My wife and I live in southern Georgia and wanted to get a weekend away together. I'm a Platinum, so that usually means a Starwood property. Since Janet had never stayed at a W hotel before, we decided to head up to the W Atlanta at Perimeter Center. I decided to burn some SPG points on Tuesday night and within a couple days we presented ourselves at the front desk. (Parking was almost $10/night, if I remember right.)

"Welcome to the W!" Someone was perky today. In fact, the whole hotel was perky: from the swanky check-in area to the loud, hip-hop party atmosphere that dominated the Friday evening mood in and around the lobby. She kindly gave us an Extreme Suite upgrade and off we went. In the elevator, we could still hear the thumping of Snoop-dog. Janet gave me a look. "Welcome to the W!" I said!

The large suite was located at the end of a hallway and even had a kitchen (it seemed old and poorly maintained... no matter, we would never be using it anyway). Janet settled right in (despite the Snoop-dog scene at the pool), although we did notice that the carpet was a bit tusseled and had been washed over a few times in spots. There was a DVD player and I went down to the lobby to "check out" a movie for us to watch that night. As it was starting to get late, someone walked by our door and rang our doorbell twice. No one there. Wierd. The front desk assured me that they hadn't sent anyone up.

The next morning, I stumbled into the shower all groggy to discover there was no soap, shampoo or conditioner... anywhere! We called down to the service desk and they promised to send it right up. I was wet and naked, and had no soap! 15 minutes later, it finally arrived with a smile. We had ordered room service and it arrived cold around the edges. The coffee was weak and the whole breakfast experience was overpriced.

The W is located on the northside of the city in the old Sheraton Suites building. You can still tell it's a renovation and it just doesn't have the same "spin" about it as the W in New York or in Seattle. Besides the good shopping in the mall across the street, there wasn't much else going on. No matter! We would be spending our time focused on eachother anyway... like enjoying food and drinks at Savu! We did try to use the concierge once, but she had never heard of the restaurant (I thought it was one of Atlanta's most popular!) and told us she would call our room when she had more information. She did eventually track the place down and was able to make reservations for us about 4 hours before dinner.

Overall, I don't think the W Atlanta gave Janet the best impression of a W. That just means we'll have to take another trip! My favorite is the W San Diego and the W Seattle, so I hope she'll agree to come out there again. Next time I'm in Atlanta, I probably will stay at a different Starwood property. This one just didn't "do it" for me.

Review by Jeff H.

Posted at April 1, 2006 8:58 PM