We just spent 5 nights with points as a lowly Marriott Gold there. Overall it was a very good stay. I am going to add some points below that may be of interest to others. We had stayed before about 4 years ago and as has been mentioned above little has changed & this is not a bad thing at all. We were a party of five (wife, three daughters 10,7,7). We stayed in one room with two queen beds. No issues at all from the staff about the additional person. We got room 1602. 4 years we got the exact same room, however, as it was overlooking construction of a golf course at the time, we asked to switch rooms. This time this was not an issue and we stayed put. The ground floor rooms tend to have more insects. We had everything in our room including a small crab and a gecko. It does not bother us but something to keep in mind.
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- We did get the 10% SPG discount on most orders. A couple of times it was forgotten and I forgot to ask about it at the time as well.
- Pool happy hour is currently from 3-4 PM. It is BOGO. I only realized this when I ordered a Pacifico during happy hours and the waiter came with two.
- One of my daughters has special needs and the wait staff had zero issues bringing a cup of ice.
- Mita Mary is in my opinion the only restaurant worth having dinner at. However, I have not been to Carolina.
- We rented a car from Alamo and included the third party liability insurance. No issues / sales push at the counter to buy anything else which I much appreciated. The drive to and from PVR to the St Regis is easy and safe.
- We had dinner at Sufi as well, which is fine, however, nearly every person from the resort ate there as well. The resort does not use golf carts anymore for transportation. We had to take the black taxi for 150 Pesos each way.
- As Golds we had to pay for breakfast. The prices have doubled from four years ago. The adult buffet is now USD $40+. A la carte items are about 350-400 Pesos. Kids items about 200 Pesos.
- We enjoyed dinner the most at Tuna Blanca. This particular dinner was perceived as best in food quality and coincidentally was least in cost.
- Si Senor was liked least. It is a very produced Mexican experience. Food-wise it is perfectly fine, just so over the top, in your face.
- We drove to Sayulita and enjoyed it a lot. Tons of small restaurants. I forgot where we ate but it was very good. I recommend it, if you want to get out of the resort and experience something else but the same 4-5 restaurants that everyone else is going to as well. It was a little challenging to discern exactly where to get off from highway 200 to enter the actual village. I recommend arriving during day light as signage is not great.
- I booked the Island Paradise tour for USD $129 each for my oldest daughter and I. I did this by myself four years ago and got to go to the 'secret' Marieta beach then. It is not so secret anymore and apparently the Mexican gov't put the lid on it. To my surprise the tour did not take as there this time. So if this is what you are expecting, be sure to ask in advance what it takes to get there. The guide's responses on the boat were nebulous. It seemed to be still open to the public but required special passes, a private tour, a big tip, who knows?
- The butlers do bring coffee (and refills) every morning for free to the room. Not everyone in the resort knew about which is why I am adding it here.
- The water in all pools are bath water warm in July. My guess is 93-94 degrees, not hot tub like but not too far off from that either, unfortunately.
- Bring mosquito spray, if you are prone to be bitten. The hotel does provide a bottle, but I prefer spray with deed in it as it seems to work the best. We all got bitten more than once times. If I were to go again, I'd bring a bottle and spray the outside areas of our patio doors and entry doors. It is not terrible at all, just the nature of the beast.
- Because one of my daughters has special dietary needs, we emptied the mini bar with a note to not restock it. This was not an issue.
Overall everyone enjoyed their stay and I highly recommend the St. Regis Punta Mita.