Contest now closed 

In honor of my 100th night at Starwood this year, and at the suggestion of several readers, I thought I’d put together a summary of best and worst Starwood properties – in my opinion.  And to make the celebration even more fun, I’m giving away more Starpoints!  That’s right, you can win 3,000 Starpoints.  Just check out the contest rules at the bottom of this post.

So here it goes…

The Best

The Best of the United States:

Arizona –

The Phoenician Scottsdale – I love the Phoenician you can read my review here.  The property is beautiful and the hotel is a great place for a family get-a-way or a soul-searching, self-indulgent weekend of serenity.  The restaurants are wonderful.  J&G Steakhouse is spectacular!  The spa is a great escape and worth a visit.  Hotel Website

The W Scottsdale – The W is a trendy and modern hotel where everyone who wants to be seen can be seen.  Of course I love this hotel because there is a BlissSpa!  The sushi restaurant is also quite good!  Don’t visit the W if you want low key holiday..but if you want a party, this is your spot! Hotel Website 

New Orleans –

W New Orleans French Quarter – I love the W NO French Quarter. It’s such a cool hotel right in the heart the city. The pool is a great place to hang out and the service is always wonderful!  Hotel Website

New York –

Le Parker Meridien – What an absolutely great hotel.  The l0cation is great for any NYC trip and the the hotel has two of my favorite restaurants – Norma’s and The Burger Joint.  The rooms are modern and many have spectacular views.  You just can’t go wrong with the Parker Meridien.  Hotel Website 

 

The St Regis New York – I knew I wouldn’t be disappointed by the St Regis NY and I wasn’t.  This could easily be the best Starwood property in my mind.  The location is great. The service is stellar. The rooms are amazing and the restaurants are delicious.  Staying at the St Regis is like a dream come true!  Hotel Website 

The Best of Australia –

The Westin Sydney – what a gem of a hotel. The hotel is in a great building that is both modern and historical and is so charming.  The service is great and the bathtubs, well, they’re amazing! Hotel Website 

 

The Best of Thailand –

The St Regis Bangkok – This was my introduction to the St Regis brand and needless to say, it was love at first stay. The St Regis is awesome!  You have to check it out yourself some day to really get a feel for the difference.  Hotel Website 

The Le Meridien Bangkok – Modern, trendy, hip…all the things a LM should be.  I fell in love with the Jean George eye openers here and was so impressed by the breakfasts.  LM Bangkok sets the bar!  Hotel Website 

 

There are many other great Starwood hotels that get honorable mentions – the list is really quite long!  But the ones above are the ones that I’ve deemed the best.   This list will always grow as I stay at more and more Starwood hotels.

 

The Worst –

luckily this is a short list because I’ve had really good luck and good experiences with Starwood which is probably why I’ve stayed 100 nights this year alone!   I really could only come up with two bad hotels in all my Starwood nights (which lifetime to date is almost 500!)

Element Arundel Mills – I’ve never been to a dirtier hotel. The amount of dust under the desk was appalling. It was so bad, infact, that the housekeeping manager held her daily meeting in my room to show the team.  Nothing was really as clean as it could have been and so,  I could never return after that experience (Pictured Right)

The Sheraton Parsippany – I stayed at this hotel for about 30 nights last year (2011.) The hotel will go down in my history books as one of the most cursed hotels. Every week was something new – pipes broke and there was no water, hot water tank broke and there was no hot water, air conditioning was broken…you name it and I’m sure it broke while I was there.  To make matters worse, the hotel was in desperate need of renovation – they started renovations just as my project there ended.  Service was terrible too – I can count at least three occasions where I was given keys to a room that was already occupied.  I wasn’t the only one this happened to, it regularly happened to my colleagues too.  For this reason, I can’t go back.

Your turn Contest now closed 

 

Want to know who won?  Check out this post to see who won the 3,000 Starpoints!

Who wouldn’t like a few thousand extra Starpoint?  You can enter to win 3,000 Starpoints (enough for a free night at a category 1 hotel or an upgrade at a category 1 or category 2 hotel).

To enter, leave a comment with a Starwood hotel that should be added to the best or worst list.  You have to provide a reason why it belongs on that list.   The winner will be selected at random on Friday Aug 17 at 5pm EST.  Good luck!

Rules

• You must be a resident of the United States of America  – I am unable to administer contests in other countries.  (sorry, it’s not my rule! Complain to your government, not me.)
• You must be at least 18 years of age.
• Contest ends at 5pm EST Aug 17 2012 –  all entries submitted after that time will not be eligible .
• You must be a member of Starwood Preferred Guest for a minimum of fourteen days before being able to receive Starpoints
• You may register for free to become a member of of Starwood Preferred Guest and you can register on the same day that you claim your prize if you’re not a member
• A Starwood Preferred Guest account may receive up to a maximum of 20,000 Starpoints per account per calendar year, whether purchased by the member or received as a gift from another member or source.  If you have already purchased or received 17,000 points or more this year, you are not eligible (sorry, Starwood’s rule, not mine)
• Starpoints you purchase do not count towards preferred status
• There is no affiliation between Starwood and VeryGoodPoints