The Westin Princeton at Forrestal Village — Hotel in Plainsboro Township

This hotel needs help. Preface the review with the following: I visited for 1 evening in July. Marriot Bonvoy Gold (decent status but I more often stay at Hilton family hotels).||Positives:||1: Location is great for those visiting Princeton for either business or pleasure. Located directly on Rt 1 south.||2: The heavenly bed is named correctly. It is very comfortable.||3: Fitness center was large enough with adequate equipment, but there’s a negative coming.||Thats the extent of the positives.||Negatives:||1: Checked in later in the evening (~9:45PM). Recognized my status at the front desk but didn’t offer any upgrade - even a modest one - considering my status and length of stay. Not a big deal, but not the best start to the stay. But a room on the 2nd floor? Come on….had a nice view of the roof of an adjacent part of the hotel. Also the 2nd floor is where many of the small and medium sized conference rooms are located. ||2: The 1 King room desperately needed an update/renovation with a focus on improving the ergonomics. Decent sized room, but it had too much ‘stuff’ in it - king bed and a large chaise along with the dresser/TV console, desk area and 2 night stands. Made the average sized room feel cramped. ||3: The bathroom and vanity area were just bad and poorly laid out. Tiny sink and vanity counter. No room to fit any personal items. But the toilet/shower/tub room was huge. The whole area needs to be redesigned. Terrible use of space. ||4: There were no towel bars anywhere in the room. Many hotels have a train rack in the shower and a couple towel bars. This room had just 1 hook on the back of the door, but the way the bathroom area was laid out made that configuration very awkward. The lack of shelves or towel bars was just odd. Had to leave towels on the floor (see above - tiny vanity with NO room for anything else). ||5: Speaking of towels, there were NO wash cloths in the room. I looked all over and nothing. Could have been a lapse by housekeeping, but that’s just lazy if so. Indicative of a training opportunity for the staff.||6: The shower was bad and also dangerous. 1st, the floor of the tub/shower was so slippery. Felt like I was showering with roller skates on. I lost count of how many times I grabbed the bar along the wall. Westin needs some ‘grit’ on the floor. The other danger was trying to get ‘cool’ water. The shower was boiling hot and adjusting the faucet did nothing to lower the temp. Usually hotels have an issue with no hot water. This shower had no COLD water.||7: The little metal ‘shelf’ in the shower (where you can put toiletries, razor, etc) was a complete waste. The metal spindles were all bent together and nothing would stay on the shelf. So the room had 1 hook (on a poorly designed bathroom door), no towel bars anywhere and a shelf in the shower that didn’t work. Bathroom area was batting 1.000%.||8: The other issue was the hotel pool. Online, it looks like a great indoor/outdoor combo pool and its posted hours are 7:00 AM to 11:00 PM. However, the pool was disgusting. It looks like a pool that was just uncovered after a long winter of being closed or the water came from a dirty bar rag - dirty water both inside and out. Didn’t see anyone use the pool and it’s no wonder why. The pool probably could have been better if the hotel maintenance team threw in some ‘shock’ or chlorine. Not a tough fix but this is indicative of a poorly run hotel. ||This hotel COULD be good, but it needs a lot of TLC. Westin is usually known for being well run hotels in the Marriott family, but this one is certainly not. I can’t recommend the Marriott across the highway (another old hotel in poor condition). Maybe try one of the mid tier hotels along the highway - like a Courtyard or...

I had just stayed for two nights (October 17-18, checkout 19th), and left with an overall "okay" feeling about my stay at the Westin in Forrestal Village, primarily made higher due to the front desk staff at checkout.

