JNelson113

I have stayed at the Westin Prince twice in the last few months. Both times, I was automatically upgraded from a standard room to a deluxe room, which is a little bigger and has a view of Toronto. However, I have never managed to get a suite. When I asked if a platinum suite upgrade is available, both times I was told "you have already been upgraded to a deluxe room". When I continued to ask about the suite, I was basically told the same thing. The front desk did not check to see if there were suites available.

Has anyone received a platinum suite upgrade at this property?

[This message has been edited by JNelson113 (edited 07-12-2002).]

JNelson113

bump. Still wondering about this . . .

777RJ

I did a search on the Starwood board but nothing turned up. I have a few questions about the Westin Prince Toronto

1) How are the rooms? Do they upgrade Platinums?
2) Do they have an executive lounge?
3) Do they give breakfast coupons to Platinums?

Thanks,
RJ

choptliva

At the Westin Prince page of the spg website they show the hotel's email address. You might want to try emailing them with your questions. Last time I sent them an email, they replied within a few hours.
It's a pretty nice hotel, but I don't know about Platinum benefits...only a lowly gold myself.
The Prince is not in the downtown area, and not walking distance from the subway. But parking is free... Just in case you're looking for downtown Toronto activities, this is not the most convenient location.

Jono

Upgrades for Platinums is usually a high-floor room with a view of the surrounding industrial and commercial areas, but nothing to write home about.

No exec lounge or breakfast coupons.

kathnunley

I've searched the Toronto Starwood thread but most posts are mixed and rather old. I've got work next month in Whitby, so my closest *wood seems to be the Westin Prince.
Has anyone been there lately? Parking still free? Any breakfast, etc for Platinums? Overall views?

yyznomad

Was there for 2 nights in April.

- Parking is free. Lots of space.
- No extra ameneties other than the Platinum Amenity Gift selection
- No bkfast/lunch/dinner/snack/drink vouchers offered. Doesn't hurt to ask.

- This property definitely looks like it was previously some sort of highrise residence.
- Some of the front desk staff I encountered came off as pretty much stupid at times
- Furniture in rooms was not to Westin standards (and old)... only the Heavenly Bed and Shower were to standard.
- Overall a subpar Westin. I have nothing glowing to say about it.

choptliva

I actually had a very good experience there. Had a corner floor high floor with a nice view. Room was spacious (it's a "deluxe" room, which is a bit larger than their standard rooms), and furniture/decor was standard Westin. Large marble bathroom, with separate bathtub and shower (the two shower head variety). Fridge in room, which was great. High speed internet for CAD$10 a day. Parking no longer free, but at around CAD $9 a day still not bad. Had a great dinner at the Le Continental restaurant. Very pleased with the service and the food.
Overall, we were very very happy with our stay there, and would definitely go back. While this is not the best Westin there is, I've seen much worse.

kathnunley

Thank you both for the input. Looks like it is still mixed reviews!!
I'll take my chances as neither of you said it was awful.

kathnunley

At 9am this morning, the fire alarm went off at the hotel. As I have a late afternoon appointment, I'm still in my pajamas typing on my computer. I grab my wallet, room key and laptop, throw a jacket over my nightgown and run down 16 flights of stairs. Several people are following me and in front of me and we're all hussling down and out. Once we leave the fire escape we're standing in the side yard of the hotel and life outside looks like business as usual. We wander around front were the bellman is staring off into space, then stops to give a woman directions somewhere. As I approach, he turns and asks if I need something. I ask about the fire alarm and he seems oblivious. "I don't even pay attention to those things....I used to live in an apartment where they went off twice a week." No help here, so a couple of us wander back into the lobby where people are sitting around having breakfast, bellman are carrying suitcases and two people are behind the check-in desk doing paperwork. I approach one lady who looks up "Good morning, May I help you?" (As though I'm just checking in for the day!) HELLO, I'm standing in your lobby in my nightgown, clutching a laptop, in my barefeet and the fire alarm is still ringing....and you ask, "can I help you?"
After my question, she says it was just a false alarm due to the construction on the 3rd floor and that the elevators are probably working again..."sorry for the inconvienence".

To me a fire alarm is taken seriously. While you may know it's a false alarm as you work here and it may go off on a daily basis, the guests don't know that. Someone should be outside at the fire exits to assist guests. A person should be in the front letting us know what's going on. I stay in a hotel about once a week and this is a first for me. I just ran down 16 flights of stairs in my nightgown and was worried and tired.....I don't think it's too much to ask that management have some better follow-up for this event.
Yes, I"m glad the alarm works and very glad it wasn't a fire....but alarms should always be taken seriously and the attitude at this hotel seems to indicate otherwise.

Bulldog King

When something similar to that happened to me recently at the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani, I would have been quite glad if the alarms had gone off at 9am....and not around 11:15PM....with the "all clear" sounding right around midnight no less.

And this was during my first night in Hawaii......after I just spent a whole day travelling from NYC to Honolulu and was quite tired.

Note: Entertainment was still going on down by the pool when the alarms first went off......and IIRC, the music didn't stop.

