The Westgate Hotel

portive and always on top of things. They go above and beyond to make sure each of our weddings feel so special for our couples. I wholeheartedly recommend Vanessa and her team at this gorgeous hotel in Downtown, San Diego.

commend it to anyone who is getting married and loves the French antique style. You feel like you have been transported to France and their attention to detail regarding their décor is breathtaking. My husband and I were due to be married April 2020 and we ended up needing to cancel due to COVID. Vanessa Saenz, who was our catering sales manager, was lovely and she is HANDS DOWN the best. We had to reschedule 4 times and finally landed on April 2022. Throughout all this rescheduling, Vanessa and The Westgate remained so helpful and understanding. Their level of professionalism is second to none. I also changed my mind frequently for our ceremony location (indoor vs outdoor) and she remained so patient. From start to finish, Vanessa, was exceptional. She worked with us diligently on our new date, tastings, menu choices, special requests, etc. She is incredibly detail oriented, professional, and diligent. I always felt like Vanessa had our back and would advocate for us. Our wedding itself was quite complicated as we had a more involved Persian ceremony which required many hours for set up (more than traditional ceremonies). Vanessa worked with my planner to ensure that we would have the time to do a thorough set up. The result was breathtaking and, as the bride, I could not have been happier with the outcome. The reception was also stunning, and I know that Vanessa and her staff's handwork certainly helped us achieve our vision. Our wedding also happened to be the same weekend as Easter. The hotel did such an excellent job with out wedding that I didn’t even remember we happened to have our wedding on one of their busiest weekends. The entire evening was seamless. A note on dinner and cocktail hour as well – EVERY SINGLE guest I personally spoke with absolutely raved about how delicious the hotel’s dinner and tray passed hors d'oeuvres were. Their Executive Chef, Fabrice Hardel, and his staff, did a FANTASTIC job for our wedding. I recall being in love with their dining when we were there for our tasting. Often, hotel venues fall short on catering, this certainly was not the case for the Westgate. All our guests also had wonderful things to say about the hotel and its staff. The hotel has beautiful rooms, thoughtful staff members, charm, and world class hospitality. I worked closely with Ashley and Jesus as well for our room block and they were always warm, friendly, attentive, and helpful. A special thank you to them as well! Last, we also had our rehearsal lunch at The Westgate which was an excellent choice. We booked one of their beautiful private rooms and their lunch menu was spectacular. We very much enjoyed the convenience of having lunch at the hotel and I would recommend this as well. Vanessa and the staff at The Westgate took an event that usually is quite stressful and made it fun and enjoyable for my husband and our families. I will forever be grateful to them and have the fondest memories of our wedding there. If you have not seen this venue do yourself a favor and set up a tour. You will not be disappointed! Highly recommend A+++

saries there. It was the perfect venue.

ed with the venue had very competitive prices and provided many extras. The venue was beautiful and elegant not requiring much extras in terms of furniture and decorations. The hotel premises was immaculate, our wedding party and immediate family stayed for the entire Labor Day weekend. The hotel staff ensured everyone there for the wedding was taken care of. They offered a great discounted block rate to my guests, which saved them quite a bit of money compared to what the prices were around the holiday weekend. We were able to reserve the space the day before to have a wedding rehearsal for no added charge, where they even set up chairs and arranged them to emulate the wedding day. We had our wedding ceremony on the fountain terrace outdoors, the hotel staff did a great job keeping hotel guests from any disruptions and restricted the entire terrace space for our wedding. It was also the location of the cocktail hour. Again, the hotels elegance and upscale decorations provided such a wonderful setting for the events, we hardly had to spend much money on extra decorations other than the staples, such as floral arrangement and centerpieces. The foyer area, hotel lobby, and terrace were amazing areas where your guests spend time. The Versailles ballroom has a great gatsby vibe with the accents of a French palace ballroom. The ballroom is the perfect size for weddings of 100-130. Any smaller may feel too big, and any more may feel a little to cramped. We had 150 guests and due to the pandemic had over 40 drop out. The space was absolutely perfect for 110 guests, we had room to place a custom dance floor 12’x20’ in the middle and provided the only needed face lift to an otherwise picture perfect venue. Our guests cannot stop raving how amazing our wedding day and their entire stay at the Westgate was. The wedding was truly unforgettable, and we have the Westgate and their staff to thank for that!

