The Westin Tokyo, Tokyo

Westin Restaurant has the poorest management policies. They force all customers to choose when to dine (only 5:00pm-6:45pm or 7:00pm-9:00pm) because they say it is inconvenient for their timed-service routines to have customers show up at other times. They obviously demand that customer's stomachs conform to their hotel's policies. They are only willing to service customers dinner, when it is convenient to them, not when it is convenient to the customers. Thus, you can only have 2-choices: eat too early, or eat too late. They coerce/nag (force) you out of your chairs/tables as 7:00pm approaches, so they can put another unsuspecting victim into your seat. The Wait-Staff is rude to customers. The prices of the Restaurant is way too expensive when compared to other equal Buffet Restaurants at Sakuragicho, Hiroo, Shinjuku, etc. They are charging more than $68/person for casual dinning. Thus, this Westin Hotel consistently charges 5-star prices, but provides only 2-star Restaurant Service and bad time-management policies. Until Westin changes their Restaurant policies (or restaurant management), then this Restaurant should be avoided like the plague. We intend to complain loudly to Starwood Hotel Management about this Westin Hotel.

I spent the past 6 months living and travelling in over ten cities, and the Westin Tokyo is, by far, the best hotel I've stayed in in terms of decor, service and quality of F&B outlets; I usually give hotel restaurants a miss as they are oftentimes overpriced, but the numerous outlets within the hotel are helmed by renowned chefs and are so stellar and quite reasonably priced (try the set menus) that they're a hit with the locals, which is always a good indication :) The hotel is located in Ebisu and may not be as ideally located as the other hotels in its competitive set, but is a short walking distance from the train station, from which areas like Shibuya and Roppongi are only one or two stops away. Overall, my stay was a great experience; with the advent of hip and trendy boutique hotels which oftentimes forsake service for style, it is always a relief to return to the grandeur and uncompromising service of more established hotels like The Westin.

Although extremely difficult to get to (Ebisu), my family has historically visited Westin about 1-2 times per month for 7-years with my Japanese wife. I also bring my customers to Westin for dinner meetings. However, during my family's latest visit to Westin's Terrace Restaurant on 30 June 2007, we received completely unsatisfactory service. Is this indicative of slipping quality of hotel: 1. Following the comletion of your hotel renovations, the price of the buffet ('viking') has escalated dramatically to 6800 JPY (a poor value for the quality of food). It is more costly than most of the other Hotel buffet dinners in Tokyo or Yokohama (we have eaten at all of the Hotel buffets, so we know). 2. On this evening, the Maitre-D/Hostess at Terrace Restaurant freely imposed an unwritten and unannounced 90-minute ('Time Service') upon us because we were walk-in guests. On this evening, the restaurant was nearly empty when we arrived at 6:00pm, however, we were rudely told that "if we did not like this Time-Service policy, then we should not sit down at all". We were not even done eating yet at 7:20, when the Hostess told us they needed our table for someone else with a reservation. Although we paid 6800 JPY each for what was supposed to be a fine dinning experience, their rude demand forced us to cram our food down quickly and leave. 3. We ordered an expensive glass of wine each with dinner, but the Waiter only poured about 2cm of wine in the bottom of our medium-sized glasses. We complained that we had paid for a 'glass of wine' and only given a tiny portion. When we asked for a little more to make it worth the high price, the Waiter only poured a couple more drops of wine into one of our glasses and then arrogantly and briskly walked away without further comment. We do not understand why Hotel Waiters are so stingy with wine pouring after we paid expensive wine prices. In future, if they do that I will refuse to pay for the wine. 4. We had a closing drink (night-cap) in the Lobby Bar. However, because of your Hotel's renovations, now all the kitchen staff parade back-and-forth through the Bar getting between the lounge cafe and the back kitchen...carrying huge trays and carts of dirty dishes above our heads, and destroying the romantic ambiance. 5. Westin recently changed your Westin Way policies. Previously you provided 10% discounts on Dinner and Rooms for WW-Members. It only marginally offset your extremely expensive Costs (compared to comparable locations elsewhere). The new Westin Way-Tokyo policy deletes all Discounts completely, and offers only Visitor Points every 100 JPY. It appears though that they have also raised the point totals needed to receive any products/services from those accumulated WW Points. Thusit seems you have tried to find a clever way to make more profit but to price-gouge the customers on higher cost of goods like Restaurants. We are going to stop using the Westin Way points program completely, and just try to accumulate SPG Points instead. They have one of the most elegant Lobbies and architectures of any hotel in Tokyo. However, when considering Overall Poor Service from the Terrace Restaurant with its rude and unfriendly staff...the $80-$90 we each had to pay for dinner and a glass of wine for what was supposed to be elegant dinning is unreasonably expensive. We felt cheated and abused by by the Hotel this night because of this experience. If you do not fix these problems, we will stop going there.

Fantastic place for the romantic get-away or the business conference...service is excellent, rooms are top notch. The location is close to many points of interest.

The best thing about this hotel is it had great service. I remeber all I had to do is ask for someting in a few minutes I got what I whanted. I also remember how well the internet reception was. I think this is the best hotel by far i have ever been too.

I really liked the view that we got from our room. Like I said, AWSOME!!!!!!!!!!!!There realy wasn't any dislikes that I had except that it was a little expencive but definly worth all the money I put in the trip.

NICE, GOOD, AND GIRL WAITRESS ARE PRETTY, ROOM IS COOL COMFORTABLE AND BIG, PROFESIONAL SERVICS, NOT VERY EXPENSIVE ALL THE WORKER IS VERY FRIENDLY THERE AND ALSO THEIR SYSTEMS VERY GOOD

Really it's a very luxurious hotel. Every thing is up to the standard. And specially the cleanliness I can't describe it. The rooms are very comfortable and they are very clean the time you leave your room the time they start to clean and repair the room. I have nothing to say about my dislikes as I haven't experienced that.

This place screams stlye and culture. From its sleek interior desgined lobby to the lovely uniquely and modernized rooms. Polite staff that makes sure every need is met, and room amenities that makes u want to take it all home. The only set back might be price wise. So if ur willing to spend a little then this is the place to go

Our jaws dropped when we saw the room size & bathroom. While the room would be considered normally spacious by western standards (but don't forget we're in Tokyo); the bathroom size was equilvalent to a living room/kitchen in a typical Japanese rental apartment. It had a separate shower & tub; and was luxuriously finished in granite/marble & gold trimmings. The hotel's location and walking access to amenities (shopping centers, restaurants, post office, train station, etc) makes it a city within a city. Though the Renaissance decor was not our favorite style; it gave us a pleasant sense of luxury and certainly help put us in a holiday mood. The staff spoke excellent English, were attentive but a little stiff. Our only gripe is about the concierge office. Otherwise we would have given a perfect overall rating on this hotel. We put in a request to purchase a pillow from the hotel. The person-in-charged was not in and we were told we would be given a call back the next day. We never heard from the concierge office & we were given a standoffish time when we went to the office the following day. Otherwise, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay & highly recommend this hotel to business travellers especially. Internet access tip: If you're on vacation & don't want to bring your laptop, take heart. You can still get on a computer with highspeed internet access at a convenience store across the street from the hotel. All you have to do is make a purchase (as little as a $1), bring the receipt next door & they'll set you up on one of their laptops. They are opened office hours and you can spend as much time surfing as you want. Believe me, there is always something you'll need from the convenience store... bottled water, mints...