The Westin Palo Alto

Excellent hotel! Suite is as expected, very clean and luxurious! Staff is very friendly and professional! Complimentary wine and cheese when they learned we’re celebrating our 10 year anniversary. I’m SPG gold member and Westin is home away from home.

While this place was very accommodating, there were many flaws which is why I have to rate this place so low.
–the ice cream unfortunately made my mother sick
–when you order the steak at the restaurant or even for in room dining expect it to be raw. We asked for a medium well and a well done and both came out very raw. So they took it back and redid the steak for us yet it still came out raw
–they say they have valet services yet there was no valet. And if you saw someone in the valet box they just stare at you and go back to their phones. What a joke.
Unfortunately our stay here wasn’t great and I probably will not come back here again.

The room was excellent. The grounds were very nice. The people at the desk were nice.
BUT, their reservation/​receipting was a mess. Trying to get coherent receipts for my expense account was like pulling teeth. When I got home, I saw the receipt had only recorded parking fees and internet charges, not my whole bill. You can’t call the hotel directly to get an updated receipt, so I had to call the Westin/​Starwood number several times and got various contradictory stories and misdirection. Westin really needs to fix that. It would affect my choice of hotel, no matter how good everything else is.

I travel 50% of the time to Silicon Valley, and I’ve stayed at nearly every business hotel in the neighborhood. The Westin is just OK. I would definitely pick Stanford Park Hotel over this place any day.
Pro’s:
— friendly staff
— overall, clean & well-​maintained
— outdoor pool was heated in winter
Cons
— Despite physical proximity to downtown Palo Alto and the Caltrain station, it was super unpleasant to walk to the Westin. They do not even have a connecting path to the trail that runs behind it — you have to walk through a dark, empty parking lot at night. The building entrance and grounds are entirely car-​centric — if you’re coming on foot (like many of us in the 21^st century), this Westin’s facilities treat you as a second-​class citizen.
— Weird odor in the lobby. First time it smelled like an old person wearing insane excessive perfume. But then I realized they actually pipe that stink into the lobby ²⁴⁄₇ for some reason.
— Mediocre soundproofing. I got to enjoy the screams of the woman having really loud sex in the room next to me. Luckily she was pretty fast at it, and I could fall asleep by 10:30 PM.
— Poor lighting. My room had maybe 200 watts of lighting in the whole thing. It made it feel dark and depressing.

Still love this Westin after several more stays. What it lacks in amenities (small pool and awkwardly minuscule spa), it makes up for in cleanliness, calm, and location.
Last year we discovered the added attraction of celebrity watching. While partaking of our free Platinum member continental breakfast in the elegant mezzanine restaurant, I espied an unusually handsome man. HG recognized him as Serena William’s then hitting partner, Sacha. We immediately whispered the same words about a tournament, and in swiveling our heads in excitement, noticed a Bank of the West Tennis Tournament banner featuring Selena directly across the street. So here we are a year later coming to see her in an intimate playing venue, and she pulls out! I guess riding in the elevator with Patrick McEnroe kind of saved the day? Well it did save the Westin’s star rating because the purpose of this update was to warn against the small, vodkaless, garnish-​free $ 10 Bloody Mary the bartender served up tonight — that is, when he finally broke off his conversation to acknowledge my presence. Hope he doesn’t eventually bring the rating down when obviously others care about job performance — from the front desk’s efficiency to the shine on the bathroom floor, no ineptitude there!
Well, excited for tomorrow’s breakfast… thevtournament in the hot sun, not so much.

Easter Brunch: 2pm reservation
$ 75/​person. Not worth the cost.
Better alternatives out there. Standard food service menu with a prime rib and turkey carving station.
Someone dressed up as an easter bunny. If you have kids, bay club does a better Easter for $ 40 with more activities for kids.
Standard hotel food, high volume because of palo alto location. Low cost high volume menu consisting of low cost/​high margin filler items like oatmeal, scrambled eggs, soggy waffles, bacon, frozen sausage, cheese, stale cold bread, cheese w/​crackers, quinoa salad, strawberries, unripe honey dew melon, unripe cantaloupe, pineapple, cakes you get at the safeway bakery…
Marianis in santa clara @35.00 worth the cost/​wider selection of lunch entrees. Everything homemade vs the standard food service menu.
4 – 5 star reviews are not accurate.

We stayed 3÷26÷2015
Not a great place to stay.
Pros: beautiful hotel, great location, large bathroom.
Cons: they nickel and dime you for EVERYTHING; internet is $ 10 (interestingly enough, my 4G data on my cell phone did not work in the hotel at all, but magically worked beautifully 2 steps outside of the building — blocking data to get me to pay the $ 10 internet fee? Perhaps Westin is taking a cue from the Marriott who was recently fined for doing just that.); parking is $ 14 and our magnetic strip continually failed when we tried to leave the parking structure — such a hassle (no apologies from the staff for the inconvenience, of course); phony friendliness with hands out for tips throughout our stay; customer service every step of the way was poor and weird; we were never asked how our stay was as we were leaving either.
Too many cons to stay here again with poor customer service.
I thought this was a four star hotel, could have fooled me with the lack of four star customer service. There are many great hotel chains out there who have mastered customer service, they’ll get my business from now on.

