The Westin Kierland has a lot going for it, and the bottom line to any review is, "Would I stay here again?" and "Would I recommend it to a friend?" The answer to both questions is yes. However, I will be critical and share some areas that do need improving if this property were to be considered a 5-star resort. I have a background in Hospitality, and I do travel extensively, so I'm always mentally reviewing the places I visit.
The booking process was smooth and we used points. About a week or two out, being SPG Gold members, we were contacted through email by a Westin Experience Specialist. She inquired if there was anything she could take care of for us in advance - extra pillows, special amenities, etc., as well as what time we were arriving. Since she asked, I replied that were stuck with very early flights and would be arriving at the hotel by 10:30am.
Here's where it gets ugly. We did get to the Westin at 10:30. We were told our room was .not ready, but that it WAS vacant. Not a problem. We left our cell number, explored the resort, had a nice lunch, and checked back about 1:00. Still not ready. We walked over to Kierland Commons, did some shopping and checked back again at 3:00.... Not ready. 4:00.... Not ready. Finally, at 4:30, we get our room. The front Desk lets the Bell Stand know to bring up our luggage. We wait 15 minutes, 25 minutes, 40 minutes. Finally, because we need to start getting ready for dinner, my husband goes down to get the luggage himself.
Now, I know the stated check-in time is 4:00. Fine. But why did the "Westin Experience Specialist" ask me about my arrival time if she intended to do nothing about it? At the point that I responded and said 10:30 arrival, my reservation should've been flagged, so that "IF" there were vacant rooms, our check-in could have been expedited. As it turned out, my room WAS empty. Not once the whole day did anyone at the Front Desk call down to Housekeeping and say, "Hey, the Gold Member guests for room 1234 have checked in. Can we get that room serviced?" Definitely a breakdown in the process. We wound up waiting 6 hours to get a room, and nearly another hour to get our luggage, so Day 1 of vacation was lost. Kudos here to Douglass, who actually tried to resolve our issue.
The overall response I got to my frustration was that they were unprepared for all the guests checking in. Thats nonsense. The hotel has forecasts 3 months out, 1 month out, 2 weeks out, 3 days out, etc. There is no excuse to be caught off guard, or understaffed.
My second issue here was the main pool. It is fenced and gated, and opens at 9:00am. Every morning people stated lining up sometimes as early as 7:30am. Why is it gated? At the Maui Westin Resort (which I use as a comparison), there is no gate around any of the pools. People start filling in when they start filling in. I felt that the fence and gated entrance almost created a self-fulfilling prophecy type of situation. If you walked by the pool and saw people lined up at 8:30, you think to yourself, "I'd better make sure I'm in line tomorrow morning." Then the next morning, there's three times as many people. Then the next morning, there's double that amount, and they're down there even earlier! Luckily, my daughters are 18 and 19, so we were able to use the adult pool the whole time. But again, it detracted from the overall experience of our stay.
Some positives.... the Food and Beverage Department was fantastic! They went out of their way to accommodate my daughter's Celiac issue, they kept in touch with me throughout our stay, and were always hospitable, professional, and well prepared. A special shout-out to Jeff Barba, Mark Anderson, Giovanni (Deseo) and our bartender Jeremy (Deseo).
The resort is extremely well-maintained, beautiful and peaceful. The Lobby area was lovely and spacious - always nice to come back to at the end of the day for a night-cap or coffee. We also enjoyed meeting Highlander, Matt :)
So there you have it.