TechBoy

Has anybody had trouble with traffic noise in this hotel? My recent stay on the 16th floor sounded like the entire LBJ freeway was in my room. The manager commented that it was impossible to keep out traffic noise, but this was more than I've ever heard, even at NY hotels.

And for fair warning for others: this hotel does NOT have the heavenly shower. Big disappointment.

nyventurecapital

I just returned from Dallas and stayed at the Westin Galleria. First room I was given was on the 16th floor and faced the highway; combined with 30 mph winds, the noise was was quite loud. (This side of the hotel has sliding glass doors that add to the noise; the windows are not double insulated.)

I requested a room change, and was given a corner room on the 14th floor; these have about 2/3 the floor space of standard rooms in the hotel. (The first room I received is next to the corner room, and is the second smallest in the hotel).

I went back to the desk a third time and requested a normal sized room; this one had a buzzing sound from mechanical equipment on the roof of the nieghboring mall.

As a platinum, I was given access to the club lounge. It was a bit annoying to be given the smallest rooms in the property. The hotel also did not seem all that crowded.

ILUVCITIBANK

Traffic noise is definitely a problem for the west-facing side of this property, literally adjacent to and adjoining the Dallas tollway. Since the property is a narrow rectangular shape, running north to south, this means half the rooms of this entire property face this tollway. Ouch.

The tollway is so darned busy, all hours of the night these days, so my hunch is that it was not as busy when they laid out this hotel in this orientation and sound was simply not the issue it is today.

I recently stayed on the tollway side, 12th floor, and though the noise is obvious and chronic and can be a major problem to light sleepers, my family and I were ok with it. Don't prefer to get a room on that side by any means, but its acceptable, at least on the 12th floor. My guess is lower floors experience worse noise and higher floors are more removed from the problem.

I can say after numerous stayes going back several years, I *never* feel like my PLAT status has much impact there. The caveat is many of my stays are during the busy holiday season, and typically I'm checking in late, like 8PM or later, so logically the PLATs that arrived before me get the upgrades. (to counter that, though, I've always thougt upgrades were assigned and pre-blocked in the AM if not the night shift before, and if this were so, then I should hit an upgrade every now and again - has never happened).

BECAUSE OF THESE CAVEATS I can't ever get a sense of whether front desk is playing games and "hording" the suites, or is playing the spg loyalty game fairly.

Still, a bone, like a corner room, would be nice every now and again.

Bottom line - my family and I like this property because of 1) location, 2) location, and 3) location (proximity to the Galleria mall). Someday I may call PLAT concierge and play the game of "is a suite available for pay here", but usually don't fool with it.

As for heavenly shower and such - IMO, this property should be in for a fairly major room upgrade in a year or two. I have never heard such a rumor, but several of the bath tubs/showers I've seen in last year are in need of caulking, and presumably they could retro-fit heavenly showers if/when they did a room refurb. They are rolling out highspeed access literally last few weeks, room by room as they had access to empty rooms, so that will fix one of the two major negatives I've always felt about this property (no indoor pool, and no high-speed access). I still can visualize an incredible "holidome" affair over that outdoor pool. SO much potential for this massive outdoor deck/outdoor pool (though tiny), so little utilized, but I understand business downcycles of the depth and breadth we've experience do not invite and induce major upgrade and capital investments. May the future bring us some of this at this Westin Galleria.

FWIW, apparently the Galleria Mall, per se, exchanged hands between investors, and I believe the hotel itself did also. Maybe these new owners will consider a retro/refurb. Lurker, any idea on this ?

[This message has been edited by ILUVCITIBANK (edited Dec 12, 2003).]

Starwood Lurker

Sorry. No. I don't have a clue.

Sincerely,

William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

[email protected]

Doc Fraud

Why not consider going to the Westin Park Central? It's only about 2 miles further East on LBJ Freeway. Get off at Coit Road. I've stayed there many times and never had a problem with noise.

When the Sheraton Park Central, which is just across the parking lot, was under renovations, you could get a Westin room for a Sheraton price by booking at the Sheraton. Starwood would automatically transfer your reservation.

fenger

Depending on your location of work/play for Dallas, Westin Stonebriar in Frisco (10-15min north) can also be a viable solution.

The property represents what I like about Starwood. Fantastic staff, great facility and overall great expeirence.

Only beef I have with them is they keep forgetting to submit the 500 welcome amenity points (3 out 5 weeks in the last month and half), but that shouldn't deter you from staying there at all.

The Tom Fazio golf course onsite though has turned yellowed in the fairways, not sure if it's strategic or not (water conservation?) for those golfers who are going to be staying there in the near future.

[This message has been edited by fenger (edited Dec 14, 2003).]

ltlrdrkt

I am currently in this hotel (third room). The traffic noise on the Dallas Parkway side is a problem in some rooms but not all...not sure why that is... I think the higher up you are the less it becomes.

My first room was on that side, but I was being moved pro-actively by the hotel due to status. My second room on the 17th floor was falling apart in many ways and a move was necessary because they put me right behind the elevator on the 17th.

My third room is a next to corner on the 15th on the Galleria side which is nice, and bigger than the other two room provided.

Last nite I ordered up some room service, not to get into all the details, I ended up having to speak with the duty manager. I let her know my dissappointments with this particular property in a very cordial manner. I was offered the world to make things right. I am not the type to go after freebies due to mishaps. I politely let her know that my criticism is positive and meant to insure the same things do not happen to other guest (premium or not).

Long and short ...

