My wife and two teen-ish kids spent a week at the St. Regis in PR last week. This was our second trip - the prior trip was three years ago. While we very much liked the trip the first time, I would make the case that this trip was exceptional on an absolute and relative basis. I should admit up front that undoubtedly my opinion is partly driven by a great platinum upgrade, but the room wasn't the only driver of success and improvement at the resort.

I know that there are a number of reviews of this hotel already that rave about the rooms in general, but a St. Regis suite (1 bd) with a good ocean view is hard to beat. My wife argues that I focus too much on the negative, but I think it is just that I expect a lot from a five star hotel. I also think that most of my fellow flyertalkers appreciate a discerning view.

We were in building 11, which is a bit of a walk (5 mins) from the front entrance, but if you are willing to cut through the pool and be a little bit creative, you can get there pretty quick. I don't prefer to take the golf cart service all the time, which leads me to bring up my first topic for discussion before I go into the various aspects of the resort: tipping.

Before I travel to a resort, I go to the bank an pick up a ton of change (5s and 10s). I started doing this after staying at the St. Regis Princeville where it felt like you weren't going to get anything done without a tip. At the PR resort, I didn't feel the same pressure, but frankly the staff was so darn helpful, it seemed like a good balance of service and reward. I do wish there was a way to do something at the end of the trip, but I have worked in enough service environments to know that there is too much risk in the tip not ending up in proper hands. In sum, the golf cart folks were the only folks were where I drew the line at consistent tipping. The bellman, the butler (at the end in an envelope), the pool chair people,  all received consistent gratuities for service (typically once per day). The cart transportation guys, at a resort where one of the restaurants is a 5-7 minute golf cart ride, felt a little to me like tipping the elevator guy. If they did something else, like get ice or bring or take bags etc, fine. (Would anyone like to hear about the resort now?).

It is worth mentioning at this point that I found the service overall to be exemplary. Responsive, friendly, and knowledgeable are all terms that I would use. The butlers, who now cover all rooms rather than just the suites, are available by text as well as cell and standard phone. Every day, at least twice, they reached out both to deliver the weather as well as a general check in. Additionally, the butlers always did a swing through to pool to make sure that their guests were well taken care of. There is very good coffee in the rooms now, so I didn't bother with asking about the daily french press.

Pool: OK, so this is one of my favorite pools in the SPG system for its balance of design, privacy, wildlife (iguanas), and view. It's just a nice place to be. Are there sometimes a few too many little kids for older couples and honeymooners who want privacy? During school breaks, certainly. The beach, though, has plenty of quiet spots, if that is what is prescribed. There are often kid related activities throughout the day in the surrounding areas (generally away from the pool). There is a new pool over by the golf club/Molassses that I think hotel guests can use, which is much more adult themed (clothing is required, I think). It reminded me of South Beach as it is less tropical and more chic. There is an adult only section, where the views of the water are spectacular. There is a large and cool waterfall at the kid’s level that was cool, but I think the waterfall would create an overwhelming din if you were there for too long. There are cabanas there, including a couple built higher up for the VIP group.

Pool bar: Yes, this is a separate topic. Like at many very high end resorts, the drinks are tasty and very expensive. I may or may not have brought some of my own beverages to help alleviate the cost. If the staff had a problem with it, they never said so. We did order lunch and other drinks throughout the day though, so the staff was well compensated for their time. I feel like the drinks my have been more $ the last time I was here, but I'm not certain of that fact. They were still $16+.

Restaurants:Seagrapes is the pool area restaurant that, while we were there, served both lunch and dinner (I think that it is not always open for dinner). It is the most casual of the offerings at the resort (depending on what you choose to wear for room service, of course). Other than on Taco Tuesdays, the dining is still pretty high-end. I had a rock lobster dish that was $35, but was really, really excellent. I believe management expanded this kitchen in order to improve quality and delivery time. From the last time we were at the resort, the entire offering was drastically improved. At times the lunch service, even to the poolside chairs, was surprisingly quick. The lunch fare was very good (roasted chicken wings were a daily intake) and the staff was 100% on board with food allergies and made whatever adjustments were necessary to the dishes without blinking an eye. They had a series of off-meny items that other guests had requested previously. It was obvious that the staff was well trained. I know this has been a complaint in other reviews, but I had none.

