own reasons did not do so), but that she cared and reached out with great tact and knew what to do is superb service.

The easiest way to get refills of Splenda an Equal was to take them from adjacent tables. That should not be the case.

Plates almost never cleared even when obviously put aside for clearing.

I did like being offered a breakfast dining option in the main dining room without having to give up points.

Minor point. If the hotel wants to be looked at as a first class dining room, napkins should (at least most of the time) be refolded when one goes to the buffet.

Even if the quality of the service in the dining room left a lot to be desired, the quality of the food was very high. I think there should have been a bit more selection for the dinner buffet, but that is a minor quibble. Also, the January price of S$55 net for the dinner buffet is relatively reasonable. The normal higher rate just would not be worth it, especially when you consider Singapore dining options.

One time I put the sign outside my door saying Do Not Disturb and also turned on the Do Not Disturb light as I did not want my room made up then, as I did not want anyone to disturb things in my room at the time and I was going running and wanted my room cleaned after I came back and showered. Housekeeping ignored the signs and made up the room anyway. I called up to note that. Anyway, not that I cared that much to have the room cleaned up again, but Housekeeping should have offered to straighten up the room again (which I probably would have declined).

Further, one time housekeeping turned the thermostat way down, when I obviously intentionally set the temperature at a much higher temperature so i came back to a cold room.

There apparently was a problem with the plumbing. Whenever I was running the water in the sink or taking a shower, the drain under the sink started to back up on the floor. I called to have this fixed and apparently they came up to fix it, but the next day, the problem reappeared.

When I entered to room, the lights did not work so I had to find my way around in the dark to turn on the lights as there is not a light switch near the door.

The TV menu choices are very good and there is an excellent choice of worldwide TV (including many news channels). Very user friendly and liked being able to see them with picture-in-picture.

The Internet was fairly easy to sign into and seemed to be fairly speedy, but I usually had to sign in each time I turned my computer on which is very annoying. Might have to do something with the VPN I was using, but that still should not happen.

The English of some of the personnel at Service Express was not always that good.

The personnel in the lounge seemed to be pleasant, but a bit green. More interested in getting your room number than finding out if you needed anything. At one point I took some items from the very nice evening buffet and did not have the proper utensils, but was never asked if I needed a knife, fork, napkin or anything else.

Although I was not upgraded to a suite at check-in as I understand none were available, I asked if I could be upgraded on my following days if one became available, which I imagine one did as it seemed to be a slow weekend. No one ever got back to me on this, and I admit I did not follow through as I was satisfied with my upgraded room and did not feel like moving, but it would have been nice to have been offered.

The infinity swimming pool, which I did not use is stunning. The fitness club is very average if not below. Not enough of a choice of equipment. Also, the jogging map was not that helpful.

Subject to the following, I thought the decor in the rooms and the hotel was very nice.

Two decor points that I admit are somewhat personal and unlikely to be changed. First, I would put TV/radio sound in the bathroom (if not an actual TV). Also, and this is a matter of opinion, although the room looked nice, some of the faux wood panels were obviously very fake and looked it. In fact, looked pretty cheap, Even if real wood is not used, there are nicer quality plastics to use, which were, in fact used for some parts of the decor.

Very nice chocolates left in my room and nice cookies with the turn-down service.

The hotel is very close to the Lau Pa Sat Hawker Center which was not open at the time I was there. Also, it is part of Asia Square, which has an excellent Food Garden with super choices. Unfortunately, very few are open on weekends.

All in all, there were lots of faults (as well as some good points), and with effort, this could be a nice Starwood property in Singapore. I bet it will be.

IluvSQ

I stayed there yesterday for a brief overnight stay.
Taxi driver did have problems finding it, despite my emphasisng Asia Square Tower 2.
This is definitely much better than the Sheraton.
Big fail with regards to hair dryer - no outlets in bathroom, the only outlet it could be
plugged into is at the work desk. However, there is no mirror, and the cord is so short
that the plug came out of the outlet several times when trying to reach over my head.
There is a note on the hair dryer stating that they are aware of this problem, and it will
be rectified soon. How could a modern hotel be designed so that there is no outlet
for a hair dryer in the bathroon?

