Just got back from spending 7 days at the Westin (4/19-4/26). We had a good time but I would not go back there. We used our SPG points to stay there and that's why it was OK. If I had to pay $400 + a night, I would be really unhappy.

Pros:

The room was large and comfortable. The Heavenly Beds were great. The bathroom was really nice. The double-head shower was the best.

The food was good. We ate at the Ocean (casual restaurant at the hotel), Liquid (the bar by the pool) and we ordered room service on several occasions. The food is pricey but typical for Westin/ Carribean.

I highly recommend Mr. Busby's. We ate there twice. A taxi costs $3 per person and it takes 5 min (cannot walk there). The food is delicious and the view is great (it's right on the water).

***For those of you with kids, they do not have kids menu. It's a typical Italian menu with lots of pasta, seafood and meat. If your child is a picky eater, not the best choice. We didn't realize it and had to ask them to make grilled cheese sandwich for our son. They did it but it was a little awkward.

The beach is beautiful. The sand is white and soft. I loved the constant breeze as there is no shade. The ocean is really warm and clean. I was surprised to see how few people were swimming at the ocean and preferred chlorine-treated pool water. As you get into the ocean, there is a tiny strip of rocks that you literally have to step over and then it's all sand.

The pool is nice. It got crowded a few times. was overall was not. It's not deep, which is good for the kids. It has several wadding/
shallow areas, which is great for toddlers.

CONS

There were several corporate events while we were there. I usually don't mind them as you rarely see corporate people use common areas. Usually the hotel keeps private/corporate functions away from everyone else. Not this hotel.

Our room was on the first floor and our balcony faced the courtyard. There were private events there for the first 4 nights of our stay so we couldn't really use our balcony- very annoying.

Then there was another event by the pool and the hotel staff asked several people to move so that they could set up the tables. Again, not appropriate.

Finally, we wanted to make reservations at the Aura (formal restaurant at the hotel) for dinner and they told us that the restaurant was closed for a private function. Are you kidding me? The restaurant is normally closed on Wed and they had private event on Thur, which meant that the restaurant was unavailable for 2 nights in a row. Again, really annoying.

The front desk was kind of useless. We were supposed to get an upgrade and didn't. We were told one lie after the other and at the end did not get an upgrade. When I complained, they sent us fruit and cheese tray with apologies. Whatever!!

*** Also, for travelers with kids - the hotel does not provide rollaways for rooms that have double beds. They will only provide rollaway bed for the room with king beds and a suite.

There is no shade by the pool/ocean. They have cabanas for rent. $57 a day for the pool cabana and $20/day for the beach cabbana (very small, could barely fit 2 chairs in). If you want them, book early, they seems to be pretty popular.

Overall, not the best Westin. Take your money and/or your points somewhere else.

This was our third time at the Westin and we still have not encountered any problems that were not solved quickly and efficiently. Dinner at the Oceans restaurant can be a little slow but the food is very good and worth waiting for. The spa is very nice and the treatments are wonderful. We used points for our stay this time and were upgraded to an oceanfront room. If you stay there, splurge for the oceanfront rooms. The view is beautiful.
Traffic is still very bad in St. Maarten so be prepared that you cannot get anywhere very fast. We always rent a car but there are taxis at the hotel. Shopping on the French side was no fun this time because the dollar has little value compared to the Euro. Things we wanted to buy were cheaper at home. The Dutch side has mostly jewelry and most of the jewelers were ready to make good deals.
You cannot have a bad time in St. Maarten so stay at the Westin and have a great time.

We are just back from a 5 night stay and really enjoyed the Westin. We were there on pts and we did get upgraded to a oceanview room. They really took good care of us. The manager introduced himself and talked with us quite a bit just after we arrived and were having lunch by the pool. We had no issues with housekeeping - room was cleaned great and early in day. We had a number of treats/gifts dropped off during our stay which was a nice. We only stayed at the resort one full day and spent rest of time seeing the island. We had no dinners at resort but rest of the food was pretty good.

Pros

Room was nice - ours was very large and alittle odd in that there was all this empty space before the door to balcony. Not sure if there should have been more furniture or what. Could have had a couch, coffee table, another tv and table with four chairs with all the room there was. There was just one chaise - it would have been nice to have more seating or furniture to fill void. Another king size bed would have fit so not sure what the plan of the room was to be.
Room was quiet never heard neighbors. We always had plenty of towels and toiletries.
Again housekeeping was timely and thorough.
We loved location - away from congestion. It only took us 14 minutes one night to get to Grand Case for dinner. We loved the convenience of Big Fish/Mr Busby's_Daniels. We had 3 dinners in total over there and one breakfast plus took snorkel trip from there.
All the hotel staff was great and friendly. The concierge was pretty helpful also.
We liked the openess and simplicity of pool area - not crowded at all.
Beach was very nice and we always saw open chairs at pool and beach.

Cons (none were really that big of issue, but wanted to give people overall review)

Casino at entrance is pretty shaky looking. It should have been walled off or totally separate. It was always very empty so can't imagine at some point that it would maybe shut down. Rest of lobby is really nice so entrance would have been so much nicer without tackiness of casino right there.

A couple of group meetings were there - never bothered us but lobby was congested at one point and they had events near pool and beach in late afternoon/evening but didn't really notice. or get in the way.

Dawn Beach can be windy - we were actually cool at times by 4 pm. Didn't mind that there was no shade as it was always breezy. Might be a good option for summer as then there is constant breeze.

Other note on driving - it is difficult to navigate the roads first time through as it is dark. I suggest taking a dry run in daylight and taking note of land marks. Once you do that you are fine. But again Westin was nice if you didn't want to go to all parts of island, you could avoid alot of the traffic. Dawn Beach to Grand Case was the least conjested area of the entire island.

I would definitely come back to this Westin again, although would admit I wouldn't pay full price. I wasn't entirely blown away by the island as compared to alot of others so wouldn't be rushing back. It was too congested and built up for my liking. I enjoyed food (lunch at LaSamana, Big Fish, Daniels, Le California, Sol E Luna) but again maybe I had too high expectations and didn't totally agree that is was heads above all other islands. I had as good meals on Anguilla, St John even St Croix. There was a great selection of "different" types of food in St Maarten/Martin though. It just didn't overwhelm me.
The beaches and water are really pretty. Thought Orient Beach while beautiful, was just alittle much for me with wall to wall beach chairs and only 1/3 were occupied. I just prefer more quiet beach. We did not have any safety or crime issues and never felt unsafe.

Note: A sea-view room can be a full frontal view of a car park. Should you lean over the balcony you will see the sea over some trees. Splash out and go full ocean view or save your money and go for the courtyard view.

The pool area is overcrowded.

Many of the concierge staff are beyond useless. When ordering a taxi the night before before to phone, walk and down and change PM to AM and 7 to 8. Then wake up the next morning and confirm your booking. Finally walk outside and hail a taxi as you can be sure there won't be one waiting for you.

Large TV

Beach is nice but rather than umbrellas they hire out blue pizza-oven type things which mean you have no view when bunkered in.

The upmarket restaraunt was quite good for a 4* hotel.

The reception area is dominated by a tedious, grey and yet smelly casino.