I have to express that the hotel staff here has continued to pro-actively check with me to insure my stay is nice and ask if there are any problems. The first stay here has not been what I expected. I will come back here again though due to strategic location in my case and give a second chance. I suspect things will be nice. I am sure everyone here has had that stay "not such a nice day" stay at hotels. %&it happens!

my .02

wd

quoxton

Just returned from a few nights at the above property. Received the standard platinum amenity choices and a room on the "preferred guest'" floor (with lounge access, including continental breakfast and wine/beer in the evening) but found the hotel a bit sub-par given the price. It is attached to a very upscale mall, but this is of no interest to me. My two biggest beefs: my 'non-smoking' room had clearly been smoked in; and, while I'm sure we are all used to room -service charge excess, my 8.95 burger had added to it, in addition to a bevy of taxes, a service charge of 21% AND a DELIVERY charge of $3.50. That is just silly. I'll still stay at Starwood properties more often than not, but these sorts of added charges are extremely annoying...

BWI Flyer

I thought the Westin Galleria Dallas was OK -- just OK.

During a stay a year ago, I remember it making an impression on me that the front desk staff didn't really know what they were doing -- as if they were hired that morning. I arrived at 7pm in the evening with a guaranteed reservation, as a Plat, and no room ready, so I had to sit in the lounge for an hour. I've never had that happen to me when checking into a hotel after check-in time. Worse part, they didn't seem to care.

The rooms are comfortable, but not really my taste -- it's "old Westin," not new "Modern Luxury" (which I love).

I remember the food service charges striking me as odd as well -- and just led me to not tip the person who brought the food around. I wouldn't have minded the fee if the food was better!

So, good-sized rooms that you'll certainly be comfortable in and be able to relax in -- but the staff/services didn't impress.

shinbal

This is, IMHO, the "Motel 6" of Westins. I've stayed here several times over the last 5 years and have been progressively less impressed each time. I asked for my platinum amenity and was looked at strangely. The agent went to the back first, I suppose to ask if it was OK to give a Platinum an amenity, then came back and gave me a card without saying anything. I reserved a King Room and had to practically beg to be put on the club floor, having been told that they "really don't do room upgrades". My "21% service charge" burger was so bad I sent it back and tried two other entrees....delivered cold...and I finally gave up. I ended up bringing my laundry list of complaints on my last stay to the MOD, an assistant manager. He was young, but clearly a pro. He was intent on making the rest of my stay better, and taking my focus off what had gone wrong. Not much he could do - but he offered some SPG points. I just wish they would take some lessons from other Westins. The Doubletree right down the road is a much better service experience in the Addison area.

nyventurecapital

I stayed at the Westin Galleria Dallas in December and was also disappointed. I am platinum, and other than the amenity bonus, got nothing close to a upgrade.

The hotel faces a busy highway and windows are not insulated sufficiently to keep noise down.

The hotel seems to have generally standard sized rooms except for the corners, where the two rooms at each corner are small. When I checked in, I was given the second smallest room possible; it was also very noisy because of wind and road noise. (This was after waiting a couple of hours for a room to free up)

I went back to the desk, asked for a quieter room. This time I was given the smallest room possible.

Overall, pretty disappointing.

venk

From what I have seen, most of the hotels in that area cater to the corporate stays in the telecom/tech corridor rather than any touristy traffic. The margins on the former is paper-thin (the typical corporate rate for those hotels is about $80/night). Many corporate rates also negotiate a stay in club/executive rooms, etc. Even the Travelocity/Expedia rates look expensive compared to the corporate rates I have been offered at these hotels.

So I am not surprised by the lack of service, inabilty to upgrade people, and a lot of price gouging on extras. I have realized that I have been getting shafted the last few years without the benefit of corporate rates and paying high extras.

Try running a Westin/Sheraton at 4P room rates....which is essentially what they are doing for all practical purposes.

The best experience I have had are in hotels that cater to a healthy mix of corporate (so they have amenities and infrastructure for business use) and tourist (so they have high magins to sustain themselves) customers.

The Doubletree across the junction is much better in treatmeant but equally sterile.

ILUVCITIBANK

The "Doubletree"" across the highway is now Hilton's flagship for the Dallas area. It was reflagged in 2003. The old [smallish] Hilton that was west/SW of the Westin Galleria is now a Wyndham.

I agree - this Westin Galleria is not a lot to brag about and surely deserves a makeover sooner than later - it is perhaps my family's highest frequency starwood hotel due mainly to proximity to NW Dallas and Galleria, and we especially like staying here during the holidays, but I will admit in all my stays, the "best" room this PLAT has ever received was a simple club level room. Standard rooms always, never, ever a suite option or offer. They finally deployed high speed access in mid 2003 to most rooms. One of the greatest wastes of an asset IMO is the huge rooftop where the pool is. WOW, I can picture an atrium there and a pool complex there. Instead, a simple, square pool hardly worth going down to, especially on a sunny day in mid-summer. One will cook out there.

Hope on the horizon - I think I recall a new group has purchased Galleria and the hotel also sold (maybe to a separate investor group if I recall) in the last 6-9 mo, so maybe an upgrade is being looked at, especially given the so-called business cycle improvement. Or did they miss the real window to do a makeover and now will try to milk one more business cycle by these new owners ? We'll see.

bxwatso

Also, the hotel has a miserable restaurant (there's a fish place next door that is not affiliated). The executive lounge never had anything but some stale cookies. My Plat experience was the same - no upgrade, small room, noisy, outdated furnishings. Because my father paid for the room, I also got no SPG points or stay credits.

All in all, not nearly worth the money. I've stayed in much better Sheratons for less.

ThisDJ

I have been staying at this property for years due to loyalty to SPG and location of the Hotel itself, It always has been Lacking. This property was also the last Westin to install the Heavenly Beds, long after all of the other Westins had them.

You are much better off eating at the restaurants or in the food court in the mall, even getting a to-go order, than room service at this property. There are many food choices in the mall and not to far to walk to pick up your to go order.