MSPeconomist

In my room, there are some outlets under the TV. You could stand there and look in the full length mirror.

I received the box of fancy chocolates, a box with nuts and strawberries, and the cellophane wrapped cookies with a green and yellow bow.

My room, on a high executive floor, has a kettle and French press style coffee maker and also a fancy Nespresso model. I think it's a standard king room, but there's a window alcove with the desk, a small L-shaped sofa (which is already showing signs of wear) in a sitting area, and a separate entry that contains the closet. The bathroom has a door to the entry and another door to the bedroom area that's really just a sliding glass screen so that blurry images in the bathroom can be seen from the bedroom. The decor reminds me more of the light colored W rooms than Westin style. Also, there's pale turquoise, beige, tan, and brown rather than the distinctive Westin green and tan color scheme.

I can't figure out how to turn off the lights under the counter near the TV and minibar.

Albano0608

Looks great! Will be in Asia for a long long trip.. in Singapore for almost a month.. Seem like a nice hotel to book.

MSPeconomist

BTW, the closest grocery store, according to lounge staff, is near Raffles Place, but there's an interesting fancy deli that hotel staff patronize in the same building. You just go out the main (taxi) entrance, go right and right following the building wall. The place is called something like AP House and has a big Macallin (spelling?) scotch display. They have a nice selection of wine at fair prices for Singapore that compare well to duty free shops at SIN, including about fifteen types of whites and champagnes that are pre chilled. The Singaporian guy that might be the owner speaks perfect American English and is quite knowledgable, especially about Australian wines, which start at under SG$25. They carry small wineries and some of the Penfolds good bin numbers, although of course for more money. The place seems to be at least half wine by floor space and half packaged and prepared cold food items. There are outdoor tables, but not good views, just of the construction
activity in the neighborhood and commercial ship activity in the distance. It's open until 9:30 pm.

hirohito888

I agree, a big fail, especially no mirror in the room!

Another minor point is that I found the lounge PACKED during evening hours and hard to find seating. Food options are also somewhat limited and slow to bring food out.

Cynicor

Parents just had 5, then 1, night/s here, and complained that there were no taxis. Is this a common complaint from others? I had imagined that being in the new CBD area there would be a few taxis around.

IluvSQ

I left early ( around 6:00 AM), and waited no more than 2 minutes for a taxi.
2 other parties left at the same time, I saw 2 other cabs pulling in behind mine.

lhiltz

They are being incredibly slow to fix the hairdryer problem - I was there 1st week in Dec 2013 and reported it then - has nobody thought that an extension cord could fix the problem until management makes a more permanent solution - or add a mirror to a wall, in the main living area!. The roon must have been designed by a man, with very short hair!

Condition One

This is a new property that just opened. As such, make sure you tell taxi drivers to take you to Asia Square Tower 2. Otherwise, you’ll end up where the old Westin used to be near the Raffles hotel , which is what happened to me. The location is in a financial area, and is two blocks away from the Downtown MRT station. Next door in Tower 1 is a “Food Garden” (i.e. court) where there are lots of food options. Coffee shops and such as well.

I was upgraded to a Sea View Suite, which is in the corner of the floor. It’s an open layout; there isn’t actually a door separating the two rooms. There’s a half-wall containing the TV. The bathroom is very spacious, and there is an extra bathroom near the entrance. I was quite pleased with the setup. My only nitpick is that the hotel doesn’t have universal power plugs. I forgot my UK adapter at home, but Service Express brought one up for me. Oddly enough, on a subsequent stay in a normal room, the desk did have an universal plug. The safe is located by the desk, and is a full size drawer.

Platinums get free breakfast, in addition to the 500 point amenity. Breakfast in the restaurant had a wide variety of selections. And the quality is pretty good too. There were several servers around, but I was ignored; nobody asked me if I wanted coffee or tea.

The lounge opens late (6-8pm) for evening drinks and snacks. There’s an excellent selection of hot foods, desserts, and drinks. Enough to make a meal out of the offerings.

The gym is a decent size, and is open 24/7. Overall, the Westin is a solid property and an excellent addition to the SPG options in Singapore.