The Westin Great Southern Columbus

Central location

The staff were all so friendly. The bed was the comfiest bed I’ve ever friggen slept in. The ballroom was AMAZING.

This has been hands down the greatest hotel experience in my 32 years of travel. For one, the hotel itself is a historic landmark full of history and culture, which I love. Second and most important, the staff is incredible. We booked a stay for my wife’s birthday, the staff greeted us and wished my wife a happy birthday. Without asking, we received a room upgrade and were treated with the utmost respect and kindness any business focused on customer service should aspire to be like. Everything down to the smell and ambiance of the hotel, to the bed sheets and robes were fantastic. We only live 3 hours away and wanted a weekend getaway, just the two of us, and the staff made our stay 100% better than we had originally anticipated. We will absolutely come back for years to come. Thank you The Westin staff for everything, we have memories that will last a lifetime.

Hôtel très bien situé mais un peu vieux… pas sûre qu’il mérite 4 étoiles

A very historic building and impressive room. Great service! The only problem I had made the biggest difference. The room was brightly lit, all day and all night. I am on the hunt for the completely dark room to sleep in. I bring painters tape to cover microwave clocks in order to make the room as dark as possible. This is the brightest room I have ever slept in. The curtains were pointless and the outside street lights seemed to be aimed into the room. I could have read a book in the room it was so bright. I kept waking up, oh my god is it noon? No, it was 2:30! All night.

I’m going to invest in a sleep mask if I stay here again. Perhaps the front desk could hand them out and be like, “Trust us, you’ll need this!”

On the good side, near the German Village.

Good sleep would have been nice though.

The service, location and history!

Had a great week long stay in this hotel. The room was wonderful and my dog and I felt very welcome. Ended up snowed in here and the hotel restaurant staff (Michael and Kee) were honestly world class, the best service i have had in years. They made a snowed in weekend a delight and I am so grateful

Very outdated rooms, moldy smell, everything was falling apart.

The historic feel.

Staff was wonderful. Bed was very comfortable. We loved being able to have our two small dogs with us. The historic architecture is beautiful.

For context of this review, titanium elite Bonvoy member with over 700+ nights, so been to quite a few hotels on all ends of the spectrum.

Overall experience: 4.7/5

Beautiful lobby, EASY and fast check in, and absolutely friendly staff throughout our stay. Nice classic old world hotel vibe!

BAR/RESTAURANT

The bar and restaurant is lovely. We love a good hotel bar. Prices were as expected for hotel in downtown CMH, and staff were extremely pleasant. Elites get free breakfast for 2. Highly recommend!

STAFF

Front desk checkin was 5/5. Polite, kind and prompt.

Also want to thank the other front desk staff member who efficiently handled a maintenance issue in room.

I must also specifically thank Director of Operations Nyeema Smith. She was kind enough to accommodate a next level room upgrade - much appreciated!

ROOMS

Thanks to Nyeema, we were fortunate enough to get one of the two presidential suites. 1500 sq ft, 1.5 bathrooms with a large jetted soaking tub in master bath. An amazing room!

We had a huge table, awesome wet bar and a huge living room.

Because of the unique property, the rooms can and do vary widely in size. The corner suites are also really nice. For convenience, I’ve attached a photo of 4th floor room layouts.

LOCATION

Great location in southern downtown. Very short walk to columbus commons park, theaters, food and drink as well as close proximity to German Village and Short North.

PARKING

It is admittedly pretty tight and typical downtown prices for parking. I believe valet is $40/nightly. We know the area and opted to do a meter just down street for a few hours (most need to be paid 8 am - 10 pm Monday-Sat) and utilized free Sunday parking.

MISC

These aren’t complaints, just stuff I’d want to know if I were the GM or a potential guest…

The hotel is historic and appeared only one of two elevator was working - no issue for us.

The shower is tiny in some rooms (including ours, but we wanted the large tub) and large in others.

There is also a bit of a musty smell, and don’t expect modern and contemporary furniture or designs. This also means some rooms are kind of dark by “modern” standards.

Great location

DO NOT BOOK THIS HOTEL! Book a different Marriott in the are! Parking is a scam! The only parking lot WILL ticket you even though we have proof of paying overnight, just for stopping by to drop off luggage for 5 minutes! Then, got sent to collections by the ticketing company!
Too old and outdated of a hotel to be worried about making sure every second of your parking is accounted for - $200 extra later. Book any of the other 10 Marriotts close by.

This grand old hotel is in need of updating. The staff were friendly and helpful, the room was clean, and the bed was very comfortable. But this hotel had too much that was off to justify its cost. The rooms are small. The decor is dark and not cozy. Don't expect a chair or a desk. Noises from the hallway are audible in the room as if the door's open. The rooms have an unpleasant smell. If you turn the loud AC system off, the room gets noticeably dank and humid. Friends who stayed in other rooms had the same experience (one friend's room lacked a full-length mirror). The hotel lacks amenities you might expect, like a shop. Almost all of this would be perfectly alright if the it wasn't priced like a high-end hotel.

Parking was expensive for a small city like Columbus.