stevens397

Going back Feb 24. Went four years in a row with one of our kids and her family. As a Starwood Platinum, we were treated very nicely.

In terms of cancelations, I booked a Luxury Suite for 408,000 points plus a $1750 upcharge for the five nights total. I am able to cancel without penalty up to two days before the reservation! As others mentioned, I also looked at the cash rate. The five nights in the suite would have come to $16,000 and if you needed to cancel, it had to be three months ahead or they would charge your credit card for $15,000!!! This is astounding, I imagine no one would ever do this without insurance.

Finally, anyone have any thoughts about choosing between the Astor Suite and the Luxury Suite? Same upcharge. Seems Astor Suite on first floor with patio while Luxury suites upstairs with balcony. Reservation agent onsite said she preferred that Astor. Curious if anyone here has any insights.

Thanks to all

Out of my Element

2 night cancel policy is great! We were there on points (5 nights for 4) just before Covid (arrived Feb 28, 2020) and had a 14 day cancel. That was during the earthquakes and we did move our stay from December to February on the last possible day to do so.

SantiC

Did this exact thing. Going back Feb 2024. Chose the Astor Suite given its ground level and we will be with a 2 yr old and 6 month old.

1200GS

Just booked a long weekend w/ my wife (and no kids....) for mid summer. Thanks for all the reviews, very helpful. Lots of discussion up thread about cancelation policy - I was surprised to see 48 hours when I booked.

Redemption with Cash Upgrade
You may cancel your reservation for no charge before 11:59 PM local hotel time on July XX, 2023 (2 day[s] before arrival).
CANCELLATION POLICY

Out of my Element

Might be different during Hurricane Season as no one wants guests arriving when a big storm is forecast to make landfall 3-4 days out

James Schmeling

Anyone have experience with upgrades as a Titanium/Lifetime Platinum? First time staying there at the end of this month and I'm looking forward to it regardless. (Then we're back in SJU at La Concha where they do take the SNA requests.) Looking forward to a two night stay with my wife!
Thanks in advance for any insights.

platbrownguy

They're good about proactive upgrades to suites if any are available... we usually go end of July or early August for our anniversary and have gotten great suites (though admittedly a couple times I have gone ahead and booked a suite when it has looked busy).

Only once, I think, were we stuck in a Grand Deluxe, which was still a nice room.

Hard to plan too far in advance because it's hurricane season. If the weather looks good, then people will book on short notice. If the weather looks iffy, they won't come. Best case scenario is when it looks like a storm will come, so people bail, but then the storm fizzles or diverts.

Mangus

We went with the Astor suite over the Luxury suite as we had a toddler and the ground floor garden patio was preferred over the balcony. I would choose this option again, with or without toddler, for the easy access to the resort grounds. We did not have to strain ourselves using the stairs, elevator or even the front door



Updated Menus

• Seagrapes: https://uqr.to/q6vu
• St. Regis Bar: https://uqr.to/pzk4
• Private Dining (and other resort info): https://uqr.to/q75m
• Paros: https://uqr.to/rxjy

jpicyk

Thanks for posting menu info - was trying to find this, definitely helpful. Have a 3 night stay planned end of Oct with my wife for a quick getaway and have never been.

NDN

any kid-friendly options nearby gluten free and pork free? I’m not seeing much on menu for them.

1200GS

Just got back from a long weekend get away w/ my wife to the property. We were looking for something relaxing, and within a short(ish) nonstop flight from NYC metro to celebrate my birthday.

Here are a few notes up front - it appeared as if, and we later confirmand, that the property was 50-70% occupied earlier in the week, and 80%ish occupied over the weekend. The property itself, views, rooms, pools, etc (hard product) are very nice and seem to be well maintained. Service and food, as many others have stated, are B- C+ area.

