Innerloop

I am in the process of booking something in this area, and this property was my current front-runner, so could you expand on your experience or (anyone) suggest better alternatives in the area?

Larry Siegel

Except for the Westin in downtown Philadelphia that used to be a RC, I have never stayed in a Westin that was any good. Their highly touted beds are nice but the hotels have no character and the rooms are small and outdated.

meester69

Stayed there a few years ago it's just an anonymous large Asian 5* hotel. Not 'luxury' at all, didn't realise it was supposed to be?

Nothing wrong with it given the choice of dozens of upper-end skyscraper hotels in BKK though.

vuittonsofstyle

By all means go and have lunch and dinner at Château de la Chèvre d'Or but don't stay there - the rooms and suites are appalling - hard beds, synthetic pillows, eye-wateringly bad design. The food is in a different league - wonderful lunches on the outdoor terrace, with incredible views, or gastronomic dinners in the Michelin restaurant. Service in the restaurants is much, much better than in the rest of the hotel.

Better choices in the area? Grand Hotel du Cap-Ferrat, Le Mas Candille in Mougins, La Bastide de Saint Antoine in Grasse.

It could also be worth checking out Château Eza, also in Eze Village, but right at the top of the hill, as this property has just undergone a big refurbishment. Nice restaurant, too, with great views....and the beds are comfy, too.

LH7119

vuittonsofstyle is perfectly correct. This hotel (not the restaurant)
mixes hauteur with a junkshop atmosphere. Our room looked like something
out of a junkyard. The wardrobe-door dropped right onto my head.
It was appalling. The beds - already mentioned.
They did not accept credit cards when I was there, only bankcards.
What service ! However, the food and restaurant were divine.

Innerloop

Thanks for the clarifications re: Chevre d'Or. I will avoid!

Since you see expert in the area, can you recommend a place for a 2-night driving base somewhere in Provence? All that turns up generally for luxury there are Four Seasons and Villa Gallici. I've researched the hell out of both, but both have their faults, and need a tip in the right direction.

(A bit back on top) I notice a lot of times the most disappointing hotels are those that are coasting on their reputations a bit. I noticed that Chevre d'Or is ranked in the 2011 "Best Hotels" poll in both (I think) Conde Nast and Travel + Leisure, so one would assume its a top-notch experience, but personal reviews tend to contraidict these polls. I've seen other night & day reactions to aging palaces like Hotel Negresco, etc.

So now this experience makes me especailly wary of older "Classic" hotels that show up with high ratings (and high prices).

vuittonsofstyle

Villa Gallici is in Aix-en-Provence, way inland from Marseille, whereas Four Seasons Provence is inland from Nice and Cannes, so nearer to the Riviera. It really depends upon where in Provence you wish to explore, as it is a huge region and you could not possibly cover a fraction of it in 2 days.

Don't forget there is also Haute Provence, with places like Gordes. How rural do you want? What is important for you - shops, villages, restaurants, nature?

Villa Gallici is relatively urban. People often stay there for the opera festival. It has an odd restaurant in that it is not really a restaurant - meals are served on the terrace or in the lounges. Not my favourite hotel, but OK.

Four Seasons Provence is a series of low cottages on the hill, with the spa and main salons at the top and 2 golf courses and club below - so neither sees the other. Very good food, spa and service - perhaps the best in the entire area as service attitudes in this region have declined considerably in the past 2 years. It is more of a resort, though, so if you just want a base from which to explore, then maybe this is not the place.

I wonder if you would like Hotel Crillon Le Brave as it encapsulates the region - beautiful views, endless honey-coloured houses, markets, medieval villages and wine, of course.

OliverB

St. Regis Manhattan.

It used to be my go-to property in NYC. I have a corporate acct. and have stayed here countless times, but never will return again.

My wife and I were celebrating our recent marriage and had arranged several receptions for friends and family in Manhattan. I had contacted the hotel ahead of time to let them know the purpose of this trip, and had made several simple requests concerning our suite and the preparation (in advance of our arrival) of a bouquet of flowers and several bottles of champagne which I had delivered to the property.

