Without a doubt my favourite hotels are Westins.  I’ve stayed in a lot of hotels over the last few years and most of them have been decent hotels that I would stay at again.  But, there’s something about Westin hotels that set them apart from the rest.  Besides being part of the Starwood Preferred Guest program, which has been voted best in the industry on more than one occasion by travellers, the overall quality of the hotels is always very high, the facilities are top-notch and the staff always make you feel welcome and will bend over backwards to help make your stay as enjoyable as possible.

Case in point: I’m going to the upcoming SAS Global Forum in San Antonio, Texas in a couple of days’ time, so I’m staying at The Westin Riverwalk.  The conference is a popular one so I made my reservation through the Westin’s online booking system months ago.  Tuesday evening my phone rang and it was one of the managers at the hotel.  He was calling to confirm my reservation and see if I had any special requests.  I was interested in the weather and he told me that it’s going to be something like 90°F the day I fly in.  (This naturally lead to a discussion about the weather here.  I asked him how much snow he thought we had and he said "less than a foot?" and was staggered when I said we have had the better part of 14 feet, so far.  To be fair, I think most people in Ottawa are a bit staggered when they think about that amount of snow.) 

So, although they tend to be a little more expensive that most hotels (but not always — Edmonton’s a good example of this), they’re worth checking out next time you’re travelling.  You won’t be disappointed.