The Westin Fiji Golf Resort & Spa — Hotel in Viti Levu

I arrived in Fiji on Sunday Dec 18th much later than anticipated and I was extremely happy that the hotel had arranged a taxi to meet me at the airport. I was a little surprised that the taxi was a beat up old Subaru, but the driver was extremely nice and the ride only cost $30 FJD. I was immediately struck by the poverty as we drove towards Denarau Island. The diver shared some of the history of the area with me and I learned that Denarau Island is a man-made island built to house four and five-star resorts, the marina and million dollar homes - quite a contrast to the scenery on the drive to the hotel. Unlike some places like Phuket, Thailand or other island resorts, once you get to Denarau Island, you’re completely isolated and sheltered from the poverty.

Check-in & The Rooms Upon arriving at the hotel I was greeted and welcomed by the staff. Everyone was extremely friendly and helpful. Before arrival, I requested a room with two beds or 1 bed with a sofa bed – since I’m a Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) Platinum member I felt confident that they would be able to fulfill this request. I was quickly checked in and escorted by golf cart to my room. It was a beach front room, but as soon as I saw it, I realized that it only had 1 bed and no sofa. The bellman took me back to the front desk where I spoke with reception and they found me a new room with two beds. I also inquired about a room upgrade and was told nothing was available.

When I got to the room, I noticed right away that the bathroom wasn’t clean. I called the front desk and they sent someone immediately to clean it. There was also no drinking water (which they usually provide to Platinum members) or other typical SPG amenities in this new room they moved me to. After speaking with the manager on duty he had water sent to my room and ensured that things would be taken care of that week.

The following day, I inquired again about an upgrade and was told that there was a junior suite open that we could move into. We took him up on that. The suite had two rooms. A bedroom with king size bed, desk, chair and bathroom which had separate tub and shower (the non-suite room only had a tub) and a sitting room with a sofa (that could be used a bed) dining table and bathroom (tub and toilet – no sink though, which was very odd and also meant that the person sleeping out there had to come into the bedroom to use the sink. The suite was definitely much more spacious than the non-suite room and meets our needs much better.

As many people have noted, the beach front rooms lack privacy as they face a main walkway, but the view is spectacular. I had also read that the air conditioning in the rooms is very loud – and that is quite true – but I got used to it pretty quickly and by the second night, it didn’t bother me.

The air conditioner did create a pool of condensation on the floor – or whatever was under the unit (including my suitcase one day) due to the humidity and temperatures. The Hotel The hotel is old and in need of some refurbishments. The furnishings look very dated and everything could use some sprucing up.

The hotel is currently undergoing renovations and they’d just completed work on the bathrooms at the pool when I was there. One of the great things about the hotel though, is that the rooms are very quiet. We never heard anything from our neighbors. The staff is friendly and welcoming. Everyone greets you with the traditional “Bula” which means life in Fijian. In fact, Tania at the front desk remembered me by name and said hello every day. While the people are friendly, service in Fiji is not what you’ll find in other parts of the world – everything runs on Fiji time (which can be great sometimes.) Don’t expect good or great customer service anywhere on the island. There are several shops at the hotel including a market (very overpriced), a few clothing stores (I didn’t venture in after seeing the prices at the market) and a duty free store.

I checked out the prices at the Marina and compared them to the duty free store at the hotel, and they were the same. So I ended up purchasing some Pure Fiji products In addition to the stores, there are local craftsman who sell items like carved wood, jewelry, shells, grass baskets and purses, etc… (it’s important to note that many countries, including Australia and the US don’t allow you to bring back untreated wood or shells.) The prices seemed a little high for these “local” crafts, but they were beautiful and I wanted to support the locals The Pool The Westin pool is beautiful, but small and on very sunny days, the lounge chairs filled up fast. Most of the days I was at the hotel it was overcast and much easier to get a chair. You have to sign out pool towels and on busy days they limit the number of towels you can have – that’s a bummer. In fact, on Christmas Eve day they ran out of pool towels and it was over an hour before they had clean ones to give out again. That was the first really sunny day we had been there so it was disappointing to lose that hour of pool time. The beach is not so nice at the Westin, but that was fine with me as I prefer pools. As a guest of the Westin, you have full access to the other starwood property which is a short walk or bus ride away. The other one has a much larger and nicer pool and a bit nicer beach –this area doesn’t really seem like a great beach spot in general – I’m told you really should go to the islands to lounge on the beach.

