lcpteck

Category 5.

Rates have been loaded it seems.

UPDATE:
Dropped to Category 4 and opening date updated from May 1st to April 28.

This is also the 200th Starwood hotel in China.

merrickdb

I walked by the property earlier this week. Looks good and is in a good location (easily walkable to Hongta Cave and Liberation Square), though I loved the Category 2 Le Meridien. For the points difference, I can't imagine staying at the Westin.

lcpteck

RENEWAL GETAWAY

A brand new Westin, on the top of city, perfectly paired at The Westin Chongqing Liberation Square!

Our opening rate of CNY1688 includes the following:

Enjoy one night stay in a stylish deluxe room inclusive of buffet breakfast for two people;
-Complimentary minibar access (soft drink only) per day;
-Complimentary high speed Internet access;
-CNY500 dining credits (apply to all venues);
-Free late check-out at 4pm (subject to availability);

lcpteck

Photos

As I was in Chongqing for a few days, I managed to drop by to look around the hotel. The location is a stone's throw away from the Liberation Square monument. Do note they only just opened 2 weeks ago.

After speaking to the front desk staff, Richard Zhang from their Sales Team came and introduced himself and would bring me around the hotel to look around and take pictures. I was much delighted and thanked him profusely for the nice gesture. Hey, I'm a nobody and not even a paying guest so that is a big deal.

Unfortunately I only own a simple point and shoot digital camera hence pardon the quality of the photos.

I managed to view the following:

Lobby
Lobby Lounge
Seasonal Tastes (all day dining)
Westin Executive Club
Superior Room
Deluxe Room
Studio Suite
Renewal Suite (Executive suite)

Everything else (including the spa and gym/pool) as I understand is still in the midst of testing or constructing hence was not viewable.

All rooms are equipped with automatic toilets which is probably very rare in China. Superior and deluxe rooms are generally available on every floor. Deluxe are slightly bigger than Superior and has a separate desk. Studio Suite is basically 1 giant room with no partition separating the living/dining area and the bedroom area. Renewal Suite is partitioned in that aspect, hence this would make it the Executive suite. Interestingly I saw 2 shower heads (and rainforest shower heads) in the Studio Suite's shower area. I guess this makes showering together with your kids or partner easier? The LCD TV in the Deluxe room can also be turned to face the desk area. I'm not sure about other room types but the 2 Studio suites on the floor I viewed shares a common entrance which is good if you want 2 Studio Suites together for family or friends.

Seasonal Tastes is nicely laid out with all the food stuffs in the middle with the seating surrounding it. I didn't have a chance to try it but the spread/layout looks impressive.

Westin Executive Club was very spacious, so was the Lobby lounge. With all the space available, I believe they can put more seats in the lobby lounge area if they wanted to. So is the lengthy Lobby.

I wanted to try out their Afternoon Tea (2pm-6pm) package in the lobby lounge but unfortunately the menu wasn't ready for the public hence I just ordered from the lounge menu. The club sandwich was tasty enough for me.

As far as the elevator access is concerned, the front and back entrance is on the 3rd floor of the building and the lobby is located on the 51st. You do not need to change elevators to get to your rooms if you already have a room key. There are altogether 6 elevators serving all floors and 2 serving only between 3rd and 51st floor (for people checking in or out I guess).

If I'm ever in Chongqing again, will definitely have a stay to experience both the hardware and software. I'm sure most staff are new so there are bound to have teething problems. I'm also not sure how their english speaking ability would be as I can converse in basic chinese (putonghua/mandarin). The facilities and rooms that aren't open yet would probably be ready in the later half of the year.

The Studio Suite should be the standard suite at this property.

lcpteck

Added to my first post, this is the 200th Starwood hotel to open in China.

Source

lcpteck

Swimming Pool Opening First Quarter of 2015

Please note that the indoor swimming pool will be openning in the first quarter of 2015. Please contact the hotel for further information.

remymartin

No stays, really?

lcpteck

I'm sure there are, just probably not by FT members.

Duke787

I'm staying here in May. I realize that isn't immediately helpful but I'll be sure to take some photos and circle back here with a report after staying

lcpteck

That will be great, you can check out my preview on post #4 and the pictures are located in my signature (Flickr)

remymartin

I can echo what merrickdb wrote. I popped into the bar on the 51st floor and had a quick chat with the FDAs. The Westin looks fresh and is in a solid location, but the LM is a steal at Cat2.

hkskyline

+1 I stayed at the LM last year and while it is a bit away from the main CBD, there is a metro station and huge mall next door so getting around and getting food is not a problem.

steveniswhere

I'll be staying here in July, so I will report back as well.

Duke787

Still working on getting all my pictures uploaded to Photobucket so I can post some but for now let me give an overview of my stay here in May.

First off, this is an impressive property from the moment you walk in. For starters everyone has to check in on the 50th floor. I arrived in a group of 104 and despite the large size there was minimal chaos. The GF and I were assigned to a King Superior Room. It was large and spacious and looked exactly as pictured on the Westin website. We had a spectacular view of the river and the all-gold Sheraton on the other side of the river (the window unfortunately were rather dirty so I getting a good picture was difficult). The bathroom was large and spacious. We had a Toto toilet where the top opened automatically as you approached it. We also had a nice shower with a rain shower head as well as a large bathtub which was next to the window and the view described above.

