The Westin Houston, Memorial City — Hotel in Houston

Please allow me to chronicle the issues we encountered during our recent stay. I think you will easily see the pattern of poor service and lack of follow-through that we experienced there in early March 2016.

My reservation was made well in advance and I received a confirmation for:

• a ‘traditional king’ room

• for 5 nights

• at a rate of $151.20 per night

1. Upon our arrival after ten exhausting hours of travel we were told that we would not be given the confirmed traditional king room as there were no more available. No one had any type of explanation as to why this happened, they were just ‘very sorry’ we were not given the confirmed room. We were given a room with two double beds which was very disappointing as my husband had decided to join me on this trip.

2. The following day I noticed that the room rate written on the back of my key-card envelope was $179. I stopped by the front desk to get the rate corrected and was once again told they had no idea why that had happened, but they were ‘very sorry’.

3. Feeling uneasy about the state of affairs, I asked them to confirm the check-out date as well and was alarmed to learn they had us booked for only four nights instead of five.

4. My husband forgot his razor and shave cream and when we asked if the front desk could provide these items they eagerly said yes, but were unable to find any in their drawers/cabinets. They assured us they would be happy to bring the items to the room for him. After several hours I repeated the request to which they responded that they were ‘very sorry’ that it had not yet been delivered and assured us they would have it sent right up. That evening it still had not been delivered so he finally went out and purchased the items in one of the shops.

5. Twice during the week our room was not serviced. The first time my husband was able to find one of the housekeeping staff in the hallway and got them to return to service our room. The second day it happened I notified the front desk and they were ‘very sorry’ and assured me that someone would come to service the room. No one ever came.

6. On the final day of our stay I returned to our room during my afternoon break only to find that my key card had been deactivated. The front desk staff who corrected the error related to the duration of our stay probably failed to take whatever follow-up action was needed to ensure that our key cards would give us access on the fifth day. Fortunately my husband was inside the room at the time and was able to let me in. We were both required to go to the front desk, show identification and get a new key card. It was at this point as the desk clerk was again ‘very sorry’ and offered us a free drink in the hotel’s lounge as consolation. When I told her that we don’t drink, she was so stunned she was speechless and had no other idea to present.

7. Upon arriving back at work yesterday I opened the email attachment from Westin and was very disappointed to learn that even though the desk clerk told me the room rate had been adjusted, one of the nights lodging was still charged at the $179 rate, and the other nights were charged at $159.20 instead of the confirmed $151.20 rate.

The actual hotel room, the facility, the food were all nice enough. The conference I attended was very useful and the service provided by the conference hosts was exemplary. So the trip was not a total disappointment. But I must say, this experience has truly shaken my confidence in Westin hotels. I’m clinging to the notion that the service we received at the Memorial City Westin is NOT indicative of Westin in general. In my travels I have stayed at quite a few Westin hotels and until now have always been delighted with...

TL;DR: Go elsewhere. The rooms they give you with your hard-earned money will stink, and they will discriminate against and assault you.

