The Westin Kansas City at Crown Center

We've always loved the West Crown Center, it was an easy choice for our guests to stay there, plus it was within a block of the reception venue. Since we had a large guest list, they had us sign a contract for a certain number of rooms. That wasn't a problem, we filled them very quickly and they even set up a website so our guests could get a room in the block online. The problem came after signing a contract and asking for help with different things. The assistant who was assigned to our file never responded to my e-mails and when she did, she was very vague and acted like she didn't understand what we were asking. When I wanted to add more rooms, she acted like it wasn't possible, but never mentioned that they had already added as a courtesy more rooms because we had filled up our block. After contacting our initial contact with my questions, she immediately apologized and fixed the problem, we were then assigned a different assistant. This assistant asked if he could check on our reservations and asked if we needed anything else, when I e-mailed him back with our reservation info along with a few other questions only to get no response. Overall, the accommodations were nice and the hotel is lovely. The staff when we checked in was more than helpful, but leading up to the actual wedding weekend, the help was less than desirable. The location is perfect for downtown/crossroads area weddings with many amenities surrounding the area. We liked that our guests were able to do various things in the area without having to get in their car.

Top notch service and spread. This was so beautiful, I didn't want to eat it or mess it up! The salmon was to die for, and they had these amazing little salad in glasses so guests could easily grab one instead of building one on their plate, getting dressing everywhere, etc. The staff was incredible and we didn't have to worry about anything. Much better than other caterers I tried - others food tasted like a Costco menu. The Westin was fresh, delicious and different!

We chose to use Benton’s at the Westin - Crown Center for our reception. The view from Benton’s is phenomenal and I fell in love with the space instantly. The suites they showed us had recently been renovated and were beautiful. I also had happy childhood memories of the Crown Center area and thought the Westin had a solid reputation in KC. The Westin was the only vendor we were disappointed with. The space was still beautiful and the food was good, but the service did not live up to our expectations. Most of our issues started after the hotel changed ownership and our original catering contact resigned. It seemed like a lot of details we had covered and set with our original contact were lost during the transition, which was very frustrating. Guests were not all originally given the group rate in our contract. We had to really stay on top of the hotel to make sure we received what was in our contract. We had verified multiple times that we had a suite reserved for the wedding night. Days before they wedding we were told we did not, and we did not until several phone calls were made. When my aunts requested chairs for cocktail hour (which should have already been set out according to discussions with the coordinator), the staff seemed very inconvenienced instead of apologizing for the oversight. The food looked and tasted great. All of our guests enjoyed the appetizers, salad, and entree of steak and shrimp; however one guest requested a vegetarian meal and was only given a couple carrots in place of the meat. Two teenagers were given children’s meals, and the staff told my aunt and mother that they had ordered children’s meals and that’s what they would get (which was untrue). It was eventually fixed, although not as discreetly and tactfully as I would have expected from the Westin. The teenagers were upset and offended. I had asked if a knife and cake server would be supplied and was told they would be. There was no cake knife, and I nearly knocked the cake over trying to cut with the cake server. The cake was beautiful and tasted great, but the flavors in the cake were not what we ordered. In fact, our favorite flavor was completely left out of the cake. Towards the end of the evening the staff was clearing decorations from tables while guests were still sitting at them, which took away from the ambiance I’d spent an entire year creating and made guests feel rushed. The hotel itself seemed disorganized and understaffed. Valet was incredibly slow and uncooperative with all guests including my parents as they were trying to get things inside for setting up and for leaving. Guests who stayed two nights in the hotel complained about their rooms not being cleaned before the second night. Overall, I felt the event did not run as smoothly as I expected largely due to the fact that I did not feel like the catering manager had really been listening to me during our meetings. When my family voiced concerns staff replied with curt non apologetic answers, which I felt was unacceptable. The night was not a disaster in any way - we had a wonderful time; however, it was not the quality I expected.

It is pricey, but they do an excellent job hosting events at the Westin. The staff is friendly, helpful, and professional.