platbrownguy

Came back here for a 3-night stay a couple weeks ago at 85,000 points/night (surrounding nights were 100k/night so we didn't feel too bad that we didn't do a 5-nights-for-4 deal, as that would have cost an extra 120,000 points vs. the 255k we spent). Resort fee is up to $99+tax/night, but they're still not charging for self-parking so at least there's that. And the big news compared to 6 months ago is that they're doing full food & beverage service at the pool and on the beach now from 11 to 6 daily. Including the 4 "palapa" structures on the beach that I discussed upthread (these are not reservable and most people don't really appear to use them, but they're delightful little huts with room for 2 chairs & a table, and they're free compared to the $$ cabanas by the pool).

Beach club restaurant was open and food was good but service was laughably bad, and you can't charge to the room there any more for some reason, so no points from eating there, which was a significant hit.

Everyone was wonderful and we really enjoyed being back. We were given a comp upgrade from the basic room to a St. Regis suite, #1123, which is a mirror image of the St. Regis suite we first had when we came here on our honeymoon in 2011 (that was #1022). These are the second-floor ocean-facing suites in the buildings just east of the pool area, which are very close to the beach but still nice and private. Housekeeping was provided daily and was excellent and everything felt like it really hasn't aged a day let alone lived through so many crazy hurricanes.

Business appeared to be booming with base rates above $1k/night, managers appeared thrilled about how things were looking over the next few months. We got lucky with the upgrade because we were there Tuesday-Friday; the place was fully booked the weekend before and after.

The main negative here is the food; Seagrapes is mediocre-at-best and overpriced, and the breakfast is no longer a $ credit for Plat-and-higher guests, you have to choose the continental (or pay $10 to upgrade to the St Regis breakfast, but that's the only upgrade option). For variety's sake, we both took the free continental each day and then simply ordered an a la carte egg dish to share (which were quite good--much better than the lunch & dinner items we tried). It came out to the same as paying the upgrade to the St. Regis breakfast but we got better variety and were happier about it. Anyhow, with business as good as it appears to be, it doesn't make sense for them not to open a nicer restaurant like Paros. We stayed at the Hyatt Grand Reserve for 4 nights after staying here, and while that property definitely caters to a lower-income crowd than the St. Regis, the food (and the variety available) was honestly much better there. See my review in the Hyatt forum for more comparison points.