Westin Camino Real — Hotel in Guatemala City

Stayed a week at the Westin in Guatemala City and it was really good. A colleague had stayed there years ago when it was hands-down the best hotel in the city. It still is up there, I would say. The lobby is a marble palace, and the service is good. English spoken well. Rooms clean and nicely done, marble bathrooms.

Best hotel workout room in Latin America- really good. Best pool in the city. Food in the bar, restaurants and room service, excellent (although I never ate anything fresh or drank any hotel water or ice and never got sick). Location is the best and safest in the city- close to the airport (great hotel shuttle picked me up), and right next to the best shopping and dining areas and the US Embassy is within a couple of blocks. Anywhere in Guatemala one would face a barrage of street vendors and beggars, and this hotel zone is no exception (all the best hotels are within a few blocks), but it felt very safe and we had no safety issues anywhere around the hotel.

The staff was very helpful with taxis, arrangements, tips, excursions, and pointing out safest places. Laundry was extremely fast and well done. In-room safe and mini bar were great. Robes in the room, very comfy bed.

i would highly recommend the Westin except for the following drawbacks. Construction noise. i asked for a quiet room, so of course, I was right beneath the remodeling on the floor above, and near the construction outside as they expand the hotel, so I had constant pounding, drilling and scraping- 24 HRS A DAY! Yes, another shift started at 11pm and worked through the wee hours! We called a number of times and all but one front desk person said, "No, there is no construction going on in the hotel at all." That being said, it was funnier that annoying, as I was up late working myself. There was very little airport noise despite being so close to it.

There was also very little street noise except for one day when there was a political demonstration aimed at a dignitary staying at the Westin, so I was awakened by that at 7am. But it was over quickly and just an interesting event in another land. Lots of security in the hotel because of him. The hotel is very secure all the time, with lobby attendants who won't let guests in and you have to use your room key to ascend the elevator to your floor- very safe.

Also, the bottled water in the room is $2.75 US per bottle, which is lame. If travelers can't safely drink the hotel water, and no indication given that it was purified (wouldn't believe that anyway), at least 2 bottles of water per person should be complimentary. There are stores within a block of the hotel where you can buy bottled water for much less, even the gift shop downstairs was cheaper.

Also, the cable TV had such a bad signal, it was almost unwatchable, but I felt blessed to have a roof over my head after seeing the shanty towns of the City. Hard to complain living in opulent comfort when 2 miles away, it's all cardboard and corrugated metal.

So it was quite good with great comfort, service, food and location. I would definitely stay...

Not quite what I expected for a hotel that is supposed to cater to Americans. English skills limited at the front desk, the place one would think English speaking staff are needed most. Overall, the sense we got is that this hotel is for the upper class, not the average.

For our entire visit, staff clearly catered to and favored those that were perceived to be of importance. As an example....after a horrible night sleep, I went to the lobby at around 6AM, dressed in shorts and a sweatshirt. An employee posted at the coffee station just stared at me while I fixed a cup of coffee, not even a greeting. Greetings were abundant for two Delta flight crews and a nicely dressed Korean businessman, the latter who was poured a cup of coffee and offered some breakfast pastries that were mysteriously conjured up as they were not available for the rest of the guests. Funny thing is, the businessman turned his nose up at the pastries and the employee at the coffee station walked away tipless.

Construction was not mentioned when booking and we were subjected to the most awful jackhammering beginning around 9:30AM (couldn't sleep in). I was unaware of the construction, at first, and asked a male security guard what the noise was as it seemed to becoming from above, not below. The feeling I got from the security guard was that I was imagining things. After about half an hour, he realized that it was construction coming from the lower floors, but offered nothing more than a half-hearted apology.

By the third night, I requested to change rooms, and was given a room on the 10th floor. Problem? There were three of us and the new room only had one king bed. New complaints fell on deaf, non-English speaking ears. Sleep the final night was worse than the first two needless to say.

Pool hours are limited and security enforces them. So after a long day visiting my wife's family, a dip in the pool was not an option. The one night we did get to use the pool it was full of locals who can apparently purchase an annual membership and take over the facilities.

While I commend extra security in such a hotel, the personnel are quite rude and make you feel like a criminal, not a guest. The security is lacking is many ways, however, such as one elevator requiring a key card to get to guest floors while the other does not....why?

Last complaint........the second day we opted not to have the room cleaned as to earn the additional 500 Starpoints: The hanger was taken from the door but the points never applied to my account.

All of these things will send me searching for new hotel for our next...

This is the second time that I've stayed at this hotel. While the hotel itself is very beautiful and has an excellent gym, there are some serious issues that need improvement. First, the government rate does not include breakfast or internet access. All of SPG's major competitors, including Marriott and Hilton, specifically include breakfast and internet access at the government rate. You are lots of potential revenue because of this. Second, the housecleaning department deliberately ignored the sign on my door requesting not to be disturbed and entered my room for cleaning, the movement of my laundry etc while I was gone for the day. This is patently unacceptable. Hotels are to respect the wishes of their guests, no matter the good intentions. Travelers may have sensitive business, government or personal records or other valuables (not to mention personal clothing) that they do not want disturbed. Again, respect the policy of adhering to your guests' wishes. Third, upon checkout, there was only ONE very slow man to check out ten guests in the morning trying to reach the airport shuttle in time. While a second person came out to help check customers check out of the hotel, the shuttle still filled up by the time several of us left the building. There is absolutely no reason that guests should have to check out half an hour before the shuttle departure time. Additionally, the hotel needs to have its own exclusive airport shuttle, instead of sharing with surrounding hotels. If you are claiming to be a "luxury" hotel, you better have luxury service. Clearly, you do not. Finally, there are security issues that need to be addressed. The hotel should implement card reading requirements to reach guest room levels of the hotel. Anyone can walk into the hotel, go straight to the elevators and click any floor in the elevator without needing a card. This is not standard best practices. Additionally, there are entirely too many street vendors offering goods and shoe shine services around the entrance of the hotel. Guests do not want to be bombarded by these people every time they leave or enter the hotel. While the street vendors are not obviously dangerous, it is uncomfortable for guests to have to repeatedly say no to their offers and it certainly dents the upscale environment Westin claims to...