I stayed for 3 nights at the Westin San Jose for a business trip, extended for the final night to spend with my husband to celebrate his birthday with a extravagant dinner at nearby 3 Michelin star restaurant, Manresa.

My SPG Platinum Suite Night Awards (SNAs) went through for a Studio Suite about 5 days prior to arrival. Fortunately, since I was planning to celebrate a special occasion with my husband on the final night, the gracious Sales Manager upgraded us further to the Palm Suite for the final 2 nights. I'm sure being a Platinum 100 night loyal SPG guest was a boon to my cause, but that just goes to show how Starwood so often recognizes and rewards such loyalty.

This was my second stay at the hotel, having stayed here for several nights almost exactly a year prior.

Check In

Check in was an area where the hotel could've done a little better, though the desk attendant was friendly and tried to be helpful. I had called in advance since I was driving down from San Francisco and wanted to be sure I could get into my room early and ask about being further upgraded; the attendant who answered wasn't the most helpful. 

Once at the hotel, check in was smooth and efficient, though I still couldn't get an answer about getting further upgraded for our special occasion. Only a little bit later would that be addressed and resolved (and handled beautifully). 

Room

I will describe both rooms, since both were lovely. Air conditioning efficiency was a bit of an issue for me in both rooms, but then I love it cold: 65 F or so. They graciously brought me a fan to use in both rooms, and that combined with the air con made me reasonably comfortable. The Palm Suite air con was slightly better than the Studio Suite air con (at least for the Studio I was in).

STUDIO SUITE

This was the suite upgrade from my SNAs. It basically is a junior suite, perfectly spacious and nicely appointed. Its biggest weakness is the bathroom, which is quite small and had but a single vanity. Otherwise, this room category is quite nice for a single guest, but the bathroom would be quite small for 2 guests IMO.

The bed area was lovely. The bed was as Heavenly as advertised.

There as an alcove to the left of the fireplace with a desk and stand.

There was an alcove to the right of the fireplace with a bar/dresser area.

As I had said, the bathroom was quite small. But beautifully appointed. The water pressure for the shower was wonderful.

The hotel GM had left a lovely note and welcome gift, likely helped along by my spectacular Ambassador if I had to guess!

PALM SUITE:

The Sales Manager managed to get me upgraded on my second day to the Palm Suite. She had even tried to get us into the Grand Suite, but it was occupied.

The Palm Suite was an open plan suite with bedroom and living areas...and a massive bathroom and indoor jacuzzi deck, to boot! Lots of natural light and extremely well appointed, this was a perfect way to enjoy my husband's birthday.

The living area was spacious and separated from the bedroom area by a two way TV cabinet wall.

The bedroom area was a little tight but still perfectly fine for 1 or 2 guests IMO.

There was a desk alcove from the bedroom into the bathroom, where the spacious closet was also located.

The bath again was huge! With a jacuzzi deck, a large walk in shower, a private toilet room, and a lovely and well appointed double vanity.

Service

Despite the few service miscues to start my stay, service turned out to be exemplary.

I had the first miscue when calling ahead to see when my early check in Studio Suite would truly be ready--as I hate waiting--and to see if there were any chance for a higher upgrade. The front desk attendant simply was unable to handle the queries in a confident, comfortable manner. But this was minor, if annoying for a Westin where supposedly everyone is equipped to make "management" decisions. A simple training issue, to be sure.

The second miscue came when ordering room service dinner...which was seriously delayed (50+ minutes). When I called down, the different front desk attendant was not helpful nor terribly apologetic. I mentioned expecting the order to be free due to the delay...and he at first tried to change the subject. I persisted and mentioned he wasn't handling this well, and he demurred and agreed the order would be comp'd. Another issue of better training.

After those, however, the hotel REALLY came through with service in spades. The Sales Manager contacted me, as she was the most senior manager in property--and she was a DELIGHT. She smoothed over the previous incidents, and assured me she would make sure our stay was fabulous. And it was. She even tried to upgrade me to the Grand Suite, the hotel's top accommodation, but that was still  occupied by a guest who wasn't supposed to stay that long. So I was upgraded instead to the Palm Suite, the hotel's second nicest suite, which we loved. Considering I'd already received the SNA suite upgrade, these were beautiful gestures.