This Westin is nice and clean and quiet. The bed is super comfortable as usual! It is convenient as it is within walking distance to University Ave where many restaurants are and about 1 mile away from the Stanford mall. The staff are nice and friendly. You do have to pay $ 14 per day for parking which is something I dislike about staying in the big brand name hotels located near downtown.

This Westin was okay. No huge problems, but the check in process was… strange. Long story short, there was an issue with my reservation. The issue was resolved (mostly by me), but afterward, when I asked about internet the fellow said, ‘Sorry, it’ll cost you $ 10/​day”. Whenever I’ve had an issue with a hotel the internet was freely offered as a small concession to my inconvenience, but not in this case.
I think he was new.
Hotel is close by many fantastic restaurants and shops, located very near the Stanford University campus.
If you folks have read my reviews, you know that customer service is extremely important to me, hence the 3-​star review. Everything else though, gets a 4.
Anyhow, the rooms were fine, clean enough. Had to unplug the unnecessary phone and alarm clock to get some outlet action, though.
If you’re fortunate enough to have access to their concierge lounge, you won’t be disappointed. The attendants were all very nice and extremely personable. Food was very fresh also.
Parking was extremely reasonable, valet or self-​parking. The self-​parking was right there on site for only $ 14/​day.
Had breakfast at the restaurant in the hotel and I must say it was outstanding!

This place is a dump. It is likely the worst Westin in the whole chain.
I came for a wedding and they got the nights wrong when I checked in. So I showed them my reservation and to prove I had a reservation. I spent a half hr waiting for my room. Was told my one king bed was ready. Go to the room and it is two twin beds that aren’t made with dirty towels in the sink. I go down to get another room. I have to then «prove» there was no king bed. I go back up to the room with someone and come back. 25 mins later I get a key for another room. I ask if bc I’m Starwood if I could get upgrade. I was told no, but I could get a discount on internet. I was under the impression that all SPg gold hotels give u wireless, a drink, and points. I was just given half off internet. Seems silly, but why so discount?
Well, in addition to bring discount the water in the hotel sink was brown. I tried to shave and the water came out of the tap brown. I thought maybe it was just the sink, but it was also the bathtub. All the water was coming out brown.
So in short, if u want a dirty room, with dirty water, and really bad service this is the place to go

Beautiful hotel. The valet, concierge, cleaners, waiters in the restaurant above — are all very friendly, accommodating and cheery.
We stayed on the first floor. The room was big, especially the bathroom! The only odd thing was there was only one bath robe.
Wi fi wasn’t free ($ 10) which was a bit of a surprise.
The location was very good. It was less than 10 minutes’ walk to CalTrain, Stanford, and eateries.
Private shuttle to the airport was about 30 minutes. $ 49. The driver was a pleasure to chat to!

I’m in the throes of wedding planning and Grace Wang (Sales Manager of Sheraton and Westin Palo Alto) is one of the best vendors I’ve interacted with during this planning process. I simply can’t stop raving about her and feel very at ease that our wedding guests will have a smooth process booking rooms at these Starwood properties.
I’ve also stayed at this hotel for a wedding in September 2013. Beautiful hotel. Comfortable beds. Nice staff. Accommodating of the large group that was there. I stayed in the standard room, but the bride and groom stayed in the one bedroom suite. I love that Westin smell and little green leaf soaps.

i would not stay anywhere else while in Palo Alto!
i love, love this Westin — amazingly cute, modern yet with a Spanish flair and right across Stanford.
But to me, the quality of a hotel is best judged by its service and its people (difference between a 3-​star and 5-​star rating), and that’s the part i cared about the most while i was there.
During my stay at Westin Palo Alto, i was greeted from the valet to the front desk with incredible, warm hospitality. Especially Omar at the front desk who checked me in the SPG room, which i loved! Omar was so sweet and absolutely a delight to talk to — yes, we talked about the Giants’ win!
I can only speak about the SPG room, which was amazing. I’ve stayed in other starwood hotels, Peninsula in NYC, Four Seasons in multiple countries, but my stay at the Palo Alto Westin really impressed me and left me with really wonderful memories. i will definitely be back, hopefully soon! :)

We stayed here for a wedding, and the location was pretty good for allowing us to explore Palo Alto. Kind of a hike to University Ave, but not bad.
Staff was always nice to us. Valet was prompt each time.
Rooms are bland, but nothing bad. Bathroom had a decent shower. This is a rather large hotel, so navigating the twists and turns of the hallways was a little weird at first. The TV is also like an on-​demand system, which is kinda fun.
Overall, not a bad place. Convenient if you want to be near Stanford.

