The property also seems to be relying more heavily on group business at the expense of individual guests, but given high occupancy, it looks like that approach is working for them. I was there this weekend and there was what appeared to be a travel agent conference and a Chili's management incentive trip occurring at the same time. The TA conference took up the lawn by the fountains for meals, and the Chili's folks basically took over the rest of the place - their weekend-long open bar cabana was right by the poolside massage cabana and the spa was jam packed and rowdy as hell. I've been there around this time of year at least 4 times and have never encountered more than one conference or a few weddings across a weekend, none of which encroached upon everyone else's enjoyment of the common areas.
Service is super inconsistent, and it seems like changes aren't communicated very well among the staff. Called to ask about happy hour at Botero Bar, were told that it was from 3-5 daily. Went down, the bartender said they'd stopped it 8 months ago (it definitely existed when I was here in the spring). Called to confirm what time breakfast went until and got a different answer over the phone than what was printed in the September 2019 pamphlet - apparently the supposedly current pamphlet in the room was incorrect.
We had a bottle of sparkling wine in the room and no one ever came to retrieve the tray, ice bucket or flutes during our 4 days there. Seemed this was the case across the resort, as my brother in law and his wife had a tray of someone else's room service plates, ice bucket, etc. outside their door when they checked in and it was never retrieved. I really want to know how many ice buckets they have there that they can afford to just not collect them for days at a time!
Re: turndown - this sounds really stupid and first world problem-y, but they used to close the shutters at the sliding door, which can sometimes be sticky/difficult to close. We requested turndown twice and they never closed the shutters.
The beach basically disappeared when we were there in the spring (only 1 row of chairs could fit at some points), but it was wider this time. Not sure if it's tidal/time of year related or if they backfilled the sand, but it was much more enjoyable this time.
Pools are still great, bed still comfy, grounds still beautiful and F&B staff still friendly, but Blackstone has made a ton of tiny cutbacks in the past 18 months that, taken together, are just annoying at this point.
My biggest peeve has nothing to do with the actual resort or staff - it's the people who sprint down to the pool before breakfast (some even come up from the beach side before the pool staff drops the ropes at the stairs!), leave towels and books on 5+ chairs and don't come back until after noon. The official policy is the pool staff remove your unattended belongings after 60min, but no one actually does. Would love to see a system like Sheraton Waikiki where they have dry erase cards that say if you're not back by (time an hour from now), your items will be moved to the pool desk so someone else can enjoy the chair.