I had booked an executive room, and upon arrival to my room, had noticed that my bed looked hurriedly made, with crumpled welcome hang cards on it. As it was a late checkin, I then went to my bathroom to take a shower, and noticed that the as-expected-per-SPG bathrobe was missing from my bathroom when I hopped out of the shower. Not a massive deal, so I didn't make a fuss about it, but something I had come to expect since it was even written on the room description (and hadn't been replaced the following day, either, along with my mostly used toiletries). Going to bed early, due to a 7am meeting the following day, I was surprised to hear constant water running in the walls (which continued the following night) and voices from down the hallway and through the wall….somewhat surprising for the top level room available. Breakfast during my second morning was decent at best…chaffing dishes filled with food that was lukewarm, followed by staff attending to me after I had dished up my food only to present me with a bill and disappear (which I had to then track them down to have them work out with the front desk, as it was already included in my booking).

On the positive side of my stay, the Heavenly Bed and Shower were, as always, a treat to behold. There's nothing like a vast number of pillows to find your comfort zone in, or a proper shower head and wand to leave you coming out of the shower totally refreshed. The view from my room was pleasant, as well, being a 6th/top floor view over the courtyard and surrounding area. The staff at the front desk completely reversed my opinion compared to the staff that was on when I had checked in on Friday…pleasant, upbeat, and engaged me in a conversation regarding my profession and email address that had me laughing a bit…it made me wish that things were on that level when I arrived, and in the restaurant, as that would have made all the other issues far less of a problem to me.

Overall, I would say that the Westin Princeton Forrestal Village was a step above your typical hotel, but certainly didn't meet my expectations for reserving an executive accommodation. After my last SPG experience was at a Le Meridien for a similar price, but a far higher accommodation quality (silence, an array of free refreshments in-room, key-coded breakfast area with freshly prepared food a la carte, staff going above and beyond) , I can't say that a base room at Forrestal Village would offer you anything less than my executive room had. It's a great way to earn some extra Starpoints, but I think I might be looking at an Element a bit further away in Ewing for my next stay in the area, unless they get a few...

The Westin Princeton at Forrestal Village is a business/meetings hotel that is also well-located for non-business travel. ||This was a leisure visit, so I cannot comment on meeting rooms. There are a restaurant, bar, and pool, but I did not use these features.||Pros: the guest room was a decent size and was clean and mostly (more on that) functional. The bed had a cushioned headboard, and the nightstand was functional, with a self and a drawer. The comfortable bed and pillows (both soft and firm provided) were covered in white sheets and bedspreads. (Often hotels now have a black covering on the bedboard/box spring, which makes it hard to check for insect or other detritus.) The room had no off odors and no weird scent pumped in (another unfortunate hotel trend). An optional aromatherapy vial is provided. There was sufficient light. There was a long countertop (two sections but the same level) across the dresser and desk. There were at least four drawers and a closet. There were plenty of outlets. The room had a neutral brown and white decor. The toilet paper is two-ply. The bathroom has a combination shower/bathtub, and the shower has both a rainfall showerhead and a want. There is a makeup mirror. There is a safe.||Cons: The bathroom counter is very small. It would have been fine for one person, but this room is meant for four. The sink is outside the toilet/bathtub/shower area, and there is not a single towel rack or hook in the sink area. (We used the closet hangers.) There is a narrow space between the sink and the closet, and the toilet/bathtub/shower door swings outward into this area, making it very cramped. This is needlessly poor design. The door also needs to be propped open as there is no window or vent in the bathroom. The water pressure is fine, but the water temperature is too slow and sensitive to adjust. (Fine line between too hot and too cold, and delay when adjusting the temperature.) The hot water can get hot enough to present a scald risk. The hangers would have been fine for 1-2 guests, but not for four.||Westin prides itself on wellness offerings. The single-use plastic (single-use cups and plastic water bottles) are out of place for this brand and could easily be replaced. The room already has glass glasses and could offer a water fill station.||Forrestal Village is a small walkable area next to the hotel. There are restaurants, but many are closed on weekends. You will probably need a car. There is plentiful uncovered parking. No EV charger.||Overall, there are more pros than cons to this hotel, and it was well-situated for my needs. The bathroom door design and lack of ventilation would be hard to fix, but other things could be tweaked. I would probably stay again given the location and overall comfort and...