There is an ice cream stand at the Westin pool – which makes great milkshakes and they’re not terribly overpriced. There are also several shops that sell drinks, sunscreen, hats, etc…and they’re all very, very overpriced. You’d be much better off going to the marina and picking things up there. There is a small island across from the Westin and you can take a boat there from the hotel. I was warned by other guests we met not to eat from the vendor on the island. I guess they had a very bad experience eating there.

Dining Options @Westin On the Westin’s website, they describe the dining options as a “seemingly unending selection of dining choices.” In reality, there are two restaurants at the Westin and 1 bar – Zing which serves breakfast and dinner and Moo Moo which serves lunch and dinner. You can order drinks and lunch from Moo Moo poolside as well. Zing was good, though the service was not what you’d expect from a restaurant at a resort like Westin. I enjoyed the chicken teriyaki stir-fry and had it twice in fact. The dim sum was fair, I wouldn’t order it again most likely. Overall, the two meals we had a Zing were good and the cost of the food was fair. The drinks and taxes are what make the meals expensive. If you eat at Zing around sun-down, you can watch the Fijian fire dancers, a torch lighting ceremony and other Fijian dancing. We went to Moo Moo a few times for lunch and we had the burger every time. It was one of the best burgers I’ve ever had. The Wagyu Beef burger was topped with beetroot and orange relish and came with truffle fries. It’s definitely worth a try! Spa The Westin Heavenly Spa is quite expensive – in fact, it’s the most expensive spa on the island (compared to other hotels and marina spas.) The Westin Spa is very relaxing and welcoming. We had pedicures and they were extremely luxurious and soothing. The spa uses Pure Fiji products and I loved them. The spa did offer 20% discount on massages booked for early morning or late night. At the spa, there was a lap pool and the Westin Workout Center. Westin Overall The Westin Denarau is old but the staff is very friendly and that makes up for a lot of what the rooms lack. The restaurants are good, the pool is calm and the spa is relaxing. Overall, I liked the Westin and if I was in Fiji again, would either stay at the Westin (I’d like to see what the rooms are like after the renovations...

Just waiting to catch our flight home, thought it's about time I used this forum to talk about our fifth stay at the Westin Denarau. During the past three years we have stayed with family and friends in Garden, Sea View & Sea Front rooms, and on this occasion on our own in a corner ground floor New Spa Studio with plunge pool room 2717, which being at the end of the complex had lots more space with shrubs and coconut trees towering overhead. The "Adults Only" Pool Gym Jacuzzi and Heavenly Spa flanked by Massage Bure's right outside.

And although no sea view, it had a very pleasant peaceful and colourful tropical garden setting. The Studio bathroom was HUGE! With a Spa Bath, double basins, seperate toilet, beautiful very large twin shower pebble based walk in cubicle and plenty of storage cupboards.

The Kitchen (Two Settings) had simple lines with a decent sized fridge and a good icebox although the ice machine was just outside.

Bed was large and oh so comfortable, what other reviews say about them is true, absolutely fantastic, the rest of the studio with two loungers, computer desk with power plugs, phone

Bluetooth, HDMI, USB and music port connectivity to the very modern and interesting 47" LG TV which could be swivelled to be seen from the room loungers, bed, or outside deck double lounger, plunge pool and seating area's. Wifi was complementary, but the selection of TV channels limited mainly to sports or news with poor to average signal quality, so take your own viewing on your iPad laptop or phone and view via the LG. However, Pay to view Movies were available.