Due to flight delays, we were running late and checked in approx. 1.5 hours past our expected arrival time. I had written to the hotel in advance (it took numerous emails to the front desk and concierge to even get a response, and it felt brisk and unwelcoming in writing at that!) to let them know our anticipated time of arrival, in order to have the room prepared for us. We had a pre-reception cocktail party that evening in our honor, and we were already on a tight schedule. I called the hotel again from our limo coming in from JFK to let them know that we were on the way.

Upon arrival at the hotel, there seemed to be no acknowledgment of any of this. I spent 25 frustrating minutes at check-in until it was finally suggested that I have a seat in the lobby while they "prepare our suite". FORTY more minutes past. That's not an exagerration. At this point we were already late for our own party. Not only were the flowers, card, and champagne not prepared as I had requested... but they did not even have a room ready for us and bear in mind, we were arriving 1.5 hours later than expected! I also had a suite upgrade at check-in per my corporate account for which I was told there were no other rooms available. No welcome back or congrats on your recent marriage... not even an offer to have a seat at the bar and order a complimentary drink as we waited a combine total of one hour, feeling completely foolish as we just sat there on a chair in the lobby. No apology or anything.

After an hour of waiting around I was furious and told the front desk that we were leaving our luggage with them, rushing out to the party that we were now late for (and without time to change or freshen up after a transcontinental flight!) and to have our room prepared with the luggage brought upstairs and unpacked by the time we returned, which I told them would be approx. 2 hours later. We had separate dinner plans later in the evening.

The taxi queue was too long to wait, so we dashed up to 5th Ave. to flag a cab to the Upper East Side. Sure enough, we were the last to arrive to our gathering and our friends had all been kept waiting for almost 40 minutes before we arrived.

Upon returning to the hotel approx. 30 minutes later than we had notified the front desk, I was sure we would be properly taken care of and that things would go much smoother for the rest of the week. How wrong I was. This was just the start of our hellish stay.

We walked into the lobby to find our bags sitting exactly as we had left them on a valet by the front desk. I was steaming mad! They handed us keys to an abysmal room facing construction and right beside the elevators, despite having stayed at the hotel as a repeat guest regularly and specifying countless times my expectations with the front desk in advance of our stay; letting them know this was in celebration of our marriage. This was clearly all an afterthought. The flowers had still not been placed out with the card, nor the champagne; all of which was piled onto the valet with our bags and wheeled upstairs minutes before, while we again were forced to wait in the lobby.

Upon entering the room which felt clammy from AC, there was a terrible odor of cigarette smoke blowing in through the vents. It was clear that this had been ongoing throughout the day as it lingered strongly in the air. Our room literally smelled like an ashtray. I immediately called down to the front desk to lodge yet another complaint, and it was at this point that I was promised a suite upgrade on the next night (not to worry, they would repack and unpack, moving us seamlessly while were out during the day) and that they would investigate the cigarette smoke while we were out at dinner. Fine, things were sure to improve I thought. How could they not?!

We showered quickly, changed and left for dinner, returning several hours later to the same disgusting smoky room. Our AC vents were like oversized cig filters. I'm a very tolerant and reasonable person but it was truly unbearable. I called down to reception for the umteenth time to demand that something be done, and was floored by the response: "I'm afraid we cannot disturb the other guests by calling rooms at this hour to determine where it's coming from; had we known about this earlier we could have resolved it but it will have to wait for the morning". It was 11:30 PM. Understandable had it not been so utterly inept and insulting of them. We should have packed our bags and checked out right then and there. Instead we spent a miserable night, thinking things would be fixed the next morning. Afterall, we were moving up to a higher suite and could not forsee any other potential issues. It seemed as though they'd already bungled everything they possibly could. Wrong again.

The next morning we made sure to let the hotel know exactly when were leaving and the precise time we'd be returning to the hotel. Our entire room was to be repacked and all our belongings shifted to the new suite, then unpacked again before we got back. That evening was our reception party and we could NOT be late for this!

