JFKSFOLAX_friend

Interesting. Thank you.

atlocal

I just spent 4 days there over Memorial Weekend. An alternative to packing wine, I strongly recommend swinging by Ralphs before arriving at the hotel (I took a cab from the hotel and depending on how long you shop, the driver charged $30-40 roundtrip). Can somebody else confirm but they seemed to have a decent selection of wine. I got a couple bottles of Veuve for $54/bottle. I even got an eight pack of Coke for $2.99 while the mini bar charged $5 a can!

JFKSFOLAX_friend

Well, judging by the original wine post, it doesn't sound like that poster would be interested with any of the swill they would have at Ralphs.

Family Traveler

Yes and no...had I not brought my own, I would have been all over it as it would still have been fun and better priced for a casual drink around the room/hotel than buying wine at the hotel - but, hey, what can I say, I am a compulsive/obsessed wine collector that buys far too much and as a result looks for every opportunity to drink what I've carefully chosen and cellared over the years ....traveling with wine has become second nature for me though I wouldn't really bother unless I was bringing some of my favorite stuff as it is just not worth the effort for something of a more typical, every day type which is better picked-up at the destination (my intent really isn't to save money per se (though it is painful to a certain extent to pay 3-4x off lists), but primarily to drink what I want, when I want and have things that I get a kick out of - whether I'm drinking something that is $20 or $200 the key is the what and the why)..... did buy some pretty good beer there, a bunch of bottled water, soda, snacks, etc....

Whether it is a $20 or $50 or $100 bottle, there is just something nice about being able to plant yourself somewhere beautiful at a resort, pop open something that you like and sip away in romantic bliss as the sun sets and your appetite for dinner builds.....

On a related Ralph's note - has anyone who has taken the hotel transporation been able to arrange in advance for a stop at Ralph's on the way to the hotel? It is right there off the highway and a quick 10-15 minute stop is well worth the effort.

apvbguy

I agree, renting a car is a much better way to go than using taxis, an added benefit is the freedom to go off property at will

pointsjunkie53

booked this hotel with our free reward nights, can't wait it looks fabulous.

henrikfromdenmark

Great experience. I stayed in The St. Regis Suite which I made a video of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QolQEaaQO9M .

I had to wait 50 minutes for my suite to be ready though! Very disappointed as it was after the official check in time.

I also stayed in W in Vieques and I can't pick a winner. Both experience was great, but not memorable.

JFKSFOLAX_friend

1) Did they offer you a complimentary libation whilst you waited?

2) While I would be disappointed if it was after check-in time, I don't think I would have been "very" disappointed.

platbrownguy

Even for a St. Regis, that's on time if not early in Puerto Rico...

s_flyer

http://www.hotelinteractive.com/arti...rticleid=21232

The St. Regis Bahia Beach Resort, Puerto Rico, Appoints Erik Berger GM
Tuesday, July 05, 2011

SanDiego1K

It's interesting to read his extensive Starwood background in the press release.

Mr. Berger comes to St. Regis from the Moana Surfrider, a Westin Resort & Spa and one of Waikiki’s most iconic resorts, where he served as General Manager. Prior to his work at Moana Surfrider, he was the General Manager at the Walt Disney World Swan & Dolphin Resort. Under his leadership, the Walt Disney Swan & Dolphin Resort received several prestigious awards including “Top Companies of Central Florida for Working Families” by the Orlando Sentinel newspaper in 2005 and 2006.

BlissWorld

Noooooooooooooo!!!!! He's the reason why Moana Surfrider is my favorite SPG hotel! Say good bye to the lovely fruit platter I get every time at Westin Moana Surfrider

NYBanker

Interesting development.

My stay at this property was so grossly under par that they ultimately refunded my points (for my points-paid room) AND gave me a voucher for a new multi-night stay for free. I had two rooms booked, one paid in cash, one paid in points, for this stay.

I didn't post a full report (though I did post some snippets real time, see posts from late December 2010 earlier in this thread), but how my stay started is enough to paint the picture...despite acknowledged confirmed reservations and still showing room availability on their website and my holding of an SPG gold card, it took 30 hours from our time of arrival for this hotel to actually get on-property rooms for me (they put us up at some other development for the first night). Once we were actually in hotel rooms, things didn't get much better. By the time my stay was over, I was on a first name basis with several from the facilities department.

Time heals most wounds....and come six months later (June), I was thinking of making a booking to use those free nights they offered. Behold, that same day a fedex arrived from the hotel at my house. Was it kismet? It turns out that the fedex contained a demand letter...saying they had mis-tallied my bill by several thousand dollars and that I owed them a bunch more money for the last stay! I discarded the letter.

Their letter said they had a major stuff up in accounting and many of the bills from December and November were mis-tallied. I wonder if this is correlated to the recent change in personnel.

JFKSFOLAX_friend

Not sure what this means.
Not sure what this means.
Not surprising. As I posted somewhere on Flyertalk, I stayed at the Ritz Carlton San Juan about 10 years ago. I was in a rush and left without checking out (there was a long line at the front desk). I called when I returned home and simply asked the property's accounting department to mail me a bill. Two weeks went by and nothing. I called again and was assured a bill would be sent. A month went by and nothing. I disputed the charge with my credit card company. Six months went by and the credit card company turned the temporary credit into a permanent credit. So, a simple first class stamp cost the property thousands of dollars. This is like your problem in reverse. I had similar billing issues with the (now Wyndham) Four Points Palmas del Mar this past XMAS/New Years (billing, etc.).

What's the common thread? Simple: Puerto Rico. Super friendly, breathtakingly incompetent.

NYBanker

I corrected the first "not sure," it was an iPad+MetroNorth typo. Correction in bold above.

Second "not sure." : kis·met   [kiz-mit, -met, kis-] –noun means: fate; destiny.

Nice call on the dispute. Sending a bill is a reasonable request. While you shouldn't dispute a charge if the hotel did everything they should have, if they can't get you a copy of the bill, then it's perfectly reasonable to object to the charge. Any competent property would have sent the bill in minutes. (Indeed, just this week, the new RC-Toronto didn't email the bill as they promised. Two days later, I called...and the email came while I was still on the phone. While they should have sent it based on my discussion at check out, they did sent it immediately upon second request.)

We ended up for a night at the RC-San Juan after our flights to NY got cancelled (after our stay at the StR this past Christmas). Every aspect of our stay at the RC-San Juan was atrocious. The RC-San Juan should not be flagged as a Ritz Carlton. It should not even be flagged as a Marriott. Sadly, their billing system was working this time.

From San Juan, we moved to the RC-FLL in our slow migration back home to CT. We were very, very pleased with the RC-FLL.