khabah not specifically responding to your message above, but more criticism of the article in TPG. The facts and pictures are useful, but the opinion of the writer is misinformed and misguided, therefore carries no weight for me.
I have been skeptical from the very beginning of a St.Regis hotel in Bermuda, let alone in that specific location. The author criticizes the hotel for a number of things, yet misses the biggest weakness of all, location. Perhaps because she did not get out of the hotel during her stay which seems to be the case if I read correctly, so she did not care about location. I guess this is who StR will be the best fit for: guests that will stay at the property. In that case, you have not really travelled to Bermuda, you travelled to a StR hotel which happens to be in Bermuda. I guess if you are in NYC or Toronto and you simply want the closest StR hotel in a beach destination that will do it, but if you come from farther away why would you go to one of the most expensive destinations in the entire world just to stay in the hotel? As pointed out above by khabah, you can find much better value for the money in Asia or many other places. And for guests who will spend much more than 2 days in Bermuda (unlike the author), then the location will become a serious drawback if you want to explore the island, yet there is no mention of it in the article. Instead the author marvels at "
the unbelievable ocean views" yet the hotel is on the wrong side of the island; the ocean views being far superior on the south shore with its famous turquoise water.
Regarding criticism of the price of F&B, to be honest the various numbers provided by the author do not seem out of line with Bermuda standards, at all.
Instead the author focuses on the wrong issues.
For that price, I’d expect a much higher level of service.
I do not expect the same level of service for a fixed dollar amount in NYC than I do in low-cost Asian cities, so the author's expectations might have been unrealistic. But the issue is deeper than that. Bermuda is a place with very friendly people, but highly polished service is simply not a strength in the country and this is widespread - I am not speaking only about hotels. The friendliness often makes it hard to get mad when there is bad service. If someone from NYC expects high-stress high-speed service in Bermuda just because it's a StR, well it's unlikely to happen, even after the hotel is over its growing pains, let alone shortly after opening. Even at the best of times, staffing is a major issue in Bermuda with the population of a small village (60k) and difficulties in hiring foreigners with red tape required from Bermuda Immigration plus long delays, so it is very hard to ever reach the same level of staff quality than you could elsewhere in the world, hence part of my concerns about putting a StR brand hotel there. But it's even worse now, hiring and making foreigners move to Bermuda and train them in time for the hotel opening during a pandemic? Forget it. The author knows it's an issue but her conclusions do not seem to reflect it:
the resort’s general manager, Jan Vanhaelewyn, announced plans to fill “over 100 vacancies” with opportunities in the housekeeping, food and beverage departments, among others.
Last but not least, when judging a hotel we need to consider alternatives. I am far more lenient for a hotel in a destination with very little competition from other chains than I am when there are 25+ other 5* hotels to choose from nearby, in such case a hotel better be nearly perfect for me to be a loyal returning guest. That seems to be lost on the author despite her being aware:
It’s been decades since there was an attractive points hotel in Bermuda.
Anyway that statement is wrong. There is a Fairmont in Hamilton which is an Accor points hotel. The Fairmont Southampton is under renovation and I suspect with upgraded facilities the price will go up and could become a poor man StR but in a better location. Then there is the Rosewood, not a points hotel, but probably the most direct competitor to StR. That's it. So if someone is unhappy with StR (which I might be after I try it), then it's back to Fairmont and Rosewood but it's not like we have tons of options.
Unless of course you want to give a hard pass to Bermuda itself, which could be understandable for a number of reasons. I would suggest that for people so ambivalent about any beach destination that they will not get out of the hotel, then perhaps there are better places to go to than Bermuda.