cwm143

Stayed one night at the end of September, was upgraded to a suite, very large and very nice. Large bathroom with a great stand alone shower, also a shower in the tub.
The room was spacious, with a very nice flat screen TV, we had 10 people in to watch two movies and everyone found a spot to be confortable. The pool was nice and a good workout room with the latest equipment too.
We walked to a nearby Chili's for dinner, the hotel resturant was mostly empty on the Sat. night we were there.
Earlier had a snack at the bar, it was the last night for the bar tender as he was moving on, said he was busy only on week nights, very quiet Fri/Sat/Sun.
That said the hotel has to be close to my most favorite Westin, everything well done. The front desk staff was pleasant, the shuttle driver very informative and a pleasure to deal with. Everyone pleasant and helpful.
The only issue I had was the key had to be redone 3 times in my 24 hour stay.
I will make sure to return when anywhere in the area!

thomas199023

Stayed here for a quick hop over in oktober. we checked in at about 10 pm and had to check out again at 5.30 am.

At check in we were greeted by a very welcoming woman, who was very nice and actually also was the woman who brought us to the airport in the shuttle.
when entering the hotel it really looks like a typical new Westin, whitch I really like.

We were not upgraded while I was still just a preferred guest. The room was very nice and it was a bummer I couldn't spend some more time in it. We had a quick meal at the bar (witch was very good actually) before heading to bed.

checkout was a breeze and the kind lady brought us without any problems to the airport to fly to SFO where we would be staying at the st Francis.

Compared to the st. Francis this hotel is heaven!

Next time I'm in the DC area I will definitely return to this wonderful property.

RUGBYS2K

Just returned from a one-night stay. I was in town for a family affair and this property was the most convenient.

We checked-in late in the evening and were out by 8am the next morning so I don't have much to say. I don't have status so no upgrade was expected. The room was in top-notch shape with no maintenance issues. The bed was in fact 'Heavenly'.

One small nit - - - we wanted a night cap and a lite bite to eat. Although Vinifera was still 'open', the staff had already cleared the bar of all liquor and looked to be locking down for the night. They offered no hesitation when it came to providing our drinks and food. However, my wife and I felt like we were intruding or keeping them late. If your open, then your open - - - no need to clear down. That should really only occur after last call.

Overall, we would definitely stay again when visiting family in the area.

WScottsdaleInsider

Well Hello There RUGBYS2K,

Thank you for your review and welcome to Flyertalk!

wjudge

I stayed at the Westin Reston Heights recently and overall had a nice stay. The rooms are large, and the bathrooms are nice too. A couple of things that irritated me:
1) It's almost impossible to hang regular hangers in the closet. There is a panel that covers the hanging bar on the front, making it very difficult to hang clothes.
2) There is a mini-bar in the room. I thought that I just wasn't offered a key for it. I went downstairs and asked for a key, as I wanted a bottle of water. Turns out, they only stock the mini-bars in the suites. OK, where is the nearest vending machine? They don't have vending machines! The lady working the front desk asked me what I was looking for, and after I told her I wanted a bottle of water, pulled one out from under the desk. I appreciated the gesture, but was looking for a cold bottle of water. She then told me that I could go to the bar for anything that I needed.

NJUPINTHEAIR

I assume that your minibar was working, though, right?

Although, it does you no good if you want a cold bottle of water then and there, I assume that they have ice machines with which to add to the water from the bottle that they give you.

A nice thing about the minibars in this hotel -- I was in a suite -- is that you can remove items from the minibar with no charge/electronic monitoring and put in your own items to cool.

wjudge

I guess the minibar was working - upon closer inspection, it seemed to be running with nothing in it...I don't know if they were even available to use empty, she didn't offer a key.

I think pouring my bottled water over ice from the ice machine kind of defeats the purpose...if I was going to do that, would have just gotten ice and used the tap water in the bathroom. I was just shocked that not one vending machine was on-site.

ttrltb

Had two stays here recently (between IAD flights and local racquetball). The hotel is in the same complex as the Sheraton Reston Hotel (which is a little funny, since the Westin, a hundred yards away, is in Reston Heights )

Our first stay was great and the woman who checked us in (Kay?) was lovely, professional and very gracious. She assigned our room and asked what status level I had, and I smiled sheepishly and said I'm still just Preferred Plus...then remembered with a smile, "but I'll get my gold here next Saturday!" She put our keys in a gold sleeve and we went off to our room. (The gold sleeve doesn't offer anything extra, but it was a very nice gesture that didn't cost a cent. Hell, they might've been out of the regular ones for all I know or cared! Still a sweet touch.) Turns out, the room we were given was what I guess could be called a junior suite: large room with sitting area, shower and separate bath. Very, nice for our one night stay.

