bhrubin

Introduction Apologies for the delay in posting this review from January 2018, but a hiatus from the SPG Forum left me unable to post this until now. My husband and I stayed at the nearby St Regis Punta Mita in January 2018 for my birthday. Our friends joined us, but couldn't get an award room at the StR. So they took an award room at the W Punta de Mita. As these friends had joined us in Nov 2015 at the St Regis, we all had a great basis for comparison.The W is an excellent property--one of the nicest W properties I've seen, certainly. It certainly had the feel of an exquisite "Retreat" W property despite not being labeled as such. The lobby entrance is quite impressive and imposing with stairs leading down to the bar and oceanside pool areas:There were so many cute niches on either side of that stairway where you could take a meal, snack, or enjoy drinks. We enjoyed a few rounds of drinks, for sure!Walking outside, you get a great pool deck:Another bar area adjacent to the pool:And an amazing sunset beach view:As you can see, the beach was wide and expansive and seemed to stretch for miles. It was a very nice soft sand, too. Dining We dined at Spice Market and loved it. Another restaurant space across from Spice Market looked quite inviting, too:Spice Market was a very impressive space and an even more impressive food/beverage outlet.We had an amazing dinner at Spice Market. The restaurant was our 2nd favorite of all those in Punta Mita, tied with Mita Mary's at the StR and just behind the StR Carolina fine dining restaurant.The food was spectacularly good:We were absolutely stuffed after dinner. Service was excellent and very friendly. Our friends said the Platinum breakfast every morning was excellent. They also ordered room service breakfast one morning and they said it was great. Our friends loved the food/beverage at the W. So did we! Room Our friends showed us their room. We took at buggy from the lobby to get there, a few minutes drive. Our friends said it took them 10 min or so to walk to the main lobby/pool areas from their room. It is a pretty large property.Their room was VERY spacious, even if we aren't big fans of the decor.Their balcony overlooked a large lagoon. The bath area was also quite large (apologies for their mess, but they hadn't realized I would take photos!):Plenty of closet space:Our friends weren't thrilled with the decor, either, although we all thought the colors were true to the W vibe. Despite the decor, our friends really enjoyed their room and felt it was very comfortable, had great air con, great water pressure, and all the typical W amenities we tend to like. We agreed. We totally could see staying here in an oceanfront room or suite. Check In Our friends indicated that their check in was quick and easy. They were upgraded from the entry level Spectacular Jungle Escape to a higher floor Wonderful Jungle Escape. Service Service for us during our visit was excellent. Our friends indicated that service during their entire stay was similarly excellent. My husband and I arrived early and had a drink at the lobby bar while trying to look around and take photos. I ended up asking a staff member how to get to our friend's room, and within a few minutes, someone was there to try to walk us over. I was impressed. Of course, our friends appeared so that wasn't necessary.The Spice Market restaurant aslo obliged us with a seating location we had requested.Our friends indicated that pool service was excellent, and their cabana beach service was also excellent.All in all, it felt like this was an excellent W service-wise. Location We were surprised that it was only about a 15 min taxi ride between the W and StR. The W is situated outside the Punta de Mita resort area, but it was very easy to move back and forth. Our friends taxi'd over most days of our overlapping stays to hang with us in our beachfront villa and private pool, and they were just as surprised as we were at how easy it was to go back and forth. The beach location is truly sublime. A very nice beach, indeed. Our friends really loved it. They said it was very easy to swim. The W is about 30 min from the Puerta Vallarta Airport. Overall We were quite impressed with the W. Our friends also loved it. We'd be very happy to enjoy a stay there at some point in the future--though I always will prefer the butler service and more quiet energy of the St Regis!