We booked the trip through Hotwire.com...paid $1100 for 4 nights hotel and direct flights to and from. Stayed from 7/23/2003 - 7/27/2003.

Check-in was a snap, but probably due to the fact that we didn't arrive until 11:00pm. During the day long lines did develop at the huge front desk with only 1 or 2 people working. We had requested a corner room on one of the upper floors with a city view, but by the time we arrived they only had 7 rooms left so they upgraded us to a Deluxe room instead of the Superior room. WOW! The room was huge and extremely clean and we had a decent view from the 16th floor. You hear horror stories of how small the rooms can be in NYC, but not this room. The bathroom had plenty of space and enough towels to dry half of Times Sqaure!

And for all the "Heavenly" amenities...well I now know why they call them Heavenly. The shower felt like you were standing in a waterfall, and the bed was THE best bed I have ever slept on....and if your in NYC on vacation and plan on doing a lot of walking like we did...then the Heavenly Shower/Bed is the best remedy for tired legs!

The maid service was excellent and the security was very nice at the front door (they have a sign posted you must present your room key to enter but they never once asked to see our key). The hotel was very quite at night...but if you like to sounds of NYC at night just crack the windows open a little.

All in all...great hotel with great service (for what we needed) in a great location. I will have a hard time staying anywhere else on my next trip to NYC.

Yes, the location is great if you like theatre and crowds, but the room I had on the 30th floor was small. The view was fun, though. The other good thing was the great dual-head shower and the comfy bed. Other than that, I had a lot of complaints considering how much I paid. When I first got in the room, I turned on all the lights to unpack my suitcase, but I literally could not see inside my bag while I unpacked it on the bench where one is supposed to put suitcases. The lighting was awful. Even the reading light by the bed was inadequate for the purpose. The bathroom was super-small and the annoying tiny metal sink and shelf made me think I was on an airplane. There was simply no room on the tiny shelf to place more than a few objects and I had the usual make-up kit, hair products and toothbrush, etc and they all would not fit. There is also very little closet space (1/2 a regular one) or drawer space. The shower curtain was inadequate as water puddled up on the bathroom floor, which is dangerous and slippery--and I closed the curtain well! Weirdly, I was told upon check-in that if I so much as moved an item in the snack-bar/fridge, I would be charged for it, so I can't imagine that even having the little fridge in the room is useful to more than just a very few guests who are willing to buy that stuff.
I called the "service express" 4 separate times for things over the course of my stay and never once did they answer before the 10th ring.
Anyway, I plan to chose another hotel next time, although I usually like Westin.

I would like to share my positive experience at the Westin Hotel in New York City, Midtown (Times Square). This is a new hotel since last October 2002. All people from the Reception desk is absolutely nice, friendly, customer service minded. Guest rooms are superb, clean. Location of the hotel is obviously great. Though rather expensive, it is a great hotel and I enjoyed it. Kind regards, Fabienne

Stayed here from 10th - 13th May following 3 nights at the Waldorf Astoria. We had a fab. corner room on the 38th floor with the most amazing views. The check in clerk (extremely nice and made a fuss of my 8 year old, giving her a kids fun pack) offered us a choice of high or low floors, I plucked up the courage to choose a high floor and wasn't dissapointed. The view was just amazing (room 3839). I loved the modern decor and the bathroom was terrific. The service, when requested, was excellent. However, when just walking past employees, notably in the street level lobby, they didn't acknowledge you, which gave a 'couldn't care less' impression. I'm used to staff greeting me, or certainly smiling. But if you asked them anything, they were brilliant and pulled out all the stops, clearly, the impressions they gave off were incorrect. The location was great, a few minutes walk into Times Square proper and if you do the Grayline tours, they all stop very near on 8th Avenue. Actually, I would choose this hotel over the Waldorf Astoria to return to, even though it is difficult to compare the two, the location of the Westin and the decor was much more my cup of tea.