Westin corporate feedback surveys. Be nice, now!
Many folks have begun filling in the surveys sent out by Starwood Groups to find out how the Westin did. The overwhelming comment that they seem to be getting is "your elevators suck!"
Folks, there's nothing wrong with the elevators. They simply were not designed for a Furry convention! Our good folks at the Westin have noticed that this tends to be the only comment people are leaving. Elevators aside, please find something nice to say. I think that the Westin did an outstanding job overall, and let us give credit where credit is due. We don't want Starwood to think that all of us were displeased with our flagship hotel, because I know full well that's not the case!
No problems for me 
ill always stay at the westin. The only hotel to stay in during anthrocon
I think people expect some kind of magic with the elevators.Thats why i dont stay at the Westin.I like a little space.If youre staying in large crowds youre gonna have to wait a bit. theres limits to resources people!
You probably mean the mini bars? This is the norm in hotels..
We asked for a mini fridge which was delivered impressively quickly, free of charge and not locked. o.O
If you didn't need dairy-level refrigeration, it wasn't necessary to have them bring up a mini-fridge, you could've just gotten a key for the (empty) minibar. It's plenty cool for drinks. I hope they don't remodel the Westin rooms anytime soon because they'll probably get rid of the decommissioned minibars as part of it.
I actually called the service desk to have it unlocked, but they told me that the units werent even functional for beverages. I might have gotten a mini-fridge had I known to specifically ask for it, but knowing they're a limited commodity, I'd probably have left it available for someone who needs to refridgerate meds.
My my... There were 5 elevators, so even with very long lines, I never waited more than 15 minutes (the only exception being after the parade, holy molly, we turned back, went for lunch in the city and came back later. Problem solved.)
I was very pleased with the hotel. I didn't see the survey thing, but me and my roomates left a thank you note to our housekeeper, she was friendly and absolutly lovely.
Agreed! I've attended AC twice now, both times I stayed at the Westin. The staff is extremely pleasant and helpful, especially when it comes to meeting any special requests (such as a small fridge cold and ready for medications). Our housekeeper made sure everything we need was at hand. The first day we wore our tails out, I had forgotten something in the room and gone back. When I left the room, she asked if I needed anything, then happened to spot the tail. I got a surprising squeal and a big hug. She was just about bouncing in the hallway shouting "My favorite group is back, my favorite group is back! Don't you worry, I'll take care of everything for you!" It was such a wonderful welcome.
As far as the elevators, I think the Anthrocon Security staff deserves big kudos! They are the ones who keep things running smoothly in the line. I think the longest I had to wait all weekend was about 5 minutes due to a big rush of suiters and luggage carts right then. As mentioned, the system isn't meant to handle a huge crowd like ours, and I hope that folks can understand that! Just take those few minutes in line and chit-chat with a person you might not have met otherwise
I don´t actually have any compains about the Westin,I have attended AC twice now and each time I have stayed in Westin,Just like Zura. And actually Westin has been my first hotel where I have stayed in my life.
Overall I need to say that I like hotel and it´s staff,we had a really kind and amazing housekeeper this year,she treated us really well. I definitely hope that I will get chance to stay at the Westin next year
Big respect for the Anthrocon Security staff for making everything they can to handle the elevator lines,so they could run smoothly.
I was lucky I used the stairs as I was on the 5th floor, but try doing the anthrocon marathon as I call it, take the stairs from the 3rd floor all the way up to the top floor.Do I have to do the survey or can I leave it ?
The only issue my group had was..I arranged for a 2 bedroom suite for us all and we were supposed to have a mini-fridge as part of the suite. There was no fridge, and they could not provide us one. That was most unfortunate as the lunch food we brought was then spoiled quickly.
The elevator issue is not any worse then any other big event I have ever attended.
If I get the survey I will let the Westin know they really should be sure the suites have the full amenities.
I didn't shed tears when I didn't get in to the Westin this year, and that's because of the crowded elevator issues I read about. The Doubletree worked for me and wouldn't mind being there again next year.
Aside from check-out time on Monday I didn't wait any more than maybe 10-15 mins for an elevator, and it only took that long on one occasion right after the fursuit parade.
Floor 17 had an awesome housekeeper too xD. She seemed really happy to have us back as well.
I do have one complaint.. about my room in the westin. our bed wasn't made at all. for 2 days. i know our roomates was but ours wasn't. i was on the 23rd floor. i don't know why. the od not disturb sign wasn't on and i ran into the hosekeeping staff on sat i do belvie as i was geting ready. but still nothing was done..
and the esclators broke a few times. lol but really the only compliant i have was about housekeepign otherwise it was a pleasnet stay. i loved the coffee.