Wherever my travels take me, I have always made it a point to seek out the Westin Hotel. However, my recent experience has made me question future transactions with this brand. I came to Houston this past weekend (January 22-23) to spend time with my family. I want to start this review with a positive. The woman checking me in and the hotel valet were the only few good things about this hotel. I had this displeasure of staying in room 602, and upon walking into the room, a heinous odor overwhelmed me. It smelled like burning plastic. I assumed that the cause was because the air conditioning was off. I thought wrong because we were surprised by the miasma every time we left and returned to the hotel room. The trouble occurred at night when my partner went out for a cigarette. Unfortunately, he had lost his room key, which made it difficult to return to the room since the elevator required a card for operation. The discriminatory night manager, Miss Houston, called security on him instead of providing him with a meager level of customer service. The security guard assaulted a guest and attempted to escort him off the property. At this point, no attempts were made to see if a guest needed help. Only after he asked to speak with the front desk (Miss Houston) did the situation take a turn. Following a brief identification process, he was issued another key. After hearing about this event, I spoke with the night manager to report the assault. Miss Houston explained to me that she was the one that called security because she noticed a man in a black jacket. I want to note that the weather was in the low 40s. Since she was the only person working the front desk, she avoided approaching anyone, which is understandable. However, she also did not ask security to see if the guest required any assistance in place of her. A little customer service from these people would have mitigated the entire situation. I asked the staff for the general manager's information to inform them of the situation. However, the team deliberately neglected to provide me with the requested information. Instead, they pacified me with the emails of the Director of Loss Prevention and the Senior Rooms Operations Manager. The Director of Loss Prevention, the security guard's supervisor, Mr. Alacron was the only person kind enough to reply to extend an apology and to look into the event further. However, the Senior Rooms Operations Manager, Mr. Ismael Cirnes, did not reach out to me. I want a follow-up on my assault complaint. In short, fellow patrons should seek other accommodations around the area. The next closest Westin is in the Galleria area, which is far removed from this nefarious refuge. Unfortunately, from other reviews, lousy service, poor rooms, and discrimination are not isolated incidents. Spend your money elsewhere. I walked into Westin Houston to spend a wonderful Chinese New Year with my family, and I walked out feeling like a second-class citizen.

Because the staff thwarted my attempts at gaining the General Manager's information, if you are reading this, I would like to further discuss this event with you.

To the management, you all should be ashamed of yourselves for discriminating against guests who dress warmly. Worst service that...

I opted to stay at this property, as I’ve had amazing experiences at other Westins and this hotel was in close proximity to where my meeting was to be held. I made the reservation over the phone and had advised the representative that I would be arriving late, as I would driving through a storm.

Upon, there were 2 other guests checking in and it appeared that the first guest was having an issue. I went to the seating area to ensure that I had my ID and credit card handy.

There was a delay with the second couple checking in and the front desk attendant was bouncing around between computer terminals. She was fairly talkative with the guests.

After about a 25 minute wait, the woman at the front desk decided to acknowledge me with an, “I’ll be with you in a minute.” She seemed flustered. About 10 minutes later, she asked if I was checking in.

I want to provide my name and she right away said, “I don’t have a reservation for you.” After a long day of work and a 7 hour drive, those are the last words a guest wants to hear.

I checked my phone to make sure I hadn’t booked at the wrong property, and as luck would have it, there was no confirmation email. I immediately called the 1-800 number to confirm if the reservation was even made, and while I held for an extended period of time, I tried to verify with Lisa, the night auditor/front desk, that in fact, there was no reservation. “I said I’ll help you in a minute” was her reply.

She had picked up my ID from the counter a few times but was more interested in talking to her co-worker who had walked up next to her.

At that point, I was not only disappointed, but demoralized. I did not feel welcome at this property by any means, most especially by Lisa’s rude, condescending tone. She sighed and seemed bothered that she had to create a reservation for me. I told her that I would just go elsewhere.

I was still on hold and finally reached Susan, where I absolutely vented about my situation. At the same time, I was trying to remember where I placed my parking ticket so I could exit the premises easily. I had a difficult time hearing her and keeping my train of thought over the loud music in the lobby.

After calling the hotel, Susan advised me that the reservation “had gotten stuck” and that the hotel had it. This was now about 2:15 am and I really did not want to have to deal with Lisa again. I asked for a different property that I had previously stayed at and was told that I would be charged the night since Susan “pushed my reservation through.”

After clearly evaluating the situation, it made no sense to put myself in danger at that hour and go to a different hotel, so I opted to stay, but the icing on the cake was when Susan came back on the line to tell me, “Well, Lisa said you were rude to her.” I did stand up for myself, as I was not going to allow myself to be mistreated.

Even when I went back to the front desk, she was very rude and kept shaking her head and had a stand-off attitude. I try to be understanding, but at no point did I warrant this type of behavior. This will be my first and last time here based on the actions of someone who clearly does not...