Welcome to the 11th floor, the first floor of the Westin Phoenix Downtown, a truly distinct experience that will cater to your senses — relaxing and rejuvenating from head to toe and from within and out.
As the elevator doors open, you’re immediately engulfed in the Westin’s signature White Tea aroma, and tranquil music soothes your mind and body. Roaming the spaciously wide halls with their high ceilings, the earth tone color palette helps establish feelings of Zen and peace.
But with nearly 3,000 total rooms in Downtown Phoenix, how does the Westin even begin to compete with the other renowned hotels?
“This is what (we) have to contribute to the downtown mix — a level of luxury, service and style,” says Sally Cooper, PR consultant for the Westin Phoenix Downtown. “This hasn’t been here before.”
Construction at the Westin, located from the 11th and 18th floors of the 26-floor Freeport-McMoRan Center, began in November 2010 and opened in March. David Sobek, director of sales and marketing at the Westin Phoenix Downtown, says locating the hotel within the Freeport building allowed them to open their doors much sooner, and with significantly less work involved (Perini Building Company was the general contractor).
The Westin offers fewer guest rooms than most with a total of 242 rooms on six floors — 400 rooms fewer than the next smallest downtown hotel. However, each room is at least 540 square feet compared to the typical 350- to 400-square-foot rooms in other downtown hotels.
Guests can choose from three different types of rooms, including the deluxe guest room; 21 corner studio suites at 720 square feet; and seven, one-bedroom suites at 740 square feet.
“You normally don’t build rooms this big,” Sobek says. “Hotels make more money with smaller rooms, but because it was an office space, we benefited from the space.” The Westin also is adding to the nearly 200,000 square feet of meeting space already offered among the hotels within the Downtown Phoenix area. The hotel caters to the individual business traveler, who Sobek says is the market bouncing back first, as well as smaller market meetings.
Sobek believes the Westin will be the hotel business travelers will choose because of its size, service and level of comfort.
“I think we have a niche that doesn’t currently exist because we are that upscale business hotel in downtown,” Sobek says.
Despite its intimate feel, the Westin also features dramatic floor-to-ceiling windows in its conference rooms and pre-function areas. These windows boast panoramic views of Downtown Phoenix, including the picturesque desert and the bordering Camelback Mountains, as well as notable venues such as the Phoenix Convention Center, Chase Field and US Airways Center.
As for Downtown Phoenix visitors and those working in the area, they can take advantage of the Westin’s Latin-inspired, independent, American restaurant Province.
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If You Go:
The Westin Phoenix Downtown
333 N. Central Ave., Phoenix
(602) 429-3500
www.westin.com/phoenixdowntown
By The Numbers:
Total conference space: 15,244 square feet
Floors occupied: 11-18
Deluxe guest rooms: 214
Corner studio suites: 21
One-bedroom suites: 7
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