c intervention and universal grace, Lorena emailed me that they had the date available! First of all, take one look at the photos of the Westgate Hotel. It’s literally that gorgeous in person! But looks alone weren’t what blew us away. Lorena and her team went above and beyond to accommodate us and our families. Because of COVID, we weren't able to have a reception in one of the banquet rooms. Their idea? Rent out the top-floor suite for an intimate dinner. Lorena and team are brilliant and the fact that they offered us this option was astonishing. We kept thinking: what's the catch? Well, after having our wedding there and being utterly blown away, I can honestly report that there is no catch, just a stunningly gorgeous venue and happy, helpful, attentive, expectation-exceeding staff. I have personally never received such incredible treatment from hotel staff. Not did they give us the top floor governor’s suite for our small reception, but they bent over backward to help set it up exactly how we envisioned, let us in the room to decorate, and ensure that our every need was tended to. Lorena was able to anticipate everything we’d need long before I thought of it. I’m just utterly in disbelief that we got to have our wedding day here. We felt like a royal wedding; the opulent decor, the attentive staff, the fine dining — everything went off without a hitch. Our families were blown away too, in disbelief that we were able to squeeze in just a WEEK before our wedding. There really aren’t enough positive words I can say about our experience having our wedding at the Westgate. Having our first venue cancel ended up being the best gift ever because somehow, we stumbled into a luxurious Parisian hotel that was actually more affordable than our first venue! We can’t thank Lorena and the Westgate Hotel staff enough for making our day one we’ll never forget. We can't wait to come back and stay for our one-year anniversary! We feel like it's really special because now Westgate is part of our story, and we'll always come back to celebrate our marriage and relive the joy of our special day. Thank you Westgate Hotel for making our dreams come true!

week of my wedding it was a very rainy week so the day before our wedding we had to make the decision to change our ceremony inside since it wouldn’t stop raining, long story short the day of my wedding it stopped raining and Vanessa knew how much I wanted my ceremony outside and last minute she made it happen. I was one happy bride!!! Our wedding was so beautiful we got so many compliments from our guest and even people that didn’t attend that just saw pictures. Vanessa and the the Westgate staff went above and beyond to make our day extra special and stress free. If your looking for a very elegant venue the Westgate hotel is the place for you not only are you getting excellent service but your getting Vanessa and she’s the best!!! Thank you Vanessa we couldn’t of done this without you. The Clemons ❤️

wedding day was better than anyone could have ever dreamed. We had people arriving from all over the globe — from babies to great-grandparents—and Vanessa made each and every guest feel like a VIP. The bride summed it up in four words: “Our wedding was perfect.” Thank you, Vanessa. And thank you to the entire staff at the Westgate. One couple is off to a “perfect” start...

ed in our formal events and vanessa helped me include all of them which made me even happier. The service, the staff, and the food was incredible. My event was somewhat large around 135-140 people and every single plate that was served was heated to perfection. The venue itself was gorgeous and I needed minimal decor for my party. Furthermore, the hotel has a beautiful outside area with fountains and I was able to take many pictures with my photographer. I highly recommend this place and I look forward to work with vanessa for future events for my family and friends.

of town and this was a perfect location that allowed them to explore. Jacqueline, our wedding coordinator was responsive and professional. All changes were accommodated even the last minute ones. If we could get married again we would pick the Westgate over and over again. It was truly our fairy tale wedding!

catering manager/hotel liaison, she was responsive and worked with us every step of the way. There was another woman from France that also helped give us a tour , she was awesome-awesome too. Our waiter during our tasting was crazy nice. And our server during our actual wedding was so nice also, he kept asking if he could do more for us. I feel like the best way to describe the hospitality at the Westgate, as the feeling I have when I am at a Disney property. It is just another level of hospitality, and I am not sure how they are able to pull it off on such a system wide level. Aside from hospitality, the hotel has a charm, as they decorated it to resemble the Versailles Palace in France. You could imagine that doing so would lead to a very dusty-old feeling, but because they keep the place so clean, you actually feel like you are in a very high-end hotel. Finally, the food is fancy and big portions. I'm used to small portions, bad ingredients at weddings. Oh and one more thing, their hotel rate is really reasonable. During the winter months, we got a rate of $130-140 or something per night. In downtown San Diego. And you get access to their FOUR STORY LUXURY GYM that is attached to the property. WHAT????? HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE???? TOWEL SERVICE, SAUNA, OUTDOOR TRACK, TECHY-ELIPITCAL MACHINE. Oh and FOUR STORIES TALL. This blew my mind wide open. I don't know how they do it. I thought I was at a $$$$$$ hotel. You won't be disappointed here. DO. IT. NOW.

enjoyable. The Hotel did not disappoint either. The staff was amazing. Everything was exactly as we had asked/discussed and the event went without any hiccups. The food was delicious. The venue gorgeous. The staff friendly and helpful. I cannot say enough about how amazing the Westgate was for our daughters wedding.

