N8M

And this is as a Gold member, not as someone with zero status.

SLF

Perfect, thank you!

Woo-hoo, welcome to FT mitchellfawcett1 - great to have you here.

SEA-Flyer

I agree, not happy with all the fees. But I think they cap the ski valet at $32 per day, per room.

ma91pmh

I am writing this on the couch of the very nice one bedroom suite we got upgraded to on our annual Whistler joint. Booked a standard room with points but with four of us the extra room of the one bedroom suite has really been appreciated. We were offered a further upgrade to a two bedroom suite for another $200 a night. This seems to compare favorably with the difference in cash rates, but frankly the one bedroom ended up being perfectly adequate so happy that we declined. But a nice option to have been offered. The look and feel of the room is I would say quite rustic but it is very functional and spacious. The kitchen has been great allowing us to make our own hearty breakfasts before ski every day (and we have been every day for a week so legs are starting to feel like they are on another planet...)

The absolute best thing about the hotel is the location. What I really like is it is offset from the village enough to be peaceful, but it is so close to everything. The drop-off for ski school in the morning is right outside, then quick walk to the main gondola. Then at the end of the day drop off your skis with the valet and then short walk back to the hotel. It's another short walk to all the facilities in the village like the grocery store we made much use of!

We did not dine in Aubergine or the lounge bar so can't comment but we did have a couple of dinners at the excellent Ka-ze sushi restaurant which is in the building. It is not officially a hotel restaurant but it is basically right off the lobby. A real treat, very authentic and good fresh fish. We all really enjoyed a lot.

A couple of gripes would be the internet speed is poor... or rather the connection gets dropped or it fails to connect to sites (speedtest shows 2-3mb speeds but pingtest will give you an F score). And the room service menu is pretty limited and the offerings not great (after a day of solid ski-ing we are frankly often too tired to go out)

Still I have to say I have been very happy with our stay here and I would not hesitate to recommend it or come back. Due to my overall points bank balance it's likely next year will be at the Hilton next door but frankly I'd rather come here as seems the Hilton is just a little too close to the bar action and they don't have the nice valet service.

Great place to stay for a trip to Whistler!

hillrider

Recently received an email relating to an upcoming stay to sell me an upgrade:
The same email flogged a junk-fee "Comprehensive Bundle", concierge-booked restaurants, transportation, and activities, etc.

Pretty crass: made me feel like I'm just a walking wallet, not a customer.

ma91pmh

I agree the $60 a day "all inclusive" was tasteless.. selling a bunch of junk that you either get or don't need or want.

actually if you were paying for 4 x ski storage and dining at the hotel you'd be ahead a whopping $2 a day

hillrider

AFIK it's CAD 67.20, as just about everything they quote is exclusive of mandatory 12% HST tax.

Tasteless indeed!

To their credit, for platinums the junk-fee package is reduced to CAD 44.80 due to internet access being included for us.

ma91pmh

... and while I really did enjoy my stay there... and would certainly go back... I will add another gripe in that the $16 we paid each day for ski "valet" (really just collect and store your skis not like "real" valet who take skis, poles and store and clean your boots) didn't get any star points. I only got credit for in-room dining

hillrider

Sounds like insult added to injury.

Did you take it up with SPG customer service (if not for the value of the points, for the principle and ethics of it?). If not, please do...I'd like this to be fixed before I'm there!

Starwood Lurker

Principle and ethics aside, those aren't eligible charges for earning Starpoints, so a call to SPG customer service isn't in order, unless you just want to register a program-related complaint.

Best regards,

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

[email protected]

ma91pmh

Exclusion of the valet fees is a bit stingy but not the end of the world. As I say I just wish they made it more of a "real" valet. But I will still emphasize it was very comfortable and competitors such as Hilton or Pan Pacific offered nothing. And we saw plenty of poor people having to schlep all the way through the village in their boots! Not at the Westin

We could very well go back next year, my SPG stash is low right now and Hilton stash very high but given the choice I would stick with Westin over Hilton which are the real points-stay option. Especially as now I will be getting 10 suite nights that will last through end 2013!

