HIGHLIGHTS
- Beautiful views
- Below average food
- Timeshare sales persons hassling you daily
- Staff entering your room without authorization
The first stop on our 6 week honeymoon started on the beautiful island of St. Maarten. After a lot of research, we decided not to go with an all-inclusive resort and go with the highly rated Westin Hotel Dawn Beach. As much as we love all-inclusive resorts, we were after a nice hotel and the option to head out to the number of restaurants the island had to offer.
The hotel is located on the Dutch Side of the island, bordering the French side along the eastern coast on Dawn Beach. From all the research we did, the French side was best for food and the Dutch for nightlife.
We had mixed thoughts about this hotel from a service, food and accommodation point of view. The location was perfect, with beautiful views of the gorgeous Dawn Beach and stunning sunset. Everything you could want from a hotel was here, casino, restaurants, shops, the works. The service from each staff member was friendly and attentive during our stay.
Our flight was quite delayed, which resulted in a late check in at the hotel. We had booked an Ocean View room on the SPG website, however when we checked in, we were given a partial ocean view (photo below), which was more of a pool view. It was a beautiful room, however not what we had booked and paid for.
Since it was so late, we inquired about our room in the morning and were changed to a full ocean front room. (View from ocean view room below)
Each room offers their signature Heavenly Beds, with simple neutral decor to keep the space feeling refreshed. A private balcony offered a stunning view the ocean and sunset each night, which was absolutely worth the room change. The rooms are fully equipped with the essentials including a full mini bar, satellite TV, robes, in room safe and a full stock of toiletries for those who may have forgotten something.
There were a few issues with our room which are worth mentioning. The doors to our balcony didn’t shut properly, which made it difficult for the air conditioner to keep the room cool. We had to keep the temperature on the lowest setting the entire stay to ensure our room was comfortable. Our phone had stopped working on the second to last day we were there (at this time we were unaware of the issue) and came back to our room to find two gentlemen trying to fix it. We weren’t told of anyone needing access to our room, so were a little put off by the fact there were two unknown people in our room. They weren’t able to get our phone fixed, which meant every time we needed something or wanted to order room service, we had to walk down the hall to the elevator and use the phone here. A bit inconvenient from a 5 star hotel.
Being a food and travel blogger, I thoroughly enjoy my food and the Westin fell short here as well. There wasn’t anything that was stand out about the food, which was a letdown since you would expect the hotel to offer 5 star quality food. The food was simple with no wow factors to make us want to stay at the hotel and eat. We had one meal at one of the restaurants, and that was enough for us.
The pool was probably the highlight of the hotel for us since it was so hot. I loved how the pool was large enough that it wasn’t overcrowded and you could really sit back and enjoy the sun. The swim up bar is where you would find us most days enjoying their daily cocktail specials.
Throughout the afternoon there would be live entertainment what was quite enjoyable to watch. Dancers would move around the pool area dancing to local music in amazing feather costumes.
Dawn Beach is one of the better rated beaches on the island. Because the hotel is located on the Eastern side, there is quite a bit of wind which forces a lot of seaweed up onto the shore. Every morning and evening there would be a hand full of workers cleaning the beaches to make it as enjoyable as possible. The beach may not have been the absolute cleanest; however the breeze from the ocean was absolutely worth it.
The hotel also offers a variety of entertainment including a lobby casino and a few shops selling sun lotions, bathing suits and snacks. One thing that put us off was the time share sales people hassling us to stop and talk to them every day.
Although this is a beautiful hotel, we probably will not be heading back. The food was below average, the staff trying to sell us time shares put us off and we had several issues with our room. For the amount we had paid for our room, we definitely expected more.
Hotel Features & Facilities
- Signature Heavenly Beds
- 24hr Room Service
- Free local calls
- 100% smoke free rooms
- Ocean View rooms
- Free internet access for all Starwood Preferred Members
- Business centre
- Kids Club
- Concierge
- 24hr Security
- Outdoor Pool + swim up bar
- 4 Restaurants
- Fitness Centre
- ready, set, RunWESTIN – pre-arranged routes around the breach area
- Casino
- Beachfront
- In-room Massage treatments
- Clothing & Jewellery shop