ing, right down to dinner service on our wedding day. She gave us all options available and tried her best to customize it to our needs, which she achieved. She is also very experienced and knowledgable about weddings; often reminding us of things we could possibly miss. Weddings are always going to be stressful, but I was fortunate enough that nothing went wrong on my wedding day and it turned out to be better than I could imagine. The staff at Westgate was professional, hospitality was an all time high, the decor, cleanliness, food, choreography, had my guests all stunned. I absolutely made the right choice in choosing The Westgate. Thank you Vanessa for also being so respectful. I would absolutely highly recommend the Westgate.

le. We will certainly be having our daughters graduation there next year. Thank you Kristen for making our daughters wedding so special.

emely helpful! She was a great communicator and would respond to our emails immediately! She made sure we had everything we asked for! The food was great! The stuff made sure our guests got served in a timely manner. Overall the Westgate hotel team have accommodated all our needs and desires! First class all the way! And the hotel itself is so gorgeous and luxurious! We couldn’t wish for anything better! Thanks to the Westgate hotel, our fairy tale wedding went flawlessly! P.S their wedding package prices are beyond reasonable!

r us and we would have a week to decide. On the day we were going to sign the contract, the venue reached out to me and said they needed move our cocktail hour space. I asked why and what happened and the answer that was given to me was that they had another wedding and they also wanted the space so since they were ready to sign the contract, they gave it away. I asked what was the reason for having the space on hold if they weren't going to hold it. Lorena said that "This was a complimentary hold until someone else was ready to sign" I was told by the director that if there was someone else interested, they would contact me. Unfortunately that did not happen. Lorena made it seem like it wasn't a big deal to switch us and yes, it's just cocktail hour, but the explanation was awful. Long story short, they eventually got the space back for us, but at that point, there were too many stories from them that didn't make sense and the trust was broken. So because of this, we had to fly out again to San Diego a month later to look at more venues. We went with a different hotel and the experience has been night and day. I'm sure they have better experiences than not, but be warned that simple things like holding a space for you may be an issue.

inator. I have never felt so reassured in my life, and not only that, the follow through was incredible. They bent over backwards for us and made sure that not just us, but our immediate family was taken care of as well. All information was sent out to our vendors coming in, and any questions that I needed answered were taken care of almost immediately. I actually lost track of the emails back and fourth. From the management, all the way down to the valet were impeccable with customer service and making sure we were comfortable there. The spa is brand new as well, which gave my wife the relaxation she needed day of the wedding, to calm the nerves. I honestly couldnt have asked for a better experience anywhere. Plus, a make or break for most weddings is the food. The food here is ridiculously good with an affordable price tag. Nothing but compliments from our guests the entire night. My wife and I went with the middle grade package just because of how much food was already served. Thank you Westgate!

them with everything! Our room walls were filthy, the first night my husband stepped on a two inch piece of plastic, there were dried drops of urine on the bathroom floor and the shower dripped (and during a drought, no less!). Not to mention the open access door to the plumbing, which constantly made noise. There was not even a latch on said door. We were denied two buckets of ice upon request, and every time I called they answered "good evening, Mr..." Because never would a woman pick up the phone? Upon checkout, my parents had already made arrangements to pay, however they could not find that info and he had to call again. The greatest features were a partial view of the bay and we were treated to chocolate dipped strawberries and lemonade upon arrival. Not at all what I expected from such a gorgeous, European hotel at this price point.

d beauty with a live pianist playing when we walked in. The hotel rooms have modern "skeleton keys" instead of cards which was a fun touch. The rooms are definitely old and have been preserved over the years, but its an elegant experience.

tation who both went above and beyond to make our day memorable. Thank you!

ing!!! Our guests many times said they have not enjoyed better food at any previous weddings. Also, the venue is gorgeous and the staff members (our contact was Jennifer Emerzian) were incredibly responsive both before, during, and after the wedding. There are lovely indoor and outdoor locations for taking pictures at the Westgate and our videographer also loved shooting our wedding here--every part of the hotel is lovely.

is made for weddings.

ing was. I can't thank Anna enough for all of her help over the past year of planning. She was always super flexible and really let us customize everything to make it personal to us. I really appreciated that she was always up front about pricing and that there were no last minute hidden fees, it made everything so much easier when planning our budget! But most of all she was SO much fun to work with! She really made the whole process so much fun and we will miss working with her. If we could do it all over, we would not have changed a thing. Thank you so much again!!! -James and Mandy Rahm