| Adding to the guest’s experience, the Westin offers services such as massage, manicure and pedicures. |
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By Carol Gifford
(March 2008) The Westin Charlotte, located at the intersection of College and Stonewall Sts. across the street from the Charlotte Convention Center, is a convenient and pleasant stay for business travelers and others (even pets!) who want to be near the hub of Charlotte’s financial district and Uptown activities.
Just a few blocks away from the Bank of America Carolina Panthers football stadium, the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, the Charlotte Bobcats Arena, home of the NBA team and the Charlotte Checker’s hockey team, the Westin is near many businesses and restaurants. Across the street is construction that will eventually house new facilities for four cultural organizations including extensions of the Mint Museum of Art, Bechtler Museum, and Discovery Place, an Afro-American Cultural Center, and the Knight Theater.
The AAA-rated Four Diamond hotel with 700 guest rooms and suites, opened in spring 2003, is a welcome refuge from Charlotte’s busy downtown streets. The lobby and downstairs lounge are decorated in calm, muted colors, and arrangements of comfortable chairs, tables, and sofas along with a soothing waterscape, encourage guests to sit down and relax. Large, potted trees add greenery and elegant blooming orchids add color to help soften the outside cityscape of sidewalks and cars.
 A sleek, yet aesthetically pleasing addition to the Charlotte skyline, the Westin was designed by hotel architect John Portman, known for his dramatic hotel atriums and inward orientation, designed to create a release from the anxiety of urban areas, sidewalks and congestion. The hotel décor plays off the competing forces of tension and relaxation.
A huge Portman-designed chandelier made of stainless steel and crystal ice acrylic shingles and titled “Aspiration” as a tribute to the city’s great aspirations and momentum to leap forward, anchors the lobby. Other custom pieces by Portman include “Nocture,” a painting behind the lobby’s front desk, “Winged Victory 3,” a sculpture in Bar 10, and “Trolley Lines,” a large mural that decorates the hotel’s second level city trolley stop, currently not operating but expected to resume service shortly.
The Westin, originally developed in partnership with the city of Charlotte, boasts the city’s largest hotel ballroom and 44,000 square feet of convention space. The hotel is owned by Portman Holdings, a company run by the architect who designed the building, and managed by Starwood Hotels & Resorts. With its close proximity to the Charlotte Convention Center, the hotel hosts many business events, and is also popular for weddings.
Room décor includes modern, velour furniture, contemporary light fixtures, muted earth tones of moss green and rust and soothing landscape photographs. Bathrooms include large furniture-style vanities with marble countertops and granite flooring. All rooms have nice views; those on the higher floors have more dramatic views. Rooms facing north see the skyscrapers of Uptown Charlotte, while those facing south see the city’s Historic South End.
 Three room choices are offered, all are non-smoking. Traditional Rooms are 300 square feet and come with either double beds or a king bed. Superior Rooms, also 300 square feet, include a king bed and an upgraded décor. Deluxe Rooms are 320 square feet and have a large bathroom. Grand Deluxe Rooms range from 300 to 320 square feet and also include a complimentary night turndown service, CD player/alarm clock/radio, bottled water and additional bath amenities. Accessible rooms are also available.
Executive Suites are 600 square feet and includes two full baths, a sofa beds, lounge and guest chairs, and Bose Wave CD player/alarm/clock radios. The two Presidential Suites, each 1,300 square feet, include a king bed with a wet bar, two full baths, a sofa bed, large lounge area with additional sofa and leather lounge chairs and ottomans, a 42-inch plasma television with a Bose entertainment systems with DVD/CD player, and a dining table with eight chairs.
Westin offers Heavenly Beds, described as “10 layers of heaven,” with both its signature mattress sets, mattress pads, and layers of bedding, and Heavenly Baths, with two-showerheads, along with Westin White Tea-scented amenities. All rooms also include: a Heavenly bathrobe, 27” television, large desk with ergonomic chair, a refreshment center, coffeemaker with Starbucks coffee, cordless phone on the bed stand, two-line speakerphones with data port on desks, in-room laptop safes, irons and ironing boards and hairdryers.
High-speed Internet is available in all rooms with an add-on charge of $9.95 per day. Local calls are billed at $1.50 per call and long-distance calls are $2 per call, in addition to the carrier charges, plus .10 a minute after the first hour.
 Business travelers receive a copy of USA Today outside their doors in the morning and appreciate the front desk availability of the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the local Charlotte Observer, and the weekly Charlotte Business Journal. Same-day laundry and dry-cleaning service, 24-hour room service and Business Center, concierge and technical concierge, gift shop and valet and self-parking are offered.
Pets up to 50 pounds are welcome in the hotel at no additional cost, and the hotel offers complementary Heavenly pet beds. The Westin will work with guests to accommodate the needs of visiting pets.
The hotel includes a Westin Workout fitness facility includes cardiovascular and strength training equipment, a two-lap swimming lap pool, and a sauna, open Monday thru Friday, 5 a.m.-10 p.m. and weekends, 6 a.m.-10 p.m. A $5 per daily guest charge applies.
 Adding to the guest’s experience, the Westin offers services such as massage, manicure and pedicures. Massages are offered in private treatment rooms at the hotel’s gym area or can be provided in the privacy of the hotel room. Types of massages include: hot stone, Swedish, deep tissue, neuromuscular, medical, sports, reflexology, myofascial release and pre-natal, and range in cost from $60 to $210. Couples’ massages are also available. Nail services include classis pedicures and manicures, eucalyptus/stress relief spa manicures and pedicures and acrylic and solar services, starting at $20 and up.
Fire and Ice is the theme of the food and beverage outlets at the hotel. The Ember Grille features modern global cuisine fusing taste, textures and aromas from around the world with an open kitchen, wood-burning oven and rotisserie, and an outdoor terrace. It also features a private dining room, fireside, that can accommodate up to 25 guests. Bar 10, the lounge and bar area to the side of the front lobby is an urban lounge that offers light fare in a relaxing atmosphere with progressive sound and three 37”, plasma, flat-screen TVs. The drink menu includes top 10 wines, martinis, single malts, small batch bourbons, tequilas and microbrews. Charlotte’s Treats & Eats is a pick-up spot that offers Starbucks coffee, fresh salads and sandwiches and bakery treats.
The Westin hosts visitors that include entertainers, celebrities, visiting and resident sports teams, and spectators and teams for collegiate athletic contests. NASCAR race events draw big names and huge crowds, and locals patronize the lounge and restaurant.
“The Westin Charlotte offers a premiere location within the Uptown area and heart of Charlotte. From our stunning architecture and contemporary feel, and personalized service, the Westin Charlotte continues to deliver a world-class personal and renewing guest experience,” says John Reed, general manager. (Updated March 2008)
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