When I asked about it the next morning......I wasn't told if there had been an actual problem....or it was just a false alarm. Actually, it seemed like the desk clerk that I spoke to didn't even know about it.

Suffice it to say that very few people seemed to "evacuate" (i.e. most just went out on their lanai) and from what I saw........it was "business as usual" down below during the whole time.

Oh well......

A.J.

Boraxo

I can top that. During our recent stay at the Westin Whistler, the fire alarm went off at 2am. To its credit, the hotel staff was kind enough to broadcast an announcement to stay in the rooms so that people didn't have to sclep downstairs into subzero (C) temperatures. That they kept repeating the stupid announcements ad nauseum for another 15 minutes is another story.

I guess if there was a real bad fire (e.g. like the one years ago at the MGM Las Vegas, now Bally's) we would all have died. But the ratio of false alarms to real life threatening blazes seems quite high, so we take our chances

Snoopy

Having been in a hotel fire in which 19 people left their lives, I tend to take fire alarms serously too. You probably wouldn't have seen my heels for dust on the way down those stairs..... Skeedaddle first, ask questions later

I have other issues with that hotel, but that's a thread in itself....

mcgahat

I thought I would give and update on this hotel of my stay over the last weekend. First, I have stayed at a lot ot Toronto hotels and had a very mixed experience both with SPG and and Hilton. This hotel was definitely one of the better experiences.

First, we booked a the Westin 75 promotion where they give you $75 usd towards incidentals at check out on your room bill. The rate was $135CDN per night so all in all a pretty good deal especially since I wanted to try this hotel for a while.

I emailed to ask about parking and was given a rather confusing answer, "overnight parking is free and valet is $18 per night"....I know something just wasnt right with that answer but said the credit will take care of it anyway so whatever. When I arrived the true parking charge was $9 per night for self and $12 per night for valet according to the valet. We opted for the self parking as it is pretty close to the entry to the hotel.

The staff was friendly from the bell staff, check-in staff and restaurant and room service. Service is one of their greates features. We did not get to use the pool or workout facitlities so can not coment on that but all of the dining establishments and room service was used and the service was excellent as well as the food quality.

The room was nice, the upgraded us to a deluxe high room floor which was good but nothing spectacular but plenty big. My wife thought the bathroom was old looking.....I thought it was fine with a seperate tub and shower setup and yes it was a little dated but this hotel is fairly dated as it is but not old in my opinion.

The location really doesnt have anything going for it for me but easy access to the highway and not too busy really so that has its plus.

Although I enjoyed my stay, I will probably be staying at the Four points near the airport as the room they give me as a plat is great and there is free parking and free internet but if I find a good rate on the prince I would not hesitate to stay there again as they did everything very well and I had no complaints.

Snow Goose

I had a mixed experience at the Westin Prince (Toronto) last weekend. The first room we were given was a Junior suite with a strong smell of cigarette smoke (not really the hotels fault, since all Westin's are now non-smoking). The Junior suite was really just a large room... there was no feature that would indicate even a partial division between the sitting area and the beds. I went down to the front desk to request we be moved and to ask about other suite options. After being unable to find another junior suite that had two double beds, and after I declined being moved to a King bed Jr Suite or to have our room "deoderized", the front-desk clerk reluctantly moved us into an executive suite, which consisted of a huge sitting room with an interconnecting small bedroom, 1 full bath in each. ok... so far not so bad, but a little more hassle than it should have been.

Next morning I receive the bill and I am shocked to see that we have been charged approximately 40% in room taxes, including almost 18% for GST alone (should be 6%). Okay... no problem... seems like an odd mistake, but I am confidant a quick word at the front desk will correct it. After 10 minutes of explaining the error to a front-desk clerk, I am unable to get a resolution or even an acknowledgment that the bill is incorrect. The front desk clerk does agree to contact the account manager and call me back that afternoon, but is unable to do anything about the bill during checkout.

After receiving no call back from the hotel, I call later in the day and am told that it appears that there MAY have been a mistake, but that it won't be possible to correct it until the next day (assuming that it really is a mistake). I am promised another call back.

The next day I still receive no call. Towards the end of the day I call in and I am finally told that it really was a mistake and will be corrected. Instead of being charged $70 in taxes, I should have been charged $17. No apology is given for the mistake, for the lack of contact, or for the fact that a simple billing error should require this much attention. By this time my starpoints have posted from the stay, and surprise, surprise... I received only about 30% of the points that should have posted. I mentioned this fact to the same front-desk clerk who I worked with on the "case", and I am told that starpoints are awarded by Starwood, not by the hotel, and that I would need to contact Starwood to resolve. No surprise actually... that is what I was planning on doing anyway.

On the plus side... the Executive suite was perfect for my family use - nice and big. The cleaning staff and restaurant staff were very friendly, and parking was reasonable. Water pressure was also excellent. Pricing was reasonable for what we received.

Other minor negatives were slightly dated furnishings/carpet, horrible astro-turf on the veranda, and visible cracking of the exposed concrete.

Overall, a mixed experience. I would probably stay there again if I needed a room within the vicinity.

SG