Avoid the Westmark Anchorage if at all possible

[terrydtx]

We just returned from a D5C cruise land tour on the Noordam. This included one night in Anchorage. We got stuck in the Westmark hotel while about a third of those from our cruise were lucky enough to get put into the Captain Cook hotel. Our Westmark room reeked of cigarette smoke even though the hotel is supposed to be non smoking. I immediately complained to the HAL customer service desk and was told they had no rooms available to switch me too. I asked to be put in the Captain Cook and was told they were full too and my only option was to find another hotel and pay for it on my own. The Westmark even without the cigarette smoke is at best a 2 star hotel and should not be used by HAL. The room was dirty, the carpet was full of stains and the bathroom had mold on the floors and in the shower.  My 10 year old grandson who was with us even said the hotel was a dump. I needed some AA batteries for my toothbrush and was told by the front desk the closest place to buy them was the gift shop down the street at the Captain Cook. When I walked in the Cook I was amazed at how nice it was compared to the Westmark. I talked with several others staying with us at the Westmark and every one agreed that it was a dump. If I do this itinerary again it will only be on the condition that we get the Captain Cook hotel.

 

I also sent a scathing email to HAL customer service about our experience with the Westmark, it will be interesting to see if I get a responce.

[iancal]

This is not the first time we have heard this.   Tripadvisor reviews are less than stellar.

Edited August 4, 2019 by iancal

[catl331]

Do you think your cabin class has any influence on which hotel you're given? That is, do Suite people get the Cook?

[Cruising-along]

In May for our Land/Sea Alaska we stayed at both the Fairbanks Westmark and Anchorage Westmark.  The Fairbanks hotel was MUCH worse!  

We actually had a nice room at the Westmark Anchorage.  Of course after our room in Fairbanks, our expectations weren't very high. 

[slidergirl]

Unfortunate.  But, when a hotel can be guaranteed guests with a massive contract from a cruise line, well, the hotel may not worry too much about renovations.   They know they have a "captive" audience.

 

For the 'non-smoking' room issue - that happens everywhere.  At my current hotel, we are non-smoking in rooms, out on the patios and balconies, and in our indoor and outdoor public areas.  We tell everyone that when they check in and we point it out on the registration card they sign.  Yet, when I walk the courtyard at night, I find a couple of cigarette butts and the occasional cigar butt on the ground.  It's not difficult to smell smoke in a room once a guest has left, regardless of if it is tobacco or weed.  We have to take that room off market for a full day - do a deep clean, bring in the ozinators and air purifiers for a day.  We will charge the last guest a $250 cleaning fee.  

 

But, some hotels don't care.  If you have your rooms filled by a cruise line, their ROI may be enough to not worry about the rest of the time.  

 

Westmark hotels as a chain aren't the best thought of,  kind of like maybe a step up from your Motel 6 (although I've stayed in some nice renovated 6s before).  Honestly, if I were you, I'd not buy the hotel package from HAL the next time and find your own hotels.  You'll probably save some money in the process.

[Cruising-along]

11 minutes ago, slidergirl said:

We have to take that room off market for a full day - do a deep clean, bring in the ozinators and air purifiers for a day.  We will charge the last guest a $250 cleaning fee.

I wish all hotels did this.  A highly praised hotel here on CC (Embassy Suites Fort Lauderdale) doesn't care.  They pretty much are resting on their laurels and know they can fill the hotel no matter what.  Because of that and other problems with that hotel, we'll never stay there again.

[terrydtx]

4 hours ago, catl331 said:

Do you think your cabin class has any influence on which hotel you're given? That is, do Suite people get the Cook?

We had a Signature Suite so it had nothing to do with the lucky ones at the Cook.

[terrydtx]

4 hours ago, Cruising-along said:

In May for our Land/Sea Alaska we stayed at both the Fairbanks Westmark and Anchorage Westmark.  The Fairbanks hotel was MUCH worse!  

We actually had a nice room at the Westmark Anchorage.  Of course after our room in Fairbanks, our expectations weren't very high. 

