I visited this WESTIN during Thanksgiving week for four horrible days for both business and family event. We rented three rooms, and I must say it was the first and worst WESTIN that I have ever stayed in across many states and international.
As a business traveler I am accustomed to the WESTIN and Starwood hotel standards. I only choose this hotel because it was a WESTIN, and I was positive it would have great customer service. It did not!
Overall, it was one of the worst stays, which my family and I had in any hotel this year!
Here are the reasons why you should NOT stay at this hotel:
1. Overall Customer Service almost did not exist (it seemed as though if you had a simple question you were annoying the staff)
2. The staff seemed very unhappy and stressed in their jobs, which has a lot to say about how the property is being managed. Needless to say the energy in this hotel was negative and surely not a warm and or friendly atmosphere. The ALOFT across the street staff was better and we were not even guest there!
3. The staff at the front desk was poorly dressed, trained, and could not even work their own billing systems (over 4 front desk staff). This is a systemic fragmentation, a poor orientation and/or training program.
4. There was no concierge and front desk staff only had one local menu of restaurants in the area. We had to do a community assessment ourselves just to get a decent meal, because the hotel staff was not helpful.
5. The food at the restaurant and from room service was horrible, always cold, and overly priced for the poor customer service. The Cracker Barrel and Mexican Restaurant down the road were better and cheaper, plus had great service!
6. Not a family friendly hotel and staff.
7. Not a business traveler friendly hotel.
8.There was no manager in site for 2 days, which states poor scheduling and poor management.
9. The hotel menu is not flexible; they would make you eat a 16oz steak when all you wanted was a 10oz steak.
10. Guest services line, no professionalism, the young lady felt I was asking to many questions about the menu. She proceeded to hand the telephone over to another employee while she complained (she never put me on hold), and the next employee states the menu is what it is order from there, nothing else can be done.
11. Everything was overpriced, for the awful customer service.
12. Its time to also upgrade on the mattresses.
13. Management attempted to listen and appease me with a few points, in addition to explaining we there was poor staff customer service. As an experience traveler this was not good enough because at the end of the day, I still paid for my stay with awful customer service, food, and lack of trying to resolve the issues. To make it worst it was Thanksgiving, so this WESTIN experience will stay in my family and my memory forever!
14. I will also send a formal letter to the Starwood chain in order to inform them of the lack of quality standards at this WESTIN and not to refer other members to this property, send them to the ALOFT first (which is across the street).
Positive:
1. Nick is a great bartender; I am just sorry he is stuck in a place so poorly run. Poor NICK, great guy! TIP him very well!
2. Andy was a great waiter and was great with the kids.
3. Ken and the Sunday front desk manager tried to do a little something to try to appease me, but it was not good enough and I am accustomed to better customer service, but at least they attempted to explain the reasons for the poor attitude or service.
4. Coco Key Water Park down the street was great for the children. (No connection to the WESTIN)
5. The Bar at the ALOFT hotel was great! (No connection to the WESTIN)
Alvarado
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
9 December 2011
To Ms. Alverado,
As the GM of the Westin Mount Laurel I want to again apologize for the poor level of service that you experienced during your stay. As I stated in my previous email communication with you there was no excuse for you and your guests having not received the level of service that you expected and should have received when staying at a Westin. Your assessment of the hotel's short comings have been reviewed with all of the staff members involved and will be used in making improvements to the operation.
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC