Westin Grand Munich
The Westin Grand Munich is located at Arabellapark, which is not in the city center of Munich but an easy 10 minutes journey by subway from “Karlsplatz / Stachus”. The subway stop is approximately five minutes to walk. The best way to reach the hotel from the subway station is to take exit “Rosenkavalierplatz” and walk straight over the plaza after the escalator to the street. From there the hotel could be seen and signs at the exit of the subway also indicate where to go.
The hotel has 23 floors and is a highrise built for the Olympic Games in Munich 1972. It is not the nicest building and part of the Arabellapark Quarter.
A driveway with a fountain leads to the main entrance while the entrance to the extensive conference and meeting facilities is to the left of the main entrance.
After stepping into the hotel, the guest found himself in a big lobby. To the right is the desk of the concierge followed by the check in desks, which are staffed with two to four agents depending on the time of the day and of the occupancy rate of the hotel.
Opposite the check in desks are restaurants and bar and the connecting hallway to the conference facilities. A staircase in the front part leads to conference facilities on the lower level. A second staircase in the rear part of the lobby leads to the lower floor with entrance to the parking garage and the ArabellaSpa, the Westin Workout, the Paulaner Restaurant and an office of Sixt Car Rental. Also in the rear part of the lobby are the elevators to the guest floors and the restaurant “café & grapperia”. Lounge chairs with and without tables are available in the lobby.
Four elevators lead to the floor with the rooms. The two top floor are club floors with the executive lounge located on the Penthouse level which could be reached by a separate elevator from 22nd floor. The floors 15 to 19 are SPG floors.
The hotel has 627 rooms including 28 suites in different room categories among those are 60 rooms which are decorated in local Bavarian style.
Deluxe room is the lowest room category and located on floors 5 to 14. Rooms are 30 sqm in size and offer tea and coffee facilities and the Westin Heavenly Bed. Grand Deluxe rooms have the same size but located on floors 15 to 18 and come in two different variations. 60 rooms are decorated in Bavarian Style while the remaining ones have the usual design of a (Westin) Hotel room. Rooms with a access to the club floor are located on floors 19 to 22 and have the same appearance than the standard Grand Deluxe Room.
The hotel offers also different types of suites. The smallest suite is the Junior Suite with separate living and bed room. Some of the suites have two bathrooms. Some suites are two connected rooms with one room being converted into the living room while the other room is the bedroom. There is a connecting door and there are also two entrance doors. Some Junior suites have only one bathroom and form my experience these are the ones an SPG Platinum is usually upgraded to. The suites have an average room size of 60 sqm.
The Westin Suite is 60 sqm and have a different décor and design than the Junior suite – it is more luxurious and less than the usual hotel room design.
The Deluxe Suite offers 90 sqm and the design and furniture and the used materials like carpet, wallpaper are more upscale. A dining table could be used for private dining settings as well as small business meetings. A separate toilet for guests adds to the usability for private functions.
The biggest suite of the Westin is the Westin Sky Suite on the 21 floor. It offers 160 sqm with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a private kitchen and a private dining area. One of the bathrooms is equipped with a free standing bathtube and a aroma steam bath. This bathroom has a glass window to the bedroom.
The gym is in the souterrain level but has natural day light by windows to a courtyard. If offers a number of treadmills, bikes, steppers and a few machines for training of the arms and chest and upper body. Weights are missing. Water and towels are provided and yoga mats are also available. Locker rooms are located in the entrance area of the gym, The gym is open 24 / 7.
A connecting hallway leads to the pool and Spa area. The pool is open from 06:30 to 23:00 on weekdays and 07:30 to 23:00 on weekends. It offers a pool with Jacuzzi, steam bath, saunas and a relaxation room with lounge chairs. The sauna is nude area and for both genders. More lounge / sun chairs are placed next to the pool.
A changing room with lockers and showers for each gender is also available and towels are provided by the agent at the Spa entrance.
The hotel offers a number of restaurants.
There is “Zen” on Lobby Level, open daily from 06:30 to 10:30 for breakfast and from Monday to Saturday from 12:00 to 14:00 for lunch and from 18:00 to 23:00 for dinner. It serves pan-asian cuisine in a nice setting overlooking a Zen garden in an atrium. Food is good and prices are a bit upscale. Service is okay, the attentiveness is sometimes not the best and the piano player from the bar could be heard in the restaurants, which could be annoying.
“Paulaner” is located in the basement and designed like a typical beer hall. Open on weekday from 11:00 to 0:00 and on weekends and holidays from 17:00 to 0:00. The restaurant serves typical Bavarian dishes for a competitive prices and the place is often quite full. The quality of the food is good and the service attentive.
The restaurant and café “café & grapperia” which serves snacks, café and patisseries, is open daily from 07:30 to 21:30.