Our second arrival was less impressive. I mean, room-wise, I expected it to be less impressive, but our check in was not the same. The young lady who checked us in was not as gregarious, but not rude either. I did proudly mention that this stay would bring me to gold, but she didn't comment either way. We went up to the room and for the first time since I joined SPG, I wasn't on an SPG level. It generally wouldn't have bothered me, but I'd blown through all of my gatorade and water playing and was looking forward to the bottled water in the room. When we got there, the small bottle was something like $4. $2-3 and I probably would've just stayed and drank it, but seeing as this was my elite qualifying stay, I decided to go back down and ask for a room on the SPG level. Without much fuss aside from the warning that there was no lounge in the hotel (already knew this) we got it, but again, it wasn't as pleasant as our first interaction. I'd previously advised my better half not to expect the same room, but she was not far off in noting that she was glad that our second stay wasn't our first, otherwise there may not have been a second.

Honestly, I'm not even sure Preferred Plus is supposed to be automatically put on the SPG levels, but since this happened every stay prior, I'd mentioned that I was becoming gold that day and the hotel was, I guarantee, no more than 50% occupied, I don't see why you wouldn't just put someone on the SPG level, especially for just one night.

As for other aspects of the hotel, we had no trouble finding self parking steps from the entrance. (I'm pretty sure they have valet, but I don't know the fee.) There is a shuttle bus that will take you to Dulles, the Reston Town Center (very nice) and just about any other place nearby. We looked at the menu for Vinefera, but nothing jumped out at us that night, so we went to the Town Center for dinner. The pool and gym are both small, but adequate and there is also a hot tub up there. As noted in other threads, the minibars in the room are empty and the staff doesn't offer the key, but you can get it if you ask (we stored our leftovers from dinner). I would estimate the hotel is about 30 mins from the National Mall in D.C.

Overall, I would likely stay here again, though I prefer the level of check-in service (even excluding the room assignment) of our first visit over our second. All of my hotel stays are self-payed and a pleasant, easy-going demeanor, a genuine smile, and the little details are worth a lot more to me than any discount, upgrade or incentive.

PS - I know the job can be hard, so maybe it was her off day...

ttrltb

Just had our 4th or 5th stay here and, aside from a slightly cold check-in once, The Westin Reston Heights has been excellent.

We were checked-in by a new staff member (shadowed by a more experienced one) and check-in went great, no issues at all. There was a little trouble with an uncooperative elevator, but a bellman took us through to use the staff elevator so that we could get to our room. We were upgraded to a junior suite, but this suite was different than the others we'd been in here. It was an L-shaped room, with the sitting area/living room on one side of the "L". It probably had a little more square footage than the junior suites we'd been in before, but it just felt a little odd, awkward. Anyway, the room was clean, though not as clean as usual, with some things on the carpet, something on the wall in the bathroom, and large white stains at the foot of the chaise, almost certainly salty shoes from the relentless recent snow in the area. Overall, hotel was still very clean though. Also, this room didn't have a wetbar, but irrelevant to us.

On our last stay as plat, there was a plat amenity of chocolates and Voss water waiting in the room. Later in the evening on this stay, a bottle of Fiji and small plate of berries & nuts was delivered to the room. All in all, a very status quo and pleasant stay here. I would have no qualms returning or recommending this property to anyone.

Now, on to the restaurant, Vinefera... On a previous stay we'd perused the menu and it didn't excite us. I don't know if the menu changed or just our tastes, but prior to our arrival I looked at the menu again on line and it was definitely more tempting...

While the dining room layout bears some resemblance to a hotel restaurant, the food was anything but "hotel-ish". As far as the food quality goes, this is a great restaurant...in a hotel. [At the beginning of my work life, I managed three different restaraunts in a resort area, including a black-tie Russian-style service place.] We had lunch, later an app & some wine, and then brunch in Vinefera and every detail of the food was excellent, from the amount of dressing on the Caesar's salad to the food temp of the breakfast (often hard to keep hot). I can be pretty indifferent about food, but our experiences were noteworthy. If I lived in the area, I would definitely eat here more often. BIG kudos to the chef!

FWIW, our res confirmation e-mail had a link to a 15% off coupon for food (not alcohol ) making this place all the better.

This place is quickly becoming our favorite property in the area.

nevansm

Sitting in my deluxe suite right now, enjoying a glass of scotch. I LOVE this hotel! I often have times where I have late flights after work and this hotel is great for having a good nights sleep, shuttle to the airport and is very convenient to my office for the day shift. As ttrltb mentioned, Vinefera is one of the best restaurants "at" a hotel I've ever been too. I eat here about once every 2 weeks and it's great. Their menu is always changing, great staff (if you like football Yung the bartender is an encyclopedia and awesome to watch a game with). The food is awesome, had duck tonight, was perfectly done. They also have a great scotch selection, awesome outdoor patio area with gas fireplaces. I will be staying here for random nights "just because" more in the future. I've never not gotten an upgrade, and I've never booked a room more than a day in advance, usually on points. This truly is a gem in the Westin brand.

mahasamatman

I'm disappointed they don't offer free breakfast to Platinums on weekends like both Reston properties do.

