Westin Seattle
The Westin Seattle is located in the city center, not far away from 5th Avenue and only a block from the Westlake station and thus ideally for all, which want to use public means of transportation from the airport into the city. Monorail and streetcar stations are also close to the hotel.
Arriving by car is also not that difficult, but parking fees are high and there is no free parking in the proximity of the hotel.
The Westin consists of two round towers with 46 floors, which are connected in the lower floors. This connection accommodates the lobby, the restaurant(s) and the bar as well the sport facilities and the conference and meeting rooms
The hotel has two entrances. There is one entrance a level below the lobby level at the driveway, where also the desk for Valet Parking is located and the entrance to the self parking garage. An escalator leads from this entrance to the main lobby, where another entrance is located.
The lobby is spacious. If you reach the lobby from both entrances, you find the check in desks on the right side. There is a separate area for guests with elite status in the frequent guest program.
Next to the entrance is the restaurant „Coldwater“. The bar is part of the lobby; the main part is a few steps higher than the rest of the lobby, but the tables and chairs in the lobby are also served by the bar. There is also a coffee shop below the South Tower (opposite side of the main entrance) which has a few chairs and tables and also offers take away dishes, so you can enjoy your coffee and muffin in the privacy of your room.
The 22 conference and meeting rooms as well as a large ballroom are located on the two floors above the lobby level. These floors could be reached by escalator or with one of the lifts. The equipment like flipchart, project, microphones, etc., which is necessary for conferences and meetings, is available.
A business center is accessible 24 hours a day.
On the fifth floor is the gym, which occupies two – not connected – rooms and also the pool with an Jacuzzi.
The gym is large though also somehow a bit narrow. This impression might be caused by the fact that the gym has now window and therefore no natural light. The bigger of the rooms is equipped with treadmills, steppers, cross trainers and ergometers. Unfortunately there are hardly any machines for body training. The second room is very small, there are only two machines. The devices are modern and in really good condition. As usually at Westin the gym is open 24/7. Running Maps are available, if you want to run in fresh air.
The pool is quite large by hotel standards and it is quite suitable for swimming, even if it is not a lap pool. The Jacuzzi is midsize and six people could use it the same time. It is time controlled.
Changing rooms with showers and lockers are available. Towels are provided at the pool and also in the changing room and the gym
A Spa treatment can be booked, however as one can imagine they are quite expensive
There are four elevators per tower, what should be sufficient, but unfortunately during peak times in the morning there is a waiting time of up to 5 minutes, sometimes even longer. This is really something of a down and one has to be aware of this fact, especially during peak times. It would suggest you take an extra ten minutes.
The hotel has one restaurant, called “Coldwater bar & grill”. In addition to this restaurant, there is the “Lobby Lounge”, which serves also light snacks, and the “Fifth Avenue Corner cafe “.
The “Fifth Avenue Corner Café” is open from 06:00 to 14:00 and offers breakfast and also small snacks for lunch. All items are also available as take away. The style is a bit like that of a Starbucks but with chairs only. The place is not very big and it becomes really fast crowded and is in my eyes not such a nice place for a relaxing breakfast. The most people seem to use the take away option and have breakfast in their rooms or use the real Starbucks opposite the hotel. The atmosphere is called comfortable by the hotel, but I would call it hectic and noisy, because the cafe is rather small and it is more „self service“ and “take away“ as a regular restaurant or cafe. Comfortable is from my point of view something different.
The restaurant „Coldwater bar & grill“ is only open in the evening from 17:15 to 21:00 and on Friday and Saturday from 17:00 to 21:30, it is closed on Sunday. The atmosphere is smart casual, whereby one does not like to see jeans and casual. The courses are inspired by American food and the prices are mid range.
The lobby Lounge is open from 14:00 to 23:00 and serves also light snacks beside beverages.
