WorldTravl

I think they will not beat St regis for a number of reasons.

escape4

Elaborate?

Smurfettepharoh

St Regis has daily fruit basket....
perhaps no daily treats at WA.

WorldTravl

The resort looks great, and I am greatfull for redeeming points. But if it wants to compare itself to resorts like the st regis, it has some major shortcomings.
-No vegetation (yet)
-Man made island
-1/3 of villas can see other villas.
-Restaurants are little tacky in design (Especially Middle Eastern and Chinese)
- SR Architecture feels more natural (hint hint WA "cave" wine thingy place") and (Tree house thing)
-Rooms seem simple and "cheap looking". SR rooms have more beachy feel to them (if that makes sense lol), While the WA has more like city hotel rooms.
-Base overwater rooms are smaller.
-Higher density of rooms.
-Jetties are extremely long ---> more buggies on paths and more noise near overwater villas.
-Website doesn't look up to date with other resorts. (could change)

escape4

As discussed upthread, happy hour seems superior at WA than a fruit basket at StR

escape4

I agree with you on a number of points. Among your list, perhaps the points I might not agree with as much as others:
- Just looking at videos, unlike you I did not have the impression that rooms were cheap looking. I guess we'll see in person, but it seems similar to StR in terms of quality (?)... hard to judge at this stage.
- You mention that overwater rooms are smaller. Did you mean square footage inside the villa? Perhaps a bit smaller yes, although I am not sure. It seems there are more lounging areas outside the villa at WA for example the rocking chairs, etc.
- Lots of people are going to the Maldives on points redemptions. If I knew for sure that I would be in the entry level room (= no upgrade), WA would need to have a ton of other weaknesses for me to prefer the garden villa at StR than the beach villa at WA. For other room types, you might be right that StR will be a better overall experience.
- Overwater villas at StR can see lots of other villas as well. You need to pay for sunset OWV to get privacy and not see others. For those staying in this room type, indeed perhaps WA does not have a good equivalent to offer the same privacy? We'll see once on the resort.

Lack of vegetation, restaurants, high density at WA = hard to disagree with you

What room type(s) did you have at St.Regis?

WorldTravl

Payed for St.Regis suite overwater sunset. Looking at the actual pictures the WA is fairly nice. But is lacking extra touches like different types of wood..etc. For me (for all I know) I prefer the wood at St.Regis because it is lighter and seems more premium, than the dark wood used at WA. The placement of the wood at SR is also nicer. For example on the privacy dividers on the deck, the wood is placed at a slant. The bathroom and shower at the SR have lights (seen in the picture). Which just shows how much thought went into the design of the room. From what I have seen the WA rooms have dim lights in the villa. The SR lit the rooms very well.

escape4

So I am assuming you had #535 because the other StR suites are not sunset. If that is your baseline regarding comments on privacy, then fully agreed ... we had SOWV #536 right next door to yours and privacy was perfect and great sunset views immediately in front. I am not sure WA will have something comparable but we'll see.

When StR had points redemptions (temporarily) at 60k pts a few months ago, then it was similar in value to WA at 120k pts, but now StR 85k pts is more expensive than WA 120k pts and at WA the entry level room is much better, so WA might be the better choice for points. However for people paying cash, the best value is to book overwater at StR and it's generally cheaper than at WA to do so (based on current pricing), yet possibly better product at StR.

So I suspect when it's all said and done, StR and WA will have different sweet spots.

Eschalon

headforflights

hope we will get soon Diamond stay report ')

alanslegal

Yep, we are there 5 - 12 July.

Stivelio

Quite a few of us going to be there around the same time. We will be there July 5 - 8
Cheers!

alanslegal

Cool, we will see you at the reort but please don't be on my yacht on the 5th - we want it all to ourselves

sydneyflyer12

The north facing regular (non-sunset) OWVs do not see others either. In general I would agree with your other points though. If booking a base room (points or cash) I would probably prefer WA but if upgrading to OWV/SOWV I would prefer the StR. The villas themselves at the WA seem to be of similar quality to the StR but I personally prefer the StR OWV layout/location as well as the general resort layout/size (prefer smaller & fewer people) to that of the WA. I'll be interested to hear whether the resort feels crowded or not when fully booked or close to.

jphripjah

July 6-12 for me and my fiancee.