itsaboutthejourney

As someone who has stayed at both props, I want to remind the OP and others that you are choosing between two excellent hotels in the SPG system. You can hardly go wrong.

There are pros and cons to both, bottom line is that you will be in a great hotel, amazing city and treated well by Starwood at either.

That said, I agree Westin is a bit more "Americanized" but they have been VERY good to this PLAT.

SRG is one of the nicer hotel I've ever stayed, and the location to Termini and equal distance to many sites as Westin is another plus.

I might add that the Westin seems a little more family and the SRG is more business-world-diplomat-y.

Enjoy Roma!

jamienbaker

Not sure if you're a runner, but if you start your days with a jog, Westin location is better.

Hotel Eden has a fabulous rooftop bar.

Running and drinking...

stephem

My question has to do with the decor. The St Regis sounds kind of old school, and I'll admit it, I'm into more modern style. I looked at the pics on the websites and the Westin rooms look like a clean, modern style, while the St Regis looks like, well like a museum but not somewhere I necessarily want to sleep. I am much more inclined to stay at a Park Hyatt than a St Regis or classic european Luxury Collection property. Given that, it sounds like I'll be happier at the Westin. Any thoughts?

mario33

As a non-American I am quite amused to read how some posters describe the rooms at the Westin Excelsior as being "Americanised"

The Deluxe rooms ("Empire" style) at the Westin Excelsior can appear quite gaudy to some, with bright red/green wallpaper. I think I would go mad if I had stayed in there for more than 1 hr. The grey bathroom marble are also quite gloomy

The Grand Lux rooms/suites are much easier on the eyes with pastel brown wall coverings and dark polished wood. Spacious bathrooms with expensive beige marble, very impressive

W2B Globetrotter

agree with mario33 (both are old-world elegant)

you're not going to find a "modern-style" *wood in roma, or many modern hotels for that matter. if contemporary is that important to you, i would go with either hotel de russie (spanish steps/piazza del popolo) or boscolo hotel aleph (via veneto)
http://www.hotelderussie.it/
http://www.boscolohotels.com/hotel.cfm?SectionId=660

vthokies

I guess the decision has been made for me. Only the STR is available for the dates I am travling to Rome. Reading through the posts, it sounds like most people agree that the STR is a wonderful hotel, regardless of whether they prefer the Westin. I'm looking forward to it!

SC-G

Does one of these two have a Club Lounge?

Life_Platinum

We stayed at the St. Regis last week and were delighted with the room and the service, and would gladly stay there again. Based on Jottoson's description, we thought we were given a Junior Suite that resembled the characteristics that were posted. Our sitting room was the largest of the three rooms through which we entered and then went into the bedroom, slightly smaller than the sitting room. The marbled bath was fantastic with a walkin shower, a tub and dual sinks, and the three rooms together we estimated totaled about 500 square feet. The window over the bathtub overlooked the small piazza, however to investigate the neighborhood, one had to be standing in the bathtub!

As I walked to the elevator to the sauna, I noted that the room chart for the entire floor was posted in multiple locations, so I compared our room (#216) to other rooms not only on our floor, but also on the other floors of the hotel. (I walked each of the floors of the hotel to do this and compared the rooms amongst floors. At least for the suites, it appeared that 223 and 231 were the only suites larger than the one that we had; one of these was the Royal Suite (the largest), and the other was the Decorator's Suite. Rooms 116, 216, 316, and 416 appeared to be same size as they were corner rooms on the left front of the hotel, but the large suites (223 and 231) were unique to the second floor only. Included in our room was a book containing a description of the art work in the hotel, or some of the special suites, and the designer responsible for decorating or designing the special rooms. My wife agreed with others who described staying in this hotel as sleeping in an art museum, as art was generously hung through our room, and the furniture was that of the 1800s. I was told that the hotel has the oldest operating elevator in Rome, with an installation date of 1894. This elevator is located at the back end of the hotel and is used for transportation to the sauna.

The room and the furnishings were well maintained, and we were unable to notice very many blemishes in the physical plant, except perhaps in our bathroom near the toilet where the baseboard was in need of minor repair.

Truly a spectacular hotel which we favored over the other three Starwood properties (Naples Excelsior, Costa Smerelda Calle de Volpe, and Le Merdien Chia Laguna) that we stayed in. However these three others were superb, but in other ways.

zzboba

I doubt that the STR room maps are 100% correct. I've seen rooms/jr suites twice as big as the adjacent rooms but they all appeared on the map with the same size.

