Duck1981

Got a mixed experience (39 year old).

Quite liked my stay at the W Fort Lauderdale (really great crowd, good music, great bar) but the atmosphere at the W Boston was actually more like a typical business hotel, even almost depressing as dark and empty (wasn't there at the weekend though).

Stays at the W Kuala Lumpur and Paris got cancelled this year due to CoVid unfortunately.

I quite like the hotels normally, but both in Boston and FL front of the house (and especially bell boys) could be more friendly/ less arrogant.

Oxon Flyer

One could theorise that those whose lifestyle choices include spending time posting their brand-hatred on internet discussion forums are not necessarily representative of W's target demographic.

Duck1981

Love it

Lewis42

I am a big fan of W hotels and I will often choose to stay at them where and when I can.

UA-NYC

Have long loved the W brand (even as I know many despise it). Prefer a vanilla Marriott or a faux-upscale, overpriced JW? Well you have plenty of those as options for you.

However, I don't think Marriott has a clue about anything on-trend or luxury, so I'm not optimistic about the future of the W brand. At it's heart it's a Limited Service hotel company that happens to run a subset of Full Service properties.

Kacee

+1
I've had more bad experiences at an St.R than a W.
Actually, the brand is targeted directly at people who spend an inordinate amount of time posting on social media (though I suspect Marriott would prefer that the posts consisted of Instagram pics of scantily clad 20-somethings in the lounge or at the pool rather than negative commentary on an internet forum).

khabah

I enjoy a thread like this, so I'll chime in:

What is the future of W? Marriott is finding out, or at least planning to. That's why they purchased W New York - Union Square and want to renovate it as the first "W 2.0" to showcase the brand's new direction the same way they did when they bought the Sheraton Grand Phoenix, renovated it to launch their new brand concepts and used/studied it as a test bed to learn how the concept is received and then rolling it out on a brand-wide basis. They did the same with the Charlotte Marriott City Center for the Marriott brand.

W made a name for itself for its dark spaces, clubby atmosphere, see-and-be-seen vibe and emphasis on its bar venues. Obviously that demographic of 20-40-years-olds has now grown out of that space since the brand's launch in 1998, and for better or worse the reputation of W as the club of the hotel world has stuck. Starwood kept W as a design-led flagship since it ultimately pioneered the "boutique hotel as chain", and Marriott is now trying to rejigger it to make it "grow up" in certain ways; for starters, the designation of W as a luxury brand so it can appeal to a specific demographic of affluent travelers with money to spend on location, design and venue. I'm 32, come from a fine arts background and despite being introverted rather than Instagram-hungry appreciate edgy design, chillwave music and a strong drink so I fall squarely into the clientele that W attracts. I believe Marriott wants to shed the dark and boomy club stigma that W carries, but wants to keep it as the 'rebel' if you will of luxury hotels by still emphasizing design and F&B. I like and very very much look forward to them launching adults-only W Retreats/all-inclusives, and think that's a good direction for the brand.

That said, while I know there are strict standards that brand-carrying properties must adhere to, I genuinely hope [but won't hold any breath] they don't Marriottize W with a derivative and formulaic look devoid of personality. Marriott Hotels went all beige and woody, Sheraton became neutral and inoffensive, Renaissance is all-over-the-place-because-it's-different, Le Méridien is becoming grey... but if there's one brand where if you've been to one you've been to all, it's Moxy. I find Moxy as a brand and experience irritating because even though the rooms are fine despite being small and I like the way they've made lobbies approachable for younger people to come chill in, I can't stand all the hashtags slathered all over their hotels, use of lurid colors and using the check-in counter as a bar as a check-in counter. Moxy feels like a group of stodgy suits sitting in a conference room decided that the youth "like the hashtags and the Facebook and the selfie sticks" and Moxy is the end result of that circle j_rk.

Alas, I digress.

Fingers crossed things go well and the W reboot takes off; I believe it's frozen for now because of COVID and W Union Square is currently being used as a student residence, but we shall see. As is always the case with Marriott, I hope for the best but I am prepared to be disappointed.

khabah

cmd320

And this exemplifies the problems with Marriott's current branding system. There are Residence Inn properties that I would choose over certain JWs and Ws currently.

I don't really have a problem with the W brand, my problem is more with the way the brand standards are managed, and this extends far beyond just W Hotels. JW is another great example. There are some great JW properties out there, and there are others that resemble a Sheraton. For those of us that often travel to different places and different hotels, how on Earth are you supposed to know what to expect?

As another poster pointed out, I have no idea why Marriott has tried to position W into a 'luxury' type segment. I don't view it as any more luxury than a standard Marriott, Ren, Westin, etc. IMO, there are really only three brands that belong in the luxury category, and those are RC, St. Regis, and EDITION. Some of the Luxury Collection properties also fall into the standard, while others don't. I don't hold W or JW to any higher of an expectation that the properties listed in the "premium" category at this point and also won't really pay any kind of premium for these hotels.

IluvSQ

We stayed once at a W ( NYC) and said never again!
At Walker Hill, I was always happy with the Sheraton, never needed to stray.

jdj84

The W Bali was fantastic. The W San Fran, not so much. The W Paris was also a decent pick _not the best, definitely not the worst. Loved the location for shopping. Just like any chain, there are good ones and bad ones.

Maglev

The W Lakeshore in Chicago was fine. I liked the view of the lake, but didn't like the artwork on one wall:

kaizen7

I believe Marriott have new W in Bali Ubud area that supposedly open within couple of year.

It would be interesting to see what W 2.0 compare to those W resorts

fdem

Sorry but the W ft Lauder dale was probably the worst hotel I ever stayed in, crowd not Ibiza or st tropeZ but more like suburbia ( nothing wrong with that but definitely not a hip vibe) service was just a joke and hard product really cheap.

cmd320

Was someone expecting an Ibiza or Saint-Tropez experience in Fort Lauderdale?

I don't think I'd classify it as the worst hotel I've ever stayed in, but at the same time, I'd definitely choose the RC or the Conrad before the W.

jimrpa

we play that game all the time - “The RC in XXX is such a dump! The Four Points down the street is better!” I’m pretty sure you’re not allowed in the Marriott forum unless you’ve made at least one of those comparisons 😀