The upstairs Studio's had a outdoor spa bath on the Balcony, which was our original booking but were upgraded to a bottom unit, which with the plunge pool, decking, outdoor furniture and double lounger, was much larger. It was fantastic to use after a round of golf, or in the evening after dinner, and big enough to entertain friends, or you were only five paces away from the adults only Lap Pool, Bar and facilities. No Children, so the whole area was serene during the entire stay.

Found air conditioning a bit noisy at night, but easy fix was to turn off and use the quiet ceiling fan.

Managed a 45min massage, quite an experience, didn't fix my golf swing but maybe work on that next visit. A must if you are visiting Denarau Island.

We enjoyed breakfast which was Full American Style with plenty of variety, Restaurants fabulous but expensive, Golf club meals were a little cheaper, but noticed drink and food prices

have gone up since last visit. Port Denarau has a great selection of places to eat at very reasonable prices, it's only a 10 -15 min walk from the resorts or cheap to travel by Bula Bus or Taxi. Nadi town is nearby, but the port offers tourist's every amenity including Tour Hub, and is the gateway by sea to outer islands.

There are too many good things to talk about Westin, with very few if any negatives. but that would take too long.

Over the many visits, we have come to know the staff well, always with a welcoming "Bula"and Huge smile to go with it, from Concierge,

reception, restaurant, room, ground and security staff. They are wonderful friendly happy people, too many to name, that go out of their way to make you feel welcome, and enjoy your stay. A big thank you you all.

Previous stays at the Villas, and Sheraton were great, and although we have looked at other resort properties on Denarau island, our great experience's mean the Westin will remain our preferred holiday resort in Fiji....

We stayed at the resort between the 21st and 25th of March and what a stay it was. It’s a perfect getaway and the place is great. We loved the friendliness of the staff. The greeting when we arrived made us feel really welcome and was a nice way to start unwinding. The transfer from the airport to the hotel was easy and quick and the check-in at the hotel went very smooth. Our room was great and much bigger than I thought it would be which was a nice surprise. The view from the room was to die for and we just couldn’t get enough of it. We found everything we needed in the room and it was well equipped as one would expect. No minibar but it seems to be the norm these days however the fridge was working so one could use it if needed. A couple of small points with the room, the A/C was the loudest thing I have heard in a while and we have travelled a lot. However a couple of earplugs and that was sorted. Also the shower solution had a design flaw as water flowed from the bathtub edge freely onto the floor so it became a bit of a flood. Hard to explain but surely a design issue. The information stated we should have wireless access in the room but I could not pick up a network with the ipad, nor the phone. However there was a network cable supplied on the desk.

The resort itself is beautiful. Especially the pool area where we spent most of our time. The views from the pool over the ocean are spectacular. It was clean and tidy and it was easy to get a spot and access to towels was a breeze. I’m not too impressed by the cleaning of the public toilets as the men’s ones were almost always rather unpleasant to visit. Not sure if the frequency of cleaning was not enough or what was going on but it was not clean. There are a couple of different places to eat and drink and the service around the pool is good. You can order drinks anywhere in the pool are and also in the pool. Here is one of my pain points though. As a tourist you look at the menu and its prices and order however do be aware that EVERYTHING has a 20% surcharge which is the local tax. This I think is something that they should put into the price already as its really irritating reading menus, drinks lists and anything else and then adding the 20% tax. Just add in it and be done with as the brain sees the cheap price and then you sign the bill and realize you forgot about the 20% which is stiff. Drinks quality are average, all the cocktails are big much without much alcohol as one would expect and the prices range between 19 to 23 fijian dollars plus 20% tax. I tried some classics such as a gin and tonic but it was awful as they didn’t seem to get it right and then I tried a dry martini a couple of times and they were not up to scratch. So it’s a vacation paradise but don’t expect the high end quality of drinks, wine by the bottle is also 20% but they have some stunning wines. However the wine by the glass I’d stay away from ..

The food is outstanding. We tried fish, pasta and steak and all except the New York sirloin at the steak house was great. You should also have a look at the other two resorts beside this one as you have full access to their pools and restaurants. The chimes bar is excellent with its sun lunge beds.

Also do try to grab a cab and go to the marina as everything is much cheaper and you get a taste for the...