billyeggs

I had the most discouraging stay I have ever experienced with Starwood hotels last night..... Showed up after a long day at 12:30am to find that my non-smoking King room that I had guaranteed via my credit card, (and I thought also somewhat backstopped with my gold Starwood card) seemed to have been given away to someone else. Instead, I was given a smoking room in an area under construction! I failed to sleep more than a couple of hours due to the awful smoke/paint smell!! I called the starwood line, and was told that I'd be contacted by the manager in the morning, as I had no time early in the meeting before check-out. Anyways, not suprisingly, I haven't had a call from the manager, and am quite discouraged!! Does this sound familiar to anyone, perhaps some reassuring words can help!! Thanks!

mtacchi

I stayed there 3 years ago and never since. Same thing, smeely smoking room, lied to about upgrades, ect. The duty manager called me back when I returned to Winnipeg, and offered compensation of a upgrade next time I came. I declined, and have not returned.

billyeggs

Apparently I am not important enough of a customer to even justify a duty manager calling me!!!

ac/elite

I just returned from a very nice 4 night stay at the hotel. As a gold, I was upgraded to a non-smoking room in the newer tower. It did take some work for the upgrade though. I've stayed there several times before, and their standard line is always that there are no rooms available in the newer tower. This time I actually went online and saw that they were still taking reservations for those rooms. Later in the day (after a shift change) I went back to the front desk and told them that I'd like to be upgraded to a room in the new tower which I just saw available online. They immediately switched my room.

I did notice that the rooms in the original tower have now been upgraded since my last stay at the hotel. They all now have Heavenly Beds and Heavenly Shower. Until recently, only the rooms in the newer tower had Heavenly Beds. Still, the rooms in the newer tower are much nicer than the original one with light woods, a nice desk etc.

Ken hAAmer

Suddenly I'm thankful that the award room availability at this hotel disappeared between the time I checked, then made air and car arrangements, then tried to book it.

I had a great stay at the Edmonton Sheraton, a couple of blocks away.

B747-437B

The Westin Edmonton is a very nice property, but their security staff tend to go a little overboard. I was a guest there last year and was waiting to meet someone just outside the lobby for about 30 minutes when I was approached by Hotel Security and asked to leave the area as I was making some other guests "uncomfortable". Evidently the good denizens of Edmonton believe that brown people in a hotel are a security risk.

Apart from that isolated incident, I have had pleasant experiences there. I do however prefer the Sheraton which is just a few blocks away.

Starwood Lurker

Hopefully, you have received an email from Hosik, the front office manager, offering you 50% Off the room and taxes for the night.

Apparently, they are undergoing some renovations that have temporarily lessened the number of available non-smoking rooms.

On behalf of Starwood and The Westin Edmonton, I apologize for the inconvenience you experienced during this particular stay.

Sincerely,

William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

[email protected]

Cast your vote! Visit www.freddieawards.com and choose your favorite frequent travel programs today.

Brendan

I am seriously considering going to Edmonton Aug.21-25/2003 for the Fringe Theatre Festival & taking advantage of a *wood Level I award to stay there. I was intendin' to book the Westin until I read this thread. Now maybe I should stay at the Sheraton? Or maybe book the Westin anyway to enjoy the new remodeling, which should be done by then?
Please vote.

Shareholder

I stay at these properties frequently, and must say that the Sheraton has the best staff, friendliest welcome, and is most responsive to meeting upgrade commitments of elite members. I have always been upgraded at least to the Club floor as a Gold, most often to a junior suite as a Platinum. At the Westin, I have never been upgraded to anything more than a midrange room, even though there were others and suites available. This property just does not upgrade Plats to suites, rennovations or no.

Enjoy The Fringe, and Old Strathcona next August.

luckypierre

Unfortunately, I must confirm what the previous flyertalker said about the Edmonton Westin.
The party line is consistent-at least through the front desk manager. Despite having superior rooms available for sale on the web site, I was told there was nothing. Presumably the likelihood of selling this room at 5pm the day of arrival is rather slim.
Some of these personnel seem unaware that their remarks can be confirmed through other means. Otherwise, I think they would be much more reluctant to simply "flip off" their best customers