The hotel bar is called “Ducktail’s – Die Bar” and opens from 18:00 to 02:00 and serving an extensive selection of cocktails and alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. There is often live music, which could be annoying as the piano is often quite loud and one of the piano players – there is more than one – has a strange attitude. The staff is of average attentiveness.
The hotel offers 16 conference and board rooms in addition to a ball room with stage. The board and meeting rooms are located in basement, lobby level and garden floor. As mentioned above, the conference center has its own entrance.
The executive lounge is located on the 23rd floor and could be reached by an elevator from the 22nd floor. It offers nice views over Munich. Computers and lounge chairs are available in the upper part, while the lower part has small tables with chairs. Breakfast is served in the morning as buffet. Breakfast usually offers hot items like scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon and cold items like cheese, jam / marmalade, fresh fruit, yoghurt, cereals and a good variety of different rolls and bread. Tea, coffee and fresh juices are also available on the buffet.
In the afternoon small slices of cake and cookies are available. In the evening hors d’oeuvres and small snacks are available in buffet style. Alcoholic beverage is available starting in the afternoon and throughout the evening. Usually it is two hot items and a selection of salads and finger foods.
The lounge is not small; nevertheless the lounge could become busy in peak time (i.e. in the morning during breakfast and in the evening when hors d’oeuvres are served).
The lounge offers amazing views over Munich.
Stays October 19, 2011 - October 20, 2012 -
Arrival Date: October 19, 2011
Departure Date: October 20, 2011
Room type booked: Deluxe (got Junior Suite)
Rate Plan: Beatthetimer Rate
Room Number: 1432
Room Rate: 99.00 EUR
Status of Guest Program: Platinum
I arrived at the hotel around 22:10 and was greeted by the agent at the check in desk. Given my late arrival the check in desk were not very busy. Two agents were on duty and no guest was there, so I was served right away without any waiting time. The agent retrieved the reservation from the systems and asked me to check if all details were correct. I had to correct a few things as one hotel had mixed up the information in my hotel specific profile – the former ArabellaSheraton Hotel have their own system. She confirmed my SPG Platinum status and asked me for my choice of amenity – I took the 500 points – and confirmed that I received an upgrade to a suite on the 14th floor with access to the club lounge on the 23rd floor. She also introduced me to the features of the hotel like wellness area, gym. She mentioned that I could use the lounge for breakfast in the morning but had missed the evening hors d'oeuvres.
I was addressed by name a few times and the the check in was fast and efficient.
My suite was located on the 14th floor at the corner of the building with views towards the back of the hotel and towards downtown Munich.
The suite were two connected rooms with one room being converted into the living room and the other room being the bedroom.
The keycard only works for one door – the one to the bedroom, which was not an issue for me during this stay. But if you arrive with guests you have to either let them pass to your bedroom for the living room or they have to wait a couple of second in the hallway until one is able to open the door to the living room. If you need the living room for small business meetings you should ask to program the keycard also working at the door to the living room.
A hallway leads from the entrance to the living room. In the hallway were two large closets with a lot of space to hang jackets and suits and also a dedicated place to store a trolley in the living room.
The bathroom of this room could be accessed from the hallway and was not as big as the one in the bedroom as it featured only one sink, toilet and a bath / shower combination with rain forest shower. Nevertheless it was more than sufficient as guest bathroom. Towels in this bathroom were provided for three persons in small, medium and large size.
The living room consists of one armchair and a sofa with a table and a sidetable at the sofa. A reading lamp and a desk lamp could be controlled by a central switch at the door. A flat screen TV hung at the wall opposite the sofa above a sideboard. A working desk was located in this room with cordless telephone, LAN access and desk lamp. A picture at the wall gave a nice accent to the room design, which was using a brown color scheme in different variations.
The bedroom had its own entrance and the connection door could be closed and the room could be also sold as regular room. In one of the closets were ironing board and iron while the in-room safe was in the other closet. The safe was large enough to store a laptop and had a power outlet.
The room had a king-size bed with two bedside tables with two lamps on each side. An armchair was placed in front of the window with a lamp. In the bedroom was a second desk with built in plugs and desklamp and another cordless phone. Opposite the bed was a second flatscreen TV.
Being this also a regular room, the closet in the hallway was large enough to store the wardrobe and clothes for a week long stay in the hotel. The bedroom had also its own bathroom, which could be accessed from the hallway leading from the bedroom to the entrance. It had a bath, two sinks, a stand-alone shower with rainforest shower head and a separate hand shower and a toilet. Towels were available for three persons in large, medium and small size. A vanity mirror was located at the wall next to the sink. The bathroom amenities were the Westin brand (shampoo, body shower gel, condition and lotion along with razor, toothbrush and soap). The hairdryer was placed in one of the closets. Water pressure was good.
The mattress in the room was comfortable – it was the Westin Heavenly Bed.
The design was using the same color scheme as the living room, warm brown colors. The furniture was in good shape and there were barely any scratches and stains. The style of the furniture was okay, but it had no local touch and was the kind of furniture which could be found around the world, i.e. no Bavarian style.
