jp-mco

We stayed at St Regis Mauritius for 10 nights in a Beachfront Junior Suite in 2013. At the time I thought it was pretty good but I've stayed at many Maldivian properties / hotels in Paris / Côte d'Azur since and now realise how sketchy the service was. The housekeeping wasn't that consistent or thorough and the butler service was poor. Since we stayed the Tripadvisor reviews have gone really downhill and Atul Kochhar (who had an amazing restaurant there) is no longer involved. The opening GM, Bernard de Villele and his deputy both left and things seemed to have taken a nosedive.

bhrubin

Back from my ban...

People making negative comments about many individual StR properties are not always judging them in context IMO. StR Bal Harbour is not perfect, but then neither is any 5 star in South Florida or the Caribbean--an area very well known for poor service. The FS and MO Miami suffer this, as well. StR Monarch Beach isn't now a StR, anyway, but its service and amenities were comparable to the nearby RC, Montage, and Pelican Hill...but the StR had far better dining. We are locals to those, so we know that for a fact. The StR NYC isn't my style at all, but its service and rooms are among the very best in NYC. The StR Punta Mita is by most accounts equal or superior to the FS--including mine, since we've stayed a both. The StR SF is by most accounts superior to the FS--including mine, since we've stayed at both. The StR Bora Bora is by most accounts equal or close to the FS...and the StR has the better F&B without any doubt. The StR Mexico City is by most account superior to the FS.

Many people here in the luxury forum simply cannot accept that StR hotels can compete with the best luxury hotels...and it certainly can and does in most of its locations.

MikeFromTokyo

^ I was wondering why you had not yet commented in this thread

Very good points about context. Properties from any hotel group need to be compared with properties in the same, or at least similar locations in order to draw any meaningful conclusions.

This also happens with Ritz-Carlton bashing, when people make negative comments about four star R-C properties in lower yielding markets, where FS and other luxury groups do not even have properties.

Your StR Bora Bora review was great, and the F&B did look very good indeed.

Epicura

@Bhrubin
Good to know you're back!

I don't have any prejudice against StR. Au contraire.

Bal Harbour was far from perfect infortunately, it wasn't even 5* at this moment IMHO.

There is construction going on and there was no prior notice on the website when I made the reservation (luckily they fixed that in the past week!).

I just came back and still have to discuss my concerns with the property. I will update once that is more or less sorted out.

bhrubin

Hey did I miss your TRs or expert reviews? Where did you actually go and what did you think?

I've now been to the following StRs:

San Francisco
Monarch Beach (now defunct)
LA Century City (now defunct)
Atlanta
Bal Harbour
Princeville
Houston
Mexico City
Punta Mita
Bora Bora
Beijing
Lhasa
Bangkok

I'm booked for the following StR in 2017:

Dubai
Washington, DC
New York
Rome

Considering for 2017:

Bahia Beach Puerto Rico
Aspen

FWIW, I do not expect Marriott to harm St Regis at all. Marriott has helped Ritz-Carlton expand, and I suspect St Regis will get that same benefit, especially since St Regis has been expanding far faster and wider than RC even before Marriott.

JohnRain

Interesting thread. I'm a StR fan (but not a junkie) myself and have had good to great stays at
-New York
-Bal Harbour
-Abu Dhabi
-Saadiyat Island (the best beach resort in Abu Dhabi)
-Doha
-Monarch Beach (no longer part of the group)
-Bangkok

bhrubin

Well, with the 30% Best Savings deal now going, I couldn't resist and now am booked in mid Feb 2017 for the StR Bahia Beach, Puerto Rico. (The negative reviews of the Ritz-Carlton San Juan made this an easier choice.) Work trip...but I get to enjoy some StR luxury now.

epitopeX

I had a very bad stay at StR Bahia Beach back in 2012 -- lots of things went wrong. I hope they have improved since then... If I ever return to PR I would probably choose the RC Reserve, which had not opened when I visited PR.

epitopeX

Like most luxury hotel brands with significant amount of footprints, there are good StRs and not so good ones... In general I have had overall positive experiences among their properties.

Awesome:
NYC
Florence
Osaka
Punta Mita

Mediocre:
Mexico City
Rome
San Francisco
Beijing
Shenzhen
Lhasa
Bangkok
DC

Bad:
Bahia Beach

bhrubin

I'm also hoping for a nicer stay at Bahia Beach...but it's a work trip mixed with leisure, so it'll be what it'll be!

I agree with you on NYC and Punta Mita. But I've had different impressions than you did of several StR:

San Francisco is my favorite city hotel in the USA, I'm there many times each yr
Mexico City was an amazing stay, loved the hotel
Beijing was solid
Lhasa was amazing hard product (Everest Suite) with typical China service/food challenges
Bangkok was solid

Obviously, a hotel can slip or leave one with positive/negative impressions that vary from stay to stay.

Houston I'd put as just OK. But I'd return...maybe.

Rome is being renovated before our stay next Oct, so I have high hopes.

MikeFromTokyo

I look forward to your review of StR Rome. It would be great if you got upgraded to one of the more contemporary suites. If I am not mistaken, they have one designed in collaboration with Bottega Veneta

bhrubin

I couldn't agree more!

damon88

We have become fond of St Regis properties and find that most of them deliver a luxury experience. We've also had 100% of our SNA requests clear at StR properties.

So far we have stayed at:

St Regis Monarch Beach (now sadly gone)
St Regis Aspen
St Regis San Francisco
St Regis Princeville
St Regis Deer Valley
St Regis Florence
St Regis Rome
St Regis Osaka

We wanted to try Venice St Clemente Palace but it came and went too quickly

On our list for future travel

St Regis New York
St Regis Washington DC
St Regis Bora Bora
St Regis Punta Mita
and the new St Regis in the Yucatan

bhrubin

Same here! Actually, I think I've even had a regular Plat suite upgrade at 100% of StR properties, as well.

From what I've heard, you dodged a bullet. Word is that the owner wouldn't put in the money for the kind of upgrades that the StR SPG contract stipulated, so StR dropped the property. Having just been to the Gritti (on points, but still got SNA upgrade and better upgrade to one bedroom suite), I highly recommend the Gritti.

FatnLoud

Did Lhasa a while ago and I quite liked the food, the breakfast was OK but the Tibetan restaurant I actually quite liked. The service was about right for the ambience of the place.

We had one of the private dining rooms for dinner with a client and the service there was very good. The staff were attentive and provided a really special evening for both us and the client.