Introduction I returned to Fairmont Hamilton Princess this month and I had an experience quite different than my last stay so I thought it was worth an update. I found it peculiar timing that Fairmont would start making moderate cutbacks in benefits shortly after a new competitor from a major hotel chain just opened in Bermuda: St.Regis has been live since May. While the two hotels are hard to compare because St.Regis is clearly a beach resort while Fairmont has the monopoly in Hamilton, for most aspects other than location I foresee St.Regis becoming the better option for guests who have dual elite status with Marriott and Accor. Room In December I was upgraded to a Gold room (without the Gold benefits) in the main building which I found to be significantly better than my room for this stay in the Bermudiana building which was a Deluxe room, two categories below the Gold rooms, “Deluxe” rooms not being renovated as recently as the Gold rooms. The room type “Luxury” in between are in the Poinciana building and are better than what I had for my latest stay (also renovated more recently) so my upgrade was significantly more modest this time despite seeing availability for all room types online at time of check-in. First off the Deluxe rooms are in a building with only three floors so the views from my room were not only about the harbour, but I could mostly see the pool and people in it which means they could see me as well. Second, the room had quite bulky furniture which did not fit well with the smaller size of the room 30 sqm whereas the Gold room was 35 sqm with smaller and more appropriate and modern furniture. I also found soundproofing to be very weak in the Bermudiana building and much worse than the rooms in the main building. For comparison purposes, at St.Regis I booked the entry level room which is twice the size as the room I had at Fairmont, in addition I received an upgrade to the Caroline Astor Suite which was almost 200 sqm and panoramic ocean views, so the generosity of upgrades to Marriott Ambassador Elites cannot be more different than at Fairmont as Accor Diamond. When the only other options in Bermuda where Fairmont Southampton and Rosewood, I was more willing to accept moderate upgrades at Fairmont Hamilton Princess, but now with St.Regis open the game is different.It was not only the room upgrade which was less generous than before, the welcome gift was also more modest. Last time I received a bottle of wine listed at 100 USD value in the hotel menu, this time it was a fruit plate. At StR I received a bottle of Prosecco and sweets. Dining The breakfast menu at Fairmont was the same as before but for the Diamond free weekend breakfast they no longer allowed in-room dining – it was necessary to order in the restaurant, another small perk taken away. That said, St.Regis did not allow free breakfast in the room either, and also at StR the free breakfast was buffet only unlike the nice a la carte menu at Fairmont so on weekends Fairmont easily beats StR. On week days however, the stinginess of the Accor program comes across more clearly: elite guests receive free breakfast buffet at StR whereas at Fairmont we need to pay for everything. Service Service at Fairmont overall was spotty for this stay, it took several attempts to get someone to respond to me by e-mail before I made the reservation regarding a specific request. Once at the hotel some questions went unanswered as well. In addition on one particular day, I called before going to breakfast to request my room to be cleaned while I was in the restaurant because I needed the room afterwards. When I came back almost 2 hours later nobody had come to the room. I called again to inform them that my room had not been cleaned but that it was too late and I needed the room. Given the lack of options, I asked if I could move to a clean room and was offered a new room; to be honest they could have taken the opportunity for a better upgrade than the first time around but they kept me in the same room type, this time possibly with a lesser view than the first room. It was a missed opportunity for good service recovery.Also I needed a document to be printed, I sent it by e-mail to the concierge and I sent a few reminders without success; I ended up having to go to reception to ask for it again. Service in the restaurants remained excellent so it seems it was mostly the back office service which took a hit compared to the past, perhaps they are more overloaded with the increasing volume of guests compared to a few months ago.One service consideration which improved is that back in December it was necessary to go to the post office for the government covid test, but now it is possible for hotel guests to have the covid test in the hotel ballroom which is far more convenient. Overall Overall my stay was ok but there were clear signs of deterioration compared to the past (1) the room upgrade (2) the welcome amenity (3) no more breakfast in the room (4) service issues. All of this comes at a time where St.Regis opened and is wowing guests with great room upgrades to elite guests. Loyalty can change quickly I am afraid at this point it’s easy to foresee that StR could become my hotel of choice. That said, location of Fairmont Hamilton Princess remains hard to beat so chances are that I will often split my future stays between Fairmont and StR if I have things to do in town because StR is out of the way; I will not simply avoid Fairmont because it’s not like Fairmont has become bad, it’s more that there is a newer and better competitor combined with the fact that there are moderate cuts at Fairmont which erode the value proposition.