I also requested that a suit jacket be pressed by the hotel laundering service and returned to our room before we got back. I specified exactly how I wanted it done (not to touch the lapels!) and was assured it would be handled.

We spent a very nice afternoon in the city and returned by around 4:00 PM to a much improved suite and a bottle of champagne courtesy of our excellent butler - the one shining star throughout all of this! He had not moved us as he was not working our floor, yet he made a point of dropping off the bottle nonetheless. Everything seemed to be fine.

I hopped in the shower, changed and... something was missing. I searched the room top to bottom and could not find any of my underwear! Here I am standing in my sock, button down shirt, tie... yet no pants or underwear! I called downstairs to ask where my underwear had disappeared to. The butler who had moved us was apparently not on duty and it took 25 minutes for someone to come up to our room. Again, the clock was ticking and we were starting to feel rushed. The person who arrived had no clue what to do and started opening drawers and digging through bags as I stood there wrapped in a towel, about to lose it. I then realized that my expensive cufflinks were missing as well... finally it was discovered that an entire piece of luggage had never made the transition!!!

I again called downstairs and a total of 3 different people were called to our room. It took the better part of an hour to locate my underwear, cufflinks, and the missing bag. At this point, we were again set to be late to our own reception party!

Furious about this, I called downstairs to ensure that a taxi be waiting for us as soon as we step out of the elevator, as we were again running late. No problem I was told. We dashed right through the lobby and out to the curb to where a taxi was parked. I stepped forward to open the door and was rudely intercepted by the car hop/attendant who informed me that there were others waiting before me. I lost my cool at this point and walked up to the front desk where I had it out with the clerk I'd been dealing with. She informed me that they were not able to "hold taxis" despite promising to do just that when I called down from my room!

I explained to her that this was the second ocassion for which our plans were effected by the incompetence of the hotel management and that we were not going to be held hostage to the ineptitude of the hotel, nor adjust our trip to meet their timeline or confusion. I asked for the house car to take us to our destination, which was down in NoHo. The front desk apologized and said that the house car could only take us within 7 blocks (if I'm not mistaken) of the property. I replied that I didn't care and at this point, it better take us to Harlem if need be, because by no fault of our own (and ENTIRELY the fault of the hotel!) we were LATE FOR OUR OWN WEDDING RECEPTION and we were not going to stand in a taxi queue like complete idiots! Again, no can do.

I demanded to speak with the floor manager, who was called out. After a rushed introduction, she whisked us out to the house car and asked the driver to take us where we needed to go, requesting to speak with me about the problems we'd encountered the next morning... for which I was all too eager to discuss with her!

At this point, I should note that my jacket had been returned to the room freshly pressed and while I did not inspect it closely, it ***appeared*** to be fine. I will return to this later.

We made the most of the evening and had a wonderful night out despite the unecessary stress it caused my wife and myself. She was mortified by our late arrival and was in tears as I was arguing with the receptionist earlier. I should also mention something else that I neglected to write of earlier... Not only had certain articles of clothing and accessories not made the transition smoothly when changing suites, but a very long and heartfelt, hand-written love letter that I had composed for my wife disappeared altogether. It was simply thrown away by whoever moved our rooms and never found again. My wife was telling me the night before how it was the most touching thing she'd ever read and wanting to share it with my mom. It was tossed out and my wife is still saddened to this day. Never before has even the worst hotel stay actually ruined a vacation or trip, but if there was ever a contender for that... this was surely it!

The next morning I spoke with the floor manager who semmed genuinely appalled and sympathetic. She offered to comp us one night. In retrospect, it should have been the entire stay, but I was not fishing for anything. I had simply given up and tried to focus on the positives of our trip - none of which involved the St. Regis. I accepted the single night comp along with her sincere apologies and that was that. Service never improved. My wife had to call housekeeping every single night consistently for the remaining 4 nights of our stay to request a sheet cover for the bed. Never once did they catch on and surprise us by including it with turn down. On two separate ocassions she slept without one, as housekeeping simply never showed up. One night, she called down 3 times in a row and it still never came! We had given up on the hotel by now and agreed to just laugh all of this off and enjoy our time in the city. There was no way we would find a last minute booking elsewhere and I did not want to have to go through the trouble of moving yet again.

