European Westin Hotels question

[Ken555]

I know this isn't a timeshare question, but I really don't feel like entering the muddy waters that is flyertalk for this...

Do any of you know if the Westin Europa & Regina in Venice, Westin Excelsior and St Regis in Florence, and Westin Excelsior in Rome have the "Italian" electrical outlet (ie. one requiring this adapter):

Thanks!

 

[YYJMSP]

I know this isn't a timeshare question, but I really don't feel like entering the muddy waters that is flyertalk for this...

Do any of you know if the Westin Europa & Regina in Venice, Westin Excelsior and St Regis in Florence, and Westin Excelsior in Rome have the "Italian" electrical outlet (ie. one requiring this adapter):

Thanks!

The Westin Excelsior in Rome had the normal North American outlet (and voltage) in the bathroom (in a Grande Deluxe suite) -- I don't recall the other rooms in the suite, and I'm not sure about other room types.

 

[Pedro]

I've found that in some of the hotels the concierge has a supply of adaptors for guests to borrow. However, to play it safe, I ended buying an international adaptor kit that now I carry with me when I got overseas. You can find them at Amazon for ~ $5 each.

 

[tomandrobin]

I know this isn't a timeshare question, but I really don't feel like entering the muddy waters that is flyertalk for this...

Do any of you know if the Westin Europa & Regina in Venice, Westin Excelsior and St Regis in Florence, and Westin Excelsior in Rome have the "Italian" electrical outlet (ie. one requiring this adapter):

Thanks!

What a timely question. We just got back from Italy. We stayed at the Westin in Rome and Florence, got bumped to the Denali in Venice.

The outlet in each of the bathrooms were dual rated. There was a switch to use either 220v or 120v. We did not need our adapters.

If you have any questions.....just ask.

 

[Brooksider]

I know this isn't a timeshare question, but I really don't feel like entering the muddy waters that is flyertalk for this...

Do any of you know if the Westin Europa & Regina in Venice, Westin Excelsior and St Regis in Florence, and Westin Excelsior in Rome have the "Italian" electrical outlet (ie. one requiring this adapter):

Thanks!

We stayed at the Westin Europa & Regina in Venice and The Grand Hotel in Florence in Oct. 2009; The Grand was recently renamed the St Regis in Florence. (The St Regis in Florence is about 50 feet directly across from the Westin Excelsior in Florence.) I used an adapter in both hotels at that time; however, my adapter only has two metal connectors that go into the electrical socket ... you show three in the picture.

Both hotels were in a great location, service was excellent and hotels were beautiful.

I was surprised that both hotels charged extra for breakfast when you use SPG points for your hotel stay. In both cases, the hotel charged 52 Euro per person for breakfast. There are plenty of restaurants in the area with lower cost breakfast.

If you plan to visit the prime art museums in Florence, you can book your reservation over the internet directly with the museum. The cost then was 28 Euros pp and they give you a digital ticket that you present at the door. This saves you the 2 - 4 hour wait to buy a ticket at the door.

Enjoy your trip.

 

[tomandrobin]

We stayed at the Westin Europa & Regina in Venice and The Grand Hotel in Florence in Oct. 2009; The Grand was recently renamed the St Regis in Florence. (The St Regis in Florence is about 50 feet directly across from the Westin Excelsior in Florence.) I used an adapter in both hotels at that time; however, my adapter only has two metal connectors that go into the electrical socket ... you show three in the picture.

Both hotels were in a great location, service was excellent and hotels were beautiful.

I was surprised that both hotels charged extra for breakfast when you use SPG points for your hotel stay. In both cases, the hotel charged 52 Euro per person for breakfast. There are plenty of restaurants in the area with lower cost breakfast.

If you plan to visit the prime art museums in Florence, you can book your reservation over the internet directly with the museum. The cost then was 28 Euros pp and they give you a digital ticket that you present at the door. This saves you the 2 - 4 hour wait to buy a ticket at the door.

Enjoy your trip.

Yup...2 prong, not 3.

Yup...The Hotels are in a great locations.

Yup...The charge for breakfast. If you can avoid the eating at the hotel, do it. Continental breakfast for 2....$85 Euros! ($120 for coffee, tea and croissants)

Yup...Highly recommend pre-purchasing any tickets and getting front of the line passes where they are offered. At the Vatican, the walk-up line was 2-3 hours long.

 

[Ken555]

Yup...2 prong, not 3.

Yup...The Hotels are in a great locations.

Yup...The charge for breakfast. If you can avoid the eating at the hotel, do it. Continental breakfast for 2....$85 Euros! ($120 for coffee, tea and croissants)

Yup...Highly recommend pre-purchasing any tickets and getting front of the line passes where they are offered. At the Vatican, the walk-up line was 2-3 hours long.

Thanks for all comments.

This is exactly the type of info I want to get. I didn't know this, and didn't need it in my previous trip to Italy, but it turns out the 3-prong plug is the "Italian" version (I believe the middle is ground) and the 2-prong is the standard European plug. I need a few plugs, and while I know many hotels in Europe don't offer much in this regard I haven't stayed at the Starwood properties there before so don't know what to expect. I'm even considering ordering a small surge strip for Europe that has the converter to us plugs in the strip itself.