Did you tend to keep items on the bed? I think there may be a policy where they can't move your personal items but they normally leave a note or something.
my roomate had things on her bed as well. and no there weren't items on my bed othe then my blanket that i was aware of. there was no note. the first day (friday) sicne we got there thursday. my blanket was neatly put on the bed. but that was the onl y day they acutly did anhting the rest of the teime it was a mess. the blankets were ont eh floor and everyhting
Overall, the Westin did a WONDERFUL job, considering the circumstances (elevators can hold a lot more people when they aren't wearing fursuits, for example) and large numbers. The service was friendly and the staff seemed to do everything in their power to help us when we had a question.
I couldn't help but feel slightly deceived, however, when I was told the rooms had "free internet." I'm not saying that I went to AC to surf the web - far from it - but I was a little suprised when I went to check my email on day one that the offer is only good for 24 hours. Either that, or I misunderstood the process.
The mini-fridges being locked was a bit annoying, as we had bought milk for our coffee only to find out that the ice bucket would have to do. In their defense, I never thought to ask the hotel staff about this. (I also figured they had bigger problems to take care of than two furs worried about their dairy products.)
We also totally underestimated parking costs. Our bad. Lesson learned for our second AC.
Unless I'm mistaken, I believe the locked fridges people are referring to are actually the mini bars. These are commonly locked in hotel rooms. You had to ask the front desk for having a mini fridge brought to your room (early enough for them to still have some available that is)
we had one delivered to us with no problem on Wednesday evening
About the internet - after your 24 hours was up, there was nothing stopping you from putting your information in for another 24 hours. There was no charge for renewing the complementary "high speed lite" each day.
The offer is good for 24 hours; followed by 24 hours; followe by 24 hours, for as long as the room is in your name.
I figured as much after reading some of the comments... we just never encountered this setup before. We'll be sure to do this next year. (I mean, if it's early enough not to be too much of a bother. We have other things we could have refrigerated, like leftovers.) Thanks!
I'll leave a note much later asking for an addition to the FAQ on this.
All SUITES are supposed to have a microwave and a mini-fridge wherever you go. If you have a SUITE and
it does not, tell the front desk immediately. If the response is not "we'll replace it as soon as we
can today", then speak to a manager. If his response is not that, write down everything- who you spoke
to, when you checked in, etc- and IMMEDIATELY contact the Corporate Office of the hotel chain.
"I'm staying right now in your hotel, and the management refuses to address a problem...."
Corporate offices LOVE to know when there's an issue with one of the hotels, especially if it's not
living up to WRITTEN STANDARDS.
For anyone else in a normal hotel room...
You are in a HOTEL ROOM. You are not in an APARTMENT. You are there to put your stuff safely, sleep,
clean up, and change clothing. Microwaves are NOT expected. Mini-fridges are not provided. If you ask
for a microwave, the answer will be "no." Hotel rooms that are not suites don't get them. The hotel
DOES have a LIMITED NUMBER of mini-fridges. They are there primarily for people who need MEDICATION
REFRIGERATED- and there are some at AC. If you get all the mini-fridges to chill your drinks, the
people who NEED them can't get them because the people who WANT but don't NEED them got them all.
Your hotel room should probably have a COFFEE MAKER, and it will have an ice-bucket, with access to
ICE. You can have cold drinks by storing them in the ice-bucket and/or adding ice to your cup.
You can heat water in the coffee maker, which might be useful if you need to warm up water for
something. (Someone suggested heating the water, then pouring it into Cup-O-Noodles.)
Otherwise, if you want more luxuries, look into paying more and getting a suite. Honestly, unless you
have a full family, it's doubtful you NEED a suite. Just plan ahead not to need a fridge or oven.
There's still plenty of places to eat open early and open late all through the convention.
(And refresh the ice in your bucket.)
I shall have to contact corporate as I reserved a 2bedroom suite specifically because of the extra amenities. I DID go to the front desk and was told that I was wrong and there were never and fridges or microwaves in the suites. I have made notes and will contact Corporate as..well..I travel afor other things and have been at other hotels in their chain.
But I did want those who run AC to know that the additional cost of the suites and such SHOULD ENSURE having what they advertise.
Thanks
Yeah, and we were in a suite, too... like I said, overall, VERY impressive. Just those two little things were unclear. (How internet usage was granted and mini-fridge availability.) It's decieiving when you pay the extra for a suite and they say these things are "available" and then extra steps need to be taken to receive them without any indication.
no problams for me.
Uncle Kage, i do hope your reading this post because it was my first Anthrocon experience and i was blown away with everything. one of your members, i don't know his name but he was sitting next to you on your left for the opening ceremonieshe told me if i had any ideas to improve Anthrocon i should tell him or make a post on this website. i did suggest a disco ball to be placed in the ballroom for the dancing everynight but i do have a guest in mind that can really help out with any charity. i do suggest we invite talk show host: Ellen Degeneres because shes funny, she helps alot of people, and she loves animals...this clip should help
- How does Anthrocon choose its Guest of Honor each year?
