The Westin San Francisco Airport

Vicki and team took care of us since day one. During our search for the perfect wedding reception venue, something stood out with the Westin. We had our initial walkthrough with Vicki and knew at that meeting that we would have our wedding at the Westin!

Whatever I say is not enough for how amazing our experience was at the Westin, San Francisco Airport. Every staff member involved at the wedding was so amazing and made it so comfortable for us. I would like to give special accolades to Vicki and her team for making all the arrangements and preparations so well organized and smooth for us. The venue itself is soo beautiful. Loved the fact that it had exclusivity for our guests with a separate entrance. The feel of the ballroom is grand and magnificent. But, as I have been saying and will keep on saying that everyone (each staff) was so warm, welcoming, and accommodating that we will always remember and cherish.

The Westin Ballroom is beautiful! It’s a perfect place for a wedding. It was a pleasure meeting Vicki! She’s so sweet and professional. I also dined at the Grill and Vine. The salmon and chicken were delicious! The service was on point too. I highly recommend this hotel!

Vicki is helping us and is so lovely and understanding! She has gone above and beyond our expectations so far. We’re so excited to be having our wedding at the Westin. Everyone is so friendly and welcoming. Would definitely recommend to everyone. The ballroom is big and beautiful.

Made our dreams come true! Friendly staff! Very organized!!

We held my sister’s wedding at the Westin San Francisco Airport on Saturday, December 15, 2018. When our vendor arrived to decorate the ballroom, she informed us that the hotel had placed two ceiling high Christmas trees, with huge red ornaments inside which completely clashed with our aesthetic vision. My sister, the bride, spoke to a member of the hotel staff to have the trees removed and was told the hotel would *have to* charge us $500 per tree for removal. She spoke at length with a man named Josh.

Josh appeared to be empathetic, helpful, and reasonable. He specifically told my sister he didn’t see why we would have to pay to remove the trees and that the hotel would remove them. After some time passed, I went down to the ballroom to see if the hotel had followed through on this and it had not. I went to the reception to ask for Josh. This time he was accompanied by the Banquet Manager, Alfredo Chavez.

Alfredo’s approach was immediately confrontational and stubborn. He was condescending toward Josh and stated he shouldn’t have told us that they’d be able to move the trees without charging us because he didn’t know what he was talking about. He told us that if we wouldn’t pay $1,000 he couldn’t do anything, since the hotel *had to* call in a vendor to remove the trees.

We explained the following grievances once again to Alfredo:
* we were never informed there would be Christmas decor erected in the venue on the date of our event;
* the venue did not have Christmas trees when the bride did a walkthrough with hotel staff in summer (obviously) and at no point was she told they would be there on the date of her event;
* the contract did not state the hotel would put such decor in place and only remove it at our expense;
* the trees were gaudy and clashed horribly with our entire vision for the event which consisted of minimalistic designs (bright white linens, fresh florals and cherry blossoms in light colors);
* and that we do not celebrate Christmas and felt it was discriminatory for the hotel to force a religious symbol upon us on such an important occasion

At no point in our interactions with Alfredo did we get any sense that customer satisfaction mattered to Westin. The entire discussion revolved around him wanting us to pay $1,000 or keep the trees. He was set on making us choose between two options that were completely unfair to us as the customers who paid to use and decorate the ballroom per our tastes. After much back and forth, he gave us a second unacceptable option which was to cover the oversized trees with black curtains, also at our own expense. I asked him, “What’s the deal with moving these trees? Do you need some special equipment?"

His response, which clearly demonstrates he didn't care or listen to our voices grievances earlier, was "Have you ever set up a Christmas tree before?" Obviously, Alfredo has no appreciation for diversity in Westin's clientele and is incapable of empathizing with, and accommodating, people of all religious backgrounds. I once again clarified to him that "No, I have not set up a Christmas tree, because as I told you, we are not Christian and do not observe Christmas." He shrugged it off with a "Oh that's right." He remained belligerent and stubborn.

He then tried to tell me he would no longer speak to me on the matter since I was not the one who signed the contract. I invited him to come speak to the bride in her suite, and he, with much sass, said "No, that's fine, I'll wait for her to come down." I told him she would not come down as she was the bride and had to get ready for her wedding. I called her and put the phone on speaker. She expressed her concerns and frustration. He again behaved as if his hands were tied. We escalated the situation. The bride called Vicki, the catering director, multiple times but she did not answer her calls (although I heard Alfredo speak to her, addressing her by name on the phone in the lobby).

