Westin Cape Town – A Great Hotel close to the V&A Waterfront

After our Safari adventures, we were headed to Cape Town for five nights. We didn’t really have any plans for this stay. After wedding prep, travel and safari we felt like leaving things open would be best. We chose the Westin Cape Town as our base camp.

This is part of a broader trip report and you can find the other installments below:

Chicago to Paris onward to Johannesburg, South Africa in Air France Business Class.
South African Airways on inner country flights.
4 days on safari in the Sabi Sands Game Reserve
A review of the Westin in Cape Town
Exploring Cape Town.
Emirates First class from Cape Town to Dubai and onward to New York – Part One
Emirates First Class Fun – Part Two

Well hello, Honeymooners

When we booked the hotel, we also applied a suite night award to it. Elli had earned those through staying 50 nights with SPG. A couple of weeks before the trip it cleared and we were assigned a corner suite on 12^th floor. They also allow you to specify a special occasion at the time of booking. Since it was our honeymoon, we were treated to a large cake and some champagne that was waiting already in our room. You’ve got to milk a honeymoon as long as you can.

As you can see, there was no way for us to finish the whole thing. That’s why we called down and had them share with the staff.

The room itself was quite large and had a separate living room with a couch, closets and another round table to sit down on. That’s where they had placed the cake. That really allowed us to spread out, even though we never really relaxed on the couch and it just became a drop for our clothes after a long day. But the Westin Heavenly bed was exactly what the Doctor ordered. The Westin bedding is my personal favorite, based on hotels I have stayed in.

The bathroom was large with a separate shower and large tub. Due to the water shortage in Cape Town there was no plug for the tub. If you really wanted to take a bath you would have to call down first to get a plug. Then there was a separate toilet that was able to be accessed by the living room and through bathroom.

Breakfast was a true highlight for us

We are big breakfast people on vacation and really value the free breakfast perk. Since we are often out and about for large parts of the day a big breakfast lays a good foundation. The breakfast was overall very good. There was a large selection of western and Asian options available. They would also allow you to order specific omelets directly from the open kitchen. I was also a big fan of their Europeans spread of breads and cold cut options along with enough bakery goods to fill my sweet tooth. The highlight was their big juice bar. Every day they had a selection of around 6 different juices that were absolutely delicious. They also offered sparkling water complimentary, which I was a big fan of. Service was good and plates were cleared quickly.

Lounge access: A big win for happy hour

Westin lounge. Picture courtesy Westin Cape Town

The Lounge was located on the 19^th floor and wrapped around the hotel on the South and West side. You had spectacular views of Table Mountain and the V&A Waterfront. While they also served breakfast, there we mostly ate in the larger restaurant in the lobby. From 5-7 pm every day they would host a happy hour in the lounge. For each guest, you would get two free drinks, plus come canapes. A couple of the days we did take advantage of this and enjoyed spectacular sunsets. The staff working in the lounge was always so attentive and also took to time to chat with guests for a few minutes about their days.

They also had full dinner service in a restaurant style available.

I would love to tell you about the pool or the gym, but I didn’t use either.

How did we book this?

30,000 SPG points, which are now 90,000 Marriott points. We only paid for four nights thanks to the fifth night free benefit that is available for point’s bookings. With points bookings, you don’t pay any fees or taxes, so the stay was completely free.

Cash costs of the hotel:

The hotel was selling base rooms for around $300, so total savings for the room alone was $1,500.

Thanks to Elli’s Platinum status, we were also able to take advantage of the free breakfast that was delicious and plentiful.

How did we earn these points?

Both Elli and I had signed up for the SPG credit card the year before that netted us each over 35,000 SPG points. Additionally SPG (now Marriott) was Elli’s hotel chain of choice for work. So with her extensive work travel and taking advantage of promotions, similar to the ones I wrote about here, we amassed enough to buy ourselves all five nights.

Summary:

While geared towards business travel, we truly enjoyed our stay at the Westin Cape Town. The beautiful suite, the lounge cocktail hour with views of Table Mountain and free breakfast made this a great hotel. The 10-minute walk towards the Waterfront also ensured we would get at least some exercise. Overall, we would definitely stay here again and can recommend it to anyone visiting Cape Town.

Have you been to Cape Town and what has been your favorite part?