The Westin St. John Resort Villas — Hotel in Saint John

My husband, 3 year old daughter and I had a great experience overall at the Westin in St. John. We typically stay in AirBnBs when we travel with our daughter, but when looking for accommodations in St. John, I wanted something safe, clean, and reliable for our young family. We trust the Marriott Bonvoy brand, so we decided to stay at the Westin for our visit. I'll go over the positives!

1. The beach and bay is gorgeous and perfect for playing in the water!! Our 3 year old loved digging in the sand, the water was so calm and crystal clear, and the sand was super soft. We loved watching the big Westin ferry come and go along with other boats, and even saw a sting ray swim by at one point. My husband found a handful of large conch shells (with living conch inside--obviously we kept them in the water!!) near the buoy-line which was super fun for all of us to see!

2. The restaurant on-site was super convenient as well as delicious! We had a really busy and long, hot day on the day we arrived at the Westin, so being able to just check in and get dinner at the beach was incredibly convenient for our little family. Our waiter was really kind, and the food was excellent, plus you can't beat the view! Your toes are basically in the sand and it's a perfect place to watch the sunset.

3. Our room was stunning and sparkling clean. We had a two bedroom in building 21 which looked straight down over the lawn to the water. We had two balconies, one off the master bedroom and one of the living room, both with comfortable and attractive furniture. Inside, the rooms were perfectly acquainted, the beds were incredibly comfortable (and that comes from a picky sleeper!), and the kitchen was well-equipped with plenty of seating for 5-6 people. It was probably one of the most beautiful "hotel rooms" I've ever stayed in--everything felt brand new and there were so many thoughtful touches that added to the comfort and aesthetic of the place. We could have stayed for weeks and been perfectly happy and comfortable!

4. The other amenities at the resort were great-- we spent an afternoon playing the pool with was super fun (our daughter loved the waterfall feature!), we grabbed lunch one day at Mango Deli which was super helpful, and it was really nice being able to take a golf cart shuttle when we didn't feel like walking across the resort campus. We found a box full of pool floaties and beach toys near the beach too which was great!

5. Proximity to Cruz Bay can't be beat! The resort is literally just outside of the "downtown" area, so it was a 4-5 minute drive to dinner, ice cream or coffee in town if we wanted it. From Cruz Bay, it's a quick trip into the National Park or out to Coral Bay to explore the rest of what the island has to offer! And it has TONS to offer!

My only suggestion for improvement would be in the area of service -- we waited around for 45 minutes (past 4:00) until our room was finally ready to check in and while the receptionists were nice, no one ever said the words "I'm sorry" to us for making us wait. On top of that, my husband waited around in the parking lot for an additional 30 minutes (in 85/90 degree weather) for a shuttle to help bring bags to our room before someone finally arrived to help. This put a bit of a damper on our first impressions, and while the golf carts were necessary for helping people (employees and guests alike) get around the big resort, they're also fast, constant, and smelly, making it uncomfortable to walk along the main resort pathways, especially with a toddler. It would make sense to have sidewalks or a walking path next to the roads that the golf carts use (and to switch to electric carts), so that pedestrians and golf carts aren't sharing the same pavement. But that is the way it is! So just come prepared and plan ahead if you have lots of baggage that you'll need help getting to your room. But overall, a very very good experience at the Westin and I'm happy we chose to...