Arrival/Check In / Room
- First and foremost, we really did have a great time. Most negatives are nitpicky for the sake of discussion. The resort checked our boxes of a quick (sub 4ish hour) UA flight from EWR, non stop, with a nice pool/beach to relax at for a few days.
-We opted to use the resort organized transportation (they contract with an outside limo company). It was $355 (plus driver tip for each trip). I can't say if Ubers would have been available or not, but this option made transportation seamless and added to the goal of reducing stress on the trip. They were on point, with a text confirming the booking a day before our flight and just after landing. Very professional like other professional drivers in the states. It was also billed to the folio, if that's important to you.
-Check in was nice and efficient, and included a much appreciated cocktail as we checked in. My wife worked with the concierge before arrival, and they had our itinerary (basically, restaurant and spa reservations) printed out for us, as you would expect. They also had notes on about every reservation that it was my birthday and wished me a happy birthday, had balloons and cake in the room, etc. They really did try with the service.....
-I used points up front, with another $200/night upgrade to a ocean view room. Room itself was nice, and being on the 2nd (top) floor, had a nice view of the property, the ocean, and felt very private. There was no additional ask/discussion at check in of a further upgrade (I'm titanium).
-We arrived around 2pm, and our room was ready.
-Butler service brought bags to the room from check in, and bags were already in the closet after we checked in and walked to room. The butler did a nice job of explaining the room and amenities. I was surprised that he didn't ask if we wanted unpack service, but we never ask for this anyway.
-For our purposes, the room was nice, and on par with other properties in this category. Nice balcony, large bedroom, huge bathroom, very nice shower and soaking tub. Housekeeping was done early in the day each day, with a handwritten note each day. Since we did not bring our boys, a suite would not have been necessary, and frankly, the location on the property was about as good as it gets, so no complains here.

Pool/Beach/Spa
-We really enjoyed the pool, and it was the main reason for the trip. As mentioned earlier, for most of the stay, the property was lower occupancy. We had no trouble finding chairs we liked - in fact, we got the same two chairs the entire trip.
-As you'd expect, pool staff will set up your chairs/umbrella for you with chair covers and towels. Interestingly, it seemed many guests were unfamiliar with this practice(?) and would grab towels from the kiosk, with them running after to help. We didn't experience folks holding chairs, but again, there plenty of options w/ lower occupancy.
-My wife did a 50 min massage. I can't speak directly to it, but she is a frequent spa goer, and said it was in line with pricing elsewhere. She said it was on the better side of massages shes gotten, and the facilities were nice/relaxing.
-I'm not a big beach person, but my wife spent some time on the sand. No issues/complaints here.
-Before we knew how low occupancy was, we checked out a cabana. There are 2 and 6 person cabanas. Unless occupancy is 100%+ and you need to secure space, I would skip a cabana. They don't have showers, TVs, AC, etc like others we have gotten. I didnt notice if they had a fridge, but I dont think so (I could be wrong). It didnt even seem as if you a had dedicated server. That said, for $300 (150/chair), to not have to fight for a chair if its busy .... idk, maybe.
-Service at the pool is one area that I'd say needs improvement. Or rather, that can be hit or miss. Friday, we had a great server, who you could tell really wanted to make sure we had a good day. Saturday .... she tried, but just seemed overwhelmed. And remember, this wasn't a busy day. In these settings, i typically give a nice cash tip w/ first drink service, and throughout the day to keep things moving, but it didn't seem to get noticed. Again, she was very very nice, but she would disappear for 20-30 minutes at a time. She did have my whole section, the 2 person cabanas, and a few small tables in her area. I would hate to see what happens at max capacity ....
-Nevertheless, pool days were great, drinks were good and cold, and we had a great time.

Food
-During our stay we ate at the bar, paros, seagrapes (breakfast, lunch at pool) and beach club (lunch). One thing that I thought was interesting - every time we sat down at a restaurant, they hostess asked if there were any allergies or dietary restrictions. We don't, but seemed like a nice touch. My wife made reservations for dinner each night w/ concierge prior to arrival, which I really would recommend. Since we were there for my birthday (and the concierge had that in the reso notes), every night they pushed a birthday dessert on us. A nice touch, but we're not dessert people. We had it at paros, which was probably the best choice. Honestly, we could have probably had 3-4 free deserts - lol.
-Breakfast at seagrapes is adequate, maybe slightly (definitely) less than I'd expect for this level of property. Service was good and you can tell they're trying. Titanium breakfast is included, but is only pastries and fruit (which are good, and fresh). There is a $9.99 up charge for hot breakfast bar, or you can order transitional breakfast, omelets, etc. I'm not a big breakfast person, so this was fine, and my wife ordered off menu or got hot breakfast bar. The birds at seagrapes are no joke, as others have said. The hostess has a laser pointer and shoos them away with the laser pointer. Kind of funny, but honestly pretty sad. Its nice to eat outside, but they should enclose that entire space and call it a day. We had a different waiter each day, and they all were great. They offered to go coffees, or plastic cups w/ ice for juice.
-Lunch poolside is also seagrapes menu. The food is ok for poolside. Guac is good, as are pizzas. I remember the short rib quesadilla being very good, maybe the best we had at the pool. Bird situation is the same poolside as at the restaurant, so make sure to cover your food w/ the lid...
-We had dinner at the bar two nights. One night would have been fine. First night we just did apps and cocktails. Food was "meh" that first night. Second time we had the bar was sushi night. They were set up for sushi friday-tuesday night. Lots of people spoke highly of the sushi .... I would say its probably a pass. We eat a lot of sushi, and i travel to japan 2-3x per year - so i'm trying my best to be objective, but it just wasn't that good. I wouldn't say gas station sushi bad, but I've had better pre-packaged at whole foods. And the wait for the food was exceptionally long. Long enough for the waiter to come by and apologize for the wait, but not offer a round of drinks or a app on the house (we're pretty easy going but it was probably 30ish mins, maybe 45 for our sushi to come).... And for some reason, almost every roll had cream cheese? This is another "they tried, they really did" moment ...
-Our best meal of the entire trip was probably lunch at the beach club. Best food quality, best service. Asian nachos, grouper tacos, salads. Really a good meal all around. Its worth walking or taking the shuttle over. I wish we did diner here vs. the bar one of the nights.
-Dinner was at Paros our last night. Service and food quality was good. Views are very nice, and I'm glad all tables are inside. Our reservation / concierge's notes for a table w/ view were honored. I could have eaten here another night as well.

