Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel

[lemur-bat.livejournal.com]

Anyone stay here last year during the con? I managed to snag a room when they opened up more; the past two years we stayed at the Hilton Atlant Airport, so the prospect of being able to stay downtown and enjoy more of the con night-life is quite exciting!

Does anyone have any feedback on staying at this particular host hotel? I've only really heard that the views are pretty spectacular. Nothing much about the rooms, staff, or service. Thanks in advance!

Comments

[kawaii-nyako.livejournal.com]

We stayed there last year and loved it! The views were awesome (we faced the CNN center), the room was awesome, it was really quiet, and the staff was very helpful, but not in the way at all. We only had to wait for an elevator when the masquerade was going on. Bed was super comfy, and I loved the pie shape of the room, plus the couch had the same curves. Very nice looking. Shower was great, never had any problems with running out of hot water. Yeah, it needed a bit of updating, like the TV and the comforter and carpet, but I didn't even notice that after we settled in. I would have stayed there again if my knees weren't in such awful condition now. Great hotel!

[raoin.livejournal.com]

i share similar sentiments to kawaii_nyako...

1) stayed there last year (4 to a room) found the room to be spacious enough for four fully grown people.

2)used their pay-to-surf internet service and found it to be speedy and (honestly) worth the cost.

3)only problem i found at all is that (and i think this is true of all floors) you have to have a key to reach your given floor. this is fine when the elevator is full and someone else might be going to your floor but can be a problem during quiet hours when your friends want to come up to visit but cant come up without key access... also the food delivery guy had the same problem. but we hardly had to wait for elevators at all so it wasnt much trouble to go down to the lobby to retrieve someone or get our food.

4)parking in all the hotels is outrageous. i typically park elsewhere for the weekend. however, their bellhops were still quite helpful in unloading and reloading when those times came.

5)AC was icy and held up wonderfully under pressure

6)hot water was HOT and stayed that way despite having four people using the shower.

7)dragoncon TV connected fine after a few hiccups on thursday.

8)reservations were easy to make. no passkey.

9)didnt find the walk to-and-from primary con hotels to be at all problematic.

final verdict: i'd be staying there again this year but we had to cancel going because we'll be having our first child just about a month before con.

[geminiknight.livejournal.com]

I stayed at the Westin 2 years back, and had a very good experience with them. They offered self-parking, as well as valet, which I enjoyed, and have a Starbucks in the lobby, which was a plus for us. The room did show some signs of aging, but really, I had no complaints, and it was at least as roomy as the other host hotels. We're pretty low-maintenance when it comes to staff, of the variety of 'do not disturb, we'll ask if we need new towels' for the duration, but the front desk folks were very friendly.

My only pause, if any, would be to note that after a certain time, the doors and elevator require a keycard to access..or at least they did..this might have changed since I stayed there. No a problem for guests, but if you have friends visiting, or you're trying to cram 20 people in one room, could be an issue.

[archersangel.livejournal.com]

stayed there in '09 & '10. very nice place. the had a thing where if you don't request towels/bedding change you get a $5 voucher per day that you're there & i can be used in the stabucks! if i ever go back to d-con, that's the only hotel i want.

for my more complete review, & others, go here;
http://xiandesi.livejournal.com/8801.html

[laurie-robey.livejournal.com]

We stayed there last year, and it was great. Quieter than the Hyatt and Marriott, but still close enough to walk. The only note I would give is that it's across the parade route from the other hotels, so if you want to go to one of the other hotels on Saturday morning, rather than watching the parade, you need to be across the street before too many people line up along the parade route for to cross easily. They line up across every inch of sidewalk and crossing street. We also took advantage of the $5 credit for not getting new sheets each day and used it at the Starbucks each day.

[lorettakay.livejournal.com]

I stayed there two years in a row. It's a nice hotel. Last year, it was a little more crowded as it was an official hotel, so there was a little more wait for the elevators, but nothing like having to wait at the Hilton, Hyatt, or Marriott. The only problem for me was cell phone reception. I have AT&T and I had very spotty, almost none existent, service. Oh, and one year, the shower would go out every 5 minutes or so for about 30 secs, but I think that was a fluke to our room. The next year the shower was great. I would have stayed there again, if rooms had been available when I was making reservations.

[sams-ceara.livejournal.com]

My wife & I stayed there two years ago & we are going back again this year. :) We loved it. I'll echo the views & the bed were amazing. Don't recall any problem with staff or anything.

[ydnic.livejournal.com]

I stayed there in '10 and '11 when the Alt History Track was moved over there.

Short answer - what everyone else said! About the only problems I experienced were: the 'key-card shuffle' to get to my room on a higher floor, and the spotty AT&T phone/text reception (which was a bit annoying at times).

Other than that, I loved the hotel and had nothing but great service, and was very happy with the Starbucks on the first floor, as well as the easy access to Meehan's Pub through the lobby.

Also, if you are a fan of the Alt History, Whedonverse, Stargate, Apocalypse Rising, and Wheel of Time tracks, their track rooms were all over there last year. (I am not sure what the layout of the track rooms will be this year, though.)