Fern: This is the Jean Georges restaurant above the main lobby, where breakfast and the more formal dinner offering is served. For breakfast, we had $32 in credit as the platinum amenity and my son was on the SPG kids plan ($55/day). We had to pay full freight for my older daughter's meal, but the breakfast and service were excellent. There was a conference during a good part of my stay, so I think that contributed to the number of open tables for breakfast. However, if I added up the cost of the meals without the credits, it would have been close to $90/day for four, including gratuity. It is possible that many guests just skipped breakfast (I know that I would) due to the expense of it. For dinner, although it is supposedly a more formal and higher-end offering, I didn't find it any more expensive than the other dining options. If I had to do it over again, I would have eaten at Fern more often as my meals were excellent. I stayed away early in my trip as I thought I was being thriftier by eating elsewhere, but since everything is expensive, that was a faulty assumption on my part. Note: if you insist on drinking American or French wines, be prepared to pay at least 4x retail. There was a bottle of Meomi Pinot Noir that retails for $14 at Costco for $68 on the menu. This is not a criticism, necessarily, since I can’t be sure they can obtain it for $14 in PR, but just a value observation. It's just how I roll.

Molasses: We ate here a bunch. Service was good and the food reviews from our table (there was another family with us) were generally very positive. The dishes  were interesting and creatively prepared, but I would say they mostly fell below what one might expect in the States at the same price point. As an example, I ordered the pork bellies twice and both times they were more tough than tender. In general, whenever shredded pork was involved, I was very pleased.

Golf course: Beautiful. Very, very challenging. Bring lots of golf balls, if you are prone

Room: While there hasn’t been a shortage of positive comments about the rooms (even the standard rooms have the stunning shower and bathroom setup), the rooms continue to be a highlight of the resort. Since I was here in 2013, the resort has cleared some of the obstructions i.e. trees, so that more rooms have at least a peek at the ocean and the pool. The only rooms with limited views are the first floor rooms in building 6 and 8 and probably 9 (I’ve never been over to building 3 and 1,2 have a golf course view). The views from the first floor of 10, 11, 12 are great, since there is no railing to obstruct the view of the water (though I think others argued that the first floor lacks privacy). Since the rooms don’t have screen doors, there wasn’t the benefit of leaving the door open to hear the surf at night on any floor. The humidity would probably make screens less useful anyway as would the number of repairs caused by people walking through the screens. I had two engineering issues while I was there: 1. Light switch wouldn’t turn off the entryway light (I had to unscrew the bulbs late one evening). 2. Shower drain wouldn’t drain. Both times the engineer showed up in less than 5 minutes and solved the problems as quickly as possible. Yes, as has been reported the HVAC is louder than many luxury hotels. I didn't really notice. Daily maid service and turndown service was remarkably consistent and helpful.

Other: Yes, the resort fee plus parking is annoying. As a platinum, you get $32 back on breakfast, but that still makes the amount pretty high. Unlike the last time I was here, when I did a bunch of traveling around, I should have skipped the rental car altogether. It would have saved me a bundle as I ate all but one meal at the resort. We did one night at the Kioskos #2. My meal was really good, but not everyone at my table had the same experience. Plus, it was the same price as the hotel restaurants.

As an East Coast US resident, this is clearly the top resort in the system for my family (as well as the other that traveled with us). This would include convenience of travel, so HI and other INTL destinations are out. I assume that for a couple the W Vieques might serve a better solution, but I haven’t been there (only going on reviews).