Our experience was just the opposite, we were in a room at the Fairbanks Westmark in the newer North Tower. Our room had a separate sitting area with a second TV and a kitchenette, it was more of a suite. I will point out the  carpet in the room and the hallways were full of stains and it looked like the carpets hadn't been cleaned in years. We also landed in the brand new, this year, Ridgeview building at the McKinley Chalets in Denali. This was the same room that we were offered an upgrade to for $199 additional per night that we turned down. It was a huge room with 2 double King beds, a sitting area and heated floors in the spacious bathroom. It was a sure 4 star room. I do not know for sure why we got the new rooms in Denali and Fairbanks, but maybe our call and complaints to HAL Customer service might have gotten us the upgrades. 

 

The Anchorage Westmark is IMHO less that a Days Inn in quality. I forgot to mention above, the restaurant was just as dirty and gross as the rest of the hotel. When we travel we always us Marriott's or Hiltons, so maybe we expected too much from HAL for Anchorage. The Denali and Fairbanks accommodations were on par with what we expected.

[kwb101]

Unless I missed it, no one has mentioned that HAL owns Westmark, so I'm pretty sure you don't have a choice of lodging on any of their Alaska or Yukon land trips. 

 

We stayed in six of their eight locations two years ago, and found them off varying quality. They were clearly purchased piecemeal, so they're all different, with no consistency. McKinley Chalet in Denali had just been refurbished, and the rooms were nice, especially with the Nenana River behind most of the buildings. Fairbanks was by far the nicest (it's the convention center hotel). Whitehorse was the poorest of the lot, and the restaurant wasn't very good (we were there only about 15 hours, fortunately). Skagway was almost quaint, and espresso was made in shot glasses. Overall, it wasn't a stellar experience, but the rooms were clean and quiet, and restaurants and services at all of them were within close walking distance. 

[Cruising-along]

51 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

This was the same room that we were offered an upgrade to for $199 additional per night that we turned down.

Interesting!  We never put in a complaint about our room at the Fairbanks Westmark (really no time, our flight arrived later at night and the next morning of course we were whisked off to Anchorage).  The main problem with that room was that the heater was going full blast and wouldn't shut off (we called and even maintenance couldn't stop it). No offer to change rooms.  Not a comfortable night.  It was almost bearable by having the A/C going full blast at the same time.  Also the curtains weren't black-out and well, you know how late it stays light there lol.  We were put in Building X in Denali and had a really nice room with a separate sitting area, couch and TV.  Our traveling companions were in a different building with a not as good room.  One thing I learned on that trip was how much each room could vary. 

[awhcruiser]

I think I would just book a hotel on my own.

[cruisequeen4ever]

You’re absolutely correct that there’s a world of difference between the 2 hotels! Holland America is the only cruise line to use the Westmark. I’d be willing to stay at any of the other hotels used by cruise lines but not the Westmark. It’s pretty sad that Holland America charges pax the same price for the 2, and it’s merely luck of the draw on which hotel you get. 

[Krazy Kruizers]

Many, many years ago we flew into Anchorage -- had only 2 choices of flights from where we live.  Nothing direct.  We had booked the Westmark via HAL.  Had never booked a hotel through any cruise line and that taught us a lesson and we have never done it again -- not even in Europe or South America.  The "girl" working the HAL reception desk was a freshman in college.  We got there about 1 PM and tried to check in.  She yelled at us that we shouldn't have arrived so early as our assigned room wouldn't be ready until 6 PM.  In the meantime other HAL passengers were given the keys to their rooms right away.

 

This was in the early 2000's.  None of the rooms had air conditioning.  Everything was dirty.

 

OH -- we were in a cabin in what is now called a Neptune Suite.  So cabin class has nothing to do with what kind of a hotel room you will receive or what hotel you will be assigned to.

[mcrcruiser]

We have sailed into Alaska 5 times . We never do ships tours . We stay at Hilton Brand Hotels or if there are no Hilton hotels we do our research & book only  the best that we find with TripAdvisor.com  

 

 Imo cruise lines are not the best  land tour companies & this is why we book our own after much research 

[mcrcruiser]

In addition our trips booked on our own were much less costly than any Alaska cruise & your package & we honestly saw much more 

 

 Got to do your own searches & research

[Oakman58]

I guess I got lucky with the room I was assigned at the Westmark Hotel in Anchorage.  It was clean, no smoke smell, very roomy, and two televisions.  The only negative was the couch cushions needed to be replaced.

 

 

[terrydtx]

13 hours ago, kwb101 said:

Unless I missed it, no one has mentioned that HAL owns Westmark, so I'm pretty sure you don't have a choice of lodging on any of their Alaska or Yukon land trips. 