Ultimately, my sister was able to speak to the manager in charge, and the hotel miraculously moved the trees out of the ballroom using its own staff (my sister observed Alfredo himself walk around gathering staff to help move the trees). It cost the hotel just a few minutes of staff time to move the trees.

I would like to hear how Marriott/Westin would allow an individual like this to be on the customer facing end of its operation. I sincerely hope you will require him to attend a diversity training, or remove him from a role that will require him to courteously and empathetically work with people of diverse backgrounds and beliefs who may not share his values.

In addition to the Christmas trees, we have grievances regarding mixed messaging and communications we've received from hotel staff and management (namely Vicki). Vicki made promises to us in writing that she then took back verbally and did not honor.

Lastly, we do not understand why Westin hotel staff thought it was appropriate and within their authority to touch the box full of wedding gifts (cash), without informing a single family member, and move it to the bridal suite. When we asked for the removal of the Christmas trees, Westin behaved as if its hands were tied and exercised no problem solving skills at all. Yet, in this case, without being asked, overzealous staff apparently decided to be proactive and remove valuable items without our permission. Please note that we will scrutinize in detail the wedding gifts, and should any gifts be missing, we will be contacting your hotel.

Every vendor we hired for this occasion provided us with excellent service and treated us with respect, with the exception of your hotel. We are shocked at the complete lack of customer focus from your management. If Marriott/Westin truly adheres to the core values of "putting people first, pursuing excellence, embracing change, acting with integrity and serving our world," I suggest a major overhaul at your Westin SFO location. The event management there clearly does not live up to these espoused values.

My Fiancé and I booked this venue in January 2023 for our wedding in July 2024. At the time of touring, we asked several questions related to cost, offerings etc. After see what we we were being offered, we thought it was a no brainer to book this spot. Fast forward to January 2024 (6 months before our wedding), I contacted Vicki to ask about food tasting where I was told food tasting will be 30 days before our wedding. 30 DAYS!! They expected me to to taste the food, make a choice and communicate that to my guest 30 days before. Then get responses from them?! That’s only the start. I then get curious and ask for a brochure for the package we chose (Exquisite) and realize 3 options that were in the initial offering are no longer in the the new brochure. I thought okay, it’s a new brochure and the initial offering will be honored. Nope! They end up telling us that there’s no complimentary parking, Karen says this venue hasn’t offered cake for years and no bar after dinner. I immediately request that they honor it. Karen does what she needs to do and ends up telling me she can only honor 2 of the 3 because they haven’t done cake in years, even though it was communicated to be in 2023. Im glad the two got honor but at this point I’m livid that we have to go taste cake and spend additional $ on cake when it was suppose to be included. I requested further compensation because I felt like no couple should go through this 6 months prior to their wedding especially when all this was confirmed and communicated (emails attached). Karen didn’t understand why I wanted compensation even though I explained to her it’s only right after going through all this and now needing to get the cake. Then I end up asking if the bar will be open after the 1 hr after dinner for cash bar and they end up telling me that yes but it will be 250++ per bartender when this was never communicated to me to begin with. Why now?! Why 6 months prior? They also said they’d need to get approval from the chef for us to be able to taste food early in feb (not guaranteed). Then they tells us about other fees such as charger plates, drapes etc. when we asked all these questions. They raised the price per person even though we reserved in 2023 and the contract never said price or offering is subject to change. We wrote an email asking for the package, date and pricing. Received confirmation and pricing. Emails are legal binding contracts!!

Anyways, I escalate to Gabriel who is Karen’s manager but he doesn’t do shit. Karen calls me the next day and goes on saying how her and Vicki felt uncomfortable with me cause of my aggressive undertone. Umm, sorry but I’m communicating via email and this has to do with my wedding and lack of professionalism and accountability on their part. I’m not gonna say “lol” to make the email more “friendly.” So Karen said since our minds don’t meet she would prefer to refund us. Also prior to all this when I was asking for compensation and stated that if we had known all this would happen, we would have gone to another venue, Karen was quick to offer a refund instead of being empathetic. I guess these are the type of employees Westin wants on their payroll. They ended up refunded us the deposit which was 5k and now we’re searching for a venue