WiFi is available throughout the lobby.
visited on: StarMegaDo 2
Stays November 05, 2010
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Arrival Date: November 05, 2010
Departure Date: November 07, 2010
Room type booked: Traditional (got Deluxe)
Rate Plan: Special SMD2 Rate
Room Number: 3334
Room Rate: 146.00 USD (excl. taxes)
Status of Guest Program: Base
I arrived in the hotel after an exhausting day and approached the check in desk and was friendly greeted by one of the agents working there. The check in desk for elite members of the SPG program was not staffed. Waiting time was not very long, since only one person was in front of me.
The agent addressed me by name and asked if I had a good journey. The credit card was verified with the one in the system and the keys to my room were given to me and explained how to reach the room. I had to ask for location of gym and pool and also about the location of the meeting rooms.
I had been upgraded from a standard to a deluxe room. The deluxe rooms are slightly bigger and have in addition to the standard rooms a corner with a sofa a lounge chair and a table.
After opening the door, there is a small hallway with the wardrobe and the closet. In the closet are plced room safe – big enough to store a laptop – and iron and ironing board.
The bathroom, which could be reached from the hallway, has a bath tub with the “Westin Heavenly Shower” shower head. Shower head as well as shower curtain were in good condition. The wash basin is opposite the bathtub with a large mirror behind it, which became foggy after showering. The mirror had a wooden frame, which looked nice. A vanity mirror was available and of course also a hairdryer. The bathroom amenities were Westin’s own product line. Towels were placed in the bathroom in small, middle and large size and changed daily.
Due to the building being round the room was shaped a bit like a trapeze.
In front of the window was the working desk with lamp, telephone and LAN connection. The desk chair is an ergonomic chair, however an older model and the height adjustment was somewhat not working properly. On the right side of the room in the corner were a sofa, which serves also as bed for a third person, as well as lounge chair and table. The coffee machine placed on a table in this part of the rooms. Coffee was restocked daily.
The bed is on the opposite side of the room and placed no in a right angle to the wall but diagonal to it. On the part between the rear part of bed and wall were some sort of board where a telephone and an alarm clock were stored.
On the left wall of the room in a sideboard were the flat TV placed and also the mini bar. It is nearly impossible to watch TV from the bed since the TV is facing the sofa.
The room was in a good condition, but appeared somewhat darkly and I am not sure, when it was renovated for the last time. It did not look out of style and was even cozy, however I would have preferred somewhat brighter colors.
The sofa had some smaller stains and the table a few scratches if one took a closer look. The mattress of the bed was comfortable since it was one the Westin Heavenly Beds and, even if I like it personally rather some more harder. It was however nevertheless one of the better mattresses.
It got a nice amenity by the hotel, which consists of a fruit plate with a small bottle of Cognac (minibar size). I did not know exactly whether this was a Platinum Amenity or a gift of the management as guests of a special event.
The view from the room was magnificent.
Bathrobe and slippers were placed on the bed and an additional one in the closet.
The internet is reasonable priced with 9.95 USD excluding taxes for 24 hours.
During our workshop in one of the meeting rooms we had some problems with the W-LAN if it was under full load. However, this issue was solved by the hotel Nevertheless it was a bit embarrassingly as the hotels claims to have a 60 MBit glass viber line for 1000 computers and we had only 50 computers at the same time in the system.
The staff I contacted during my stay was without exception friendly and helpful. Answer were given correctly and post and boxes which arrived prior to me at the hotel were stored free of charge.
Check out in the morning was okay. After my credit card was charged, I got the folio in an envelope. As usual I got an folio in the last night slipped under my door. I was asked also, if I was satisfied with the stay and the agent wished me a good journey.
It was a nice and enjoyable stay in the hotel. The location is very good and since the hotel is easy to reach from the airport, it is a very convenient hotel for a weekend trip to Seattle. The downside of the hotel is the lacking food outlet for breakfast and the waiting time for the elevators during peak time. The rooms itself are nice and cosy, but appear a bit dark – but this might just be my personal impression. The pool is a nice add-on as the gym is. The rates however are often quite high and only during winter season the rates are around 130 USD without taxes.
