Rising from the metaphorical ashes of the gone but not missed Maxim hotel, the Westin Casuarina is everything the old place wasn’t: sleek, modern, comfortable, and elegant. But the one thing the Maxim had that the Westin doesn’t was a personality – or as much of a personality as an inanimate object can have. Sure, that personality may have been battered and worn and hopelessly stuck in the seventies but at least you felt something when you walked in the joint. The Westin feels a bit sterile, devoid of any emotional impact.

If this were any other city in the world that wouldn’t matter but this is Las Vegas where most hotels evoke some sort of reaction when you walk into them. For good or bad, they are the destination – places that make you want to send a postcard with a picture of place to friends and family to make them jealous of your Vegas adventure. The Westin feels like a pit stop on your way to the destination – a place you leave your bags so you can go off and get to the fun stuff.

Which is in no way saying it’s not a nice hotel. It is. The main desk is actually a series of small desks, designed to give the check-in process a more personal feel. Okay, sure. The lobby and much of the main areas of the hotel are all done in a muted earth tone scheme, with touches of leather, chrome, wood, and marble everywhere. There are some browns and blacks here and there but the main color you walk away remembering is grey. Not that there’s a lot of grey necessarily but that’s just sort of what the place feels like.

On one side of the lobby area are some meeting rooms – more are upstairs. This is important since much of the hotel’s business is from the business traveler, familiar with the Westin brand name.

On the other side of the lobby is a very small casino. At about 20,000-square-feet you could put about five of them inside the Venetian casino and still have room left over for a really nice buffet. It has a couple-hundred slot machines of varying denominations, all with ticket-in, ticket-out technology, plus a few table games. It’s not really a place you’re going to want to spend a lot of time gambling in and the hotel folks know this – they market it as an amenity or an entertaining distraction, sort of like a pool.

Also on the main floor are a few plush seating areas for intimate conversation, a chic-looking casino bar, a casual restaurant offering a wide-ranging menu (including a breakfast buffet), a Starbucks, a gift shop, a business center, and a full-service concierge desk.

On the second level overlooking the casino is a small but very well-equipped work-out room with lots of high-tech gadgetry designed to make you feel a little less guilty about that huge meal you ate the night before. Up a small ramp is the completely redone pool area, which is small but quite nice with private cabanas, a whirlpool, food and beverage service, and lots of plants and trees and wood benches and the like that quite effectively make you forget you’re on the roof overlooking a parking lot.

And of course there's the full-service spa and salon offering every treatment known to man and then some.

The rooms are also sleek and modern, much like the rest of the hotel. They have the same muted color-scheme and clean lines you see everywhere else on the property, which is a refreshing change from some of the overblown accommodations on The Strip but doesn’t help with that “emotional impact” thing.

Each room comes with a coffee maker with Starbucks coffee, mini-bars, high-speed Internet access, dual-line phones with data ports, a writing desk, wireless Internet and pay-per-view movies on the big TVs, robes, iron and board, and safes big enough to hold your lap top computer.

There’s also their trademark “Heavenly Bed” and “Heavenly Bath,” so named for the luxurious fabrics, fluffy duvets, and comfy pillows on the bed and marble vanities, dual-head showers, and spa amenities in the bathroom. I didn’t actually get a chance to sleep in the bed so I can’t give you a first-hand account of how “Heavenly” it might be but others have reported that they live up to their name.

Worth noting is the fact that this hotel, and the entire Westin chain, has gone smoke free. That means smoking is not allowed in ANY guest room or any of the public areas of the hotel including bars, lounges, and restaruants. The only exception here is the casino.

Service at the Westin is definitely personable and professional, another hallmark of the chain. They definitely get high marks in this category.

Prices quoted will range from $89 to $229 for a standard room although a random sampling of dates found them to usually be in the $150-200 range. That’s a lot of money to pay for a hotel that doesn’t make you say “wow” as soon as you walk in the door.

The Westin is a fine addition to the city and will probably do very well with business travelers and those looking for a respite from the glitz and glamour of The Strip. But just don’t expect to want to send any postcards from here.

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