The Westin Doha Hotel & Spa, Doha, Qatar [Master Thread]
 

Hello everyone -

Didn't see a master thread out there for the Westin Doha so I thought I'd make one after receiving a personal message from a member on here.

Stayed at this Westin many times over the course of 2016 [it soft-opened last February and grand-opened last April] and have consistently found it to be an EXCELLENT all-around property that is super-generous to Plats. To answer a few questions that often make the rounds:

1. Lounge: excellent club lounge. Very spacious, plenty of indoor and outdoor seating and food presentations include breakfast, a lunch spread that generally includes salads, sandwiches and light bites and an evening spread that includes salads, light bites and hot dishes [usually grilled salmon fillets, chicken skewers, beef kebabs and other variations of seafood/chicken/beef]. Happy hour is from 6 to 8 PM and includes beer, red/white/sparkling wine and a selection of liquors; the staff serve it themselves or they tell you off for going near it! Tea, coffee and water all day.
2. Breakfast: can be had in the lounge or in the main restaurant downstairs without having to sacrifice your points benefit at check-in; nice perk!
3. Upgrades: never had to ask for one as they have a fairly large inventory of suites and I've been upgraded every time. They usually have Westin, Senior and Family Suites in the upgrade pool. Keep in mind that even the standard rooms at this hotel are massive; the suites have more space than you know what to do with!

The staff here are also consistently great; very friendly, professional and they clearly love working there. Facilities include different pools, squash courts and a large spa. This is such a wonderful hotel and should be a flagship for the entire Westin brand worldwide.

Hope this helps. Happy to answer any questions/satisfy curiosities out there; have another stay coming up here in less than two weeks so will report back accordingly.

khabah

We stayed here from 4-7 Feb as it broke our journey up on QR. With hind sight, 3 nights is far too long on Doha as a tourist, but as neither of us had been to Qatar before it wasn't such a big deal.

We had both the concierge and also the lovely Westin experience specialist reach out to us before hand, and booked an airport pick up in an Audi A6 for 125 Riyals (30 GBP approx.)
I also mentioned we were celebrating our anniversary.

On check in they appeared slightly confused as to whether I was Gold or Plat. (I'm Plat) and told us we had been upgraded to an Executive room on the 5th floor. I had used points here at 10,000 per night so was a nice touch.
(Normally I'm on my own so UG's don't mean that much to me overall, apart from when I have Mrs Beano HK in tow! What will be interesting is when the 2 programs become fully integrated and the use of the app to flag when the trip really means something special to you and can interact directly with the property.)

We were led up to the room and were suitably blown away. The hotel room was not only very impressive but the hotel team had really gone the extra mile and comped us a nice bottle of red, an anniversary cake, a beautiful bed decoration, a bunch of red roses for my wife and a rose petal bath. I wasn't too familiar with the Westin brand before, but this has ensured that at least when I have the missus with me, it's going to be a Westin!

A really comfortable bed with fresh new linen - it looks like I'm now going to have to buy a new bed for home!!

Location wise it's just out of town. It's located opposite the Radisson Blu (it's actually very blingy gold) at the Ramada lights. (Radisson bought the Ramada but the junction name remains the same. There isn't too much in walking distance nearby but again opposite is a small mall called the "Centre". A few clothes outlets, plenty of jewellery and watches, and a fully stocked Tesco! Outside is a small pharmacy.

The lounge is on the 1st floor at the end of the corridor, past "The Mix" (which appears to be a smoky nightclub, we didn't go in). Open most of the day for tea, coffee etc. Happy Hour is 6-8 with a selection of various nibbles. Staff zealously guard the booze fridge and wanted my name and room number before serving me a beer!

I chose breakfast as my amenity, and you can take in the lounge or the restaurant. We used the restaurant and was very good, especially so if you like your carbs.

Four pools in total that I counted. We used the small indoor one next to the squash courts (2). A large outdoor one which must be great in season if a little too cold this trip, a smaller kiddy type one, one which is designed to look like a beach and appears shallow (we weren't sure about this one whether it is in dis-use or not) and a nice little indoor one (heated).

Squash court can be hired by the hour for 50 Riyals, they supply racquets, balls, iced towels, towels, fruit - use non-marking soles as Qataris's are fastidiously clean! If you have forgotten your gym gear, you can also hire trainers, shorts and a top for 20 QR, a nice touch.

Staff were excellent, one in particular, you know who you are and welcome to Flyertalk and went out of their way to be helpful.

Use a taxi rather than Uber to Souq Waqif, 10 QR from the hotel, 20 QR by Uber...

We booked an airport transfer, an A6 booked, received an A8, 80 QR.

The one small irritation was the motion sensors in the room for the night lights. Try as we might, and the staff, we couldn't turn the thing off resulting in me awaking many times in the night as I need total black out.

Would I stay here again? In a heartbeat. Excellent stay and one of my best ever.

I do have some photos but will post these after we return home as according to one of the other forums they are posting sideways from my iPad....

Just completed another stay at this hotel and found it to be... quite a mixed bag.

Good Platinum recognition at check-in as always and even recognized by face/name by many of the staff. Upgraded to a Junior Studio on the fifth floor [beware; this room overlooks a dead terrace and the atrium skylight so NO VIEWS AT ALL] which was very spacious and in good condition with a platter of dates/chocolates and a bottle of red wine awaiting with the requisite club lounge access. So far so good...

