Review: Westin Memphis Beale Street Executive Suite

In a nutshell: The Westin Memphis Beale Street offers an unbeatable location when visiting the Home of the Blues. Add in comfortable rooms, friendly staff, and nice fitness facilities, and you have the making of a great 4-star stay. The one area that needs some improvement is the restaurant. 

Free night certificates lend themselves to one-night stays. This isn’t helpful when you’re planning to stay three nights in Memphis, but I decided that breaking up my time with one night at the Westin Memphis Beale Street followed by two nights at the nearby Hyatt Centric was a fine plan. I would burn multiple certificates this way and save some points.

My stay cost me the annual free night certificate that I receive from my Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card. With a cash rate of over $200 per night, I got reasonable value from my $95 annual fee.

Arriving into a Blues City Madhouse

My late flight into Memphis was followed by a fairly quick Uber ride into downtown. I’ll note that my iPhone struggled with the WiFi at Memphis Airport, and I almost opted for a taxi instead of Uber.

Uber ended up dropping me off a block and a half from the Westin. I didn’t mind, as I didn’t have much luggage. Turns out, there really wasn’t any way for him to get to the entrance. The streets were blocked off. Three blocks of Beale Street are pedestrianized with pylons blocking vehicles, but this wasn’t the issue. The Memphis Grizzlies game was the issue, and it had just let out. I was walking the wrong direction through a sea of people flooding out of the arena.

I arrived at a Westin Memphis Beale Street lobby that was even louder than the street. It was packed. Most people were over by the bar, thankfully, so my wait for the front desk was short.

The agent at the front desk kindly gave me bonus points and free breakfast. This is now the second time this has happened to me while traveling. He was friendly and professional, and welcomed me to Memphis.

A Sweet Suite Upgrade

With five Marriott suite night awards to burn, I figured I’d give it a whirl for my one night at the Westin Memphis Beale Street. Although I’ve read poor things about their success rate, my upgrade to an Executive Suite confirmed without a hitch right at five days out.

The Westin Memphis Beale Street Executive Suite is quite nice. It has a half bathroom at the entryway, which opens into the living area of the suite. The living area features a couch and a couple chairs and is plenty spacious. The living room in this particular suite also had views of the FedEx Forum across the street.

The art was well thought out, featuring both a cool sound wave piece and photos of a guitar and the I-40 bridge across the Mississippi River at Memphis.

I was surprised to see a minibar and snacks. Many hotels have done away with these, and Westin doesn’t fall into the category of hotel brand that I expected to offer them. I’ve only been to a couple other Westin properties in the U.S. and Canada, though. Prices, as always, are terribly high.

The Westin Memphis Beale Street Executive Suite bedroom is separated from the living area by a door, which makes it a true suite. I’m not a fan of “suites” that don’t have this feature. Sell it as a junior suite or studio suite. There have been a few times I’ve been surprised by not having a separate space, which can be annoying when I’m traveling with one or more of my kids and expecting this.

The executive suite bedroom is spacious and well-appointed. I didn’t notice a lot of wear and tear, except with the shades. Luckily, the blackout curtains worked fine. Otherwise, we would have had an issue with the bright lights of the FedEx Forum across the street.

The bed is excellent. I slept very well. Maybe next time Marriott will convince me that 40% off a bed is a benefit worth taking.

Kudos to the hotel for the desk design choice that features easily accessible power outlets.

The bathroom is very large. You have a double sink, whirlpool bathtub, large shower, and separate toilet room. The bath amenities are unfortunately the wall dispensers that are becoming par for the course with many major chains. But everything else about the bathroom is excellent.

The main closet is also contained within the bathroom. Which is a strange design, but hey, it works.

If the Westin Heavenly bed isn’t enough for you to drift off into a good night’s sleep, the hotel also offers lavender oil to aid the process.

Overall, the Westin Memphis Beale Street is an excellent room. I believe it’s the nicest accommodation option available at the property.

Breakfast

As a Bonvoy Platinum elite, I chose the breakfast benefit. The Westin Memphis Beale Street provides this in the form of a voucher which is redeemable in the hotel restaurant: Bleu. You can order up to $30 per person, up to two guests, which is quite generous given the prices. I think I barely hit $20 for just me.

The food is decent. I also found the restaurant rather plain. This isn’t atypical of hotel restaurants, but I really like it when a property goes out of their way to actually make their restaurant nice. Contrast this with the Hyatt Centric restaurant a couple blocks away, which has a better menu, nicer space, and more attentive staff.

Westin Memphis Beale Street Facilities

Westin is a “wellness” hotel brand, so you can expect a focus on their fitness facilities. The space is nice. It faces the south and has tons of windows. There are several treadmills and bikes and a single pulley weight machine with a pull-up bar. A full set of free weights and a couple benches finish off the equipment. It was upper body day, and I was pleased enough with what they had.

Unfortunately, the Westin Memphis Beale Street does not have a pool. This surprised me.

The hotel is also a conference hotel with over a dozen meeting/event rooms.

Finally, the Westin Memphis offers a small Starbucks coffee location in one corner of the hotel, right across from the FedEx Forum.

Unbeatable Location in Memphis

If there’s one aspect to a stay at the Westin Memphis Beale Street that trumps all others, it’s the hotel’s location. It sits directly across the street from FedEx Forum, home of the Memphis Grizzlies. If you’re in town for a game, as many people in the hotel obviously were during my stay, you can’t do better. I also overheard that visiting basketball teams often put their players up at the Westin.

You’re also a block from the middle of the pedestrian section of Beale Street. Whether you want to enjoy dinner at Blues City Cafe, enjoy the live music at B.B. King’s Blues Club, or take in a bit of history at the Withers Collection, it’s all within easy walking distance. The Rock N’Soul Museum is also right across the street from the Westin.

Downtown isn’t all that far away, nor is the National Civil Rights Museum. You can easily walk to most Memphis sights from the Westin.

Personal recommendation: if you want a locals’ spot for enjoying some southern food and great live music, check out Suga Shack. It came recommended to me by a local and turned out to be one of my favorite experiences in Memphis.

Final Thoughts on the Westin Memphis Beale Street

If you’re looking for a Memphis hotel with an unbeatable location, the Westin Memphis Beale Street is likely it. The hotel offers comfortable accommodations and easy access to Beale Street and many of Memphis’ sights. You can likely do better for breakfast than the hotel restaurant, but it is otherwise a winner.