The bed was the standard Westin Heavenly and we actually thought it was the most comfortable bed of the trip (also stayed in the Shangri-La Chengdu, Portman Ritz Carlton Shanghai, and Regent Beijing).

This property was also the only one out of the four we stayed in where a VPN was not required to access Facebook and Google (despite a warning about it when initially accessing). The actual room was very modern, very open, and very airy (exactly as pictured in lcpteck's pictures posted in an earlier post - though we were on a different floor).

There is an open-air bar / club on the top floor that at night has an incredible view of the city (though a beer was 50rmb which is ridiculous since 7-11 around the corner sold them for 3-7rmb but for the view it was worth one beer). You could see the infinity pool below the bar but no one was in it and I don't know of anyone in our group who checked it out.

The breakfast was equally impressive. The spread contained both western and Chinese options and was again by far the best breakfast we got among the four hotels we stayed in. They had made-to-order eggs and noodles, lots of fresh baked bread, cheese, etc. The views from the breakfast restaurant were impressive (and no dirty windows up there) and looked in all directions. The furniture was extremely modern, the staff was very friendly, and they even had a giant wall of candy that some in our group took advantage of (and you can see in lcpteck's pictures posted in an earlier post).

The gym wasn't the best gym amongst the hotels we stayed in but it was certainly a very nice gym. It was spacious and contained a number of cardio machines as well as a number of weight machines and a separate area for free weights / yoga / general mat exercises.

The location is excellent if you want to explore CBD. It's about a 5 minute walk down to the People's Liberation Monument (Clock Tower) and from there you can easily get to both Western food options (Pizza Hut, KFC, McDonalds, Starbucks, etc.) and Chinese food options (street food, restaurants in malls, etc.).

I unfortunately don't have any SPG status anymore but a couple friends on the trip still had SPG Plat and reported the lounge to be one of the best they'd experienced in the SPG system (but I can't offer anything else on that).

It was by far the newest and most modern hotel we stayed in during our trip and many of us on the trip felt that it was the nicest hotel we stayed in (we stayed at the Shangri-La Chengdu immediately after and that hotel was a huge letdown / downgrade after the Westin).

polarpacific

Greetings

We have been visiting China for a couple of months each year for several years.

We previously stayed at Le Meridien on the south side of Chongqing and during 2014 we did tour the new Westin in central Chongqing as it was opening but we ultimately went to Qingdao instead.

Finally in 2015 we had a chance to stay at the Westin Chongqing Liberation Square, and a nice surprise in-house today has prompted me to catch up with this post.


Management

To begin, the GM Carolyn is highly professional and has developed a strong team of management and staff with great sense of customer service.

Although, like all hotels in Chongqing, the vast majority of guests are Chinese and only a small proportion are Western, the staff at Westin generally have a better command of English than other properties in town.

Most impressive is the effort and attention to detail for seasonal features.

For example, in addition to all the usual Christmas decorations and a hand-built Gingerbread House, there was a complimentary rooftop tree-lighting party and also an indoor cocktail party with drinks and massive dessert table.

A few days later there was also an afternoon party in the ballroom for all the children of staff and guests with extensive live entertainment and playground features.

One day the housekeeping staff also installed a sizeable electric Christmas tree in our suite ! Not sure if that was for every guest or related to Platinum status, but it was certainly a very nice surprise.

They took the tree away in early January, but today after having set up the main Chinese New Year decorations in the lobby, they again delivered some personal ones -- including a live bamboo pyramid and a cute Monkey in red silk for baby polarpacific (2 yrs old), which he loved and carried around all day ... a nice addition to his collection of Starwood stuffed animals !


Location

The hotel is very well situated in the central business district just a couple minutes walk from the main square and walking street with several upscale shopping malls.

A fascinating old-fashioned local eating area built into the side of the riverfront cliff (Hongyadong) is only a 10-15 min walk.

You can also easily cross the bridge northbound by foot to the Science Centre and new riverfront dining precinct, or take the efficient and well-connected subway lines to further corners of this sprawling city (eg. zoo, gardens, etc.).

We also use an app for a very good car service when going to/from the airport or outside rush hour, as the vehicles and drivers are far superior to the regular taxis.


Furnishing

The hotel spans 53 floors with the Lobby Lounge on 51 and Executive Club on 52.

The rooms are appointed to a delightfully high standard -- for example, Danish Bang & Olufson high-definition televisions and Japanese Toto electronic toilets.

The cable programs include the main international channels plus a set of 50 complimentary movies (Hollywood, Asian, and animated).

The high-speed internet is excellent. We use it extensively on multiple devices without any problem.

The Fitness Centre on the 6th floor includes good machines and free weights as well as an adjoining yoga room.

The Swimming Pool is enormous and is remarkably designed with fully one-half lengthwise at a shallow depth for small children. The changing rooms include both dry sauna and wet steam.


F&B

The Executive Club has great staff that we see every day. They always know to bring without asking our regular preferences at breakfast for tea, eggs, etc.

There is also a broad buffet of hot and cold Western and Asian foods including healthy fresh fruits and drinks for both breakfast and evening cocktails. The quality is a cut above other hotels in Chongqing, and has further improved with the recent addition of the Italian head chef, Mauro, and a new pastry chef.


Overall we are pleased that we chose to stay at this Westin and have been taken care of wonderfully by Carolyn and her team.

It is certainly the best hotel in Chongqing.