We had our wonderful butlet pack up our belongings on our final day and bid farewell (forever!) to the St. Regis. We were relieved to be moving on to the Mohonk Mountain House, however we couldn't leave the property hassle-free without one final snafu... this one was the nail in the coffin for me.

We checked into the Mohonk and as I was unpacking the luggage, I pulled out the jacket that I had pressed at the hotel, and noticed white bleach stains all over the sleeve and shoulder which burned a hole right through the fabric! It was a 1k bespoke pincord summer suit that I had made for the ocassion and had only gotten to wear once! I was very confused and before placing any blame, I contacted my tailor and seamstress and sent them photos. My seamstress is the head seamstress for the TV series "Boardwalk Empire" btw and she knows her business! Both informed me that it appeared the suit jacket had come into contact with some harsh chemicals or bleach. My seamstress explained that I might not have noticed it immediately upon getting it back from the hotel laundry, as it could have taken several hours (if not overnight) to seap into the fabric and soak the fibres. In retrospect, after having worn the jacket for a total of 4-5 hours at most (after having gotten it back) I simply hung it in the closet and did not look at it again for days, until the butler repacked it for me. I was livid!

I called the hotel and spoke with the manager who put me in touch with their insurance agent. We went back and forth for several week and he tried to claim that it was not possible for this to have occurred while in their posession because they don't use bleach or any harsh chemicals. BS!

So this is a brand new suit that's never been worn. The jacket is handed over to the hotel laundry in pristine condition, returned, and then days later when I look at it, there are chemical burns and bleach stains all over the fabric. Where else did this happen... in the closet?!?

I exlapined that the only plausible explanation, was that the jacket was obviously laid down on a surface (based on where the damage occurred) that must have unknowingly had some sort of harsh substance or cleaning agent, which rubbed into the fabric. It probably went unnoticed.

The hotel insurance however, decided that a far more likely scenario was that as I was walking around in NoHo, some bleach must have magically fallen out of the sky or spilled off a rooftop and landed on my jacket. This surely took place within the 30 minute or so window that I was not inside the lounge booked for our reception, I suppose.

I had asked my tailor who made the suit to contact the insurance guy directly and after several failed attempts back-and-forth, I finally just gave up and washed my hands of the entire matter. As angry as I was, I did not want to perpetuate these feelings any longer and just wanted to be through with ever having to deal with that property again.

That's my story of the absolute worst hotel stay I have ever experienced in my life. I should have posted it sooner, but I felt it could never be too late to warn against staying at the St. Regis Manhattan. This coming from a guy who has a business account with the property and has stayed there at least once annually for the past 5 years.

RichardInSF

Whew! That almost beats my worst hotel night (which I posted long ago, I think in Travel Buzz, and probably shouldn't repeat) but my experience wasn't at a luxury hotel like yours was. Absolutely terrible from start to finish, they should have paid for the suit and comped the entire stay at a minimum, probably more.

I've only stayed at the St Regis NYC once but never returned. My only memory of that stay was the lineup of hotel staff that I had never seen before who showed up with their hands open when I checked out.

Kagehitokiri

whew indeed.

instead of contacting management level?

example of management level delivering something front desk / etc could not.

OliverB

Kage, I dealt with the floor manager the entire time. I can PM you her name if you're interested. I didn't have time to get her on the phone each time one of the many ordeals took place (they were usually at the most inopportune of times when we were already in a hurry) so the front desk was the easiest to reach to deal with these problems in the immediate. My contact was always the most senior level at front desk, who knew of the issues I had encountered throughout my stay and who had offered the suite upgrade when the early issues first arose. I would later follow up with the floor manager whenever we were both available to discuss matters. I didn't want to let the problems with the hotel consume my entire vacation time and enjoyment... although it truthfully did just that, at least for the first few days. It also ruined the remainder of my trip once I discovered my jacket had been destroyed.

