Originally Posted by
broadwayboy
I am genuinely shocked how this hotel turned out. Haven’t been there yet, but having seen photos and some videos, the design looks positively underwhelming, plain, with nothing memorable. The design of the guestrooms is uninspired, the pool area looks a mess (not Bill Bensley’s finest) and what the heck is going on in the main entrance area? Having stayed at Four Seasons Jakarta and now looking at this, it doesn’t look like the two projects had great teams/owner/brand work synergy.
I'm surprised. Bensley was behind this? I wouldn't call myself a Bensley fan but I could appreciate his works (for one, I think the interior of St Regis Bali melds Balinese tradition and the St Regis look very well), but St Regis Jakarta looks like an incoherent joke... The design of the public spaces doesn't look like it has any continuity with the design of the rooms and it just looks really mediocre all-round.
To be fair, Jakarta has had an array of new upscale hotel openings, but this one has to be one of the more underwhelming ones. I wonder how the Waldorf will be measuring up. Although, coincidentally, I do think that the design the public spaces of Park Hyatt Jakarta is rather too opulent and gaudy for a PH.