ldsant

if you are paying with cash. Staff is somewhat lazy (except for Lauren, Dee the trainee, and Corrine), won't go out of their way at all, no real "facilities" here except for a pool. Spa is a third-party entity. Food is way overpriced in a mediocre restaurant. The location is excellent if you ski/board though.

Treatment of Platinums is non-existent. I love Whistler a lot and am grateful for the Platinum points bonus since that's what I used this trip but upon returning to Whistler I would doubt that I would stay here again. Also, the parking, which is $29.40 per day is not included with points as, per the front desk upon check-out, "they are a 3rd party vendor." I also noticed that this property is a franchise (sign posted near the front desk). I think that what was most irksome was that when I was asked at check-out about my stay and I mentioned several of the problems which could have been fixed (and were told about them on day one e.g., HVAC, spa mix ups, etc.) that instead of just listening the person started being defensive. That is the main issue I had with this property - people didn't seem to want to take any ownership and/or responsibility for anything and/or fix what was wrong.

Overall rating = C

prosen

Idsaint, I have to disagree with you. I have stayed here 3x times now, and have found the staff to be totally on the ball. In fact the staff at this hotel are by far the best I have encountered at any Westin in NA.

-Extra towels/sheets/robes/wine glasses appeared at my door in seconds.
-I have received upgrades on every visit. Once to a 1 bedroom suite. Once to a two bedroom suite and once to a Lofted Suite. The Loft was AMAZING. Killer views, 25 foot ceiling. Really over the top nice. To top it off I was there for 8 nights.
-For a hotel restaurant, I think it is better then most. Definitely pricey, but not your normal spg restaurant fare. Cedar planked salmon, black cod, and an awesome breakfast buffet. Of course there is also Kaz Sushi which if you order propertly and just let Tom do what he does, can be really really good sushi. Its also not overpriced at all.
-Sure, the spa is weak. The pool could be bigger and should have a bar next to it (though we had no trouble bring wine out with us). However the ski valet is fantastic. The hotel is a whole 50 feet from the gondola, but if you are too tired to carry your skis they have a tent for Westin guests to drop them off ON THE SLOPES.

Really I hesitated to write all this because I want everyone else to stay the hell away from my favorite SPG property. I thought about trashing it just to keep you all out; but I couldn't bring myself to do it.

toadman

Also one of my favorite properties, generally manage to stay there at least once if not twice a year for the past 8 years. Always have great service from the valets/ski valets. Never eaten at the restaurants. Plenty of options to choose from in the village. My wife loves the spa. And, yes this property needs an adults only area hot tub. Plus the skiing when the snow is good, is awesome.

ac/elite

I just was in the process of booking a room online and didn't see any reference to the resort fee. So, I called the hotel and was told that there is no longer a resort fee. Things included in the fee will now be charged for individually (phone calls, yoga classes, etc.). Since I didn't take advantage of any of the included amenities, except for the bottled water, this is a savings for me.

ldsant

Sounds as though you're as skiier/boarder. I'm not. I have stayed at this property previously and thought it was great (2 years ago). I'm not a skiier and go to Whistler for hiking/spa treatments/relaxing. This last visit was mediocre at best. Obviously it's a YMMV type of property.

ac/elite

I was there this past weekend. As a plat, I was upgraded from a junior suite to a one bedroom. I asked about the loft suites, but they only have 9 and they were all occupied. She told me that the one bedrooms are actually considered a higher category of upgrade than the lofts, but that personally the lofts were her favorite and that she would have been happy to put me in one if it was available.

Despite the Resort Fee no longer being charged, Platinum guests only will still receive free local telephone calls. That wasn't in any written material I received, but the check-in agent told me that. In addition, all guests will still be able to use the resort's shuttle service free of charge. However, it is currently out of service and they'll be getting a new one very soon.

PDW5000

I heard this hotel was getting renovations. Has anyone stayed here recently?
Are the renovations already underway? Will be staying here in February and curious to see if any rooms will be renovated by then.

SLF

Our current room has LG flat screen TVs, but that's the only difference I noted from last year.

Resort fee - yes, this is now gone. So too has the evening turndown service - unless you pay to be on the Executive floor. As a consequence while the ski valet still exists (incl. the on-slopes tent for dropoff), it is no longer free and is charged at $6/set of skis, capped at $20/day; i.e. no difference for a family of 4 from the $20 resort fee. This also means that people who don't want to pay that take their eqpt. back to their rooms - which seems shortsighted as far as damage to the rooms goes. The ski valet takes skis/boards only now, so the poles have to go back to the room regardless now

ac/elite

This hotel continues to be problematic for late checkouts, something I've encountered on virtually every stay I've had there over the years, whether the hotel has been full or half empty. While this is a resort and therefore late checkouts are not guaranteed for Platinums, they are supposed to give them "upon availability".

