Hi Faith,
I had found myself in the same predicament as you're in. I was caught between Hyatt and Conrad with the same concerns.
Hyatt was cheaper and more "well-known"(tho not well-liked!), but to get their best ballroom with an exclusive reception area, we either had to guarantee a minimum of 45 tables, or a minimum or 40 tables with an additional cost $40 per table. I guess it's similar for Westin?
And Conrad on the other hand, though more costly per table, had an exclusive reception area(with an impressive spiral stairway!), with only one ballroom, better concentration on your banquet alone(as opposed to Hyatt which had 5 ballrooms!), better service(they'll portion out food for you), and also a lower minimum which we were comfortable with. (We're intending for about 300-330 guests only). I seem to be promoting Conrad! But that's only cos I'ven't regretted my choice since we stamped a $4grand deposit on Conrad.
In fact, Hyatt had a very strong pull factor cos we simply FELL in LOVE with the balinese garden where we could picture ourselves getting solemnised. But eventually, we still went for Conrad cos we didn't want to end up inviting people we haven't spoken to in the past 5 years just to chalk up the numbers!
Well, that wasn't the main and only reason. We felt that Conrad demonstrated alot of flexibility in trying to meet our needs. Plus the fact that we were told the standard package of $998 comes with just dried flowers(for centrepieces, aisle, stage), but they were gonna throw in fresh flowers "specially" for us etc etc. I'm not sure if we've been had - perhaps everyone's getting fresh flowers! Anyone out there getting the same deal - do voice out please! At least we know we're not as privileged as we thought!
Anyway, we thought it was quite a deal.
So Faith, enlighten me - $1048 - does it include fresh flowers decoration and seat covers and all? Yeah, you're right, my wedding is before Aug 2002.
You met up with Debbie? She's the Director of Catering Sales right? How do you find her? Is she nice?
Westin was actually also in the running on my list. But there was no special draw about the place.. for me, that is. I didn't like the carpets.. and for some of the ballrooms, I felt the ceiling was too high to be cosy.. And Westin is quite a common choice and thus less exclusive, so your guests won't feel that thrilled about another wedding there. The friends I've told all seem to be looking forward to our wedding cos they've never attended one at Conrad. And for whatever reasons, it's nice to know that they're keen to be at your wedding, and not dragging their feet there!
One comment though, everyone seemed to have the notion that Conrad's very expensive, and everyone was asking me how much it is per table! I really didn't know that these questions would be asked.. cos I've never asked my friends how much their dinner banquet is! That's like finding out how much ang-pow to give! ;p
Sorrie.. don't mean to slime Westin at all.. It has its own charm I'm sure.. Just verbalising my thought processes which led to why Conrad was the eventual choice..
Hope you can arrive at a conclusion soon!