Review of the Westin Cape Town, South Africa

The Westin Cape Town is a solid hotel that is centrally located in gorgeous Cape Town so that you can easily walk or drive to places like the City Centre or V&A Waterfront in 10 minutes or less. It offers some seriously spacious rooms and a very fulfilling and well-rounded breakfast so you can get your day started right. In addition to that, it offers panoramic views of the surrounding mountains that you can catch at breakfast or as you enjoy the pool and gym on the top floor. I give this hotel a solid 5 stars and here’s why. 

Check-in

As soon as you arrive under the large entryway, your baggage will be taken care of for you and you’ll be escorted to the check-in desk, where there’s a separate line for gold and platinum members.

The lobby is nice and open and I’m not sure if it was just for security purposes or what, but there were many staff/security members standing around at the different corners of the lobby at all times. They were all friendly so it’s not like their presence was an issue but I just wasn’t used to seeing so many secret service look-a-likes posted up in a hotel lobby.

Oh and watch out for the benches pictured below… if you dare to sit on one, make sure you take your seat in the middle — I definitely almost flipped one over. :/

Just down the elevators, there’s a pretty large gift shop that also sells a number of snacks. I bought a few packs of “local candy” and tried some biltong but I’m sorry to say it was not very good. Not sure if it was just the brand or what, but I’d stick to the other snacks in the gift shop. 

Each floor has sliding glass doors separating the hallways from the elevator lobbies. You’ll need to swipe your room key each time to get through.

This was really the only complaint I had with the hotel. Our key card did not read very well on the card reader, so sometimes it would take 6 to 7 swipes just to access the hallway and it was a bit of a PIA. The cards worked fine on our hotel room doors, though. 

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The room

Our Deluxe room (which we were upgraded to) had a pretty basic and modern design but it was extremely spacious and it honestly felt like a suite because we had so much room. The rooms come with glass panel floor to ceiling windows that essentially form an entire wall so brilliant natural light keeps the rooms nice and bright. However, if you’re on the side facing the sun, you may want to keep your blackout curtains closed because the sun can quickly heat up your room even with the AC cranked up.

In the cabinets, you’ll find a safe, coffee maker, glassware, ice buckets, and some other little random items. There’s also a fully loaded mini-fridge with treats and drinks but not much room for your own storage.

The king size bed was ultra-comfy. You can get a sense of the size of a room by seeing how small the king size bed looks in relation to the room.

Again, the room’s design is pretty simple but nicely done.

I enjoyed lounging on the curvy red chaise lounge chair, which is a great spot to relax and charge your phone/device since the outlets are right beside it.

Because the room is so spacious, the tv is very far away. Since we pretty much never watch tv this wasn’t much of an issue but if you like to sit close to the screen, you’re going to have to pull up a chair or just get used to being so far away.

Everyday we received two complimentary water bottles.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get the great view I wanted of Table Mountain and instead got a somewhat restricted view due to the huge convention center located beneath us. While this was a slight bummer, the view we had of Cape Town and surrounding mountains at breakfast each morning more than made up for it.

Along with a spacious room, came a big walk-in closet. No matter how much luggage you bring with you, I guarantee you will not be able to fill up this closet!

The bathroom is pretty big as well. It comes with two sinks, a  bath tub, and privacy glass doors for the toilet and shower.

I think one of my favorite features of the room was the heated tiles in the bathroom. Just flick the switch below and the tiles heat to a very comfortable warmness level that’s an added comfort in the morning.

Some parts of the bathroom came decorated with some African art pieces, adding a nice cultural touch to the feel of the room. 

And the shower is pretty huge, easily fitting two people. 

Breakfast

Complimentary breakfasts — even at luxury hotels — can sometimes be a bit hit or miss. I’ve had breakfasts from Holiday Inns that have outdone breakfasts at InterContinental hotels — true story. But at the Westin Cape Town, the breakfast was legit and definitely one of the highlights of this hotel stay.

Each morning, we enjoyed a well-rounded breakfast that was tasty and plentiful and got us ready to start our day. If you’re like me and prefer to load up on calories in the morning before setting out for a long day, this breakfast is absolutely perfect.