I was there again this past Saturday night. On Sunday at 9:30am I called service express to request a 3pm checkout. I had previously called the Plat Concierge and confirmed that the hotel was not sold out for Sunday night and had at least 5 of my room type available. The response from service express as usual was that there are no late checkouts available and I'd have to be out by 11am. I replied that I knew that the hotel was not sold out and therefore it should be available. The women told me then that "the late checkouts have all been given out". I asked to speak to a manager. I got put through to someone who repeated that they had all been given out already. I asked how many of those late checkouts went to Plat and Gold members and he told me that most had and the rest had gone to people willing to pay $50. I told him that I was going to complain to Starwood Corporate and asked for his name. He gave it to me and asked if I'd like his manager's name too. I said that I'd actually like to speak to his manager. He put me on hold and then came back on and said that they'll be only able to offer me an extended checkout until 3pm. I replied that that is exactly what I had requested in the first place.

So, once again after going up the ladder I received my extended checkout. That is my normal routine at this hotel. Other than that issue, I continue to really like this property. Service otherwise is friendly and the rooms are nice and well equipped.

As to the renovations, a sign in the elevators indicates that a $10 million renovation to all guestrooms will begin in April 2009 and be completed by the winter.

birdyy

I'm headed up (from Seattle) on Sunday evening. Can someone tell me how the traffic is these days. How's the drive up the hill?

Land-of-Miles

Do Plats not receive rooms on the Exec floor which include these benefits?

We just kept thinking throughout our recent perfectly fine (but unexceptional) stay at the Hilton Whistler that we wished we were in the Westin (there was no redemption availability there when we booked our trip). I had thought that the Westin would be the perfect location for future trips, but your comments are making me have second thoughts.

To be honest I would have been happy to pay $6 per board for the 2 of us compared to tackling the scrum each evening and morning when dropping off and collecting our boards from the Hilton's on site ski/board shop.

The Hilton does offer free internet to Diamonds which was unexpected but internet access is at a painfully low speed. Whilst you need a wired connection to access the free internet once the appropriate connection has been charged to the room (later to be removed from the bill) wireless internet is also available. One thing we never quite worked out is whether it would be possible to have several free connections per room (the connection is reserved to an individual MAC address), since my wife also had her laptop it would have been useful to double up the connection.

SLF

I can guarantee you that there is some truth in this. I'm sure that late check-outs are very popular there - if 4pm was freely available then most people would be able to get an extra day on the slopes, and that would make it difficult for arrivals (as it happens we didn't get our room until 4:30pm ).

On last Sunday evening, most of the traffic was headed back to Vancouver rather than up the mountain - I assume that's the normal pattern with a Friday PM trip up being busy. The only hassle was a 90 minute delay to cross the Lions Gate bridge - so we took the longer way around to the airport.

This time we didn't get the Exec floor as Plats; although it was offered in an email they sent us if we wanted to pay extra $ (this year was the first time I'd seen this). We've certainly had the evening turndown service in past years, so I assume this is a new austerity measure. Even without the turndown we survived , but it was nice in previous years to get new towels in the evening.

Yeah ... I'd forgotten that (we stayed a couple of nights at the Hilton in 07/08 season). The $20 we paid for ski valet each night is the same as the $20 resort fee we'd paid in previous years, so no change for us. The ski valet no longer taking poles was a bit of a pain, as was sharing the elevators with people carrying boards & skis.

There's an opportunity to improve the ski valet (at extra cost presumably) - perhaps they could store boots & gloves also, drying them as necessary. It would be nice to drop skis & poles at the tent, walk to the super-valet location to shed boots/gloves and then be handed a cup of hot chocolate before wandering back to the room

Land-of-Miles

I converted to boarding this year out of solidarity with Mrs LoM who is a snow sports newbie so pole storage wasnt an issue for us We had our boards almost physically wrestled from our hands in the Hilton when we tried to take them to our room (we did Fresh Tracks on some days so need our boards earlier than the Summit Shop opened). The bell desk did hold them for us for our early starts thereafter. It is strange that the Westin permit skis and boards in the rooms.

I also understood that occupancy is well down in Whistler this year. We bumped into a couple of people in the gondola who seemed to have scored fantastic deals at the Westin, so not upgrading seems to be penny pinching on the part of the property. I do think the critical date was the 3/1/09 though after this date the property had lots of availability (that was what I noted when seeking redemptions in October anyway). If it is any consolation I paid extra at the Hilton in advance to be sure of an upgrade to a fireplace (Executive) room and we got the smaller and darker of the 2 types of this room.

1K_Diehard

We just stayed there for the past weekend. We (sort of) got upgraded to a bedroom but on low floor with almost no view. With having trained for months by Sheraton New York to have low expectations for my Platinum status, it turned out to be a decent stay. Snow conditions on the mountains were not that great. Lots of exposed rocks and creeks (with water). Be careful if you go into the tress at Symphony Express lift. We saw a guy come out in wet pants. All in all, it was a decent stay. But, I have to say that we felt every time we went (this is our 3th stays in 4 years) there we were less and less with the hotel and service.

smat

Any recent stays at Westin Whistler? I'm going to be in Vancouver area second weekend in June and am considering a stay in Whistler. Am not sure whether I will be disappointed with this hotel.

The rates are verging on $300 CAD at the Westin vs. The Fairmont at $181 CAD.

Any thoughts?