Originally Posted by
MikeBOS
With apologies to bhrubin, I respectfully disagree. I had a terrible stay there, with service lapses left and right, given the expectations of a luxury property in NYC. Others staying in the same period report similar experiences both here and on TripAdvisor. I am sure that in the past there have been periods (maybe most of the time) when the hotel was better managed and didn't have these lapses, but recently there have been many more complaints online than one would expect for a top tier luxury property. Check out the recent TripAdvisor reviews (say from November forward) and you will see the pattern I am describing.
The summary of negative TripAdvisor reviews pretty much goes like this:
(1) I'm a Platinum and I didn't get a suite upgrade—over the Christmas-New Year's busiest time of year.
(2) I'm a Platinum and I booked on points, and the food at Astor Court was outrageously expensive—as you'd expect for any 5 star hotel in NYC.
(3) I'm a Platinum and I booked on points, and we only had 1 king bed for us and our 2 small children--even though that's what we booked.
(4) I'm a Platinum and wasn't given early check in—even though it's the busiest time of year.
(5) I'm a Platinum who was confirmed for my SNA suite upgrade but it wasn't honored--even though that was an IT issue for Marriott overall and had nothing to do with the StR NYC as already described.
(6) There was a service issue, and that shouldn't ever happen at a 5 star hotel--always from someone with 6 total posts and who clearly has little experience with 5 star hotels, especially during the busiest time of year.
(7) There was dirt in my room or I had a dirty glass at Astor Court--always from someone with less than 10 total posts.
(8) I was there at the busiest time of year and I had to wait several hours past official 4 pm check in time to get my room—then they had the audacity to offer me 12K points to forego 4 pm late checkout on our last day.
(9) (MY FAVORITE) There is no Nespresso coffee maker in the room--even though the StR butler service and daily free morning beverage service is available to every room at the hotel.
Of course, there really were reservation and SNA snafus caused in mid December by the switchover from the SPG to Marriott reservations systems. That did mess with people and with the hotel and did cause back-ups at the front desk of this StR and many other StR...just as had happened with many properties when Luxury Collection made the switchover about the same time.
Personally I would stay in the W Times Square (which is not great either) before I'd stay in the St. Regis again, assuming both were the same price, as they currently are in SPG/MR points.
I'm most delighted that other options can suit you. The less demand from other Marriott elites for the St Regis, the easier my stays will be in the future.
For the record, the StR New York rank on TripAdvisor is now a still lofty
#91 out of 492. The Peninsula, which presumably had no reservation switchover issues, is at
#93 . Perspective is important, I think.