What better way to get some sun in February than a weekend in Italy? It is towards Rome, city that I know the least in the country, that my choice is for a weekend in love. It was also an opportunity to celebrate my girlfriend’s birthday. I chose the Westin Excelsior, an emblematic hotel of the city located in the historical center.

Booking

I made my reservation through the SPG website a few weeks before I arrived at the hotel. Rome is an expensive city: this means that there are no hotels for less than 200 € per night, and the excellent hotels are very expensive. This is the case of the Westin Excelsior. So I decide to use my Starpoints to book a room for two nights and use one of my Suite Night Awards to allow me to secure a suite that will be totally appropriate for my girlfriend’s birthday celebration. This Suite Night Award is approved by the hotel as soon as the acceptance window opens, which is five days before my arrival.

Arrival

We reached the hotel by foot. My companion took a train from Parma, and I took the Leonardo express from Fiumicino airport.The walk from Rome Termini station is quite difficult when you have luggage, and a cab is necessary. To my surprise, as we approached the hotel weighed down with our luggage, the doorman did not come forward to take our luggage and help us and let us go up the stairs with our luggage and use the doors while struggling, then direct us to the reception. I saw this behavior continuously and with everyone who came loaded. Unbelievable!

The reception is also very cold. No mention of the upgrade, I had to ask to have the breakfasts specified on my account as a welcome gift, and no confirmation of late check-out. We go with our luggage without any assistance to our room, a beautiful suite with a view on the whole city.

Room

The assigned Suite was on the fifth and top floor of the property. This is an Executive Suite, where the living area is separate from the bedroom.

You enter this room through the entrance. Immediately to the right is the bathroom with a shower, a bathtub, two basins and a toilet. Nothing special, except that it is large, comfortable and allows 2 people to use it simultaneously.

From the corridor we also enter the room, rather large with a very comfortable bed and access to the balcony that overlooks a terrace overlooking the whole city of Rome.

Back in the hallway, we finally arrive in the living room which has a large desk, a sofa, a coffee table and armchairs as well as a dining table. It also gives access to the balcony which will be very pleasant and which we will use during the entire stay.

This room, although large and very beautiful, is a bit dated. It’s certainly an old-fashioned charm, I’m not a fan of these early 90s renovations.

Restaurants

We were able to test the hotel’s restaurant during both breakfast and dinner service. We also tried the Room Service

Breakfast

The breakfast service is finally very average. Not only did we have to wait quite a long time to get a table, which indicates a certain dysfunction and undersizing of the room, but the quality of the buffet is not there. I also spare you the quality of the service which leaves something to be desired, we had to ask several times for our coffee, several times for a certain type of toasted bread etc. etc.

Dinner

I had reserved a table for dinner beforehand, specifying that my companion was eating gluten-free. Even if this last instruction was not passed, all the service staff did their best to satisfy our requests and to make sure we had a good time.

As everywhere in Italy, the service ends quite early, and we will be the last customers to leave the restaurant.

Note the rather elaborate menu for dinner, both on the starters and on the main courses, the dessert part being always lower than abroad.

An effort will be made by bringing us a glass of Prosecco and a gluten-free cake so that Madame can celebrate her birthday.

Last but not least, the restaurant was under construction when we dined there, and the view outside was a view on the scaffolding. My companion and I are still laughing about it!

Room Service

On the second night, we preferred to use room service to enjoy the magnificent view of Rome from the terrace of our suite. We ordered a gluten-free dish for Madame and a seafood risotto for me. If the risotto was well-made, the gluten-free dish was obviously frozen and reheated, unacceptable in a 5-star hotel!

In short, a mediocre performance.

Hotel facilities

The hotel has a fitness room and a spa.

We were able to try out the spa, which is good overall, although the changing rooms are a bit small. The pool area is quite nice, but it is absolutely impossible to bathe either in the pool or in the jacuzzi which is 17°.

The steam bath is also a bit cold and not very pleasant to use. We will not spend much time in the spa.

Departure

The departure formalities were quite fast, in spite of the fact that we had to go and renew our key which did not work anymore, since the late check-out had not been programmed on it. No particular invoice errors.

Bottom line

This hotel could be a nugget. By remaining Westin, and by minimizing the renovation work, this hotel is gradually losing its charm.

Above all, the staff is either not trained enough or not managed enough to provide the quality of service that is expected for the price of the room. I therefore do not recommend staying in this hotel, despite the beauty of the building. Le Méridien Visconti will do the trick. Save your money for another historic hotel in an Italian city!