We preferred to arrive at the lounge at 6am, right when it opened and we were seated at the corner table, where we watched the sunrise each morning and the city slowly come to life. By the second day at the hotel, the staff knew us by name and led us to “our table” each following morning. 

The breakfast is like a buffet. You can create your own buffet plate from the options that are set out on the counters and then you can also choose a hot dish like eggs or crepes from the menu as well.

There’s something for everyone at this breakfast, If you have a sweet tooth early in the morning and need a little sugar to get you jump started there’s plenty of that there.

If you’re like Brad and can enjoy sushi for breakfast or other seafood dishes you’ll find them there as well.

Cold-cuts and cheeses are also an option.

And there’s plenty of fresh-fruit. They also had yogurts, granola, cereals, and other basic breakfast foods you’d expect to find.

And the muffins, rolls, and croissants were great as well.

I’m not much of a coffee drinker at all but their cappuccino was on-point and extremely tasty.

You can also choose from an array of fruit juices, such as guava juice or apple juice and even strawberry juice.

For my hot dish, I went with the crepes, which came loaded with banana, Nutella, and I think some kind of butterscotch or peanut butter (I can’t seem to remember). They were very sweet but I enjoyed them.

The eggs and bacon were delicious as well.

And here’s the view we were able to dine to each morning. From the left you see Table Mountain, in the middle Lion’s Head, and to the right, Signal Hill. It was a sight to see each morning, especially as the sun lit up the cliffs and hill sides. Definitely worth becoming an early riser.

From 5pm to 7pm, the lounge opens up for happy hour, where complimentary hors d’oeuvres and drinks are served in the same place where breakfast is served. Half of the lounge also opens up as the restaurant so if you want to eat a full meal you can still do that.

The hors d’oeuvres were fresh and tasty, especially these cucumber slices.

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Service

All around the service at this hotel is outstanding. The staff does a great job of deciphering your travel purpose (business or pleasure) and I feel treats you accordingly (in a good way). For example, I could tell they let the business travelers be a little more to themselves and for us they were a bit more chatty. I’m always worried when I book a business-oriented hotel if it’s going to dampen the experience when I’m traveling for pleasure but that was definitely not the case. Out of every hotel I’ve stayed at in recent memory, the service here had to be among the best.

Gym and Pools

The gym is found on the top floor in a long room that runs along the wall of windows. There’s plenty of equipment in the gym so that you should be able to get a real work out.

The hotel has two pools. One is a “splash pool,” located outside on the second floor. It’s a bit small but it had a few lounge chairs out by it so if you wanted to catch some sun, I guess it wouldn’t be a bad spot to do that at.

The main pool is located on the top floor through the entrance for the spa. It’s a small pool but has a beautiful view looking out the windows. There seemed to always be at least one person enjoying the pool during our stay so I had to get this photo before the sun even rose.

Right beside it is a hot tub in the corner.

I didn’t try out the spa services but they did look tempting. Below is one of the spa rooms or at least a waiting area for them.

I did sneak a peak at the sauna. Someone was in there when I took this pic so I had to be a little covert, so you can only see a part of the bench inside. 

I checked out the steam room as well. 

Location

Overall, I loved the location for a few reasons. It’s only a 10-12 minute walk to the the City Centre where you can check out Greenmarket Square. It’s a 5-minute drive or 15 to 20-minute walk to the V&A Waterfront and even getting to Table Mountain is pretty quick and easy in car. While there’s not as many restaurants surrounding the hotel as you’d find in City Centre or the V&A Waterfront, everything is still reasonably accessible from the hotel. 

Also, in case you’re wondering, I never felt unsafe walking around during the day time but beware of beggars around Greenmarket Square who might harass you. They get particularly bad around closing so try to avoid that time and conceal your camera if possible.  

One thing to consider, there’s only like 5 hotels in Cape Town from the major award programs so if you’re planning on booking with points your options are very limited. For 10,000 SPG points a night, I thought the value we got out of this hotel was superb, especially considering the free valet parking and amazing breakfasts and lounge access. If you’re headed to Cape Town and want to book a hotel with points, then I highly recommend the Westin Cape Town.

Westin Cape Town, South Africa FAQ