Westin Diplomat Has Started Selling Rooms at its Sister Gold Resort a Mile and a Half Away, Buries Disclosure on its Website

The Westin Diplomat Resort also has a sister property, the Diplomat Golf Resort. They had two separate websites (apart from their separate sites at starwoodhotels.com) — diplomatresort.com and diplomatgolf.com.

These two properties are a mile and a half from each other.

But now they seem to be marketed as one. And that’s going to be confusing for a lot of guests. They are very different properties.

The Diplomat Resort is on the beach, two tall towers standing atop the rest of the area, and famous for its outstanding treatment of Starwood Platinum members (because they have more suites in their upgrade pool than any other property I’ve ever heard of, and because they have a lovely club lounge facility). The Golf Resort is much more low key and a mile and a half away.

They do run a shuttle between them, but they’ve always been different properties — book the one you want and you know what you’re getting.

But now it seems they’ve been merged, and that’s not at all clear from the websites. Search for rooms at one property, and rooms at both locations come up:

Granted, this is disclosed as a ‘special condition’ on the hotel’s page of the Starwood website.

Information for Golf Location Room Guests

For guests staying at Golf Location rooms in Hallandale, Florida, please arrive and check-in at the following address:

501 Diplomat Parkway, Hallandale Beach Florida 33009

But I anticipate a lot of confusion and unhappy guests!

The diplomatresort.com website does sorta say that they are unique, but I certainly read the language on the homepage as suggesting that the two ‘experiences’ are indeed on hotel:

One refreshing destination with two unique experiences. Choose beachfront surf and sand or a more intimate stay surrounded by manicured golf course greens and an indulgent full-service spa.
(Underlining mine.)

This otherwise-excellent property needs to get its marketing act together!

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. They are both excellent properties. One on the beach is larger and caters to beach lovers. The one on the golf course is smaller and you can not beat it if you are a golfer. Step out the door and you are on the golf course. The course is in great shape as of May of 2010.
    There is a shuttle bus between the 2 properties. I would recommend either properties.

  2. I second Csaba’s point, both properties are destination properties catering to varied recreational interests. The physical distance that separates them is trivial and convenient accommodations to move folks back and forth is readily available

  3. Sorry, folks. I love the Diplomat. I’ve been one of its biggest cheerleaders.

    But the point isn’t that both the Golf and Beach resorts are great. They are.

    The point is that they are different properties, not walking distance from each other. And they’ve always been sold as separate hotels.

    Now all of a sudden they are sold as a single property, ‘beach location’ and ‘golf location’.

    That these two are in different places, different addresses is not at all clear. It’s the new website/marketing that’s the issue, not the properties themselves.

    This is a real problem, customers will be confused, and that cannot help the hotel which is otherwise a gem especially for platinums at the “beach location.”

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