I heartily agree with Classylad's review of the Westin Sydney - it must have been something about last week because we seem to have had pretty much the same experience.
On arrival last Tuesday (3June) for my 10th stay this year(at the Westin Sydney) the reception I got at check-in can only be described as a fiasco and certainly well short of what I expect from the Westin Sydney.
It's odd because on my last stay here in April, my colleague and I were bowled over by the helpful, friendly staff who went out of their way to make us feel welcome.
The first room I was given was certainly not an upgrade - one of the benefits expected as a Gold SPG member within 2 stays of Platinum membership and on my 10th visit!!!! When I opened the curtains in the first room I was allocated, it faced on to the bridge across to the heritage building. Anyone walking across the bridge would look straight into my room....certainly not what I expect of a 5 star hotel nor as a very frequent, repeat guest.

When working in the business centre, my colleague and I tried to order 2 cups of coffee. We called room service and were told that we could not do that. Neither of us could understand why it is possible to order a cappuccino in your room and charge it to your room but NOT possible to order a coffee to the business centre and charge it to your room??!!

I honestly feel that some of the staff need to be reminded of some basic facts of the service industry.
1. Guests (never mind FREQUENT REPEAT guests) are the only reason the staff at the Westin have jobs.
2. the really frequent, repeat guests are the ones they should go the extra mile for.
3. NOTE to reception desk staff : If you're going to lie to the customer, make damned sure it's a whopper ... not some half wit excuse you came up with on the spur of the moment. We are not dumb and it annoys us to think we are PAYING you for a service that you are NOT delivering.

Failing that, we (the paying guests), have a choice and I for one, will exercise that choice.

We're big fans of Westin hotels, particularly in Melbourne. Our recent experience in Sydney fell short of our expectations of a five star hotel.

For starters, when the taxi arrived there was no one to greet us or collect our luggage. Bad first impression. After I hauled our suitcases out of the cab boot we walked past three staff members as we wheeled our way to the reception counter. Not one offered to help - they just stood there and watched. During our stay, I also noticed other guests wheel their luggage through the reception area. I thought this was really odd for a five star hotel.

Despite this, there was evidence of exceptional service worthy of a 5-star hotel. The housekeeping staff were fantastic including the excellent turn down service - thank you. Some reception and management staff were also exceptional with their friendly and thoughtful service; however, management needs to ensure other staff perform to a five star standard e.g the porters, or rather lack of them, on arrival and departure.

The rooms' are contemporary, comfortable and spacious. The bathroom is huge and luxurious - one reason why we like Westin hotels.

The room service menu is standard hotel fare - personally I think it all seems so 1990s. It offers your usual club sandwich, burger and pasta fare. This was a room service menu at its boring best. I think there was a 'restaurant menu' option but it was too late when we ordered so I didn't even bother reading it. Low-fat menu options available 24/7 would be welcomed by us e.g healthy salads, fish, anti pasto, low-fat chicken dishes.

Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to test run the gym - I decided to go for a jog over the Sydney Harbour Bridge instead.. well worth it.... stunning views!

We've stayed here a few times and we're not sure if there are rooms with harbour views - it's a good distance from the harbour...it's closer to the mall and business district. If you want Sydney harbour views stay in a hotel closer to the harbour. This hotel is perfect for the business traveller - tourists may prefer hotels with harbour views and closer to The Rocks.

Normally we are very impressed bit this time it was slightly below par.

Westin is in a good location, almost center of city. There are 2 train stops located within walking distance. The rooms are very contemporary, the bathroom design was especially pleasing. I paid extra to be in the higher floors for better views and was given access to the executive lounge for breakfast, afternoon tea, and o'deurves. The breakfast is okay, and the o'deurves is nothing to write home about. The complimentary wireless in the lounge was very handy. The Westin is walking distance to most points of interest, the opera house, darling harbour, etc. Room service takes very long, over an hour, to get to your room. The gym and pool are nice, but a long walk from the tower my room was in; they are located in the older part of the building. The main area that needs improvement at this Westin is the customer service. The personnell in the executive lounge was very slow in serving cordials and teas. The food is served buffet style, but if you are thirsty, it's a good wait. Front desk was not as friendly as some other Westins I have stayed at. Paying extra for the high rooms, was not worth it in the end, as my view was blocked by taller buildings or construction. I was only able to get a glimpse of the harbour in between obstructions. Post office located onsite, this came pretty handy also.

My wife and I stayed here for the Sydney portion of our honeymoon. We are Starwood Preferred Guest members and thus were able to pay for part of our stay in points. Our main concern was having a quality hotel with a central, convenient location. This hotel is adjacent to Macquarie Bank and as such does a lot of corporate business; it is obviously more of a business-style hotel. That was fine with us - we had other portions of our trip for the more romantic/quaint type of thing.

The rooms are ultamodern with electronic light and fixture controls, glassed-in bathrooms with extra large tubs and a separate shower, and a flat screen TV with sound that is pumped throughout the room. Everything in the room looked brand new and worked well.

We did not order room service or use the restaurant other than for the breakfast buffet, which offered a wide variety of options including powerfood-type juice blends. The health club, as other posters have noted, is a bit far away from the modern, new tower (about a 5min walk across a catwalk on the third floor) but is excellently appointed. As it is a private gym and not merely the hotel's health club facility, it has all the features of a modern European-style health club, including a lap pool.

We found the staff of the hotel to be extremely helpful and efficient, as one would expect of a Westin.

The skylit, multi-story lobby is also very impressive.