This was our first visit to Key West and this hotel. With the exception of the housekeeping, the service was excellent. Housekeeping was barely average. The hotel is undergoing needed renovation, but this did not cause us any problems at all. We stayed for 7 nights, and woke up to cruise ships towering above us twice. Never heard a thing during the night or day, but they did block the view of the ocean until around 4 each day. But, we weren't in the room most of the time anyway.

The Concierge, Jeff, was a big help. He hooked us up with a great sunset cruise on an old but refurbished schooner, The Hindu. He then directed us to a fabulous restaurant, The Commodore, for my wife's birthday dinner. Pricey, but worth it for the special occasion.

Back to the hotel itself. As a Starwood Preferred Guest, we were upgraded to an ocean view room that had three separate balconies. One overlooked the parking garage, one was small with the noise of the A/C unit, but the other was on the corner, ocean view, and was perfect, with two rocking chairs and a small table.

The room was large but the bathroom was small. I am pretty sure this room has not been refurbished yet, but was still in pretty good shape.

The pool is small and the pool bar very plain, but the food from the bar was fantastic! We had one of our most memorable meals at the pool! I had the Grouper Sandwich and my wife had the Veggie Wrap. Both were outstanding! Since it was the middle of June and neither my wife nor I are "sun worshipers", we enjoyed lounging at the pool, in the shade - I just wish there was more of it! Only about a dozen lounge chairs that stayed shady most of the afternoon and they were prime commodities.

The location is perfect for Key West. Only a block over from "Lower Duval St." and all of the activity. No need for a car. But the bikes we rented were helpful.

We will return to Key West and this hotel. It will be a few years, so the renovation should be complete by then.

I wrote this in response to the survey I received from the Westin about my stay. I figured I would just post my response to them here. An additional note, the hotel is undergoing construction through October.

This hotel was the worst hotel I have ever stayed in. The hotel was not westin caliber. It was a cheap hotel with a westin name stuck on the front door. The hotel was undergoing MAJOR CONSTRUCTION. As a guest on vacation I want to relax. this was not possible. First, I was not told about the construction until less than 2 weeks before my arrival - this is unacceptable. This should have been on the website and guests should be told of this when booking. When I received the email from the westin about the construction, I emailed the hotel to tell them that I was very unhappy and that I want to be sure that my stay was not affected by the construction - I DID NOT RECEIVE A RESPONSE. I then called the hotel and spoke with someone who told me that my stay would not be affected and that it was "just a few rooms" that they were renovating. I specifically requested to be kept away from the renovation. I was told that she could "put a note in my file". When we arrived we were upgraded to an oceanview room - this should have been the first warning for us. We stayed on the second floor of the building adjacent to the lobby. We were one of 3 rooms on the floor that were not undergoing MASSIVE CONSTRUCTION!! There were holes in the hallway walls, construction workers all over the halls, crumbled drywall everywhere (in the carpets, stairs, elevators), the smell of paint from the rooms, tarps, stain, DRILLING, POUNDING, HAMMERING, SAWING all day!!! It was absolutely appalling. The rooms was dirty and old - rug was stained, wall paper was peeling off of the walls in the bathroom, rust on all of the hinges and faucets, dirty bed skirt, slider didn't open well, etc. The bathroom was so small you could barely get in - you had to go behind the door in order to shut the door - same with the balcony (2ft by 3??). Cruise ships pull up every day in front of the "ocean view" - which by the way is a harbor view not an ocean view. There was no pool service (get you own towels, drinks, food, etc). The pool bar was atrocious - I considered taking a picture of it to put on trip advisor because it was so bad - it looked like a bar that someone set up in the corner of their backyard deck -bar stools from the 70s, rusty paper towel rack on the wall, box fan blowing, and $11 drinks! I don't mind paying $11 for a drink, but 1) it was 6 ounces and 2) it was in a dump. One night we came back late and asked the front desk if there was a vending machine that we could get bottled water from. We were told no and that we should use the minibar. I told the night manager that I did not want to use the minibar and that I found it hard to believe that a hotel of this size did not have a vending machine. I was told it didn't. We drank the $5 waters from the minibar and then found the vending machine in our building (2 floors up) the next day. Had we not had been using Starpoints to stay 2 nights for free, I would have checked out immediately. We did pay for the first night $422.00, which was the biggest rip off ever. To stay in a place, not undergoing renovation, but undergoing construction!! during our stay was unacceptable. Even the hotel staff commented to us when we complained that they thought that the building we were staying in should have been closed during construction because it was such a mess. This was by far not only my worst Westin stay, but my worst hotel stay ever. To call this a Westin (and a resort!!) is deceitful.

By the way, we stayed at the Marquesa Hotel during the first half of our trip and it was wonderful. I would highly recommend it.

Last November my wife and I visited Key West and called in at the Westin. In the past we have always been very pleased with Westin hotels but not this time.

Whilst there my wife had what was supposed to be a hot cooked Turkey and Bacon sandwich from a concession on the property. It was dreadful still partly frozen! Unfortunately she had eaten part of it before making the discovery. Not surprisingly she was later diagnosed as suffering from acute food poisoning.

Despite complaints at the time and subsequently we have had neither satisfactory recompense nor explanation. The staff at the hotel were less than interested and it just seemed like barriers were put in our way if wanted to pursue it. We have tried but they are just not interested.

Key West is a busy place and the Westin is in a superb spot. They probably have plenty of demand. Unfortunately this may colour their attitude to service – we won’t be returning any time soon. Westin is normally a great franchise but not this one.

The Westin Hotel is great, if you have a lot of money to spend. The rooms are simple at best, yet the staff is incredible. If you do stay there (and happen to get a great rate as we did), make sure you get over to Sunset Key. It was incredible. The 5 minute ride by boat was fun, and then you're on your own tropical island being waited on hand & foot by your own cabana boy. What a great time. Everything about this place is incredible. The food was fabulous, the drinks were tropical and fruity. We spent the entire day there and felt like royalty. We were pampered from start to finish. Here's a tip - tip the cabana boy (the one who gets your food and drink). We gave him $20.00 (I think he deserved at least that much for all the running around we made him do). My husband and I and another couple were the only 4 people on the beach. What a great day, and then we topped it off with a sunset dinner cruise (see my review under Key West sunset dinner cruise). The hotel pool is nice, but it was too warm to go into. We did hang out there though. The sunset bar on the second level is also fun - to watch everyone down on Mallory Square and the great sunsets. Yes - if you have an oceanfront room (like we did) - you're view will be obscured by cruise ships during the day. The room was extremely quiet & clean. We were in room 104 (king size room). The property is quite large so plan on walking around. The great thing though too was, it was only a 5 minute walk to Duval Street where all the action is. The heavenly bed was just that - heavenly. Everything about the hotel is great. I would definitely stay here again if I got a good deal.