Westin St. John Resort & Villas

Run down and 2 star at best. The location makes up for it, but the staff is rude all around. I have never seen anything quite like it, just not happy people and not nice.

My family has been going to the Westin for 30 years (even when it was a Hyatt). It’s still gorgeous however it has really gone downhill. Many of the staff that has been there for years is no longer there (quit with management issues). The hotel is no longer being run like a gorgeous resort - steel drum music, fun games (some though at the pool) - a lot of the magic is gone. They said the pool has to be redone - which is does. I’m hoping two years in a row they do this. The food at the pool has significantly gone down, and the restaurant at the resort for dinner has little options and also gone down. Both my parents who are older sometimes need golf carts to get around - we were waiting 20-30 minutes at times. I miss the old days where this was actually being run as a special resort and not being turned into a basic marriot property. Hopefully someone at marriot sees this but this is also the sentiment of many that have been going for years.

My wife and I stayed at the Westin for 5 nights last week. It is really the only resort on the island. There are some good aspects of the place but we also experienced some not so good as well. We rented a car at the St Thomas airport and took the car ferry over to St John. The Westin offers a people ferry from the airport to the hotel for about $170/person. The car ferry is a bit of a pain. You can rent cars/jeeps in St John. The Westin is about 5 minutes from the ferry dock. Checking in was easy. The people at the welcome desk were very friendly and helpful. Now, one of the bad things. The resort is split on both sides of the main road. Turn right into the resort to the lobby and there are several buildings with rooms, main pool, restaurants, etc….all right on the beach. We were put on the other side of the road, uphill where there are four buildings. The room was very nice but there were no views. It is about 1/2 mile hike to the main area/beach. Going down wasn’t terrible but going up was a bear. Now, there are golf carts running around to take you where you want but it was infrequent they came up the hill to the four buildings. The main area where the pool and restaurants are is very nice. No problem getting chairs at the pool. They have signs on the chairs that state you shouldn’t “reserve” a chair and leave it. Not the case at the beach. People were putting their towels on the chairs, leaving and coming out later. The restaurants were ok. The food was fine and obviously expensive. There are several options for watersports…paddleboarding, kayaking, etc. Also, Cruz Bay watersports had tour leaving from the Westin dock. We went on a Lovango evening and a pizza snorkeling trip. We went to the local supermarket which is a 1/4 mile walk and bought snacks and drinks. The prices in there were basically double what you pay in the US. The fitness room was very good and there are shops in the main area. Overall, the Westin is a nice place but the fact we were put up the hill away from everything was a bummer.

My husband and our two teenage daughters just returned from our week stay at the Westin St. John Resort Villas. Here's the good stuff: the resort is beautiful (great pool and beach area, gorgeous grounds, etc.), our room was lovely and perfect for what we needed (two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen area, sitting area, plenty of closet space, etc.), and it was very easy to get a taxi to nearby restaurants and beaches. However, the service at the Westin's two on-site restaurants was horrible, especially when it came to dealing with food allergies (eggs, nuts and shellfish for my daughters). They were not equipped whatsoever to respond to guests with food allergies. The staff were unable to respond to questions about what food items were safe and they made zero effort to try to accommodate food allergies. They demonstrated a complete lack of understanding of food allergies in general (no, gluten free does not mean egg free) and acted annoyed with having to address our questions/concerns. On top of that, the service was very slow (like 1.5 hours to just get our food for lunch and when it arrived, it wasn't even safe/right). After a negative experience for dinner and lunch at the restaurants (Lemongrass and Snorkels), we learned very quickly that we could not eat meals on the Westin's premises. Rather, we purchased food from the nearby grocery store to eat breakfast and lunch in the room and eat all dinners at restaurants off the Westin's property. For parents of kids with food allergies, I would not eat at the Westin St. John Resort Villas restaurants. I strongly recommend you scope out menus in advance of your arrival, and then email or call St. John restaurants to discuss allergy-friendly food options. It paves the way for when you arrive. We had great meals at The LongBoard, Lime In, St. John Brewers, Banana Deck, Cafe Roma, and Ocean 362 (especially at Ocean 362). The staff at these places were super helpful, thoughtful, responsive and the food was delicious. Hope this helps.

We had a lovely time on the island. The Westin Resort is beautiful but we rented a vehicle onsite through their rental company O’Connor Car Rental and we were charged twice and having to try to get a credit for one of the charges is a pain and should never of happened in the first place. I do not recommend.