TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

I always try to stay at The Westin Nova Scotian when I am in Halifax. The staff is friendly and accommodating, the rooms are nice and very comfortable, especially with a Harbour view, and its location is convenient. It is easy to tell that the staff are focused on providing a positive experience for their guests.

room was clean. staff was friendly. Locationin Halifax is great. comfortable bed. food was good. excellent parking. treated liked a valued customer

My review is mixed, so I will give the positive and the negatives. My negatives may or may not be deal breakers for others (it wasn't a deal breaker for me...but...). Ok, I will start with the positives: - the bed was very comfortable which allowed me to have a great sleep - I could have lumped the pillows in with the bed bullet point, but they were so comfortable that I felt they needed their own bullet point. I'm a bit of a pillow snob. These pillows were the best I've ever slept on. I would buy these pillows. - The Valet staff were super friendly and helpful - smiles, chit chat, they remembered me and asked about my event that I attended the night prior. Really great valets! - The Shampoo, Conditioner, Body Wash, & Lotion were really, really great! And I loved that they were the big bottles attached to the wall of the shower instead of tiny shampoo bottles, which isn't enough for women with long hair. - The lavender essential oil was so lovely. It smelled so good, but not too strong. I think that helped me sleep too. - You need a hotel key in order to operate the elevator which prevents randoms from roaming the building, there is also a hotel key operated lock on the front door of the building which is locked at night. I like this extra security. - The in room coffee was actually pretty decent and I always appreciate when hotels have the liquid coffee mate since it works better than that dreadful powdered coffee whitener. Now, the negatives: - it was clean (ish) - granted, I'm pretty fussy because I'm a former professional cleaner. So what do I mean by "clean-ish"? - well, it was obvious that a room attendant had cleaned my room (sheets, duvet, & pillows were clean, bathroom was very clean, towels were clean - so the important stuff was clean). But there were some areas of old uncleanliness from previous guests (forehead mark on window, in fact the whole window was dirty, some stains on the walls, and the bed skirt was filthy - but I don't know what possessed the Westin to choose a white bed skirt anyway because there's no way the cleaning staff can remove bed skirts with each bedding change anyway - maybe a wipeable pleather or something would be a better choice. Also the corners on the lamp base were areas where dirt was collecting, but again this is due to poor design choice because the room attendant would have needed a special tool to clean them and it would have been time consuming, so I do not blame the attendant for anything other than the window which could have been just a simple oversight due to a bad sleep the night before or something so I took that in stride. - The bathroom was very small, yet across the hall from the bathroom was a big walk-in closet which guests would likely not use. It seemed like wasted space to me. If they ever redesign the rooms, I would recommend they move the door into where the walk-in closet is and use that freed up space to make the bathrooms bigger. - The shower was complicated to use (we thought it was broken and had to call the front desk) and didn't have very good water pressure. Hey hotel designers: rain shower shower heads are trendy but awful. For guests with long hair, it makes it difficult to rinse the shampoo out of our hair if we don't have some decent & focused water pressure. I know you are trying to achieve a "spa like" experience, but some practicality is needed. Also, our bathtub was not draining, like at all. I advised the front desk upon check out, but they didn't seem like they were going to do much with that information. - I only had one meal on the menu at the hotel's restaurant, but it was only meh. The fries are spicy, so your kids will likely complain and not eat them. There's some sort of spice added to the coating. I couldn't finish mine due to this spicy. The rest of my family said the same thing regarding their meals. Overall, the good outweighed the bad for this hotel, but for half the price I could have got the same or better quality with a bigger room at a different hotel. Not sure if I would stay here again.

We had a suite, the pull-out bed was uncomfortable and my kids were sleeping on the floor. The manager, Raif, quickly help us get a complimentary cot. I've never had such fast delivery of a cot at any hotel before. Also, the food in the lobby bar is really lovely.

My daughter and I stayed in a traditional Queen room (2 Queen beds) and it was spacious and bright, with a good size window in the room and a small window in the bathroom. I enjoy the view out to the park and city lights at the front of the hotel. We always find the beds at the Nova Scotian to be exceptionally comfortable. On one occasion we heard noise from other guests, but other than that it was very quiet. We had the package with the breakfasts included and were able to use our vouchers for the full buffet or for any one menu item. If you like overnight oats, the banana cranberry oatmeal on the menu was excellent. The omelet and waffle station at the buffet is also great. We had a couple of dinners at Seaport Social, and can particularly recommend the amazing french fries - always a treat! As usual, the highlight of the visit was the welcoming and friendly staff, especially Lee and his team of valets at the front door. The valet parking service is excellent. Thank you so much for going above and beyond!