CNWO4LIFE

All I can say is they do have the Bentley's! And I do not think the pool area has cabanas.

taylorc418

I had the pleasure of staying at this hotel on a Friday night using the FWN. We checked in around 2pm on Friday, and were upgraded to a Deluxe room. This particular room was overlooking the pool, complete with a walkout patio. There was a chair and ottoman, small side table, and larger coffee table. We actually were directly overlooking the lawn area - I presumed it was for lawn games such as bocci.

I spend most of my time in Westin's, so the St. Regis was a huge upgrade for me! The room felt like my home - upon arrival, we got a tour of the room and the various amenities. For someone who is primarily on business travel, this was great.

In addition, we ended up valeting the car due to rather sporadic parking around the hotel. This was complicated by the fact that my SO had to leave for work around 3:30am Saturday, but getting the car was no problem.

Pool - no cabanas, and people will come down early and throw books, etc. on lounge chairs to reserve them. I find this highly irritating as the pool area is small and so chairs are at a premium. Once the pool started to fill up, there were several older, 'enhanced' ladies making quite a bit of noise and using pretty foul language. A family was in the vicinity, and I overheard one of the bartenders telling the ladies to watch the language.

Once I figure out how to post pictures, I'll update my review.

CNWO4LIFE

Were there no suites available? I am really looking forward to staying there in Sept.

gregorygrady

That's actually a pretty good room he got and possibly better than a Suite if he didn't need the extra room. I THINK there's only one of those types of rooms in the entire hotel (Rm 835), but not positive. It's very nice because of that huge walkout balcony overlooking the pool. There are only 4 rooms with walkout balconies overlooking the pool in the entire hotel AFAIK, the other 3 being the Caroline Astor Suites I believe.

CNWO4LIFE

Maybe I can get lucky!

dingo

I'm at the hotel right now and have some mixed reviews on it. This is a free weekend nights award stay, two nights.

We arrived at 2:00. I entered the lobby to see if we could check in or if we would need to wait. There was a group of people speaking with the one reception agent so I stood behind them a few feet to wait for them to finish up. As I waited, Thurston Howell IV showed up...Biff and Muffy actually, right out of some prep catalog. Long sleeved sweater (this is Atlanta in August), sporty little dress tennis shoes and so on. Another agent came out from the backroom and immediately asked if he could help them. I laughed, at them actually, and waited my turn. Another agent came out, a nice young lady.

I gave her my name and she said our room was ready, and noted that my wife and I are here to celebrate our anniversary, that we have been upgraded and that our amenity gift was already in the room...despite my not having been asked whether I'd like the gift or not. It ended up being a bottle of wine and four little pastries; my wife and I aren't big drinkers of wine and I think I'd rather have had the points. Anyway, back at the checkin desk. She says we've been assigned a Deluxe room which is very nice. I ask if there are any suite upgrades available as I am a Starwood Plat member and she asked the other gentleman who had been helping the group. He immediately said 'no', but then proceeded to upgrade the next man he helped! All the while, the lady helping me was answering the phone when it would ring while the other two reps kept working with their customers.

We headed to our room, #935. It was on the corner and overlooked the pool with a Juliet balcony. I checked spg.com to see if they had any suites available and they did: St. Regis suites. So I called down to the front desk and asked about whether those suites were available for SPG upgrades; they are not. Just the Metro and Astor suites are available for upgrades. Ok.

We hung out in the room for a while and I started noticing this recurring noise...over and over again. It is kind of a dull thud sound. It started driving me nuts mostly because I had this feeling it was not going to be stopping...ever. So I went to explore and found that our room, 935, butts right up against the Staff Only room on the floor which contains a service elevator. Also, It seems that the ninth floor may be below some service equipment. At any rate, I called down to the front desk (yes, again) and asked about the noise and whether a comparable room was available. Answer: no, they could downgrade us but no other room was available. Not quite correct if you consider the several suites available online but I understand...they don't want to give those out so our choice was the room we are in or a downgraded room type.

My wife likes this room so she convinced me that I wouldn't have any problem falling asleep if I were listening to my IPod, which I often do when I can't sleep anyway. She ended up being correct on this, though as I sit here and type this that freaking noise is driving me up the wall.

So this morning I got up and started my day around 6:00. I went to exercise in the workout room and it is nice. It is one of the nicest hotel fitness rooms I have seen actually. There are plenty of towels, bottled water, headphones and papers available in addition to a few Nautilus type machines and a ton of treadmills, elipses and stair climbers. It also has free weights. Very nice, with a view overlooking the pool.