Land-of-Miles

Hilton gives you a completely free overnight ski/board storage at Summit sports so I would argue is a better proposition especially as the walk from summit with kit is markedly shorter than from the Westin rental outlet.

I thought the Hilton Whistler was a much better property and provided you pay a little extra to get a better room type (especially from a redemption) offers better rooms too.

Since the starting room type at the Westin is a Junior Suite and some of the one beds aren't a lot bigger (nor cost much more) an upgrade to a straight one bed isn't a huge upgrade and even Golds might expect something like that at times of low occupancy. I shelled out a bit extra for a one bed mountain view loft suite last year but still preferred the Hilton Whistler.

Is shower gel still an on request item at the Westin Whistler? I found that it was last year and it seems this practice is spreading because the same issue is also found at the Westin Monache Mammoth where we are currently staying. We had the Executive service bundled as part of our room upgrade fee (from redemption booking last year). Whilst some elements of it were useless (i.e.. free internet) we enjoyed the daily coffee and pastries delivered to the room and the small gifts each evening during the turndown service.

itsaboutthejourney

I just missed you ma91pmh! Checked out this afternoon. Yet another great stay at the Westin Whistler.

I don't mind the ski valet fee; there is a huge value (to me) in being able to land at the base of Whistler, unstrap from my board, walk less than 25 feet to the canopy the Westin set-up's up and give them my board. That way I can go enjoy après or coffee without having to schlep to and from the hotel.

It is a shame shower gel is upon request, but they are happy to oblige.

My advice is for anyone with Platinum status (or an ambassador) is to be in touch with the hotel prior to your stay. They really do like to take requests and preferences into consideration and do upgrades for Platinums when possible, but knowing your number of guests & bed requirements helps them. (Some people love the mountain view while others find them to dark and prefer to look across the golf course.) They also seem to not be very well linked to other SPG systems in terms of preferences and requests (they have their own?) so another reason to touch base with the property. They will take great care of you.

ma91pmh

mmm we got shower gel in our room without requesting. how odd. we tended to use soap anyways. but definitely got it

i agree with itsaboutthejourney. i did like the valet tent. drop off skis there then walk over to lift coffee company to watch out for the kids returning from ski school

also our one bed suite was considerably bigger than a regular room. Hey I thought it was a pretty good upgrade. I enjoyed. I already put in a booking for whistler next year and it's offering paid upgrade to 1 bed at $149 a night.

SLF

Although it's only 50 feet to Summit, the benefit of Summit is in the morning .. it's a longer schlep out from the Westin with your gear to the lifts. We are staying at the Westin at the moment, but are renting from Summit for this reason; in past years (not confirmed for this year) if you rent from WB & pick-up from the Westin, then you can store your equipment for free at the Westin.

Plenty of shower gel for us - housekeeping don't notice every day that the shampoo has run out, but Mrs. SLF usually brings her own bottle which I can raid . I'm not sure what the Executive floor brings this year - my email confirmation clearly says "Executive Floor Non Smoking" ... but on check-in they seemed confused and ignored it. On spg.com it seems the booking has been changed and no longer refers to this. In past years with Executive service we had the coffee/pastries (nice, but we prefer cereal for breakfast) and evening turn-down ... that would have been nice as housekeeping seem hit & miss about ensuring we have four towels each day (despite me asking to ensure 4 guest occupancy was recorded).

Totally agree.

Agreed - the Internet sucks this year. mitchellfawcett1 has provided helpful info, but it's not fully resolved. The duty manager told me today that "there are known issues with Apple devices connecting" (so why do I care?, fix them!). After some prompting he gave me a toll-free number to call; I'm not sure I can be bothered.

We had a "here's the bill, you're checking out today" under the door this morning - although we're not checking out yet - now resolved. We'd paid for an extra night, to guarantee mid-morning check-in - however that all went wrong and our room requests got lost & consequently ignored, it got fixed but meant we had to do a room-change on our first day at 4pm (i.e. midnight UK time, not the best time with tired kids).

SPG Platinum recognition amounts to free Internet & welcome amenity. We need a 1BR room, so we book that - can't rely on an upgrade.

Lots of little, slightly irritating issues this year . Not what I've come to expect from this place - ironically this is my first totally revenue stay.