The Westin San Francisco Airport - still good after all these years.
Written: Jul 04 '02 (Updated Apr 01 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: A real hotel with a restaurant, pool and fitness room.
Cons: The room needs a facelift - some painting and general cosmetic work.
The Bottom Line: This is a great hotel if you can get a good deal on it and don't need a car.
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| jo.com's Full Review: The Westin San Francisco Airport |
My husband and I recently spent 3 weeks in Hawaii. On our way there we stopped in San Francisco for the night and stayed at The Westin San Francisco Airport. This was our second time at this hotel having stayed there for several nights about 3 years ago.
General Information
~It is located at 1 Old Bayshore Highway, Millbrae, CA. It is less than 2 miles from the airport and a 25-minute drive (15 miles) to downtown San Francisco.
~My stepson lives in San Francisco so he picked us up but there is a free airport shuttle bus.
~The phone number is (650) 692-3500. The fax number is (650) 872-8111 and the web site is sfoap@westin.com.
~We got The Westin through Priceline, which for us has historically worked very well. We paid $37.00 plus tax for a real hotel! This is not an Inn. In fact when we went to check in the woman at the desk commented that we got a very good deal.
~There was valet parking and a lot of spaces are used for that but there was also plenty of parking if you didn’t use a valet which we did not since we didn't have a car. My stepson parked though easily. Parking costs $10.00 per day and an additional $2.00 for an overnight guest. Short term parking was free.
The Hotel
~The Westin Hotel is an L-shaped adobe building with a water fountain in front of it. The lobby is huge and is elegant looking without being really fancy. There is a store with a Starbucks inside, which is open from 6:00am- 10:00pm.
~The lobby is also a lounge divided by frosted glass where you can meet people or have drinks or food there. In the morning I saw people obviously going to a conference hanging around the area. There is a lot of space for functions, in fact 22,000 square feet of space and what they call a Professional Business Center. (from the brochure)
~There is a piano in the “Lobby Lounge” area.
~There is secretarial support, photocopying and computer services including 2 telephones with a speakerphone in our room (which we actually used while my daughter talked with us about which medical school to go to!) and, of course, an in room data port.
The Room
~There are 393 rooms in The Westin. We asked for a non-smoking room and got one. I was a bit surprised by the room. The inside of the hotel was very pretty but the room was fairly plain although quite large. The carpeting needed to be replaced. It had the look of an older room with dark, heavy wooden furniture. There was a night table and desk as well as a television/hutch with 3 drawers and a mini-bar with alcohol in it – look but don’t touch! The comfortable chair with an ottoman softened the look of the room a bit. There was also a small glass table to be used as a table for the chair, I imagine, since it was small and had no chairs around it.
~We had a king-sized bed and it had 4 pillows on it (If you have read other hotel reviews of mine, I usually note that because a king with 3 pillows just seems odd to me.) and one long pillow as decoration. It was all done in white and very pretty. That also softened the dark wood décor.
~In the room was a coffee maker with coffee, a safe to use for a fee, an iron and board in a closet, a hairdryer, shampoo, conditioner and lotion. The bathroom was separate from the room with luxurious towels in it. However the bathroom ceiling needed painting adding to the look of an older hotel. A couple of nice features though had to do with the shower. The first was the shower curtain. I had never seen one that was rounded, i.e., the bar the curtain was on extended out. This is a nice feature because you don’t have the curtain flapping into you like usual. Also interesting was the two-headed Heavenly Mode showerhead. I had never seen this but you could turn them both on if you wanted water at different levels or just one. It appeared to have different modes also but I didn’t use them.
~There was a bathrobe in the closet that I did use. It was really soft and fluffy, however, don’t even think about taking it. I think the charge was about $100 if it was missing!
~A couple of negatives: One was that we could hear water from next door. We were gone for 3 weeks staying in 5 various places and this seemed to be a problem almost everywhere, especially hotels (versus a villa we rented). The other negative is that the planes do land almost overhead. When you think of how close the airport is you can understand that. However, the room seemed almost soundproof and I really didn’t hear the planes unless I was really listening for them. Again showing the age of the room, we found a couple of outlets that were cracked and didn’t work. Things such as touching up with paint and fixing the outlets and carpeting would really make a difference.
~The hotel and room in general were clean. I got the feeling that the hotel itself was in much better condition than the room we stayed in, although the room was fine and you sure can’t beat that price! The regular rates vary, of course, depending on the room and the time of the year, but the norm would be closer to $100 + a night. I went to the website and the average rates for this time of year are between $97 - $139, but one room was $413!
Amenities
~The Westin has a beautiful indoor pool that looks like it is outdoors because the whole pool in encased with glass windows. It is really very pretty. The pool was sparkling clean, T-shaped with lots of plants around this very large room.
~I was very impressed with The Fitness Center, which was free including a towel you can get as you walk in. I didn’t use it, but I did look around. The room was large with television and the latest in equipment including free weights, treadmills and a Stairmaster.
~Other than Starbucks and the “Runway Coffee & Gift Shop” which I mentioned earlier, there was a restaurant called Alfiere Restaurant, which they call a “Mediterranean bistro.” We didn’t eat there since we took my stepson and his girlfriend (at the time) out to dinner. They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner and it looked like an Italian piazza- a very pretty room. You can get seafood, poultry, pastas, and pizza there. It is open from 6:00am-2:30pm and again from 5:30pm-10:00pm. It looks elegant with cloth-covered tables and chairs.
~We did have drinks in The Bar after dinner, though, and this was a large, very pleasant room with tables and very comfortable oversized-chairs. Along with the drinks you get munchies (Which always sounds like a good idea, however, the munchies make you thirsty – get it?) It is open from 12:00pm-12:00am. There are televisions and you can get food from the Bistro if you want.
Customer Service
Other than to check in and out, we had no dealings with customer service, which is a good think, I suppose. Both dealings, though, were very quick and professional. We didn’t have to wait to check in and were asked if we needed help with our luggage.
In conclusion
Obviously since we chose to stay here a second time I would recommend The Westin. Even without Priceline.com, it will be hard to touch a hotel in San Francisco for $100 but since this is just a bit away from the city itself, the price reflects that. (I looked online and Days Inn is over $100. It is right in the city, but it is not The Westin quality, in my opinion. With the amenities of the pool and free fitness center, I could have stayed a few more nights but alas we had to move on to Hawaii – many, many more reviews to come.
If you have any questions about this hotel, feel free to leave a comment or e-mail me. I have written many reviews on San Francisco – feel free to visit my profile page for links or e-mail me. I’ll be glad to answer questions.
If you have stopped here because you are on your way to Hawaii you might be interested in reading some of these:
Feel free to leave me a comment or ask any questions. Other Hawaii reviews you may be interested in:
Traveling to Hawaii on a Budget
The Westin San Francisco Airport Hotel
Aloha Airlines
Garden Gate Bed and Breakfast in Maui
Maui
LahainaTown Maui
Hana Highway in Maui
Haleakala National Park in Maui
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
Hawaiian Airlines
Puff the Magic Dragon Lived in Kauai
Waimea Canyon on Kauai
Poipou Beach Area, Kauai
Na Pali Coast, Kauai
Hideaway Cove Villa, Kauai
Royal Kona Resort,The Big Island
The Island of Hawaii - The Big Island
Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park on the Big Island
Oahu
USS Arizona Memorial on Oahu
DiamondHead State Monument on Oahu
Polynesian Cultural Center,Oahu
Wailua River State Park in Kauai, Hawaii
Recommended:
Yes
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