Originally Posted by
joecool1885
I'll also grant we all can end up with extremely different experiences even at the same place.
Absolutely.
Originally Posted by
joecool1885
My family spent more money at St Regis than any other property (10s of thousands for 5 nights), and nobody beyond our discombobulated (well intentioned, nice guy) butler ever checked in on us.
During one of our stays, we also had an incompetent butler. I simply asked for a new one, and the new one was amazing (I don't even recall all the details, but they should be somewhere in the StR master thread).
Not that I use them a lot, I usually prefer to be left alone. I felt their main job at the StR was to try and sell expensive dinners.
The butler who checked us in at the PH, Shamin (hope I remember his name correctly), was AMAZING. I'll probably write a Tripadvisor review just to highlight this. Absolutely amazing personality, extremely charismatic, an absolute pleasure to interact with. Absolute rock star material.
Our actual butler is... ok. He leaves us alone for the most part, which I appreciate. He actually reminded my gf about her yoga class, which was great. Other than that, it's just fine, like most things here.
Originally Posted by
joecool1885
At PH, Nik (GM at the time) and Mohammed (front office manager) routinely conversed with guests. Nik even brought us on a guided tour of the under-construction overwater residence.
Other friends of mine have spoken highly of Nik as well. The new GM is nowhere to be seen (not that I have a need to meet the GM). I met their F&B manager though, after I complained about the F&B prices when our butler asked me how our stay was going.
I'm still arguing with myself whether it was rude of me to give such direct and honest feedback.
Originally Posted by
joecool1885
Just a theory, but by insulating themselves from customers, management has more opportunity to avoid honoring guest requests or compensating for service issues. This is what I took away from my stay at St Regis.
The StR GM was definitely making himself available during our stays. He would often personally greet and bid farewell to guests as they arrived/departed. They also had a champagne reception once a week, where management would be available. I'm not sure if the GM joined every time, but I spoke to their director of revenue management (or whatever that role is called) and he even encouraged me to share ideas for promotions they could run to attract more people staying on points. He stressed that they don't distinguish at all between guests staying on cash vs. points, and between the lines you could read that they are compensated very well for award stays.
Originally Posted by
joecool1885
As far as clientele, PH had a major advantage in that we barely saw any.
It's definitely just as empty/crowded here now as at the StR. No difference at all, neither more nor less.
Originally Posted by
joecool1885
The St Regis Bentley was unavailable to us at the airport
We also only got it for one of our stays. Still, the airport experience is night and day compared to the PH. At least I learned I'm never going to Calala Island, lol.
Originally Posted by
joecool1885
Also noteworthy to mention... it took 2-3 months following the stay at St Regis to get the points I had rightfully earned. Hours on the phone, a dozen plus emails, and at the end they had the audacity to tell me that they use an outside consultant to limit compensation for service issues (I.E, I wanted an additional 100K for having to spend so much energy to get my points, but they were limited to giving me 75K).
That's bad and I completely understand your frustration. In fact, I should probably start auditing my stays, I bet many hotels make "mistakes" when it comes to the calculation of points...
Then again, when you spend that kind of money, I would also look outside of Marriott. There are a lot of great luxury hotels in the Maldives.
Originally Posted by
lost_in_translation
This sounds ridiculous to some perhaps, but the cheaper cash pricing of the PH has always put me off / made me suspicious it will really be a PH. It’s often priced around where the Westin is, which to me suggests the level it will be pitched at. Therefore, not hugely surprised by any of this. I do find it odd PH Maldives isn’t higher end than this, it should perhaps be GH Maldives or something instead.
I agree with this 100%. I didn't check the cash pricing in advance, otherwise I may have reconsidered, or at least adjusted my expectations.
Then again, I was out of Marriott points anyway, so it's not like we had much choice, except to go to a different destination.
The hotel is fine though, it is nice. Service is ok, the gym is fine, everything is more than ok, it's really quite good. It's just not on the same level as the StR for me.
GH really would be a more fitting brand, in my opinion (except for the lack of a lounge, obviously).
Originally Posted by
joecool1885
Some of the guest mix stuff is probably also explained by it being more remote and I understand it attracts those looking for diving and isolation rather than glitz and glamour (i.e. probably not the Russian crowd).
Oh, believe me, there are Russians here... But you are right, not necessarily the glitz and glamour crowd, lol.
There are actually several German families here, which I found surprising. Hyatt doesn't have a very large footprint in Europe, so I'm wondering if they have a cooperation with a German tour operator or if this was just a coincidence.
At the StR, there were a lot of Americans, in addition to many Chinese (probably also because our stays always were around Chinese New Year).