rajuabju

Since no recent reviews this ski season, figured I'd give my thoughts on our recent stay. As per my post above, we had booked 2 rooms for 5 nights on points. I'm a Platinum Elite (through the Bonvoy Brilliant card), Jan 22-27, which ended up coinciding with the Sundance Film Festival (not knowing it at time of booking). For what its worth, the hotel was completely sold out, and with Sundance rates, I think this may have been my most valuable use of Bonvoy points ever considering the 5th night free (800k points against a cash rate which would have been just over $25k). To be fair, I had booked this trip months in advance.

Once I realized the timing of our stay, I was quick to make dinner reservations way in advance, although since most of our meals were on-property at the St. Regis, and with 3 kids, we eat early (like 5:30pm / 6:00pm), and didnt have any issues. The hotel did reach out proactively a few weeks in advance, and I was able to confirm our rooms would be connecting, which was great. We also contacted the Executive Chef, as we are Kosher travelers, and arranged to bring some of our own food for the hotel to prepare (hamburgers, chicken tenders, hot dogs, etc), which was great. The butler service during our stay was very helpful with various small requests such as extra comforters, humidifiers, toiletries, etc. Overall, I'd rate the service we received before and during our stay a very solid "A".

As far as accessing the hotel, the funicular was cool the 1st and 2nd time, and then got a bit annoying thereafter, even for the kids. Thankfully we didn't use it that often since the hotel shuttle goes to the upper entrance, and we had our own car which we could pick up from the main lobby as well (and when we got in the 1st night, it was late and we were able to go to the upper entrance directly).

At check-in, we were upgraded to higher floor (6th floor) rooms which had decent views of the mountains and small balconies, although it snowed on and off during our stay so we didnt make use of the balconies. Rooms themselves were spacious, especially since the two rooms connected via a small interior hallway between the rooms which gave us some extra storage space that was very helpful. We had 2 queens in the 1st room which had a fireplace, and the second room was a single king (no fireplace). We found the furniture to be in good condition, bathrooms were very comfortable and relatively large, and we were able to add some rollaways for the kids so everyone had their own bed.

Ski Valet was amazing. So convenient to have Jans on-site for equipment rentals, and the ski valet there to help with boots and everything else, as well as taking gear to/from the shuttle as needed (ski school for the kids was at Snow Park Lodge). The convenience factor of this alone when traveling with 3 kids will make us come back again for sure.

As far as food, Rime was frustrating and good at the same time. We met with the executive chef (who we had communicated with prior to our stay) first night there, setup everything for our meals with our own food, etc., and the quality of food was great every time (breakfasts and dinners). But the service was SO SLOW. We were going nuts, especially since we'd have breakfast and dinner early, and often only 2-4 other tables were occupied. There was plenty of staff, but they seemed to just walk around aimlessly and almost intentionally avoided looking at tables to see if anything was needed. I ended up getting up from our table multiple times and going towards the kitchen during our various meals to get someone to bring us things like utensils or water or whatever. The St. Regis bar was fun for a night, and room service was good. Library Cafe was also a very convenient quick option for breakfasts after we tired of Rime. We did not try any of the other on-site restaurants. One thing that annoyed me at the end of our stay was the cooler bag we had brought our own food in was apparently misplaced/lost, even though I had labeled it and taken photos and provided to staff. As of now, they are still searching for it and said they would mail it to us if they find it (not holding my breath).

We chose the breakfast credit amenity, and it was applied unevenly each morning. At check out, was able to get it sorted out quickly and correctly, which was nice. Def. saved us quite a bit!

Did not use either the fitness center or the spa, as we were focused on getting as much time skiing and lessons for the kids as possible.

Kids loved the hot chocolate bar in the afternoons, and also making smores (which we did indoors, at the fireplace in the lobby, since it was single digit temps outside at night). Others (including adults) saw my kids making their smores inside and quickly followed suit. I enjoyed relaxing in the large lobby and getting a bit of work done once the kids went to bed each night, it was very pleasant and well laid out with multiple seating areas.

Apart from the St Regis, the wife and I snuck away for dinner 1 night and went to Mariposa; did the vegetarian tasting menu there, and we were just blown away. Park City itself was a mess with traffic and people due to Sundance, so we only went there once during the day, otherwise avoided it. Woodward Park for snow tubing was a blast as well. The actual skiing in Deer Valley was some of the best I've ever experienced in the 35+ years that I've skied (sorry, not having any snowboarders around was wonderful).

All in all, we loved the hotel. My wife is already asking how I'm going to come up with another 800k Bonvoy points for our next trip. What have I done...