I'm not sure why this hotel would get more than 4 ...

I'm not sure why this hotel would get more than 4 stars. For $350/night it had no minibar, no complimentary water, clogging bathtub, low pressure, fluctuating temperature shower, no restaurant, a strike, bad internet, and little care for their customers. I would have given them 3 stars, but we're optimistic people and had a good time during our stay, despite the problems.

Our stay here was mediocre. My review is based on room 2489, on the 24th floor in the taller building:

The good
- Excellent location, close to restaurants, bars, shopping, fun areas like the cable car, movies, etc.
- The room was really, really big, but we might have gotten a free upgrade, as this floor was advertised as "Starwood preferred members floor".
- The bathroom was spacious too.
- Incredible view of Union Square and downtown. I assume most rooms higher than 23rd floor have views.
- The clock bar. Very nice bar, nice atmosphere, great cocktails.
- The elevators. There are five outside elevators in the new building giving you breathtaking views and a nice roller coaster-like feeling, as they go up and down really fast. One can see these elevators from Union Square looking towards Westin (western side of the square).

The bad
- Non-functional bathroom: very low shower water pressure, with fluctuating temperature (I would have to wait a minute for the water to warm up again), the bathtub tended to clog easily (in desperation I tried moving the water stop lid up and down, and it worked, then I repeated it every day), and had a curtain, not my favorite. One of the two lights was off, it was never replaced. No scale, strange at a high class hotel.
- Bad internet: the most annoying thing was that we would have to renew it daily, by going to some slow sign in page. Trouble is the old connection would end up at random times, sometimes at night, at which point the phones would switch to the data plan, which costs us money. We ended up paying more uselessly. Besides, the connection was somewhat slow, and would disconnect and reconnect all the time. Definitely not the internet you'd expect from a $350/night hotel.
- No minibar service. There was a union strike when we checked in, but they did not restart minibar service even after the strike was over. We got no complimentary water either, even though we were supposed to have it in the room, daily.
- No real restaurant on the venue. Really?? On a $350/night hotel? There is the Oak room restaurant, but it's only open for breakfast, which they have to provide, as that would be too much.
- The reception was hard to reach, in person, as there was a permanent line of clients, either for check-in/check-out, or for other purposes. The reception was easy to reach by phone. But they weren't very helpful when things didn't work, like when the first day they charged us for internet even though it was supposed to be free, nor did they help clarify the situation with the strike. On the contrary, we found a note in the room apologizing for the noise the strikers were making, and instructing us to call the police if it bothered us. Really?? Calling on their clients to solve their problems with their workers? For all I know the workers were right, seeing how the hotel treated their guests.
- There was a general feeling that no one really cared for you. The employees seemed busy all the time.
- The downstairs lobby felt like a busy train station. Maybe not their fault, as this place is historic and many tourists come in just to have a look, but that didn't help us, as clients. We felt like avoiding the lobby. Every time we had to cross it to get outside we would do so in a rush, trying to avoid the mob taking pictures, looking around, walking slowly.

Conclusion
This hotel could be exceptional, as I bet it once was. Yet, it seems to me, those days are past. Being so in the middle of everything, downtown, Union Square, it can afford to be just a good hotel, as it will always have it's share of tourists. I would say avoid, there are many hotels in the same area, at the same price.