I knew the Westmarks are owned by HAL and figured the property would have been in better condition. HAL refurbishes their ships every 3 or 4 years but I guess they do not do the same for hotel properties they own. I asked the HAL customer service rep at the hotel about refurbishing and she told me that it has been refurbished 2 years ago, I told her they wasted their money. She added that they had a budget for more refurbishing but the money had to be used the last winter repairing earthquake damage. 

 

One thing I forgot to add was they did come up to the room and run an ionizer for the smoke smell, but told us we would have to vacate the room for at least 2 hours. No offer of free drinks or dinner, just leave and come back at 8:30 pm. It did work because the smoke smell was pretty much gone when we got back, but why didn't they do this before we checked in ay 5pm? Just terrible customer service overall by HAL.

[catl331]

13 hours ago, awhcruiser said:

I think I would just book a hotel on my own.

But hotel rooms are included in the C-T packages, so you'd be paying double.  Also bus drop-off/pick-up points are at package hotels so you'd have the inconvenience of getting yourself from/to those places with your luggage.

[3rdGenCunarder]

1 hour ago, catl331 said:

But hotel rooms are included in the C-T packages, so you'd be paying double.  Also bus drop-off/pick-up points are at package hotels so you'd have the inconvenience of getting yourself from/to those places with your luggage.

 

You really are a captive audience on a package.

 

[kwb101]

1 hour ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

You really are a captive audience on a package.

But isn't that the point in buying a package? Imagine the cost (and inconvenience if you were able to assemble your own.

Years ago, HAL offered some options on the Alaska tours (adding nights at a couple of the hotels, or different day-long excursions) but stopped doing that after a short time, probably because it was a logistical nightmare. 

[Winters in NZ]

5 hours ago, catl331 said:

But hotel rooms are included in the C-T packages, so you'd be paying double.  Also bus drop-off/pick-up points are at package hotels so you'd have the inconvenience of getting yourself from/to those places with your luggage.

 

 I agree with you 100 %.

 

On our recent Nieuw Amsterdam cruise/tour....Whitehorse, Dawson City, Fairbanks, Denali and Anchorage,  considering the alternatives and having read a ton of reviews, we have no regrets.

 

More posh digs always seem more attractive , but we weren't spending the rest of our lives in Westmark hotels.

 

We had excellent location, cleanliness and very good meals at the  hotels.

 

 I'm certainIy not a  cheerleader, but I give HAL an A+ based upon the organization, tour leader and educational enrichement of the  whole experience.

[3rdGenCunarder]

2 hours ago, kwb101 said:

But isn't that the point in buying a package? Imagine the cost (and inconvenience if you were able to assemble your own.

Years ago, HAL offered some options on the Alaska tours (adding nights at a couple of the hotels, or different day-long excursions) but stopped doing that after a short time, probably because it was a logistical nightmare. 

 

Yes, you trade freedom and control for convenience. I get that. But if HAL thinks they can put people in any old place because it's "part of the package," then it isn't a good trade. And if some people get a nice room/hotel and other people get what they consider to be lesser accommodations (for the same price, if I understand how this works), then that isn't right.

 

 

[kd202]

I see that nothing much has changed since our disappointing stay at the Anchorage Westmark in 2013. We were on a Yukon-Denali land and sea trip, so were in Westmark properties for the entire land portion. Anchorage was terrible,  Whitehorse kinda shabby,  the rest (Denali, Fairbanks, Skagway) were fine, and  Dawson City, Yukon, was our favorite. I have much higher expectations for the hotel in Alaska's commercial capital than I do for the remote Yukon locations. I complained to HAL that we were put in the Anchorage Westmark, despite having booked the Hilton through them, but all I got was a form letter non-apology. The trip was otherwise fantastic, though, and I had forgotten about that miserable hotel until  I saw this  discussion!

[Diver2014]

I must have left my magnifying glass at home on our prior Alaska cruisetour.  I didn't notice any stains, mold or smell in our two rooms.

[ottahand7]

On 8/4/2019 at 11:06 AM, catl331 said:

Do you think your cabin class has any influence on which hotel you're given? That is, do Suite people get the Cook?

In 2016 we had a Neptune Suite and we ended up at the Westmark perhaps as our reservation was tied to friends who had a Veranda.   It was a large room with a separate seating area but it was shabby.  Took forever to get our baggage when we got off the bus.