The Westin Chennai Velachery – Review

By | May 27, 2023

Westin Chennai is a 10-storied 5-star hotel located in Velachery, Chennai, India. It is the sixth Westin hotel in India that was opened in February 2013. The central courtyard of the hotel has a 35-feet cascading water body.

Location: It’s located in the heart of the busiest place in the city with walkable distance to the biggest mall in Chennai (Phoenix Marketcity) & to a plethora of restaurants. You can’t get any better place in the city, especially if you’re looking for entertainment.

Westin Chennai Velachery – Exterior

Booking

  • Revenue Rate: ~Rs.7,000+GST
  • I Used: 3000 SPG Points/ Weekend (Now: 12,500 Marriott Points)

One thing that I love most with SPG before Marriott-SPG merger was their weekend discounted points package that I’ve availed a lot of times as it usually goes well with my travel plans.

Further, as I’m an SPG Gold member, I used to get 4 PM late checkout too with which I maximize the stay to the fullest extent. To me, it’s more like a 2-day stay at a cost of one.

Check-in & Lobby

We were welcomed by a new trainee whom helped us with the check-in process. They said they’ve upgraded us to the Club level room with the Pool View. She then guided us to the room.

On asking her whether we will get Executive lounge access or not, she said she will get back on that over the phone, but never did. I didn’t bother either as I was already in a tight schedule.

Welcome Amenity

I added this as a separate topic for a reason: It has a great valueI’ve listed down the welcome amenities that came with my booking:

  1. Fruit Basket
  2. Choice of: Coffee/Chocolate/fruits/wine Coupon (1 per person)
  3. Points/Local Gift (SPG Gold Benefit)

I would value all of them for at-least Rs.1000 which effectively reduces the cost of my stay in one way. I personally feel the welcome amenity at Westin does come with a great value. Is this the case with all Westin properties? Any SPG Experts around?

And hey, we got a cute King-Kong Welcome during one of my stays. Well, I got to actually ask them what animal it is to figure that out 😀 

Westin Chennai Velachery – Kingkong Welcome
The Westin Chennai Velachery – Fruits

The Room

Since it’s a typical luxury business hotel, you should be expecting excellent interiors. With beige concept & cool wooden flooring, this very much reminds me of the Grand Hyatt, Mumbai.

The Westin Chennai Velachery – Bedroom
The Westin Chennai Velachery – Bedroom interiors
The Westin Chennai Velachery – Bedroom TV/Working Table
The Westin Chennai Velachery – Pool View
The Westin Chennai Velachery – Poolside Restaurant View
The Westin Chennai Velachery – Bathroom
The Westin Chennai Velachery – Bathroom 1
The Westin Chennai Velachery – Lovely neat Bath Tub

The Property

If you look at the exteriors in the picture, you would think it’s a small property, well it’s not. It’s a perfect Business hotel in every aspect and it has even much more to offer. Access to a nice swimming Pool, Spa & Gym is given upon.

The Spa at Westin is quite popular and you can get some awesome deals with Nearbuy App. My friend used it to get like 20% off, compared to the 15% benefit with SPG Gold. Well, it’s about time I came to know that Nearbuy app is yet another unexplored goldmine!

The Swimming Pool was neat & clean as it should be. I decided to take a dip in the Pool after a very long time.

The Gym though offers basic pieces of equipment, it is, in fact, narrow to which it feels quite compact and stuffed for a hotel of this range.

Breakfast & In-Room Dining

  • Cost: Rs.750+GST/person

They offer delicious breakfast options for Veg, which my friend enjoyed but I don’t find it exciting when it comes to Non-Veg. Overall, breakfast was Okay.

As an SPG Gold member, I actually get 15% on Food, which the lady at the restaurant conveniently ignored and billed us 100%. On questioning, they said “we will get back” (thrice) but no one actually did and I had to pay full amount!

Anyway, I escalated this later to SPG directly & got the discount applied to my next stay.

Service

Having stayed at this property several times, I can clearly tell that the service is relatively poor for a hotel of this standard.

No one really cares about your requirements unless you deal with SPG to get it fixed. I still wonder why they’re so careless about it, even with the Gold member.

Bottomline

Overall it’s a wonderful property to be in when you’re exploring the city or just here for a quick business trip. I just wish they improve their service quality in future.

It used to be a huge money saver to book weekends on points before the SPG-Marriott merger, however, even now you can get a night stay at a very reasonable rate on points.

  • Cardexpert Rating: 4.2/5

That all said, I’ll continue to stay at Westin in future whenever I have more time to spare at the property & around and I hope someday they’ll upgrade me to a Suite 🙂

Have you been to Westin Velachery or any other Westin properties? Feel free to share your experiences in the comments below.

Author: Siddharth

Helping Indians choose the right credit cards, find the best offers, and enjoy luxury vacations for less using credit card rewards.

16 thoughts on “The Westin Chennai Velachery – Review

      1. Kiran

        Hi Sid,

        Any review on SPG Gold Membership.

        I have one not used yet, please do throw some light on the same.

        Cheers,
        Kiran

        Reply
        1. Siddharth Post author

          Its good, yet not so great now after merger.

          We’ll do a separate article on SPG/Marriott Loyalty program shortly.

          Reply
  1. Jude

    Nope. Amex charge gives u marriott gold- which is not equivalent to SPG gold any more

    Reply
  2. Boopathy

    I’m a SPG Gold member as well, yes they give you the welcome benefits at all SPG properties if you’re a Gold member.

    I’ve stayed at Westin Velachery, the water quality was very bad and the service were below par if you compare with other Westin properties.

    I’ll rate Westin Mindspace at Hyderabad as one of the top properties in terms of service and room space, the upgrade also works smooth with them. I was upgraded to a Executive Suite on my last stay.

    W Singapore is also awesome property in SPG. Use your SPG star points when traveling abroad which gives you the best value. In India you can book these properties cheaper at MMT & Goibibo.

    That’s my suggestion. நன்றி

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Yes, i’m aware of the welcome benefits. But i was surprised about the 2nd welcome amenity to be specific. Maybe i feel so as i used to “spend” less on points 🙂

      Thanks for your others suggestions!

      Reply
  3. Poorna

    How do someone get heart to pay 50k annually to get amex platinum card.

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Those who get it, get more than 50k value out of it. So why not? 🙂

      Reply
  4. Boopathy

    For 50k they give Rs.50000 worth of Taj vouchers – 10000 x 5, plus you become a Gold member in SPG, Marriott, Hilton, Taj, Shangri-la, you get lot of benefits being a Gold member at these hotel chains.

    You get unlimited Priority Pass – a digital one so you don’t need to carry the physical priority pass, just flash your app in the phone and that’s it. If you’re traveling to USA, you are allowed at Delta Sky Lounges which is also only Amex Platinum Charge card gives this.

    So lot of benefits having the card, I enjoy it.

    Reply

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