This property lives up to the expectation of the many wonderful online reviews we read before we booked our trip. In short, the service was impeccable, the resort well-managed, and the property as luxurious as it can get on an island paradise. We simply cannot wait to come back for our next tropical vacation.

From the moment our cab drove into the lobby ($68 + tolls & tips), we were warmly greeted by Edwin, the bell captain. Check-in at the counter came along with a rum punch, which was a pleasant surprise for both me and my girlfriend. Although the room was not ready yet, we were told that we'd been upgraded to an oceanfront view room (one of us has SPG platinum status which probably helped), which was right next to the plantation house. We definitely recommend asking for one of the rooms (we were in building 5) near the plantation house, as the entire property is a sprawling 400+ acres and most of the amenities, including the beautiful swimming pool, are around the plantation house. 

The oceanfront room was absolutely gorgeous, and for New Yorkers like us, the bathroom alone was larger than most of the studios we can find in the city. The bathroom came with a luxurious bathtub that fit the two of us, with a separate spacious area that comes equipped with a rainforest shower. The room also came along with a balcony facing the beach along with a very comfortable couch. We thought the additional turndown service at night was an extremely nice touch, especially since we used the room pretty often during the day after our activities on the beach.

Speaking of activities, the resort has a golf course, tennis courts, a boathouse for water sports, and plenty of other cool features which we did not get to explore. We mostly spent our time at the beach, but the place definitely had plenty to do for hotel guests who are interested in other activities. Furthermore, wifi was available across the entire resort (even on the beach!!), so for those of us who like to snapchat on the beach, fret not, your friends on social media will know of the good time you're having ;) 

One of our favorite features was the St. Regis butler service, which we never thought we would utilize but somehow ended up depending on quite a bit. 10 mins after we checked-in, Gabriel the friendly butler greeted us at the door, and kindly told us about the butler services, including that they could iron two pieces of clothing for free. More importantly, he also gave us a phone number for the service that we could text for requests. I think one of the biggest impediments to hotel service is that you have to usually be in your room to call the front desk, but with the additional texting feature, service is truly accessible anywhere on the property - so kudos to hotel management for instituting that. For example, when we were on the beach, we realized that our GoPro had ran out of battery and I did not bring my charger on the trip. We texted the butler service in hopes that they might have a charger, and sure enough Glenda replied and picked up our GoPro and charged our camera for us. Within hours, she brought our GoPro back to the beach and we had an absolutely splendid time recording some of our gymnastic tricks in the waters, which was really cool - so thanks Glenda for the awesome assist!

Food options are pretty limited, as some of the other reviews would attest to, but they're wonderful nevertheless. Service at the restaurants was as good as it is in other parts of the hotel. Jeff Holthaus, who must be the pool/beach/restaurant manager, was an ever-friendly presence around the area. To be honest I'm not sure what his position is, but he was serving food at the Seagrapes restaurant, then serving drinks on the beach and the pool, and was also at the champagne sabering part of the evening on the front lawn. We're not sure how he can be at so many place all the time, but every time we passed him by, he was just such a friendly face and greeted us warmly each time, if only to briefly chat with us about our time at the resort. Five star service, five star personalities everywhere at this resort. Truly amazing time. 

Additional notes for those who are SPG elite members: we booked this room with SPG points (35,000 points a night) a couple of months ahead of time. As an SPG platinum member, we had 3 amenities to choose from at check in (choose 2 of 3): 1) $32 worth of breakfast at Fern restaurant each morning, 2) $10 credit a night, or 3) 500 SPG points a night. We were also upgraded to an ocean front view room, which was just one level below suites, despite booking with points rather than a paid rate, and this was during a busy 4th of July long holiday weekend. 4pm late checkout was not a feature, as I guess this is technically a resort. All in all, I thought it was decent recognition for SPG members, but even if you weren't, the service was impeccable. Truly hoping that with the impending Marriott ownership the SPG perks will be kept alive. #StarwoodProud