Westland Den

We enjoyed our stay very much. The unit was exactly as the photos depicted. We had plenty of room for 6 people. The layout was functional. We really enjoyed the hot tub at the end of a great ski day. The kitchen was well stocked and the washer/dryer was convenient to have.

Andrea was pleasant and accommodating from the very beginning, answering all my questions and concerns. Overall I really had a fantastic experience and i would recommend this unit to my family and friends.

The property was as advertised. We have stayed in Settlers Crossing before, so we knew what the units were like. We are 5 people: 2 adults, 3 kids

KITCHEN
Decent galley-style with open counter/bar seating to eating area/living room. Plenty of dishes for our family of 5. Some of the cooking utensils (rubber spatula, etc) could use replacing. We noticed that some of the dishes weren't very clean- that's more down to previous occupants putting them away with food residue still on them, but perhaps the maintenance people could do a more thorough check? I don't know the time constraints involved in turning over units for the next occupant, so maybe this isn't feasible. Courtesy items (some sugar, spices, paper towel, soap etc) were great, maybe some cooking oil or spray would be nice too (we forgot ours, darn it!)
Overall kitchen 4/5

MASTER
Sparsely furnished but for so few days we lived out of suitcases anyway. Bedside tables with drawers might be nice, though. Comfortable bed. Adequate closet space.
Overall bedroom 4/5

ENSUITE
Sink, toilet, shower/tub. Pretty standard. I noticed a hairdryer in the drawer. Soap and shampoo supplied as courtesy -thank goodness because I forgot mine!
Overall ensuite 5/5

LIVING/DINING
2 comfortable couches. Large table easily sat all 5 of us. Nice place for playing board games, too. Doing our departure sweep for forgotten items I looked under sofa cushions and stuff and can say that they need to be removed and vacuumed more frequently- there were some crumbs that did not originate from foods we ate.
Overall Living area 5/5

HOT TUB
First night it was 104F, second night it was 95F!! Given that it was -18C outside, a hot tub below body temp didn't cut it and I wound up having a shower to warm up. Third night no hot tubbing, fourth night back to 104F. Weird.
Overall Hot tub 3/5

BEDROOM
Kids complained that it was too hot. Indeed, when I went up to the top bunk it was too warm to be comfortable. By this time we had turned every thermostat we could find down to 15C. Guess the people on the ground floor unit had their heat cranked? On more than one occasion we resorted to opening the living room door to the hot tub deck to let out some heat. Kids reported that beds were comfortable. Kids liked having their own TV.
Overall Bedroom 4/5

BATHROOM
Sink, toilet, shower stall. Again, thanks for the courtesy shampoo and body wash.
Overall 5/5

ENTRANCE
For me, this is the downfall of this unit versus others we have stayed in at Settlers Crossing. For one thing, the unit is street-side, so you enter off the complex's inner road via a set of about a dozen stairs. So every day up and down these 2x with equipment. Secondly, the entrance area is very narrow and cramped. Other units have more space at the foot of the stairs before you head up to the living area. For 5 people to put on/take off equipment and head out/up, we pretty much had to do it one at a time - very time-consuming. Additionally there is little storage at the front door. With a max capacity of 7 where are all the boots supposed to go? And what about people who both board and ski?

I recommend:

1. The ski closet outside the unit have hangers out in. One snowboard hanger on each side wall (left and right) and 5 on the back wallC staggered up and down to keep bindings from hitting each other. Our 5 skis, 10 poles, and snowboard were all falling over each other.
2. The wall unit with small pegs and narrow shelf be replaced with a unit with larger hooks to hang ski pants and jackets, and a shelf deep enough to store helmets.
3. Some sort of a small bench for the entry. And/Or wall-mounted long dowel boots storage. When we walked in the door there were boots everywhere- but nowhere else to put them. And the only place to sit (which kids like to do when getting/awaiting help) was the stairs.

I realize this is the way the unit was built but I still think the docs could be optimized.
Overall 2/5

PARKING
The assigned stall is in the centre of the garage. The door out for unit access is crazy - you go up stairs and then back down stairs. Then you walk up the icy road to the aforementioned stairs up to the actual unit. We ended up blocking the garage door open and walking through in and out of the garage this way when loading and unloading. Because the other way was kind of ridiculous when you are making multiple trips with gear and food, etc.

ACCESS TO SLOPES
Pretty easy, you walk down the stairs, around the building, put on your skis and ski down to Mt Morrisey chair. To get back you have to make a loop (unless you want want to walk uphill with all your gear) from the top of Morrisey Chair down Grand Return, walk across the road and past a hotel, and then take the Sundance Chair up, take Rambler, then the East Village Ski Way into Fair Dinkum and ski right back to where you put on skis. That's a good 40-minute loop, so don't forget anything! Some units in Settlers you can ski literally to your door - this is not one of them. It's not far, though.
OVERALL 4/5

Winter mid-week ski break did not disappoint. The location to the ski hill with the convenient ski-in and ski-out lets you park the car in the underground parking lot for the whole time. The private balcony hot tub offers an awesome way to finish off a day on the slopes.

Andrea, the property manager, was very helpful and quickly replaced the coffee maker when the old one stopped working. The unit is well provisioned and has pretty much everything a family needs for an enjoyable stay.