Hi there Michael82,
I have been to 3 hotels in Mauritius: St Regis, Four Seasons, and One&Only, which are supposed to be the 3 top properties. Compared to FS & O&O, the St Regis is the big winner. I will post some photos + extensive review on all 3 hotels on my website next week Wednesday.
One comment before I comment on the St Regis: Mauritius and its beaches are inferior to the other Indian Ocean islands Seychelles and the Maldives. The latter islands are far more beautiful as compared to Mauritius, but the exception to that must be the Le Morne corner of the island where the St Regis is located. Le Morne offers a tropical idyll and comes close to absolute paradise.
Things that I did like a lot about the St Regis :
- LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION : the location is STUNNING : a deep blue lagoon with open views to the ocean, a white sand beach (although not powdery, but rather rough coral sand) lined by a lush vegetation, gorgeous tropical mountains as background. This comes close to absolute paradise. It is amazing that the St Regis was able to secure this exclusive island spot.
- the common areas of the hotel (all designed to give the impression of a colonial mansion) are tremendously impressive, even more at night than during the day. Chic, chic, überchic.
- the main swimming pool is very large and not crowded at all with lots of day chairs and cabanas. It felt a little chilly though (so I would advise the St Regis staff to heat the pool a little bit more). They also have a second, smaller and warmer pool.
- you can witness very impressive sunsets from the beach (not possible from the high end resorts Four Seasons and One & Only on the East coast).
- Rooms : very impressive, luxurious and tastily decorated. The beds are heavenly soft. Bathroom offer all the amenities you can wish for. I think that almost all rooms have ocean views (incredible!) and you are just a few steps away from the beach.
- Staff : very helpful and friendly. Simply the best!
- SPA : the best massage I ever received. Kudos to the therapist (forgot his name).
- Wifi is available everywhere, even when standing with your feet in the ocean. So, you can surf the internet on your tablets while lounging near the pool or on the beach.
- They offer special events for (platinum only?) SPG guests.
- They have 5 restaurants on site (no risk at all that you would be gastronomically bored), all serving excellent food. I found the breakfast to be the food-wise highlight of the day.
Maybe some "cons" (if I can think of any) :
- while the food is absolutely excellent and of high quality, I do not rate it as mind-blowing or memorable. I think this is the one and only point where I would rate the Four Seasons a little better.
- while the massages are out of this world, this is the first hotel that I encountered where you could only book a full-body massage for 90 minutes (or at least, so I was told by the spa receptionist). All the other luxury hotels that I stayed in so far offered a 60 minute full-body massage. While I do not mind being massaged for another extra 30 minutes, it did add up a lot to the costs as compared to the 60 minutes back-only massage they offer.
- there was a bad smell in our room that bothered us from time to time. We reported the problem on several occasions, and they always promptly sent someone to deal with the problem. However, when a hotel guest is reporting the same problems on 3 separate occasions in just 2 days time, it may be a better idea to offer him a room-change instead of always doing something about the problem (but in the end not being able to fix it).
- I missed the presence of one or more hot tubes near the beach (I am sure this feature would be liked by many guests on the more chilly or windy days).
Enjoy your holidays!