Did not stay here but come here every month for real estate trainings.
Ate at the restaurant on the second floor and the food was decent but the burger is 17 bucks. Just remember they automatically add a 18 percent gratuity but when u get the bill there is a tip line. No need to double tip :)
Heard otherwise great things about the place. Super close to Stanford.

I first time came San Jose. I saw good recommand at
so i take reservation. Very clean and also pet is ok. Staff very nice here. And i think have a lot restaurant and store around.

Ick! The staff were a mixed bag. One gentleman was helpful. Most of the staff were rude and unprofessional.
The room I was assigned had several problems. It was on the fourth floor overlooking the medical facility next door. I got red bites. Every night.
I also felt an overall itching, I believed it to be too much bleach in the sheets, but in hindsight was probably an allergic reaction to the bug bites.
I called many times and spoke to a manager. The front desk was exceptionally rude and unprofessional when simply attempting to speak with the actual hotel manager.
The manager was polite, however she seems to lack experience in dealing with staff and customers. I have photos I will post of the bug turds on the mattress. Manager claimed they pulled apart room and found nothing. I left the turds undisturbed on their mattress, so I’m surprised they didn’t see them.
Never Again.
Palo Alto unfortunately is over run with slumbag hotels, but now the Westin joins the list. I recommend Avante in Mountain View for a superior stay. The pool area there is also nicer and gets better sun.
If you do get a decent room without a bug problem, the location of the Westin is excellent.

For a long-​overdue staycation with the wife (sans kids) we tried to get a room at our favorite local hotel, The Garden Court. Sadly it was fully booked on the designated nights. The Westin looked to be the next best thing, and this turned out it to be a really good call.
The hotel was nicely appointed, with large rooms and a friendly staff, plus a super-​convenient location — walking distance to downtown P.A., Stanford campus and Town & County Plaza.
It didn’t hurt that we had snagged a Travelocity deal for $ 150/​night. Quite the steal for what we got (I assume it was the off season, since school was still out across the street.)
The only negative was the wi-​fi, which cost $ 20 per day. But based on our killer room deal, I wasn’t complaining overly much.
We had a great weekend of sleeping-​in, reading, biking, walking, and chilling-​out in general. Downtown was a mere 5 minute walk whenever the urge to shop or to catch a quick bite overtook us.
We hope to return to the Garden Court again, but it’s good to have The Westin as solid backup.

I normally find hotels cold, stale and kind of creepy like the ones from an 80s hair band ballad video. Unlike other hotels/​places to do something shady I found this one very nice, clean and welcoming with a friendly staff, spotless facilities and a damn comfy room. The big, airy and well-​lit bathroom was bigger and more elegant than most NYC studio apartments and the big pillow-​laden bed had me passing out in a few minutes.
I can’t rate it 5 because they charge guests for wi-​fi which is pretty standard for hotels but at the rates they charge here it should come with your stay. Parking is $ 14 which is also pretty shitty if you’re a guest and some scones or bagels with their coffee bar wouldn’t hurt. Aside from those things I’d definitely make this place my regular.

This place is very nice and clean with super friendly staff. The valet attendant approached us with a smile and informed us that the self park is $ 10 and the valet is $ 15 per night, so we felt lavish and went with the valet option. The marble in the lobby gives this hotel a grand style décor. The staff was attentive and quick to welcome us. The check in process was straightforward and stress free. Unfortunately, they were unable to accommodate our room upgrade, as I usually receive. The walk to the room seemed endless with poor signage for room numbers, so intuition was required to locate our room.
The room was located off of the courtyard, which made the room a tad more charming. The room had a king bed arranged perpendicular to the television that was enclosed in an armoire. This is cool until you want to actually view it from the bed. Unless you don’t mind watching a third less of the television, the couch and sofa bed are a better option for movie night. It’s as if the furniture was arranged in accord with chaos and with no regard for functionality. In room WiFi access is $ 9.95 per night, however free with our gold membership. Upon inspection of the receipt, we were actually charged for the internet, but a quick stop at the checkin counter corrected the issue.
The bathroom was very large and had an open layout with separate bath and shower. The mirror was a hudge hit with Janet, as it’s surrounded by bright trim of light, making it very nice for getting ready for a big night out. Their Heavenly beds are nothing short of luxurious, as they are firm but soft at the same time.
Overall it’s a nice place but not the Westin standard I have become accustomed to. They do treat their Preferred Starwood customers with great care and that made the rating higher than solely based on the hotel amenities. As an example, to our delight, there were two bottles of water in our car when they brought it to us. They also informed us of traffic congestion due to an accident and offered a detour.