The coffee machine in the room was a Nespresso machine which came with three capsules in addition to a selection of different tea bags.
I missed the evening service but had breakfast in the morning in the lounge. It was the usual spread with scrambled eggs, bacon and sausages, cheese, jam, a selection of different types of rolls and pastries. The lounge was not very busy and the lounge agent very attentive.
I made a quick visit to the wellness area in the evening, which was still quite busy at 22:30. A number of people were still relaxing on the desk chairs along the pool or swimming in the pool. The gym was busy in the morning but not so much in the late evening.
It was a short but enjoyable stay and I have to give the wellness area a try during another stay. Relaxing in the sauna or in a pool after a busy day is something I try to do as often to recharge. And I try to squeeze in the hour or so to really relax. In so far having this possibilities in a city hotel is somehing I value very much and therefore I will stay there again. This is one of the down of the Munich City Hilton – the location is better but I miss the Sauna and the pool in this hotel. So the Westin will see me if it fits into my schedule and I am not in the need of a S-Bahn station underneath the hotel.
Arrival Date: October 20, 2012
Departure Date: October 21, 2012
Room type booked: Deluxe (got Junior Suite)
Rate Plan: Beatthetimer Rate
Room Number: 2114
Room Rate: 99.00 EUR
Status of Guest Program: Platinum
I arrived at the hotel at 14:00 and was greeted by the agent at the check in desk. She retrieved the reservation from the systems and asked me to check if all details were correct. She confirmed my SPG Platinum status and asked me for my choice of amenity – I took the 500 points – and confirmed that I received an upgrade to a suite on the 21st floor with access to the club lounge on the 23rd floor.
I was addressed by name only once but the check in was fast and efficient.
My suite was located on the 21st floor overlooking downtown Munich with nice views towards Frauenkirche, Englischer Garten and Marienplatz with city hall. The room consists of a living room with an adjacent bed room.
A hallway leads from the entrance to the living room. In the hallway were two large closets with a lot of space to hang jackets and suits and also a dedicated place to store a trolley. In one of the closets were ironing board and iron while the in-room safe was in the other closet. The safe was large enough to store a laptop and had a power outlet.
The bathroom could be accessed from the hallway.
It had a bath, two sinks, a stand-alone shower with rainforest shower head and a separate hand shower and a toilet. Towels were available for three persons in large, medium and small size. A vanity mirror was located at the wall next to the sink. The bathroom amenities were the Westin brand (shampoo, body shower gel, condition and lotion along with razor, toothbrush and soap). The hairdryer was placed in one of the closets. Water pressure was good.
The living room consists of two armchairs and a sofa with a table and a sidetable at the sofa. A reading lamp and a desk lamp could be controlled by a central switch at the door. A flat screen TV hung at the wall opposite the sofa. The lighting in the room was nevertheless a bit dark. A flower on the table and two pictures at the wall gave a nice accent to the room design, which was using a warm light brown color scheme in different variations.
The coffee machine in the room was a Nespresso machine which came with three capsules in addition to a selection of different tea bags. A minibar was also available with the usual high prices (Soft drinks (0.2 l) 4.50 EUR, Beer (0.33 l) 4.90 EUR, wine (0.25 l) 12.90 EZR and a selection of nuts 4.00 EUR).
The bedroom had a king-size bed with two bedside tables with two lamps on each side. On one of the bedside tables was a telephone and on the other was an alarm clock with iPod docking station. An armchair was placed in front of the window with a lamp. In the bedroom was the desk with built in plugs and desklamp. There was also a cordless phone, which could be used throughout the hotel. Opposite the bed was a second flatscreen TV. A walk in closet was also available, which had hangers and a place to store a trolley but not so much room to place items.
The mattress in the room was comfortable – it was the Westin Heavenly Bed.
The design was using the same color scheme as the living room, warm brown colors. The furniture was in good shape and there were barely any scratches and stains. The style of the furniture was okay, but it had no local touch and was the kind of furniture which could be found around the world, i.e. no Bavarian style. If you prefer Bavarian style you can book one of the 60 Bavarian rooms.
The lounge agents were friendly and attentive, but they had problems to have enough cups and spoons available during breakfast.
I had drinks before dinner in “Ducktail’s Bar” and the service was a bit slow and the piano player gave us some strange views, while we were talking together and did not pay attention to him.
The wellness area was busy in the afternoon but not overcrowded. The most people were relaxing on the desk chairs, a few guests were using one of the saunas while the pool was empty. The gym was busy in the morning but not so much in the afternoon.
I still like the hotel as it offers good value for money if it is available at starpicks or as beatthetimer rates. A well-equipped gym, a nice wellness area for a relaxing afternoon and a lounge offering nice views to Munich are reasons enough to stay in this hotel every now and then.