My husband and I were married under the beachside gazebo at the Marriott’s Westin St. John Resort and Villas on Dec 12, 2010. We were fortunate to have over 20 of our closest friends and family travel from Ohio and stay at the resort for the entire week to celebrate with us. Needless to say we spent thousands of dollars during our stay and were extremely generous when tipping. Our memories of that week are unforgettable and a lot of that had to do with the way we were treated by staff and the accommodations awarded to us. This year during a Thanksgiving cruise with our children one of the stops was St. Thomas, USVI. My husband and I were so excited for the opportunity to take our kids on the ferry over to St. John, grab an open air taxi and head straight for the Westin. It’s been 14 years since we’ve been back to the place we were married and could not wait to show our kids the gazebo we were married under. Out of courtesy we walked directly to the check in counter to say hello. After receiving a rude and awkward side-eye from the check-in attendant, I further explained how we got there and our intentions to show the kids, take a picture in the gazebo and leave since we only had an hour before needing to be back at the ferry to return to St Thomas. Not to our surprise the attendant said she needed to call security to let them know we were here as they may want to escort us around the property. We understood that and sat patiently in the lobby for 15 minutes for security. Once the female security guard walked in the door she walked straight to the front desk attendant and talked with her for 8-10 minutes. We assumed they were planning where she would take us and potentially organizing a taxi back to the port when we were finished. When the security woman finally came over to what I assumed was to introduce herself, she was extremely stern in demeanor and asked what we were doing on the property. Slightly taken aback by the body language I was receiving, I spoke up and kindly explained to her that we were on the cruise ship that came in that morning (as she rolled her eyes) and that we were married there in 2010 and simply wanted to show the kids the gazebo and take a family picture. I mentioned we only had about 30 minutes so we could make our ferry back in time. Without allowing me to finish, she quickly cut me off and told me that they don’t have day passes at the resort. I nodded my head in acknowledgment and told her that we weren’t looking for a day pass. We were simply just hoping to show the kids the gazebo and get a picture. She then looked at both my husband and I back and forth and said “if you step foot on the property you will be trespassing”. However, it felt more like, “we will arrest you.” My heart sunk in that moment. I felt confused, sad, disappointed and angry all at the same time. I realize the job of security and especially in the islands. However, I had never felt that my family being there was any kind of security risk to anyone at that resort. I pathetically pleaded with her one last time and she told me we needed to leave. At this point my husband quickly escorted the kids towards the doorway and I simply looked at her and said it was extremely disappointing and wished she could have shown some courtesy to returning guests. She said, “well you aren’t guests”. I do not consider myself an argumentative person and I absolutely try my hardest to avoid conflict. The way we were treated was absolutely unacceptable and has left a heavy and sad feeling over the place we cherished for so many years. It had been our plan since our wedding to return for our 15th anniversary (next year) with all of our friends and family. After our experience last week this will not happen now and it is gut wrenching. I had reached out to corporate about this matter but said they passed it onto the resort and hoped they would address it....

Overall, we are having a great time. It is very relaxing. But this is definitely not a level quality of Westin. As an example in our room there used to be a glass shower door. They left the hinges and installed a shower curtain. That’s just not Westin style. When we arrived, we were too early for check-in. This wasn’t a problem. We were shown to the fitness center to change our clothes and then they took our luggage into storage while we went and used the pool. When our room was ready two of us went to the front desk and the agent, started handing me all of our luggage. I practically had to convince the front desk to have someone bring our bags to our room. This is certainly a nice resort and lots of people are having a great time. The beach is bay as they all are on the island. It has soft waves and is really beautiful. There are lots of boats out in the bay, and there is a ferry dock here as well. The room is fantastic and we love having a two bedroom villa. It also has some maintenance issues, but we are all very happy with the room and beds. The food is a particular problem. There are three options for food on the resort. The beach restaurant serves your typical American beach food like chicken tenders , burgers, quesadillas, noodles with marinara you can order these by phone and they will deliver it to you to your pool chairs as well. We wish there was some more Caribbean food options. There is a deli/convenience store up by the lobby. They have salads, deli meat, sandwiches, tons of bottled beverages and they make hot pizza to go. Third option is a fancy restaurant called lemongrass which has entrées at around $50 apiece and only 11 reviews and all of them are three stars so we didn’t check that out. I see a lot of families here bring coolers with food with them. This is because it is predominantly a vacation club with owners and condos. The nearest market is a 20 minute walk. You can stock your fridge there with steaks to cook on the barbecues, breakfast food, and your own alcohol. But this is very pricey as well. The taxi situation is a flat seven dollars per person to/from resort/ town. And you can get a taxi for $10 per person to go to some of the beautiful beaches. So as a family of five anytime we want to go in town to dinner it costs $35 in each direction. The pool is large and has a beautiful design. It has a lot of maintenance issues, including black/green stuff (algae/mold?) growing on silicone and pieces peeling off into the pool. On our first day here, it was slow at the hotel. There were no managers on site. The front desk staff seemed unhappy to be at work. We had just traveled all night to get here and we were exhausted and the check-in instructions and things that she said she was required to tell me was like a straight 20 minutes of her nonstop talking at me. And then, of course she tried to get me to go over to see the vacation club concierge to get their spiel. There are a ton of iguanas lounging around at the pool and under the beach chairs waiting for food. On our first day here they got so bold as to jump up on our chairs twice. There was also a lot of iguana poop on the pool deck. Some of these iguanas were 3 feet long. They were at least 15 to 20 of them on our first day. There were a lot of children that were afraid of them. And there were no managers or any staff that cared. Summary, there just seems to be a big difference between the rates they are charging and the value. The staff are unhappy, so they’re obviously not getting paid well. I have barely seen any maintenance crew. Who’s getting rich here? I’d like to see Westin making investment into the town to upkeep the lights, streets and schools. The taxi situation sucks but that might be government controlled. I would never come back but we met two families who said they come back each year. Maybe they paid a lot...