chanp

Thanks! Just got back from a great meal.

Another note, there are a lot of employees in the hotel from all over the world. Front end was from the UK, bar staff were from AUS, etc. Nice folks.

honr

I initially booked at this place and balked at the $160 something and ended up trying priceline which gave me a cheap Whistler Village Inn hotel for $65 . No, I am not at all comparing this with Westiin except the price.. But one thing is that they are also charging extra for parking.

Any tips on self parking in Whistler village overnight for around $10


Regards
honr

toadman

You can park in lot 4 in the upper village for no charge. They allow overnight parking. Although, I'd probably move my car each night just to be safe.

toadman

Saw this when doing a search on accomodations for Whistler.
Date of arrticle is Nov. 26th.

When looking at rates a month ago, the rate coming back was over $170/nt for early season, pre Christmas. Got a better rate with Fairmont. Would like to see Westin be more competitive. I don't think I've ever seen the Westin offer stay and ski free type deals but that is something they should think about during the Olympics to maybe boost occupancy.

Boraxo

I can't feel too sorry for them as they jack the customer during the peak ski season. I'm sure they'll sell out for the olympics at absurd rates - hopefully that will be enough to carry them through the rest of the year.

The other issue is lack of consistent snow (global warming or not) - the resort is so low that you never know what the conditions will be booking months in advance, unlike colorado and utah which are fairly predictable.

teege

Was hoping to stay here for nights/flights but it's a cat 5. Is there any way to work this out even though it's a 5? Any chance it will drop to cat 4?

jnswinnipeg

I am at Fairmont this Sunday night and Westin on Monday night. It will be interesting to see if things have improved now that it is December.

Christian

Spent 3 nights in the Whistler Westin this NYE with Wife, couple friends and our puppy (11 month labx)
Hotel is incredibly dog friendly, doormen with biscuits, bowl of biscuits at the elevator, and maybe 5-6 other dogs in our tower alone. Pup gives it two paws up for sure^.
However, housekeeping missed the call one day, messing with our ski day, as we had to make sure we (and the pup) were out all day, because they missed the morning request (we spoke to the housekeeping working on the next suite in the am, but had to call again in the pm to get the room done). Not a huge deal...
NYE whistler was a little quiet, pre olympics I guess.
Cheers

Raincheck10

Stayed at the Westin Christmas Week 2009. I am a Gold and used Starpoints for a 1 bdr Suite.

Location: One word "perfect" You are one minute from the lifts to both Whistler and Blackcomb. One Minute to the kids ski school drop off. Walking access to all the lower village which includes all the shops, restaurants, movie theater and grocery stores. You even have walking access to the Upper Village (Lower is much better) via a 10-15 minute walk. At the end of a ski day, you take off your skis at the bottom of the mountain, walk 10 yards to the Westin Valet and drop off your skis and walk another minute back into the Westin.

Room and Service - Stephen the Concierge was very helpfull in planning my groups reservations and activities (very knowledgable and friendly). Checkin was smooth with no wait and we even got a slight upgrade to a corner 1bdr suite. Suite was more than adequete for the 4 of us. All the furnishings appeared new and the kitchen was nicer than the one I have at home. While not the biggest for a ski trip (ie not condo size) it was the location that really mattered. Maid service was good, they did forget towels one day but our room was always made when we got back from skiing.

Ammenities:As I did not eat at the restaurant in the Hotel I can not comment. As others have said the pool/hot tub area is barely adequete. This is probably the only downer to the Westin. Pool area was clean but did not feel clean and the outdoor hot tub was always packed and I could never get in. The Westin needs more Hot tubs!

All in all this is a great hotel with an awesome location. Yes they do nickle and dime you on in room internet and things like hot choclate but I would certainly go back.

oag123

I am booking 2 rooms at the Westin Whistler. Do they have connecting rooms - 2 Queen Beds Room (or Queen bed and Queen sofa) to 1 Bedroom Suite?

masskrug

Hello Flyertalk,

I have looked around here for a while and very much appreciate the catalogue of information available here. I thought maybe it would be time to contribute a little. I am not a huge volume traveller; mainly leisure with my family and occasional conferences.

I joined SPG in 2008, made Gold and then Platinum last year in 2009, and now have just completed my first stay at a *wood as Plat.

I live close to Whistler now, and have frequented this property as lowly preferred, Gold, and now Plat, and so can provide some insight into treatment in each tier. For certain, as a lowly Preferred, this hotel makes sure you know it. As Gold, in low season, they gave me an 'enhanced room' with 4pm checkout (for a resort, no less) but in low season, this hotel is practically empty. As Gold in high (ski) season, an 'enhanced room' but nothing else.

