The Westin St John Resort Villas

Customer ratings & reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

3615 reviews

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  Treasure

  The Westin at St. John. The companies reputation as a great hotel. The staff was incredibly helpful from the top to the bottom. The room was clean and full of everything you could need in the kitchen to prepare meals. The location is incredible with private access to the beach and a very quiet secluded Feeling. The only negative would be that some of the public spaces around the pool, and common areas dated and are in need of replacement.

  Jan 21, 2025
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  The good, the bad, the ugly

  Good: There are a lot of good things about this property. First, you start by taking a private ferry. They will pick up and drop off at the airport – our group spent the first week in St Thomas so we picked it up at Red Hook. It does cost $159 per person, but it is a nice option. Having said that the Saturday return was very slow and took 1 hour 45 minutes to get back to the airport. Some of the staff are very nice and friendly, Mervin listened and seemed sincere in his concern regarding some of the issues we had. The pool area is nice, and they are renovating it further this August through October. The general grounds are very nice and the beach is second to none. Bad: Our experience started out badly. After arriving on the 11AM ferry at 11:15 we were told the room wasn’t ready but they would let housekeeping know and we might get in early (standard practice for Marriot) we were guaranteed a 4PM check-in. We went to the pool but there were very few chairs available and no umbrellas. At 3 we went back to check on the room, but we were told it was almost ready and we would get a text when it was. At 4PM we were told it would be ready at 4:45. We didn’t have our luggage and bug spray (sand flees are a real problem) or lotion (in luggage). So now our group is getting a little restless. At 5:30 we were told the room was almost ready and they were going to text us. At 6:10 we got a text and had to go to the front desk for keys. After waiting in line we had to wait for a shuttle to take us across the compound (many of the rooms are a couple blocks from the beach). At 7PM we got into our room. Maintenance issues - The property is an old timeshare that Westin is trying to fix up. The laundry room has about a dozen private lockers for owners. When we got into our room the air condtioning did not work. The room was at 77 degrees. The hot tub was not working some of the electric outlets didn’t work, the tile in the bathroom is broken, loose and grout gone. Maintenance must have been out to our unit a half dozen time. The first night they didn’t leave until 9 PM and said they would come back to fix the outlet in the bathroom GFIC in 3 days (never got fixed). They were very nice, but we felt like we were vacationing with them. Ugly: Quality of property – in general the facilities are run down and not maintained to Westin or Marriot standards. Things like the built in microwave is broken so they take a big cheap Microwave and put it on the little counter space available rather than repair the built in one. The hot tub is dirty, paint chipping and the compound walls are mildewed. I think Paul the new general manager is trying to improve the property, but when you are spending $1400 a night, this property falls way below expectations. I was put in charge of the lodging on St Johns and I was embarrassed especially given the great lodging we left in St Thomas. The good news is since my friends chided me about how bad the Westin St Johns was maybe I won’t be put in charge in the future. I do want to add that Barbara did credit our account $300 for some of the problems we had at the resort. That was appreciated.

  Jan 20, 2025
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  Beautiful resort, great rooms

  We stayed with our 3 young adult children (20, 22 and 24) over Christmas week. We loved the 2BR condo, plenty of room and very nicely appointed. The hotel grounds were beautiful and staff was friendly. Beach at resort is man-made, nice and quiet, but doesn’t compare to other beaches. We rented a Jeep and went to different beaches each day. One day we did the excursion to Jost Van Dyke and had a blast. Could’ve skipped the sunset cocktail cruise. I would like to let people know a couple things I wish I’d known. Although technically you could walk into Cruz Bay for dining/shops, it’s a very narrow, hilly, poorly lit 1.5 mile walk and most of it doesn’t have a sidewalk. So we took a taxi the first night since we weren’t getting our jeep til the next day. The taxi prices are set and posted. It was $7/pp each way for the trip into Cruz bay. So our family of 5 was $35 each way. Kind of a lot. We ended up driving all the other nights. Parking was free behind Mongoose Junction. The only other thing that annoyed me was that I called ahead to see if we should bring tennis rackets and pickleball paddles. They told me no, they provided them. When we went to get them the first morning, there were only 4 pb paddles (that were already being used) and they were pretty beat up. They did have 4 other ones, that were like fisher price plastic paddles. Tennis racquets were $10/each to use so that would’ve been $40 for 4 of us to play each day. So, bring your own if you want to play. The pb courts weren’t great. Weird plastic surface. That being said, we made the best of it and still had fun.

  Jan 17, 2025
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  Disappointing

  We arrived after 4 pm to a lobby of frustrated customers whose rooms were not ready. We soon found we were in the same boat. Check out is 10 am with no allowance for platinum customers so really no excuse for this. Both showers in our 2br 2 bath were broken. Stains on 2 of the 3 beds. Our room was over $1,000/night. We were promised compensation but it never came. As a lifetime platinum bonvoy I think the blending of hotels with timeshares is a horrible marketing move. This property is not worth the price. With zero platinum benefits there is no reason for us to choose a vacation club property over a non bonvoy property.

  Jan 12, 2025
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  Beautiful resort; poor service and execution

  The resort is great in concept. We have stayed here twice. Great location with many conveniences, including beach, pool, on-site dining, kids' club, readily accessible taxies, easy to book excursions, etc. However, the execution often falls short because of inconsistent service and poor communication. For example, on our last stay: 1. The hotel was supposed to process our credit card in June when we booked for a stay starting in January 2025. They did not, and we received an email about two weeks before our scheduled check-in date stating that they needed payment immediately or our reservation would be canceled. I called the number provided four times within the hour and there was no answer. The Marriott reservation line they referred to did not take payment. Eventually, after emailing, someone called me back. 2. We ordered groceries to be stocked in our room upon arrival. Per instructions, we ordered more than 72 hours in advance. We arrived approximately 730pm and the groceries were not there. Not a big deal, we called the front desk the next morning, who transferred us to the convenience store...who told us to call back later because they were busy. Took about 30-45 minutes of legwork to chase down the convenient grocery delivery. 3. We had a rat in our room. To their credit, they patched up the hole immediately. For the next two nights, though, there was incessant scratching. They followed up, and we asked to move rooms, which was accommodated. (Honestly, the rat was the best service we got!) 4. Upon check-in, we were asked to schedule housekeeping service, so we did, for 4-5pm three days into our stay. At 930am that day, staff stopped by and asked to clean. We were still getting ready, so I asked if we could stick to our previously scheduled time of 4pm. She laughed and said, "I'm not coming back at 4." We eventually settled on 2pm, which was fine, but don't bother to schedule if you're not going to stick to the schedule. 5. When we arrived, we booked a round-trip on their ferry. She handed us a ticket, circled 10am as our return ferry time, told us to have luggage out at 830am and be at the dock by 945am. We put out our luggage at 8am; it does not get picked up. That's OK, it's not a long walk, we get to the dock approximately 940am...to find that they changed the ferry schedule between our arrival date and our departure date without communicating to us and the ferry left at 930am. So we scramble to get a taxi to go to the public ferry dock and get on the 11am ferry and take a taxi to the airport. We were lucky to be able to pivot and still make our flight, but it was unnecessarily stressful when this was clearly anticipated in advance and all they needed to do was tell us. We love a lot of things about this resort, but we'll definitely be looking into other accommodations next year, given the price and subpar execution.

  Jan 09, 2025