Hotel Reviews – The Westin Los Angeles Airport
I have mentioned a few times that I stay in airport hotels far too often for my own liking. I’m not a fan in general – the fact that the majority of the passengers are transient can lead even the most established of brands to deliver less than their usual service.
Arrival
I arrived at the property via a drop off van from National Rental Car, where I had just dropped my convertible. (Pro tip – sometimes rental car companies will offer a hotel shuttle in additional to their airport shuttle services. At LAX, they drive hotel passengers in a minivan, eliminating the need to catch a shuttle to the airport in order to pick up a hotel shuttle.)
Check In
I waited a few minutes to check in as the front desk was busy. When I reached the front of the line, my Platinum status was recognized and I was given an upgrade from the double room I booked to a double executive floor room.
The Room
My upgrade room was 1268 – a room down the hall from the club lounge.
One of the beds looked rumpled when I checked in, but it just appeared to have been hastily made. The usual Heavenly Bed comfort applied.
I liked the small chair and ottoman in the corner. If there had been a tiny side table, I might have curled up here to watch television.
There was a small desk area that included a minibar with water and other dry snack options.
I thought the television was rather small for the size of the room – the countertop looked bare.
The bathroom was well lit and provided plenty of vanity room.
The bathroom looked dated with beige patterned wallpaper. The shower had great temperature control and water pressure.
My room had a robe, a nice touch for an airport hotel.
This property did have the first Heavenly Towel I’ve seen on my last several Westin stays. I guess they aren’t extinct after all!
Other Considerations
I love the fact that there is a Daily Grill in the lobby. That alone is a selling point for me for this property. On this particular night, I dropped my bags and then ran down to place a takeout order as their option are better than those on the room service menu.
There is also a club lounge. It’s not anything special and I usually skip a stop there. I stuck my head in this time to see if there was anything I needed but didn’t stick around long enough to even snap photos.
So my main issue on this stay was with a new program at the hotel It’s one I have not previously seen that allows users to text a dedicated number for requests one might normally make to the front desk.
As I documented in an earlier post, the program didn’t work well for me. At all (as you can see from the texts I shared then.)
I had wanted a champagne glass (or a wine glass of any type, really) so that I could enjoy the wine I had picked up at BevMo earlier that evening. (It was Thursday night and I had a date with the trio of Shondaland shows on ABC!)
I would have been okay if the hotel had ignored my text. But they did not. They responded to my request and THEN ignored me.
The Starwood Twitter team took notice of my displeasure via that blog entry. And told me they’d be contacting the property.
Maybe they did. But I still heard nothing.
Not a peep. Not even a simple “I’m sorry we failed you” or “the program isn’t working yet”. Radio silence.
I wasn’t expecting compensation. But the fact that the property couldn’t be bothered to EVER respond to me leaves a horrible taste in my mouth. In fact, I’ve delayed this report for a few weeks. I wanted that badly to give them a chance to somehow recognize my disappointment.
That spoke volumes to me about where this property is on the matter of guest satisfaction.
Check Out
I was being picked up by my sister that morning so we could catch the Golden Princess. I waited in a fairly long checkout line. I wanted to address the service failure issue. At the end, I didn’t have time. I had to leave before the issue could be addressed. I may have missed a critical opportunity to address the issue but waiting around wasn’t an option.
Summary
This used to be the best of the Starwood options at LAX. But now it’s a bygone relic of another era when Westins had a stronger brand image and represented a certain benchmark of quality. There are too many other options at LAX and with a Hyatt property coming online, I feel like LAX will require a loyalty switch.
If the property doesn’t fit, I must quit. Next time, it will be somewhere else, not the Westin Los Angeles Airport.