Just completed a four night stay. A mixed experience, overall a bit disappointing. Summary: Nice rooms and public spaces, inconsistent service, subpar fitness center, awesome house car, zero Ambassador recognition.

I was torn between Villa Spalletti Trivelli (an SLH property) where I enjoyed one of the best stays ever several years ago, and St. Regis. Villa Spalletti was nearly 300 euro more per night, with a relatively harsh 11 day cancel (compared to 24 hours for StR). So I went with StR, based in part on numerous reports in this thread of successful suite upgrades. Booked Superior Room and applied SNAs for St. Regis Suite about two months out. About a week before arrival, the suites disappeared from inventory and we did not clear on the first night so I expanded SNA choices to include the 1 BR Imperial Room, into which we promptly cleared the next day. I don't think we otherwise would have received any upgrade at all, as property was showing as sold out for two or three days prior to arrival.

On arrival we were checked in by an efficient but utterly charmless agent who provided the bare minimum service. Was offered 1000 points or breakfast, and naturally chose breakfast. There was otherwise no mention of Ambassador status - no welcome note, no amenity, nothing, despite my having reached out in advance to the so-called "Ambassador Service."

Room - 2nd floor with interior view - was fine. Just a large-ish (375 sq.ft.), well equipped hotel room. Newly refurbished. Outstanding feature is the bathroom, particularly the shower, which was awesome. Lots of outlets, silent and effective A/C.

There were an uncountable number of service errors. Housekeeping was particularly bad. Example: They would take the coffee cups, not replace them, and not replenish Illy capsules. Had to call down repeatedly for cups and capsules. Numerous glitches at breakfast, including having utensils taken away but not replaced ("excuse me, can I have a fork?"), and waiter consistently pulling disappearing act after taking initial beverage order. I was particularly annoyed that twice we had a party seated immediately next to us on the banquet (maybe 18" away) despite a literally empty dining room. Many staff seemed well meaning but poorly trained.

Breakfast was decent, with a wide selection of choices, though quality was uneven. Fruits were not always ripe and one morning the croissants were burnt. They completely messed up our room service breakfast order day of departure.

Fitness center is truly pathetic. A small windowless room with a single bench and some dumbbells, plus a number of cardio machines. (I'm looking at escape4's pics, and they have definitely removed a bunch of equipment, including one of the weight benches!)

We loved the house car, a restored, electricized Fiat 600 Multipla (the availability of which we found out about only by asking doorman - never mentioned at check-in), which is available on first-come, first-served basis.

Overall we had a great time in Rome, but I did regret choosing StR over Villa Spalletti. A completely different level experience, which in retrospect would have been well worth the extra 300 euro per night.