On top of that, the Sales Manager also made sure that a welcome box of chocolates was waiting for us when I returned with my husband for our final night together. She had to go out and buy it. Really a VERY nice touch.

In the end, the management team really came through here for a special occasion as we had. I also believe they called Manresa and asked them to treat us extremely well, as we arrived to get the obviously best table in the house. VERY nice touch!

Dining

The food quality for the room service (I rarely dine in hotel restaurants when I am alone for business travel) was very good. Other than the 1 delayed order, which was comp'd, all my other room service orders were promptly delivered.

I had previously stayed here a year ago and had a great dinner with friends in the hotel's restaurant. 

Location

I like the hotel's location, as it was central to my client meetings and also only about 5-10 min drive from the San Jose airport. The Marriott was directly across the street, the Four Points was just around the block, and the Hilton was just a block away for comparison.

Overall

Overall, I do love this hotel. Though the air con isn't always up to my standard, they were able to bring me a fan to offset that issue--and the service recovery was spectacular in every instance. The fact that they so treated us as VIPs for my husband's birthday went a long way, too. In the end, though, I really love the more boutique feel to the hotel and the intimate feel for the guest rooms and suites. 

But this service here may have been the best I've ever received from any Westin anywhere in the world. Kudos and thanks!!!! You know who you are!!!

I just completed two more stays at the Westin San Jose: last week for 2 nights, and this week for 1 night.

The hotel graciously tried to upgrade me last week to its Saint Claire Suite—but the bedroom air con unit was broken. As I require it to be as cold as possible, and since the suite’s living room was clearly colder than the bedroom, they found me a Studio Suite that had better air con...but not great air con.

On my return, they assigned me a lower floor Studio Suite in hope that the air con would work better. It did...but just a little. 

Otherwise, I was very happy with my stays. I really love the Westin’s decor and style, and they always try to treat me well. 

Room

The original Saint Claire Suite I was assigned is a nice suite for those looking for a spacious living room. But the same small one vanity bath (as is found in the smaller Studio Suite) is surprising for the sized suite.

My hotel team always is gracious with a welcome gift, and since Halloween was coming up:

After the engineer identified the broken coil in the bedroom air con unit (just my luck), I was moved within a few hrs to a Studio Suite room 649:

This Studio Suite was the same category I had for the first night of my previously reviewed stayed last year...and was the same category I had for my second 1 night stay this week, though I was in room 549 on my second stay.

I am very partial to this Studio Suite when traveling alone for work, as it is beautiful and yet extremely comfortable. My only complaint is that the air con wasn’t as good as that in the living room of the original Saint Claire Suite—though the hotel provided me a fan and extension cord which more than sufficed to keep me comfortable for all of my nights, I just wish the air con was better.

The other issue for some could be noise. I definitely heard buses a few times at about 7;30 am or so. The hotel needs to look into its noise insulation for rooms on the street side. 

Service

Service was both great...and also a bit frustrating.

Generally, everyone was fabulous to me. I was recognized by name for both visits, just like last year. The GM helped move me when the air con failed on my first stay, Room Service orders were delivered very promptly. The fan was brought up quickly. The extension cord was brought quickly when I asked for it.  The valets always had me car waiting for me when requested.

But too often when I dialed Guest Service, the phone would ring 10-20 Times before someone picked up. It was a consistent problem for both stays.

Dining

I had room service several times on my first stay. And I had room service breakfast on my second stay. But I also had another chance to dine at the Il Fornaio Restaurant downstairs on my second stay—for dinner with a colleague.

Room Service was great. Food was great and hot, and always promptly delivered. 

Il Fornaio food was outstanding...but the Thuraday night Service starred off very slow. They clearly were understaffed, and the manager did comp us a round of drinks by way of apology. The rest of our meal was great.

Overall, great food and beverage at the Westin.

Location

There isn’t much around, but the other major hotels are all very close: the Marriott is across the street, the Hilton is around the block, and the Four Points is another block away. The location is very convenient for me, though, as it’s jusr 10 min from the SJC airport and maybe 10-30 min from all of my clients in the area.

Overall

My stays weren’t perfect. But I still very much enjoy staying here at the Westin. The air con issue gives me pause, I concede, but they so try to take care of me despite my air con madness that I feel very taken care of, despite the air con weakness. I really do feel like I’m returning to a family I know well whenever I do come back here,