Loud, No Sleep Quality
“Luxury” in our environment today means more than a grand, marble hotel lobby, good mattress and lines. A hotel downtown, or near downtown, first and foremost has to provide quiet, undisturbed sleeping comfort. Hey, a good night’s sleep is the ultimate purpose of a hotel, right? Here the Westin does not deliver: Through its cheap windows (and also maybe through the paper-thin exterior façade) you hear the loud traffic, an annoying all-night humming of a large cooling tower nearby, and even the loudspeaker announcements of Charlotte’s light rail. This in the 8th floor! The doors to the hallway are badly hung and have large gaps; you hear pretty much everything from there too. Otherwise my corner room had two large windows overlooking the city, one behind the bed which is a nice design touch. How are you supposed to open the beer and wine bottles in the minibar? For my bottle of Corona I used the strike of the bathroom door. Internet is expensive, not a nice touch for a hotel this price range. Overall the Westin is the Hyundai Sonata of hotels: Great design, poor ride. No Mercedes-Benz or BMW here.