We had a disappointing stay at this property. I can’t put it any other way but the service is bad. The staff (from line staff to management) does not follow through. I would have no desire to return to this property.
It started poorly before arrival. I made my booking with points months ago and reached out to the hotel at that time to confirm a paid upgrade. We agreed to a paid upgrade. The day prior to check in I logged in to the app and it showed a base level room. To play it safe I reached out to the hotel via telephone. It was a Sunday so in house reservations was closed, but I talked to one of the butlers who said they’d take care of it. Next day, on my flight in, I check the app again and still showing base level room. I messaged the butlers via the app and they said they’d look into and get back to me. No follow up. Upon arrival at the hotel around 10 pm (coming from California) check in clerk informed we have a lovely garden room … per check in agent nothing she could do, no manager available, they’d follow up the next day. By early afternoon the next day I still had not heard from anyone so reached out to hotel management again. After a lot of back and forth they couldn’t accommodate the room we had agreed to and were stuck with a garden room the entire five nights.
The room itself was okay. For a base level, standard hotel room it was spacious. I found the bed comfortable. There were some negatives. The window had a massive crack. The entry door didn’t seal tight allowing critters in (had a gecko let himself into the room along with other bugs). The air conditioning didn’t cool well (tropical climates I try to keep my room as cold as possible to deter mosquitos). Housekeeping was also not thorough. My patio table had bird poop on it the day of arrival. It was not until the third day housekeeping finally wiped off the bird poop. I could have wiped it over myself (as I wanted to use the table for a work desk versus the inside one) but I also wanted to see if they’d ever actually clean it … Another night we went out to dinner and got back around 10 pm. My room had not received turn down service. I called and asked for bottled water as I was thirsty and didn't have any. A few minutes later one of the butlers brought me two bottles. About an hour later (maybe 11 pm) house keeping showed up asking if I had received and wanted turn down service. Really? At 11 pm?
We had breakfast and two lunches on property. All food I would rate between okay and terrible. For lunch, ceviche (terrible), fish tacos (poor), and quesadillas (okay). The breakfasts were not good either. I did not enjoy the buffet, omelet, or scramble. Eggs benedict was okay. Service was slow and unpolished. Funny story with example of service. One morning a member of our group ordered wheat toast. Meals arrived with no toast. A few minutes went by and we didn’t see our waitress so flagged down one of the other servers. They said they’d check on it. Few more minutes went by and asked another server to check on it. Finally a few minutes later our waitress checked in and we asked her about the wheat toast. She said they don’t have any wheat toast today. Why wouldn’t she have come out and said this and offered an alternative when the order was placed or breakfast delivered? It seems the approach to service across the property is to say yes and then avoid you if they can’t deliver hoping you’ll forget.
Upon check out I did voice displeasure to the reservations manager. She said she’d review and get back to me with some sort of accommodation for the overall bad experience. Of course, I never heard from her and it’s been two weeks.
Thankfully the stay in Bahia Beach was not the focus of our trip. It was a stop over on the way to St Barth’s. In St Barth’s we had a great time and villa we were pleased with. So thankfully St Barth’s saved the overall trip even though the St Regis was an unsatisfactory experience.