The butler never does turn down as far as I know, so he wouldn't have been called for the cover sheet. That's always housekeeping. The one time that we did call our second butler concerning it, he replied in a carefully worded way that he would contact housekeeping - as if to say, that we should do that ourselves in future for similar issues.

To be clear, our first butler was a veteran (I forget his name but he was exceptional and according to the hotel, the most requested and regarded person on staff) and handled everything as best he could under the circumstances. None of the faults of the hotel or management could be accredited to him. When we switched floors, someone else took over who was fairly useless. This is the person who bungled the move and misplaced our luggage; presumably threw out my wife's letter, etc. After that happened, we requested to be serviced by our initial butler whenever he was on duty (which unfortunately was only a fraction of our remaining time).

I never spoke with the GM because I was just so fed up with dealing with everyone at this point. I had been going back and forth with the Director of Front Office at the hotel for almost a month after our stay; almost on a regular basis. This is the floor manager who also comped me the single night stay. Again, I'd be glad to PM you her name if interested. We exchanged countless emails and tel. calls. I'd contemplated sending them a lawyer's letter concerning the suit jacket, but in the end, I decided to just suck it up and be the better person. I just didn't want to drag it out any longer. I probably should have.

The person that I was dealing with in their insurance dept. was Mr. <name deleted by RichardInSF, mod>, and I understand that he is not an outsider or third party representative, but the person who handles all insurance claims through the property. I found my exchanges with him to be insulting and aggravating beyond all else. His presumptions about how the damage occured and complete lack of accountability were maddening. He claimed that they "reviewed" and "tested" different fabrics under similar circumstances and that none exhibited the same evidence of damage as mine, as if that means anything. When asked whether a plausible explanation for how a jacket could possibly undergo damage resulting from either accidentally exposing said jacket to a surface where unknown detergents or harsh liquids might have come into contact VS standing in a room for several hours while mingling with friends - he refused to answer, stating that either was just as likely. Not the case. A laundry facility is a place where detergents and chemicals are commonly found. A cocktail lounge is not. This seemed to either fly over his head, or else he was simply not interested in offering an adequate resoltuion. As there was no reasoning and I didn't feel like wasting energy arguing the point, I decided to pout it all behind me as too much negativity had already been spent and I was done with them and the bad memories of our stay.

Now that I've had several months to recollect on it, I should have followed through and taken it to a higher level if necessary as I had just spent close to a thousand dollars on the suit. The outlandish thing is that I was trying to be reasonable, and only asked them to compensate me the cost of having a new jacket replaced, when I easily could have demanded they simply pay me for the entire suit. I was trying to accommodate them to an extent!

Anyhow, it's too late to do anything else and I don't really want to revisit this again, but the more I think about it, the angrier it makes me that I spent any money at all on that stay.

Kagehitokiri

this happens way too often at luxury properties, even mentioned in a MO BKK report here

thanks for posting all this detail!

OliverB

I have just edited and refined the rambling post above and submitted it to Tripadvisor as a review. It's long overdue, although I wonder if it will elicit a response from the property. After reviewing your feedback and comments, I would be very happy to be refunded for any regrettable time spent at this property as it was a total disaster and I still feel ripped off. Our trip was compromised and made less enjoyable as a direct result of the unorganized, confused and incompetent management of the hotel. If anyone has a contact email for the GM, I would like to share this review with him/her directly as well.

blueline7

This is an absolute nightmare. My sympathies! I could see you losing it throughout, in my minds eye. Absolutely brutal!

dewby

Biggest heart break was Rayavadee last christmas

Stayed in a hydro pool family pavilion.

I have never been so heart broken in regards to travel than my experience at this place. over rated, over priced, overcrowded, over poluted and a disgrace.

The 4 days i spent here of my life i will never get back.

stunning location (if you can put up with the long tail noise and pollution and 1000s of day trippers) but the hotel is simply awful.

Following my experiences at this place i learnt very quickly that you can not trust trip advisor.

The hotel actively asked Facebook freinds to go onto TA and write reviews following my 1 star rating so i would be moved down the list.

never again.