Singlepoint

I should have done my homework. If I would have looked closely, I would have noticed that most, if not all SPGers, didn't have too many positive comments about the Edmonton Westin.
A few notes about this past weekend's stay...
Received a decent rate of $134 CAD for a Club level room. When making the reservation, was told that there wasn't a Club lounge "as such." This, in itself, is disappointing for any Westin/Sheraton but I digress... Accordingly, I told reservations at the hotel that I was travelling with an infant who required bottles to be heated and, therefore, I would like a microwave in the room (since they don't come as standard - even in a Club level room). They informed me that they "couldn't promise anything but the chances were good." Checked in at the hotel with a self-park rate of $16/night. There didn't appear to be anyone to help with bags at the front entrance. Humped the bags up from the underground parkade to the lobby. Checked in again and a helpful bellman assisted us from there. Up to Club level, which, aside from saying, "Club Level" on the sign, had no appreciable differences from the "SPG" floors or "standard" floors. Upon entering our non-smoking room, it smelled musty and faintly of smoke. I asked the bellman about this and he said that this was a non-smoking room despite what everyone's olfactory systems were telling us. Needless to say, there wasn't a microwave in the room. Phoned down to the front desk to inquire about the microwave and they told us that we were welcome to come down the 17 floors and use the microwave behind the front desk. This should be easy on my wife as I leave for work early in the morning and she has to come down on her own with two kids in tow...not likely to happen. We improvise by heating the bottles using water in the in-room coffee maker. Next issue: breakfast. Staying on Club Level, we received two free continental breakfasts (as long as they didn't exceed $10.70/pp). Looking at the menu, I'm not sure that that amount would even cover the cost of a continental breakfast in the hotel. The larger issue was how easy it would be for my wife to get down to the restaurant (again, no close Club lounge) with the kids while trying to solve the bottle situation - and not anger the other patrons in the restaurant if my son decided that he wanted to be fed pronto. Anyway, I called down to the front desk again the first evening, explained the situation and asked if those continental breakfast credits could be applied to our room if we ordered room service instead. The front desk acquiesced and my thought was, "great" as it will save a lot of hassle in the morning with my wife and kids. The next morning, I head to work bright and early and do the "work thing." I get back to the hotel and find out my wife was charged over $40 CAD for her and my daughter's continental breakfasts ! Upon my arrival, I phoned down again to inquire about this charge and was told that it was because it was room service. I told them about the prior night's conversation that I had with the front desk and the clerk asked me "who I talked to." I became somewhat irate and the clerk then said he would remove the charge for my bill. After that, the stay was OK but certainly nothing remarkable. To give the staff credit, they did find a microwave in time for the second night although it was a bit late by then. We didn't even try the continental breakfast in the hotel as we didn't think we'd be able to eat much at all and we didn't wan't the hassle of changing the bill around. At the end, we ended up also paying for the microwave - I didn't question it as I didn't want to have to deal with the front desk anymore
Overall - the staff was decent but I'm not sure they tried too hard initially to get the microwave I had asked for in the first place. Apparently, the manager tried to call me at home once a few days later as I had left some dissatisfied comments on the satisfaction survey. He hasn't tried to call me since then. I'm not sure what they would offer in terms of compensation, if any is warranted; hopefully, it wouldn't be a reduced rate at my next stay or a free stay because I won't be back. I consider myself to be fairly easy to please and have raved about other Sheraton/Westin stays because they almost always have a superior product but the Westin Edmonton just doesn't measure up.
Anyway, thanks for listening to me vent; I apologize to anyone I may have offended.

Cheers,

Singlepoint

Scott218

I'm staying at the Westin Edmonton this week.
The Club Level special has been stopped. Apparently, the hotel is not making enough money with the special. All Starwood preferred guests are put in the preferred floor (I believe 12 and up).

ac/elite

Actually, if you are Gold or Platinum, you should ask for an upgrade to the deluxe tower. The rooms are much nicer than on the SPG floors in the tower with the "traditional" rooms. The two towers are connected on each floor with a walkway. You know you're in the deluxe tower if you turn right out of the elevators. They used to try everything they could to avoid upgrading to the deluxe tower, but in the last year I've always been upgraded to it when I asked.

kpalle

My brother stayed at the hotel last week, and he found the rate on hotwire.com. They had the hotel listed as a 4.5 star (!), and after his stay, and many complaints about the hotel, Hotwire downgraded it to a 3.5 star.

Scott218

I'm on the Tower side then. I was wondering why they put me so far away from the elevator.

This hotel is definitely not up to par in terms of amenities and deco.

The lobby and the gym/pool are rather small. There is no in-house spa service either.