...until I went to use the spa. It was a rainy weekend in Doha and I travelled to get some work done indoors and veg out in the spa. Obviously the weather is beyond control, but the spa was in pretty major disrepair. Specifically:
- The Jacuzzi wasn't hot at all and the water level was so low that the jets would spray water across the Jacuzzi and onto the floor
- The chilled pool was actually warmer than the water in the Jacuzzi
- The steam room wasn't working/producing steam
- The neighboring room to the steam room [chilled room, I believe] was "under repair" and closed off with a sign
- The sauna wasn't hot enough
- One of the three showers in the men's locker room was also under repair

Interestingly, there was also a new sign installed in the men's locker room between my last stay in November 2016 and this stay this February that read in block capitals "PLEASE REMAIN DECENT AND CHANGE IN PRIVATE." Eek.

Already let the reception know about these issues so hopefully they get sorted out. Will see what happens...

khabah

For an overnight Doha transit stay ~18 hours, can anyone advise between the Westin and the W as a plat member? I also have hyatt globalist and that could be an option as well.

Thanks!

My last trip through was as a Gold. We had a room upgrade (not to a suite). I wrote about my experience here in this Flyertalk Trip Report

Overall highly recommended for a stopover. I haven't stayed at the W.

Have any SPG Golds been able to check-in early at this hotel?

I have a layover in Doha and am hoping to check-in around 8am and then check-out around 8pm the same day (so only need the room for just over 12 hours). Do you think they might allow this? Thanks.

I booked this hotel trough the plus Qatar program. Arrived this morning at around 5:30 am, and we will be leaving at around 11pm.
I contacted the hotel on beforehand trough their facebook page, and askes for an upgrade into the cheapest room with lounge access. Had to pay 200QR (I don't have any status with SPG), the basic room was free thanks to the Plus Qatar program.
For tis 200QR we had breakfast in the lounge, or at the restaurant, and some food troughout the day in the lounge. Very happy with my choice, We almost didn't leave the room since we're coming from a citytrip in Tokyo (sake fare) Working off the jetlag.

I'd recommend it!

Thanks for posting, useful to know as I am staying there at end of Dec through +Qatar at similar times of the day.

Can I ask which day you booked? For the night prior to the day you checked-in or the same day i.e. were you checking in late or early?

Halfway through my ninth stay and I can comfortably say that overall standards are DOWN.

Lots of new faces at the hotel and many of them, despite their good intentions, are woefully inexperienced. Everything from not understanding basic questions to no coordination [i.e. I asked where my MAGC voucher was after leaving the sign outside the door the afternoon before, a housekeeping member telling me that the reception bills points and then a reception agent saying I need to request it from housekeeping]. I also had an irritating incident where I was out for the evening and left the Do Not Disturb on, came back and found a card under my door saying that staff tried to come around to deliver amenities. I called them and asked about it, only for the Service Express to sound bewildered and say he’ll follow up. An hour and no call back later, I follow up and he says he’ll check with in-room dining about and get back to me. Here we are, sixteen hours, two visits to the reception and four phone calls later and I have yet to receive the mystery amenities.

Lastly, I’m in the club lounge as I type grabbing a snack. An older female guest walks in wearing a one-piece swimsuit and a sheer dress on top of it where EVERYTHING is totally visible. She wanders around the lounge with it open, collects food and sits down, even being served by the staff member in the lounge. I’m as open-minded as the next person and a big believer in live and let live, but surely a *tiny bit* of discretion? If not by the guest, then surely the staff can politely ask the guest to dress up more appropriately?

A series of unfortunate little mishaps, but this is spelling my last stay at this hotel.

khabah

Thanks for the update, khabah. What a shame. I had considered this hotel for an upcoming stay due to your initial report. I'd already switched to the Marriott as I have a free night cert. It sounds like the right decision.

The Marriott Doha, or the Marriott Marquis Doha?

I am going to Westin for the first time in about a month, for free under QR's stopover program. I have not been to the Marriott either. Since I have not seen either hotel myself, obviously my opinion needs to be taken with a big grain of salt, but from what I read and seen from pictures I think in terms of hardware Westin >> Marriott and it's not close. The cash rates usually reflect quite a big difference as well. There are a number of not so flattering reviews on TA about the deteriorating state of the Marriott, which made me stay away so far (whereas the Westin is still quite new). The Marriott might be good for a quick layover due to proximity to the airport, but for that my go-to place is the Double Tree.

On the other hand, I have been to Marriott Marquis and it's a solid property. The location of MM is also much better than Westin because of the central location in the city so I suspect indeed overall MM > Westin but I wanted to check out the Westin in order to confirm with my own eyes.

I chose the Marriott Marquis based on your report.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marr...l#post28915982

I also have a choice between the Westin and Marriott Marquis for one night through +Qatar, which one of those properties is generally a better one for 20h layover (arriving 1am, onwards to BKK 8pm)? I want to get good sleep and then see what the city has to offer during the day (first time in Doha).
@escape4, have you completed your stay yet?

Also, as the rooms are booked by Qatar, do we get plat benefits (upgrade, breakfast, lounge etc.) at the Westin? I know Marriott does allow it.

I will be at Westin Doha in a bit over a week and I will report back.

Please see comment from levistrauss in this thread (post #178 ):
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/prem...l#post29568585

We can expect lounge access + room upgrade as a Plat for a room booked by QR, according to his experience.