Apr 28, 2010
I only travel to Whistler a couple of times a year even though I live in
the Vancouver area. I have been at the other hotels that are of the same
rating but I must say that this experience was a step above my other
stays in Whistler. The staff was very friendly and knowledgeable.
Concierge knew exactly what we wanted, and knew the perfect
restaurants/lounges and walk to recommend to us. Of course being
situated right on the hill doesnt get any better location wise !!!
Hotel Review of the Westin
Hotel Whistler
Apr 25, 2010
The facilities are so nice!! Nice pool, nice Spa, very nice restaurant!!
And the hotel staff is so professional and friendly. We really enjoy our
stayed!
Hotel Review of the Westin
Hotel Whistler
Apr 14, 2010
Where to start? There were so many things wrong with this "resort"
located in the best skiing in the world. It was my fifth stay in
Whistler and my first stay at the Westin.
Horrible lobby - not warm, not cozy, smelled of some chemicals one day.
Check in - didn't have the correct info from Whistler Blackcomb booking
Elevators - need updating, smell of the pool
Hallways - boot worn, industrial like carpeting
Firerock - slow service, old and worn seating, no views, poor food
The other restaurant for breakfast - made rubber eggs
The room - cathedral ceilings were bizarre, floor to ceiling windows
were freezing, balcony wasn't comfortable to use at all, view was of
parking lot and road and other roofs when it was supposed to be a
mountain view that was paid extra for as was the cathedral ceiling type
also paid extra for.
The doors were not balanced and wouldn't stay where you placed them,
drawers wouldn't stay closed on the furniture, the bathrooms had little
counter space, the showers were unbelievably tiny, the room had barely
space to walk around the bed, the TVs were tiny and at odd angles and in
nooks odd for viewing, a bulb was out in a lamp.
The shower was so tiny I couldn't bend out my elbows or if you dropped
the soap there was no leaning over to pick it up. The shower head hardly
provided enough water to make it a shower.
Early morning I awoke to truck and bus sounds.
The ski concierge does not take your poles so what good is that? Are you
gonna walk around the village with the poles? So you have to go up to
your room to put them away anyway. They wouldn't take your skis at the
tent by the gondola if you wanted a tune up for the next day or change
equipment for expected weather the next day. Wouldn't take your boots
either.
There was water flavoured with sliced orange and lime in the lobby meant
to refresh you upon return. Didn't work, needed refilling and was the
farthest away from the skiers entry.
The pool was tiny, down a steep set of stairs, with nothing to view so
we didn't use it once even though we packed swim gear specifically to
enjoy the "resort" pool.
The hot tubs were tiny, in an unpleasant location, crowded, noisy and we
didn't use it once. We went to look at it and were so disappointed we
just walked away.
The business centre fax didn't work.
WiFi charges are sky high. Just walk around to find a free one,
I just won't go there again. How sad to be in a great location, have the
best skiing in North America but have places as bad as this to stay and
charge you more than any other vacation we have had.
Hotel Review of the Westin
Hotel Whistler
Apr 9, 2010
This isn't the best hotel I've stayed in but it's definitely where we'll
stay next time for the pure and simple reason that the location is
fabulous. If you get a room in the East Tower, you come down the lift
and you're immediately at the ski valet area where you pick up your skis
(we weren't charged although we were told how much it would cost) and
then walk through the ski hire shop (yes, how convenient to be able to
hire your ski equipment without leaving your hotel?!) and then once
you're walked round a small parking area (takes about 20 seconds),
you're at the drop off for the little kids ski program. Another 20
seconds and you can drop off the bigger kids. So there's no trudging
through streets lugging your and your kids skis. Behind where you drop
off the kids is the Whistler gondola (and the Fitzsimmons chair which is
worth taking if the lines for the gondola are excessive) and then at the
end of the day if you ski down there's a handy little valet cart waiting
just at the bottom of the slope where you can hand over your skis so you
don't even have to carry them the 45 seconds (OK maybe a minute in ski
boots) back to the hotel. So if you've got young kids in ski school
(mine were 3 and 5 when we went) this is absolutely the best location to
stay in. It's also really quiet - we heard no noise at all from outside,
or inside for that matter.
It's a pity that I can't enthuse quite as much about the hotel itself.
It's not that there's anything particularly wrong with it, it's just
that it isn't quite as fab as the location. The check in lady was quite
excited about our room (she said it was her favourite in the whole
hotel) which was a one bedroom suite. It had a large living room which
looked over the valley (away from the slopes but towards the mountains
on the other side) and was great, but the bedroom was about 10 feet
square and about 15 feet high, with the window at 10 feet so you
couldn't see out (it had shutters fortunately). It also had no TV, which
meant once the kids were in bed in the living room we couldn't watch
anything and had to read - most nights we just fell asleep very early -
and the bed was a queen rather than a king and not a terribly comfy one.
In the whole suite there was also only one chest of drawers with four
drawers in it so we had only one drawer each for our clothes (and let's
face it you do need quite a lot for skiing) plus some hanging space in a
couple of cupboards (but not many hangers). There was nowhere to store
all the kids books and toys so it was a hard job keeping the room tidy.
Having said that another suite we viewed (but decided not to take as
we'd already unpacked) had two chests of four drawers. There was a fully
equipped kitchen but unless you've got very young kids or are hard up I
can't see why you wouldn't just go out and take advantage of the
resorts' many wonderful (and child-friendly) restaurants. I liked the
fact that we had a laundry room opposite - more or less essential in a
ski hotel with all those sweaty ski clothes.
We used the pool and hot tubs almost every day. Despite the water in the
pool being less than warm (but you kind of got used to it and it was
refreshing after the boiling hot tubs) by about 4.30 it started to
resemble feeding time in the shark pool, there were so many kids (and
adults) thrashing about in it. The hot tubs too (one inside and one out)
often had only standing room (or kneeling if you didn't want to freeze).
However, this was the week leading up to the Easter weekend which is
apparently the busiest time of the year and on our last day when we went
in the early afternoon we had the place more or less to ourselves.
And in the first week of April we had a metre
of snow so the skiing was wonderful.
|
