This was out second stay at Westin Ottawa, our first being in 2022. During our first stay we realized that we loved the location and the feel of the hotel. We did have an issue on that stay but, it was settled by customer service after we returned home.
This time, we stayed for 4 nights (last time was 3 stars), and returned home a few days ago. Here are my thoughts:
Pros: Location!!! As others have mentioned, this hotel is prime location (and affordable. We were roughly $350ish per night-we saved up for this and planned for it). By staying at this hotel, you are walking distance to Parliament Hill, various restaurants, and Byward Market. You are also attached to Rideau Centre which is one of my favorite parts. We enjoyed the food court for dinner a few times (better than average in our opinion) and liked the various shops (although they are on the expensive side). We noted last stay that this hotel was so well located (for the price) and that we wanted to come back. We also got 2 bottles of water per day in our room which was wonderful!
Service at this hotel is great. Very friendly. Hotel was very clean and quiet. We were right across from the ice area, which made us nervous at checkin, but we never heard anything in our room. No noises next door. No people getting ice. Maybe no one but us was using the ice but, either way, it worked for us.
Outside you can easily get a taxi. They have a button to push for Blueline (not our favorite, unfortunately as we were ripped off one trip) and a taxi appears within a minute or two.
Briefly explored the gift shop. Standard gift shop apparel. We found better deals in Rideau Centre and Byward Market for our souvenirs and snacks.
Daly's Express was good for coffee and we got a pastry one day. Very nice experience, and very convenient.
Cons: Our room was not the cleanest on checkin. I did take pictures but, for some reason, they won't upload here. Our ice bucket was dirty (black stuff on the top-did not get a picture), I washed it before using it in the sink. We had a chair in our room and it was very stained. We chose not to enjoy it as a result. Bathroom was fine although, I do have a towels complaint. We had two adults in our room. We got one (1) bath sheet (larger towel). We have 4 bath towels (smaller), and about 10 hand towels. One larger towel that fit around each of us. My mom used it our first two days, we asked for new towels, and I used it the second two days. Two adults in the room, one towel to fit us. Also, hard to get hot water in the shower and the toilet often needed several flushes to work. In our room itself, the dresser drawers were not great because they would open randomly, especially through the night. I don't know if they were broken. Also, the phone in our room did not work. We ordered room service one night and could not call to have the dishes taken. I tried to call the front desk on my cell but that also did not work. Finally, I walked to the front desk to ask for someone to come get them.
Daly's Restaurant: I would say do not bother. They have a breakfast buffet, $40 per person. We did it last visit and it was SO GOOD! We were looking forward to going back, even at the higher price. We would not do it again. It was smaller than last time, and the food was cold. I found one hot item. The hostess was wonderful to us but our server was not great. I am willing to bet you could get a better breakfast (for cheaper) elsewhere in the area. or, we saw a lot of people ordering off the menu, which might have been a clue.
Room Service: We used this one night. It was super easy to order, decent options, and it came fast. We ordered steak and fries, caesar salad, and gyoza to share. It was $145 with tip and fees. Okay, not problem, room service is expensive. The steak was great, gyoza were great, the caesar was the issue here. $20 for an overdressed (badly overdressed) salad with bottle dressing ands stale croutons. They sent rolls (hamburger buns) with our meal, they were hockey pucks. We both agreed we would not entertain room service on an future trips.
View: Do not get me wrong, we had a good view. We chose the Byward Market view. At night, the lights were pretty. During the day, we had rooftops. I am not sure why this was labeled "Byward View" because you only saw the rooftop. We had more of a view of the top of Rideau Centre. I would not pay extra for this view.
Early Checkin: Before arriving, I received an email from Concierge offering us early checkin, for a fee. We did consider it as our flight was due to arrive at noon and checkin was 4pm. I asked what the price was and was directed back to the website. Over $100 for the early checkin so, we decided against it. Now, our flight was an hour delay but, by the time I turned off airplane model, I had the notification that our room was ready. Hot tip, they will store your luggage at the hotel. I would not (my opinion) pay the early checkin in fee unless I was arriving super early (my last trip was to Hamilton and I arrived at 7:30am, I might have considered it that early-big maybe).
Doors to Rideau Centre: You can go through the 3rd floor at this hotel to get to the Rideau Centre. Super convenient and we used this often. My one issue was the large brown doors going out. There was not handicap button for those. You had to push them (from what we could see) to get out. This was an issue because my mother is using a walker, so she could never go through them on her own, only with me for the assistance. I also helped other people in wheelchairs on their own with these doors. I was very surprised by this because people do need this service at times. Like I said, I looked all over and did not see any buttons to open those doors for people who needed the extra help. If I am wrong and missed it, I am sorry but I did make an effort to find this button purely so my mother had the assistance if I was not with her.
Overall, I will say 4 stars because I think we would stay here again. Our overall room was clean, bed was fine, we liked the location of our room, and it was very large. No tripping on each other, which was appreciated. We had a reservation at the Shore Club for the last night but ended up cancelling it last minute (sorry!) because my mother was unwell.
BR
SE
KR
CA