[bandvamp01.livejournal.com]

We stayed there last year, and I really liked it. It was quiet, never a line for an elevator (although you did have to have a key card to make it go), and the view was amazing. It really provided relief from the con craziness at the end of each day :)

I only have two minor complaints-- 1. It kind of sucked knowing that I couldn't nip up to my room for 15 minutes here and there because it meant a schlep in the hot hot sun. So once I left the room, I was pretty much out for the day (maybe other people just do this, but I personally like to take little breaks and just get away from the crowds and veg out to some sweet DCTV). And 2. The hallways echo a lot, and on Mon morning at 4am, a group of kids were yapping three doors down in the hallway and it woke me up. They weren't even yelling, it was just echoing up and down the hall. I asked them nicely to stop (durr that worked well), but then five minutes later, hotel management showed up and made them leave, so it was obviously bothering someone other than me.

I guess my only real complaint then is the travel time between the Westin and the other host hotels.

[danielle mentzer (from livejournal.com)]

I am going to try to get in the Westin next year. As I was about a mile away from the con last year, The Westin was a great hotel. It was great because all of the con that was in the hotel was on a couple of floors. Starbucks in the lobby was a extra bonus. So for next year I will be staying at the Westin since that is the hotel that the Stargate Multi Universe track has landed.

[lordruthven.livejournal.com]

I stayed in the Westin last year and they were a class act.

[lomer.livejournal.com]

I love staying at the Westin. It's a very nice hotel with a great staff. Seriously, a GREAT staff. I needed a few safety pins for a costume and people chased after me as they found more and more safety pins. They went above and beyond.

[richardlt.livejournal.com]

I stayed in the Westin in 2010 and 2011. I wouldn't stay there if I had to pay con rate, but I was able to get it for about half the con rate thanks to HotWire. Not that there's anything wrong with the Westin, I just don't like paying $200+ for a hotel room. I'd probably be back again this year if I hadn't got good deal on the Hilton through LastMinuteTravel. Follow xiandesi's LJ link that archersangel provided for other reviews and how to do that.

The Westin was a perfectly fine hotel, though I don't utilize housekeeping that much. In fact, I put the "Do Not Disturb" sign out when I first get there, and don't take it down till I leave. The amenities were just fine, though I usually use most of my own toiletries instead of those provided. I'm not a coffee drinker, so I can't comment on that perk. However, I was cheated out of 2 days of the $5 coupon for not using fresh linens. I'm not sure if that was due to a cap on the number you can receive, or what. (I stay 5 nights.) I may have also waited too late to put out the door hanger on the knob.

The "Heavenly"(tm) shower was fantastic though. The water pressure was good, and it and the temperature remained constant. I did find it performed better by turning off the second shower head though. The "Heavenly"(tm) bed was less fantastic. While the mattress and linens were fine, I couldn't find a pillow with the right firmness despite having a dozen or so to choose from. I think I'm gonna start bringing mine from home.

As I recall, the wetbar fridge was locked up the first time I was there. On the second visit it was unlocked, though perhaps accidentally, so don't rely upon that. I also used a bellhop for the first time last year, and was quite pleased with the service, though I did not let the valet park my car. This caused a bit of confusion/tussle with the valet, though that may just because I was handling it wrong. I'm not use to staying in nicer hotels with lots of stars.

Speaking of parking, that's the second biggest drawback to the Westin. Their self-park garage is a hot, claustrophobic, twisty nightmare. The ramps up/down are one laned game of chicken death traps. On top of that, it's ridiculously expensive. If you're there more than 3 days, it's cheaper to "lose" your parking ticket than pay the actual rate. Last year I did the park at Lennox Station and take MARTA in trick. As far as I'm concerned, that's the ONLY way to do parking, and it's vastly cheaper.

The biggest drawback to the Westin is the cell phone reception. In 2010, my AT&T phone could not get voice or data reception. In 2011, my Verizon phone was able to do both. I discussed this in more detail here: http://dragoncon.livejournal.com/2820795.html?thread=31637179#t31637179 (http://dragoncon.livejournal.com/2820795.html?thread=31637179#t31637179)

I also discuss some other aspects of the Westin here: http://dragoncon.livejournal.com/2817739.html?thread=31647691#t31647691 (http://dragoncon.livejournal.com/2817739.html?thread=31647691#t31647691)

Unless you've got some sort of disability or really big/hot costumes, the walk from the Westin to the other hotels isn't that bad. In fact, there's a shortcut that will take you through the air-conditioned comfort of the Peachtree mall. I discuss that in detail here: http://xiandesi.livejournal.com/22771.html?thread=115955#t115955 (http://xiandesi.livejournal.com/22771.html?thread=115955#t115955)

[lemur-bat.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for all the replies! They make me very happy, as booking the Westing was a bit of a spur-of-the-moment decision when I saw the announcement of additional rooms on the D*C webpage. I didn't really think too much before making reservations a split second later!
I'm not much for coffee, but I know the hubby will appreciate the $5 voucher for Starbucks. As for schelping to and fro from the main con hotels, I'm not worried. I remember how you can take a hamster tube from the Hyatt to the Peachtree Mall foodcourt; we've used it to pick up grub before. So as long as we can locate that from the hotel, we should be golden. Not to mention it will be awfully convenient to have the food court right there.
We're still not sure what we want to do about parking. On one hand, it would be cheaper to park at one of the parking decks in the area, since we don't need in-out privileges. But I would feel better about the car security if we parked in the hotel's self-parking.

[noitsnotrandal.livejournal.com]

I'll second the suggestion about parking outside Atlanta and taking the MARTA in. I've done this the past two years and it sure beats paying $80.00 to park.