On my way back to my room I noticed those cute little newspaper bags on everyone's doors...except for mine. My paper was on the floor. No big deal, but really? Everyone but me gets a cute little bag?

There is no in room coffee, which is not that big of a surpise. There isn't any in the lobby either. So I called my butler and asked if there was any complimentary coffee in the hotel. The answer surprised me: if I had requested a wake up call, there would have been some coffee brought to my room as well but since I didn't my options were to call room service and pay or go to the restaurant. I asked if I could get a wake up call for five minutes from now...no. So I went down to the restaurant and got an 8 ounce cup of coffee to go for $4.32. I did go back for a free refill later but cut me some slack on the coffee! There was nothing in the room indicating that this was a benefit / perk...nothing.

So the room. The room is certainly nice. I've honestly been in Westins that are just as nice though if I were to overlook the TV in the mirror. It kind of reminds me of the Wynn overall. There is a huge bed; I think it is a California king. There is a fainting couch, a desk, a bench at the foot of the bed, a flat screen TV and a nice bathroom. It's a nice room to be sure.

You have to call down for ice, which isn't a new experience for me or a big deal, but I don't tip for ice. I'm more than willing to go get it myself so I view having to call down, wait for it, be presentable and so on to be an inconvenience. That might just be me though.

We took the Bentley to dinner just to ride in a $240k car. We tipped the driver $10 for a ride of less than .5 miles then walked home. It was a nice ride. The driver said they only have one Bent, with the other one being for show only.

The wifi in the room (at least mine) is dreadfully slow. There is free wifi in the lobby for up to one hour (haven't tried, but imagine you can repeat that free hour) or in the room for $11.95 for one day, or like $21.95 for two days and so on. You can unplug the phone and plug in to that port if you don't have a wireless card on your computer.

There is no complimentary water in the room, but head down to the fitness room on floor seven and load up.

The lobby for the hotel is on floor four, despite the fact that it is the ground floor...very odd. So going from floor 9 to the lobby means going down 5 floors. Point being, this is not a big hotel at all.

That's about it for me for now; I'd be happy to answer any questions folks may have.

taylorc418

There weren't suites available - I asked at check in, more for my personal knowledge of the upgrades there than the necessity - as I said, this was an in-town vaca for us.

IMO, this was better than a suite. I often feel guilty when getting a suite upgrade when I know not much time will be spent in the room, and I'm not really a room dweller anyways. The view from the balcony was amazing - we brought our own cooler from home (classy, I know ) and sat out there. The butler brought a champagne bucket along with another spare ice bucket.

taylorc418

835 was the magic number! And the concierge did mention that the other 3 balconies are about double the size, but are also attached to the Caroline Astor Suites - so you are correct!

troyintn

good to hear so many people are useing the FWN promo. I am going for labor day and looking forward to it.

CNWO4LIFE

Just finished a 2 night FWN stay. Was assigned room 825 Metropolitian Suite. What a great property. This has got to be the nicest hotel in Atlanta as of right now. Just the amenities in the room are mind blowing. Two 37 inch HD flat screens. A tv located in the bathroom mirror. A huge garden tub, that will fit almost any size. A Denon surround sound sytem, a Denon radio in the bedroom, nice minibar, climate and light controls that can be adjusted via the telephone, and privacy lights that eliminate the need to hang a do not disturb sign out. It even puts the new W Downtown Atlanta to shame, and it is a great property in its own right.
Housekeeping have a roll around type suitecase that rids them of the big maid carts that you see elsewhere, and where else can you be dropped off to dinner in a brand new Bentley?
Staff were tremendous and helpful. They even have a nightly champagne sabering for an evening toast. I cannot wait to go back.

dingo

Experiences are trending positive; I'd not return personally. Bad stay and apathetic staff on my stay, though a nice property that is immaculate.

CNWO4LIFE

I found the staff to be tremendous. I was going to ask you what happened, but then I read your review on the previous page. I agree though that they were some stuffy guests there.

troyintn

We stayed for Labor day weekend. Overall it was a great stay. Hotel was sold out, for the most part you would have never noticed as service was always prompt. Upgraded to a corner suite, using the FWN promo for three nights. We had a bottle of wine and some candy on the table when we arrived.

gregorygrady

FWIW, I'm 99.9% positive that Room 825 is one of the three Caroline Astor Suites (along with 827 & 833). It has the huge walk-out balcony overlooking the pool. Great Suite!!! The Metropolitan Suites only have a small 1-foot deep faux balcony.

I really wish I would have tried the Bentley chauffer service, sounds teriffic!!!

CNWO4LIFE

Just the ride in the Bentley, made my stay worthwhile. I really hope they run the free weekend night promo again, because of am itching to go back.