Brutal Management - a tired traveler's night to forget
Picked the Westin because there ain't a lot in the 4* category at LAX, but should have stayed at the cheap and cheerful 2*. Arrived March 7th at 11:30 pm at LAX and waited 25 minutes at the terminal for the crowded shuttle to arrive. Unloaded at the hotel lobby with no bellman in sight to help with all the bags for my family with 2 little kids. Got inside to find a line up of 30+ people waiting to check-in and there was no one at the desk to help. After a few minutes, a single front desk rep showed up, and didn't dare make eye contact with the angry mob waiting in line. While I waited in line, my wife tried calling the hotel operator to send more staff to the front and to their credit, a second staff member appeared about 5 minutes later.
Needless to say, the tired family who just crossed the country had to wait another hour for this joke of a hotel to check in its guests. No kiosks in site, no manager brave enough to attend to the problem. Once I finally arrived at the front, waiting for the excuse, I got it...the systems were down during the day so they were having trouble understanding their inventory of empty rooms. You'd think that if the problem was known, that they would have ample staff to compensate, but no, free-wifi and continental breakfast was the best they could do.
Fortunately, the trip improved with some nice stays at Hyatt and Hilton properties. Sorry Westin, your first impression means my last stay at any of your hotels.