The process by which we select a Guest of Honor is similar to a papal conclave and just as mysterious. Many factors are considered -- everything from their availability to budgetary concerns. There are literally dozens of people that we would like to consider in any given year, however we can only choose two or three. We hope that no one views it as a slight if we do not select a particular person. It is almost always a matter of "not quite right for this year".
We still welcome suggestions, although we prefer those to be emailed to us, rather than discussed on public forums, since the latter often leads to misunderstandings.
is there someone i can ask? perhaps K.P. maybe i don't know
i think Ellen Degeneres would make an impact on Anthrocon 2013
As the FAQ quote says, send an e-mail or private message to Kage, Chiaroscuro, Giza or some other member of the Board of Directors. It would also help if you had some way of contacting Ms. DeGeneres directly. It is quite possible that she either has somethind scheduled for that weekend, or her price for attending would be more than the Board can afford.
I would like to see the results of a survey of our hotels, and know just how they would have rated our performance, as guests!
Now that, I think, might prove rather enlightening...
Especially compared with the hockey folks who were supposed to come in after us...
A very minor complaint which I brought up to the front desk as I checked out: my shower was left "enabled", so I got a rather rude surprise when I first took one 
It doesn't help that the engaging mechanism is a rather poor design - you practically need a needle-nose pliers to be able to pull that button back out (it helps if you wait till the water's drained out) 
A very minor complaint which I brought up to the front desk as I checked out: my shower was left "enabled", so I got a rather rude surprise when I first took one
I think that's just a flaw in the design of the mechanism. What irked me was they kept shutting off the upper shower head. First time I tried turning it back on I was looking at it and got a faceful of water.
well from 2nd hand info and word of mouth Ive heard and noticed, the hotels seem to like us as guests as far as conventions go
I can personally confirm that the westin loves AC much more than the local anime con. They lasted one year with the hotel before they were effectively banished from the property.
I can confirm your confirmation, from a relative who works at a hotel within the area, that Tekko absolutely destroyed everything they touched.
That's kinda the reason I left the anime fandom for furry. That the people involved tended to act, and were, slightly more mature (sometimes) than the average preteen anime fan who has no concept of how to act in public.
There's a few stories I know about tekko and how it is run.... but I won't get into them because this isn't the proper forum to do such things and I like to think that we're above doing such things as well.
The internet was free for 24 hours. At the end of 24 hours, you simply filled in the form again, and you got another free 24 hours.
Those poor escalators were in worse shape than the elevators.
Going up wasn't nearly so bad as waiting to go down.
Rooms were as one might expect for a hotel of that caliber and there were no issues.
My grief was the rather excessive hold levied on my credit card (won't make that mistake again) of far beyond the $60 other folks spoke of ($230 in my case for whatever reason) that pretty much blew the whole budget for the weekend.
The rooms were wonderful, the elevators were understandable, the front desk was helpful, the housekeeper staff were nice.
I think my only real complaint would be with the restrooms on the convention floors of the hotel. They seemed to be always running out of paper. I reported it to Con Ops several times, and it was rectified right away each time, but it'd be nice if I didn't have to.
Frankly, the elevators DO suck. No Westin hotel (remember when MWFF was in a Westin?) has EVER been architected with sufficient elevator capacity to serve the full room capacity. I have serious misgivings about the new FWA hotel for 2013 - a 73 floor Westin with only 10 elevators.
But, there is nothing any employee of the Westin hotel can do about the elevators now, short of tearing down the hotel and re-building it. I did make the suggestion of opening up the freight elevators to fursuiters during peak hours but I don't know if that would be a pandora's box.
However, the escalators also suck - I never noticed the ones in the DL malfunction, but the ones in the Westin malfunction constantly, and take too long to get re-started. And, the elevators that go to the 2nd and 3rd floor stop going there during every Anthrocon, meaning you'd have to use the main elevator line to get there.
These things have happened every year, and the Westin has never improved on it - I think they know they've got us by the balls and don't have to worry about losing our business.
Attendees are not supposed to use any elevator to get to the 2nd and 3rd floors, especially the main elevators, because of the traffic.
Attendees are welcome to use the two elevators in the separate bank (across from the gift shop) which serve the function room floors (2 and 3) as well as the parking garage. That's what they're for.
Has Anthrocon ever explored solving the problem of those elevators' schedule locking out 2 and 3 at certain times? Every year, it happens, and for some reason every year Anthrocon security are surprised when it happens.
I have no complaints. Plenty of fresh towels and soaps. The maid on my floor (16) was exceedingly nice.
Whats that!? Glowsticks, Yup, They be free!