We are ordering tickets online, at least that's what I was told (that's the one aspect of this trip that I'm not handling! ) so I hope we won't have a wait.

 

[Ken555]

Oh, and we have absolutely no intention of having breakfast in the hotel.

 

[tomandrobin]

Oh, and we have absolutely no intention of having breakfast in the hotel.

In Florence, right around the corner of the St Regis, two blocks down, we had a fantastic dinner on our second night in Florence. Their house specialty pasta was delicious.

In Rome, don't eat at the Le Bistro across from the Westin....expensive and not very good. Our best meals in Rome were down the side streets, away from the main tourist streets (and cheapest).

 

[YYJMSP]

Our best meals in Rome were down the side streets, away from the main tourist streets (and cheapest).

If you head about 2 blocks "behind" the Westin, there was a very nice selection of family restaurants with local pricing. We ate at "RISTORANTE IL POMODORINO".

If you're feeling ethnic, there was a decent Chinese restaurant ("RISTORANTE MANDARIN") about a block in "front" of the Westin, and a pretty nice Indian restaurant ("RISTORANTE MAHARAJAH") about another block farther.

 

[zsn]

This is a very helpful website in my bookmarks list: http://www.kropla.com/electric2.htm

They have pictures of all the possible outlets. It is highly unlikely that they will deviate from the local norms in any of the hotels.....they may have additional outlet styles, but they will definitely have the common local ones. If you buy the C-type adapter (as listed on the link above) you will cover a good portion of the world. I have a few of those I picked up in Singapore for a the equivalent of 30-40 cents (you can never have too many of these!!). They have two round prongs on the front side and a US-style socket on the back. They will work even if your US plug is three-prong because third US prong will fit above the skinny profile.

 

[Ken555]

Just thought I'd let everyone know we had a great trip.

Stayed at five SPG hotels...

Sheraton Dusseldorf - at the airport. Great location, simple and small rooms. Nice staff. Good breakfast (tho not cheap). Directly above (same building) as S-Bahn for direct connection to the Dusseldorf Hbf, which was perfect for me.

Sheraton Milan - at the airport. New hotel. Very nice rooms for a Sheraton. Upgraded one of our rooms, but was thoughtful enough to put both rooms next to each other without a request.

Goldener Hirsch, Salzburg. Great staff. Wonderful location. Upgraded one of our rooms to suite (they only have four in hotel). This was a paid stay, tho with promotions and discounts was reasonable.

Westin Regina & Europa, Venice. Great location, tho not necessarily convenient for smaller family run restaurants. It's located right in tourist central. Fantastic bar on the canal (they make a wicked coffee and include pastries, cookies, and more for no additional charge). Upgraded both of our classic cash & points reservations to larger rooms (one of which was a several level upgrade to a huge room with a double sink, sitting area with couch and two chairs, more).

Westin Excelsior, Florence. Reserved speciality suite on the river. Got 2nd floor with excellent view, was able to watch fireworks during their patron saint holiday festival in June and the thousands of people on the street... Room and hotel is tired, showing the 14 years (or so) since the last renovation but still quite nice.

St Regis, Florence. Absolutely wonderful. Hotel opened three weeks prior to our arrival. Room was pristine. Service was impeccable.

Westin Excelsior, Rome. Reserved speciality upgrade, which was jr suite. A junior suite in this hotel is a 1-bed apartment sans kitchen. Huge. They upgraded one of our reservations to a full suite, which is doubly huge - bedroom had two armchairs and plenty of space, living room had enough furniture for 9 people with room to spare. Good, but indifferent, staff. Annoyed by their assurance taxi cost €45 to the airport, but they put us in a van that wasn't a taxi and the guy insisted on €75 after the fact...and since it was 4am we didn't even think of asking before leaving. Oh well, it's Italy.

All in all, great trip. Also spent three nights in Bellagio at a fantastic little hotel with a superb restaurant specializing in fish from Lake Como. If anyone needs details just send me a PM.

 

[LisaRex]

Sounds like an outstanding trip. What's the weather like in Rome this time of year? We're considering taking our youngest to Italy to celebrate her high school graduation next year.

 

[Ken555]

Sounds like an outstanding trip. What's the weather like in Rome this time of year? We're considering taking our youngest to Italy to celebrate her high school graduation next year.

Hot. Hot. Hot. Of course, in northern Italy it was raining a bit and beautiful one day, then hot the next.

As an aside, I really didn't like Rome. And I like almost every European city. I thought the history was amazing and the buildings fantastic, but I could do without the city. Florence was great, Venice so-so (but much better than my last trip there), Lake Como wonderful.

 

[YYJMSP]

Annoyed by their assurance taxi cost €45 to the airport, but they put us in a van that wasn't a taxi and the guy insisted on €75 after the fact...and since it was 4am we didn't even think of asking before leaving. Oh well, it's Italy.

Hmmm, we had a similar experience getting to the hotel. I swear the price on the meter somehow doubled in the last few minutes before arrival, ending up being quite a bit more than the 40EUR we were expecting...