Anyway, I second your impressions about the STR. Nice hotel! Just the jelly-like scrambled eggs are unworthy for such a property.

rikahlberg

I was at the Westin Excelsior last year as a plat (for a week) and the room I had that overlooked the Via Veneto was a very opulent, gilt, over-the-top European palace kind of room (the walls were red). In my experience, the Excelsior is much more Luxury Collection than your typical US Westin. I'd expect the Le Meridien Hotel Eden would better match your tastes; its style is a bit more restrained.

ghia74

Based on the points devaluation I decided to pull the trigger on a trip to Italy for August. We will spend 5 nights in Rome. Based on what I read here I decided to save the 32,000 points and go with the Westin. This will be the first trip to Rome for me and Mrs Ghia74 and is all tourism. We are also bringing my 1 year old son. Couple of questions:

1. Neither the St. Regis or Westin has a lounge, correct?
2. How is the gym at the Westin, is it better then the St Regis?
3. Anyone have experience using the Westin concierge for tours?
4. I see sites such as the Coliseum, Vatican and Pantheon are more than a mile from all the Starwoods, are they all easy walks with a stroller from the Westin?

mecabq

OK, I have read all of the threads about these three properties (thanks, all, for great information). I am leaning toward the Excelsior, but thought that I would post my areas of priority and get some more opinions since this thread is a bit old. I will be traveling in February for a two-night, hopefully romantic, stay. I will pay for one night and redeem points for a second night (prices are all about the same, about EUR 300, and of course they are all Cat. 6).

Location: The consensus seems to be that Eden and Excelsior are in a nicer neighborhood, and both these and the location of the St. Regis have advantages and disadvantages in terms of proximity to sites. Neighborhood is more important to me, since I understand that it's easy to walk everywhere in the city anyway. True?

Breakfast/lounge: The Eden and Excelsior don't have lounges for Platinum members. Does the Eden? We like eating breakfast at the hotel (either in the lounge or buffet), and would be willing to pay the typical ridiculous European prices of 40-50 euros if the breakfast is really nice. (Of course complimentary breakfast for Platinum would be great, but apparently not offered.) Any comments on this? I haven't seen a lot of reviews.

Room style and upgrade: It seems like the Excelsior is a bit more modern/"Americanized," while the other two are more of the classic European/older/elegant style. I don't really need a suite, but it seems like a room with a terrace over Via Veneto (at Excelsior) would be the most desirable feature of a room at any of these three properties. It seems, from the anecdotes at this forum, that such an upgrade should be pretty easy to come by as a Platinum this time of year? (I know, I know: Rightly, the only sure way to guarantee such a room would be to book it specifically and pay the higher rate.)

King bed comfort: Any comments about the Eden and St. Regis? Excelsior seems fine.

Service: Most of the horror stories about service, especially at the Excelsior, seem to be older (e.g., 2003). I wouldn't consider myself a needy guest (I am like a few posters who don't feel like arguing or bribing the front desk to gain amenities), but of course expect helpful basic service, like a concierge who can give directions or dining recommendations. (I just came from the Marriott in Paris, and I can't tell you how many times the front desk responded to a very basic question, like "do you have a map for walking around" or "how to I get to Disneyland," by saying, "please go see the concierge over there" only to have the concierge desk unmanned. )

Any thoughts?

ghia74

I did the comparisons between the hotels for my stay in August and went with the Excelsior for a five day stay. I preferred the location to the St Regis which was too close to train station area for my liking. While St Regis is closer to the Colosseum and forum, we enjoyed walking there and back our first day as we got to see a lot of the city. The other times we simply hopped on the subway. The Westin is closer to some great restaurants (we ate breakfast at the cafes across the street so can no speak to the Westin's hotel breakfast). It is also an easy walk to the Trevi fountain, Spanish Steps, Pantheon, and Villa Borghese. All sites we liked seeing at night.

As a Platinum I got a Grande Luxe which overlooked the Via Vento. Nice room but I have received better upgrades. We did utilize the gym and pool which was a plus to escape the heat which is not an issue for you in February. As for the concierge service they were helpful with giving directions and allowed me to use their phone when I wanted to arrange a tour of the Vatican.

I note that your trip is a brief romantic get away. Mine was a see the sites trip with my wife and my 1 year old son. When I booked, the Westin was a Cat 5 and I was doing a points stay. So the significant point difference was the biggest reason for choosing the Westin, if all things we equal I might have chosen differently. If you've read the posts here you will see that there is not much of a consensus of which is the better choice. They are all nice hotels and I think everyone here will agree you will have a great time in Rome. Enjoy!

Keith009

There is no club lounge at the Eden in case anyone is wondering.

kyushuman

Stayed at St. Regis 3 nights in late November with a friend. Paid 230Euros/night, using the SPG buy-two-get-one-free promo, which is likely still available. There is also a 20% off a 2-night stay promo; look for that, too. I'm not on my normal computer or I'd give you the link. Anyone know it?

St. Regis is really a nice hotel, and the neighborhood is NOT that bad--we were really concerned about it, but it's about 2 blks to the main shopping street that you can take (with constant buses) all the way to quite near Trevi and the Colosseum. No, Termini isn't so lovely, but we walked 4x between the hotel and Termini, at night and day,and not a soul so much as approached us. Restaurants in the area were OK, too, and not as touristy. We even ate at a good Eritrean (!) place about a 5-minute walk from the hotel, kind of near Termini.
As for the room, we paid for the lowest category, and as a Plat, I was upgraded to a Corner Suite---really nice, 2 large rooms with a HUGE bathroom overlooking Via Veneto. Separate marble tub made for a great relaxing soak after days of sightseeing!
Still, the SPG hotels in Rome are SO expensive, I'm not sure I'd do it--and we had a good rate. The Sofitel, for example, is located right off the Spanish Steps, is often under 200 Euros/night, and offers breakfast in many rates, and is rated very high on Trip Advisor. (FYI!).