Other / final thoughts
-This is a [very] dog friendly property. I was surprised to see so many dogs. At the restaurants. At the pool. And off leash. We're dog people ... and truly like dogs. But not dogs at the resort pool people. Just surprised to see this.
-Surprisingly, we didn't do room service the entire stay, which is odd for us. So, can't comment on this area.
-Housekeeping, concierge, check in, bellmen staff were all st.r level service IMO. Well trained, well spoken - many remembered our name and greeted us as we walked throughout the property. Food service people are a notch below, but really do try. You can tell that they try to stick with their training. You can tell they've been trained, and "want" to do a good job. Food quality isn't there, but if you know that going in, its enjoyable. Cocktail quality was solid - and lets face it - that what we went for.
-I'd worry about this place at max capacity.
-Birds at seagrapes are laughably bad. They need to find a solution. The birds fly into the inside area where the buffet is. The staff isn't equipped to control them. Its not their fault, its a fact of nature, but the resort should/needs to address this.
-I'd highly recommend working w/ the concierge prior to arrival. Or at least booking meals. Also, I think hotel organized transportation is worth it.
-Will we be back?? ..... Hard to say. It checks a lot of boxes for us, but at $4k+ on the folio for a long weekend, plus airfare (and with 300k points) it didn't "speak to us" to come back like many other resorts have. I'd probably pay more for F&B if the quality was kicked up a notch.

Menus/Info:

Bar:
https://uqrmecdn.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/u/266968/1012601-251823658fe080bbb6c3bed6fe26960ea8aa5eb.pdf

Sushi:
https://uqrmecdn.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/u/266968/1012601-2518241b5116b7f3a524716ba829809432524c7.pdf



Seagrapes (also poolside):
https://uqrmecdn.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/u/266968/695633-1221978764fb9bd9826617b664208261e658d77.pdf


Resort info:
https://uqrmecdn.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/u/266968/649351-122233045b1556e0676e7859132b55a60b2bcf8.pdf



Paros:
https://uqrmecdn.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/u/266968/726252-130319869621666e4feca620cd94bd54b146cfd.pdf



Cabanas:
https://stregisbahiabeach.247activities.com/


Cheers!

Lovethecabin

We had nearly an identical experience here in February, right down the birthday. I agree on all points. We alway used the transfer service.

grandchampion

Deleted.

jpicyk

Very insightful overview, thanks for posting. I'm heading here end of Oct from EWR and had a lot of the same thoughts in planning a quick 3 night stay (Sat-Tues). I booked first two nights on discount rate a few weeks back, which is now gone so glad I booked, and final night on points (base Garden View room). Gold Elite member which I know will not go very far.
We are looking for a quiet place to relax that didn't have a large/crowded resort feel and was within 4 hour plane ride. Seems overall it's a great property with food being the biggest negative. We are big foodies so I am a tad concerned but I'm thinking for 3 nights do Paros, Beach Club, and the bar? Is the pool are where most people spend the day here?

1200GS

I think your plan for Paros/beach club/bar is a good one. Personally, I'd do the bar the first night after traveling in. but thast just me. The food really isn't 'that bad', its just not "great". You'll have fun either way.

There are plenty of other thing to do other than the pool. Golf (I golf a lot w/ clients and find it more of a professional obligation than relaxing), tennis, jet skiing, tours of san juan, etc. Personally, for us at least, we wanted a few days of quiet sitting by a pool/beach. We have two toddler boys and were not feeling very adventurous.