ATL-Bri

I believe I have spent at 130-150 nights at this hotel in the past three years. Some observations:

Overall they have very comfortable rooms with the Heavenly beds and usual amenities.

Rooms on the even side face the Dulles Toll Road. Rooms on the odd side and rooms with n00 face the south which looks out upon an apartment/condo and the Reston golf course. I prefer the even side, as I rarely can hear the road noise. Warning here - if you get a balcony suite the road noise bumps up significantly.

Speaking of suites - the suites are nice with bed, pull-out couch, side bar, chair, ottoman, and mirror-top coffee table. The televisions are HD with Showtime instead of HBO. Most of the suites have a bath robe hanging on the bathroom door, but that is not always guaranteed. On the toll road side are the balcony suites with a small outdoor balcony with a small table and chairs. The hotel also has two workout suites which are a standard king room with an extra room with television with workout tapes, yoga mat, and either a treadmill or stationary bike, but they limit these suites to guests who are staying two nights or less. The only downside with the suites and handicap accessible rooms is that housekeeping can get lax with the walk-in showers which may have a little mold/mildew in the tile grout.

The workout facility is very nice with modern, clean machines and a few weight stations. There is room to stretch and complementary headphones. The hotel also has a pool and hot tub with a lifeguard on duty. They also advertised free workout clothing and shoes, but I never took advantage of that service.

The front desk staff is helpful although they can get overworked on occasion when large groups arrive. The staff can set you up with the hotel shuttle which goes to the airport and local shops. They were able to provide a crib for two of my stays, a small refrigerator for three stays, and took care of four maintenance items for me over the three years.

The key card demagnetization issue seems to have been cleared up over the past year. You have to use key cards to utilize the elevator. One warning on the left elevator. If you cause the doors to open too many times or hold the doors open, the elevator will stop working.

Food is good at Vinifera - it is mostly tapas. Bar selection is fairly large. Service is good - including providing unique items such as cigar ashtrays. The outside restaurant area is nice in the Spring and Fall. They continue to update the menu with the seasons. The only downside is that drink prices are on the high side (to me anyway).

Overall – it is a nice hotel for a business trip or short term stay. If they added a spa, this would be a welcome retreat from the hustle of downtown DC.

thelostshark

I stayed here one night prior to a flight. The hotel is very nice, and the front desk folks were friendly and professional. I had a gargantuan room (altho I think it was not a suite). The airport shuttle runs every half hour in the morning, and that was quite convenient.

A glitch occurred with my internet password, which didn't initially work. I called down to the front desk, and was told that I had mistakenly been assigned to the 8th floor, instead of the 7th, and that this was why I couldn't get internet acess. (You needed to enter a password and your room #.) She then asked if the room was all right for me, and since the room was so large, and I had already unpacked enough things to make it a bit of a hassle to change rooms, I told her it was. And truly it would have been, but for the noise discussed below. I'm not sure if the room on the 7th floor was better or worse (I'm a PLT, fwiw).

Anyway, the internet access was quickly fixed, and I settled in for the evening, but after a while I heard this periodic noise coming from above. Almost like you hear when a train is idling in a station; or a dry that's knocking. It wasn't a constant noise, but enough to be annoying. It lasted for some time (a couple hours maybe??). I'm not sure if it was renovations or what.

If I had been staying there for more than 1 night, I would have said something, and perhaps asked to change rooms. As it was, the noise stopped before it was time for bed, so I didn't tell anyone about the issue.

Beyond that, one thing I liked about this location was that there was a restaurant that you could walk to, unlike some of the SPG properties near Dulles.

I'd definitely stay here again. tls

stimpy

I didn't see it mentioned in this thread, but as the Westin and Sheraton are the same owners and management, Westin Platinum guests are free to use the Sheraton Club lounge. I don't think they have much in the evening. I only went over for a few calories at breakfast. That way I kept the 500 amenity points.

Got upgraded to a huge exec suite (502) with a wet bar. ^

I sat at the bar the first night and I had rack of lamb with risotto and it wasn't too bad.

NDDomer86

Per the front desk agent that I spoke to a few nights ago, this property implemented a new policy this week that all guests including Platinums must pay to upgrade to any type of suite (Junior, Deluxe, etc). He stated that this had made a lot of guests unhappy, but that the property now requires a minimum of $20/day upgrade fee even if one is a Platinum guest.

I contacted the Platinum Concierge to see what room is attached to a Suite Award booking and she stated that it was a Deluxe Suite, but that some properties have chosen not to upgrade Platinums to suites and it was at their discretion to do so.

I have not clarified this with Starwood Corporate Customer Care yet, but perhaps a Lurker can offer insight?

I ended up booking next door at the Sheraton instead, who despite sharing Management, has not implemented such a policy yet.

The Night Auditor did state that this change was slowly rolling out. Guess this is one of the "great" enhancements of the merger with Marriott...