As Plat in high season here, I received the Pilot email from SPG regarding a pre-upgrade to a 1 bdr suite. Upon check-in, I was going to be given a low floor (4th out of 11) room, so I thought I would try to politely test out Plat hospitality here. In summary, this is the hotel that is fond of the word "No".

NO:

1. No comp breakfast.
2. No comp internet.
3. No upgrade possible to 2 bdr suite, despite wide availability, but I could pay extra to get one. (yes, I know T&C excludes multi-room suites, but there are previous reports in this post of Plats getting them)
4. No 4pm checkout (yes, it's a resort, but really, the hotel is half empty and it wouldn't have killed them to provide this).
5. No comp parking, no Starpoints for parking.
6. No upgrade to Executive floor. However, I was given the option of upgrading for extra fee, which I did.
7. When disputing Point 6 above, was told that I could STAY on the Executive floor, but would be denied any benefits. I thought that another thread here indicated that benefits were attached to the room?
8. When paying the upgrade fee, a 9th floor balcony room was given. Left me feeling that despite my fancy key package, I wasn't originally given the best available room as per SPG T&C.
9. No consistent turndown service, despite paying for it. Turndown is one of those things, that if missed, can't really be 'made up for'.
10. No skis allowed in rooms. Oh, and ski valet is $6 per pair per day. Mandatory.
11. No slippers. Bring your own if you want to pad down to the pool/hot tub. I recall they used to provide these.
12. No shower gel, cap, mouthwash.
13. No room in the single, small, outdoor hot tub.
14. No room in rooms: the junior suites are cramped, the 1 bdr is barely tolerable. Do not know about rooms higher than these.

To be fair, there are positive things about the property, which is why I have stayed there a number of times now to consolidate these experiences:

1. Best hotel location in Whistler to have a ski vacation.
2. Nice dining room, which is overpriced like all of Whistler, but comfortable and friendly with decent food, especially breakfast.
3. SPG rep at hotel is friendly and responsive.
4. Starpoints and stay credits are processed quickly (but often wrong, hence the need for Point 3 above).
5. Possibly an effect of the economy, but one can find decent rates here for the last year and a half.

My impression is that it wasn't a great stay to be initiated as a Plat. Perhaps this property is no more generous than the 'letter of the law' as far as the SPG program goes. I am hoping Plat status will be better at other *wood properties this year.

As an aside, I have stayed at the Four Seasons Whistler, and perhaps an apples to oranges comparison, but maybe not so if you factor in a similar room price. The FS is very good at making one feel welcome, even without 'status'. Something the Westin Whistler is not good at, even at the highest SPG tier (ex-Ambassador).

AB2BC

DH and I stayed here for our honeymoon in September 2008. I'm a preferred member, but got gold treatment IMHO.

The hotel was not busy during this time, but the price did not reflect this.

We let them know it was our honeymoon and we were upgraded to a loft suite. Later that day chocolate covered strawberries, grand marnier and a card of congratulations was delivered to our room.

The whole week was wonderful. I rather enjoyed being there during a quiet time.

I can't wait to go back and stay again.

masskrug

The official update on this is no.

MikeBOS

If you were disappointed in this stay, then I think you are likely to be disappointed overall in the Platinum benefits. I don't believe the hotel is obligated to provide upgrades at all, because every room in the hotel is already a suite. So if you got an upgrade, you are already ahead of the game. While experiences vary a lot, there are many other Plats here like me who only get upgrades 60-70% of the time, and then usually 1 category only. I stayed at the Westin Whistler last month, and got upgraded from a junior suite to a one bedroom suite. I was happy with it; it was probably the best upgrade I received all year from any SPG property.

None of the other benefits you mention are part of the Platinum program, and while a few properties may offer some of them on their own, the vast majority offer none of them at all.

Summing this up, I think you did well to get an upgrade. If your expectations are for much more than that, you are likely to be very disappointed in the whole Platinum experience.

TRAVELSIG

I like Whistler a lot in the summertime, and the rates for the Four Seasons are very reasonable (Under $300 CAD) for a Junior Suite which is around 650 sq ft- they do indeed make you feel extremely welcome, and unless occupancy is very high they say no problem at all to the 4 PM checkout. One of the nicest little touches of this hotel is that everytime the valet gets your car, they offer you and your guests two bottles of mineral water each- not a huge gesture by any means, however this little touch is super appreciated. The Westin, in my experiences, is nice however not a Wow hotel in any way, and not that competitive given the rates they charge which are quite high for Whistler.