AMAZING stay at the St. Regis Punta Mita. WOULD DEFINITELY return. As good as advertised, and easily superior to the Four Seasons Punta Mita in my opinion.

Check In

After a 45 minute drive from PVR to the property, we were promptly checked in by a very friendly and enthusiastic staff member--and informed that we'd been upgraded to a Deluxe Suite. (Not bad, considering this was a free points stay with a free 5th night over Thanksgiving week, even with the hotel sold out. My SNAs didn't clear the day prior, either, so I wasn't expecting anything more than a room category upgrade.)

The view from check in:

Room

Our deluxe suite was on the first floor looking out onto the adult pool with a glimpse of ocean beyond. I would call it partial ocean view, but it turned out to be an excellent location--close to the main lobby building/Carolina Signature Restaurant, and right next to the much quieter adults only pools. It was a 5-10 min walk over to the Sea Breezes restaurant and bar on the opposite side of the resort for breakfast and lunch, since Murrieta's restaurant was closed for renovation (located half the distance)--but still just a 5-10 minute walk. When it rained, we called for a golf cart transport whicharrived within a few minutes and took just 2-3 minutes to drive us to Sea Breezes.

The suite was spacious and well designed, though the decor could have been updated a bit. It felt clean and modern and still had Mexican touches, so we liked it very much. Lighting was very good througout the entire suite.

The spacious bedroom had a desk and king size bed--very comfortable for sleeping--along with a pop-up TV cabinet with a nice sized TV inside. There was a bench,and night tables on either side of the bed, both with plenty of room for assorted items and lamps.

The very spacious living room had a couch, chair and ottoman, and full dining room table seating 4-6 comfortably (we played cards there with frieds a few times), along with a console with refrigerator, mini bar, etc.

With apologies for not cleaning up before taking photos:

The sliding doors opened out onto a spacious deck with a daybed, table and chairs, with a small hedge providing minimal privacy. Fortunately, there seemed to be little traffic in front of our suite, so we rarely saw anyone walking by--despite the resort being completely full. Again, this area by the adults only pool seems to be the place to stay if you prefer more privacy and less hectic atmosphere, particularly during a holiday time like Thanksgiving when there were many families with small children.

The view from our deck wasn't too shabby either:

The bath was spacious, as well, almost the same size as our living room overall. There was a walk in closet with plenty of space for our clothing, including hanging space and drawers and a safe. Across from the closet was a small desk and make up counterwhere we often dropped our keys and assorted items.

The outdoor shower:

The actual bath had double vanities and a closed off toilet room, plus a massive open shower with tub space that was partially separated from the rest of the bat with a half glass panel. Very well designed. You could also walk right out of the shower area onto a spacious outdoor shower area, where we showered a number of times.

All in all, this was a very well designed suite.

Service

Service was very good. Our only hiccups were internet--the resort clearly was having internet broadband issues, even though our wifi signal was extremely strong throughout our entire suite--and a missed order for a toothbrush when I realized I'd forgotten mine. The hotel manager on check-out indicated they were giving me 5,000 SPG points for my internet challenges--without me ever having made the request.

Butler service was great--the butlers unpacked and packed for us, arranged golf car transport to Sea Breezes when it rained, brought extra water whenever we asked, confirmed restaurant reservations, confirmed air con scenarios for me at various restaurants, and even confirmed us for a private dining room in the Carolina Signature Restaurant with our friends. We dealt with several butlers, but the entire team was fantastic IME.

Otherwise, service throughout the resort very responsive.

We had good pool service by both adult pools (there is an upper, quieter and smaller adult pool with nice views from its infinity edge that you see when you look down from the lobby, and a larger quiet adult pool below that which fronts the beach/jacuzi area). Both had great service, with attendants always eager and ready to set up your chairs by the pool or beach as you wanted, provide drinks, and just generally check in on you throughout the day.

Service at the restaurants was also fantastic. They had actually run out of turkey as one of the 3 main course options for the Thanksgiving pre-fixe menu for Thanksgiving by the time we dined (8:30 pm), but they cooked an entire new turkey just for the 2 of us who really wanted turkey (including me!). They even brought us a complimentary bottle of Veuve Cliquot as an apology for the 45min delay that involved...which wasn't such a big deal for us, since we like to dine and take our time between courses, anyway.

Even with the few hiccups, service was A+. When they had a hiccup, they acknowledged it immediately, were extremely apologetic, and totally took care of us. This is a great 5 star resort with 5 star service.

Dining

Dining was phenomenal. FAR better than what we remember from our most recent stay at the Four Seasons nearby.

Carolina Signature Restaurant was so good on our first night--Michelin level pre-fixe menu--that we dined there for 3 of our 5 nights, including a fabulous Thanskgiving dinner as previously mentioned in service. The restaurant has tables spaced so well as to feel like you have some relative degree of privacy regardless of where you are seated. We always dined inside since I require air con, but the terrace was very popular for dining. We also had dinner one night in their private dining room/area, which was spectacularly private and felt very special with its own terrace area to enjoy.

Our first two dinners at Carolina:

Our final night Thanksgiving dinner was truly extraordinary:

Sea Breezes for breakfast/lunch was also wonderful. As SPG Platinum, we took the free breakfast Plat amenity, so all of our breakfasts were free. But the selection and offerings were varied and extremely good, regardless. I must have had 2-3 omelettes, plus some delicious French toast, every morning. Service was great even when crowded.

Location

Punta Mita is a great spot...though I wouldn't say the beaches by the StR Punta Mita were great. The one area they designated as being good for swimming was still pretty rocky even as we swam out almost to the final rocks jutting out but creating a very picturesque scene. It is a beautiful spot, but not one that I'd recommend for much swimming in the ocean. They did provide free rock shoes for any who asked, however, so there still were plenty of families swimming in that protected cove area that they recommended for swimming. The water was very warm, too.

Punta Mita town was a nice diversion for one evening--we dined at Tuna Blanca in air con splendor. Service was lackluster there, but the food was fantastic.

We also dined one evening at Imanta to check that out. What a beautiful property that feels like you're hundreds of miles from anything--even though it was but a 25-30 min drive from the St Regis. The food and service there was very good, though I'd still give the Carolina Restaurant at StR the edge in polish, service, and creativity. Still, we were very impressed with Imanta. It also was a bit cooler on that side of the Nayarit peninsula, and the surf was a bit rougher. But what a remote, spectacularly beautiful settting.

Overall

Overall, the St Regis Punta Mita would be our choice over the FS Punta Mita. The food alone makes the StR the clear winner, though the pool at the FS is a bit more dramatic--but also far more crowded as we recall. The many different pools available at the StR made the adults-only pools feel very quiet and removed from the crowds, even with it being sold out. Service was top drawer, and overall the entire staff really took great care of us--from the managers, butlers, servers, valets, pool attendants, etc. We definitely would return--and definitely would be willing to pay for the StR over the FS any day.