I had great food in Lhasa, but it wasn't at the hotel.

Cool - we should have consulted with you beforehand.

Frankly, I didn't think it was possible for there to be a St. Regis without a gym. I am 99% sure it is a brand standard (similar to 24 hour room service, etc.). Perhaps they got a waiver? But, it is inconceivable to me that Starwood allowed a property to bear the St. Regis name that doesn't have a gym.

The gym is outside...just walking around at high-altitude is more than sufficient....and giving people the option to workout in such extreme atmospheric conditions is just asking for trouble.

Maybe the loaner bikes count? ;) (Although they were in disrepair and my guide got me a bike in town.)

I don't know that Starwood brand standards would except that...unless the property got an exception (which must be the case?).

There is def no gym. I was surprised by that as well.

Okay, I'll bite.

Lurkers: regarding the St. Regis brand standards, does the St. Regis brand require a gym?

(If the answer is "yes," clearly a waiver was granted.)

It was great when I stayed...
 

I must admit, I am slightly disappointed with the recent reviews on the St. Regis Lhasa.

I stayed at the St Regis Lhasa in February/March 2011 and had a fantastic stay. We were actually booked at the Sheraton in Lhasa, but for some reason or other, my friend and I were upgraded to the St Regis Lhasa at the rate we were paying for the Sheraton (approximately 450RMB a night).

I remember the staff being very courteous and very helpful. When I asked, I understood that the hotel had just opened, and that most of the facilities were not even ready yet (I think it was just after the soft opening). The hotel was at just about 3% capacity at that time.

The St Regis Lhasa was the first St Regis resort I had stayed in, and I was absolutely blown away by the level of service (at least, I could tell that the staff were trying). We had just come back from our trip to Mount Everest base camp, and found the St Regis a sanctuary away from the hustle and bustle of the markets.

It is disappointing to read the levels of service have gone down, and the rooms are in disrepair (given that the hotel has only been open for a year or more), and I hope they do try and remedy all the defects as I hope to visit again!

wzyho - I imagine a little of this is overblown. I was there 9 months ago and it was still an amazing place. Yes there are signs of wear but compared to the rest of Tibet it was far and away nicer and everybody was super friendly. If you are comparing it to other ST Regis hotels around the world then maybe it seems amateur but we still had a great time and thought the rooms was very nice and super clean.

Yes, but this particular property was granted a waiver.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

It's been a couple of years for this thread. Anything recent? Playing around with trip ideas for next year. Might end up in Chengdu and wondering if a few days at the St. Regis Lhasa would be worthwhile... I had high hopes, but some of the more recent reviews in this thread sound a bit troubling.

You should absolutely go to Lhasa if you get the opportunity in my opinion. The hotel is excellent, super location, nice rooms, lovely Tibetan design throughout and the staff there were very helpful and friendly. The food in the main restaurant was fine, but we didn't eat at the Chinese. There is a nice pool and when we were there, a single running machine. Honestly the thought of using a gym while we were there never crossed our minds given the altitude. Breakfast was really good, and before we went off to the various sites, this was definitely the most important meal.
Highly highly recommended, and Tibet is nothing short of spectacular - even if the hotel wasn't good, I wouldn't let it change any decision to visit this amazing place.

Wanted to add some notes on this property since there are so few. Recently had a 4 night stay here. First off, Lhasa was amazing. This hotel is in a great location, walkable to the old town, with some good views of Potala Palace (not all rooms). Unfortunately, this hotel is not up to St. Regis standards, especially for an Asian hotel. While it looks good on the surface, as you stay here you start to notice the lack of polish that a hotel charging this kind of money should have - especially in Asia.

While the staff were all very polite, there were obvious training issues. Service in the main restaurant could be very poor at breakfast. Orders would be constantly mixed up or forgotten. The quality of the food was decent, but not consistent, and not what it should be given the cost. Other than breakfast, we ate in the main restaurant two other times. The sandwiches we had at lunch one day were great, but the buffet dinner the other day was bad. The food left out in the serving trays was not heated, so you got lukewarm food. Items were not replenished. Again total inconsistency.

The room was serviced well, but the property already showed a lot of signs of wear and tear. The quality of some of the construction was not good. A hotel this new shouldn't be showing this kind of wear. Another curiosity was that they never provided turn down service.

As far as SPG benefits go, they did recognize my Platinum status, but would not acquiesce on a suite upgrade. Not sure if they had suites in the inventory for Platinum upgrades or not. I gave up - the grand deluxe rooms have a decent amount of space anyhow. For the amenity, they didn't mention breakfast - I had to request that myself. Had the full buffet each day. I also ended up getting 500 points in my account as well. Not sure if that was a mistake or intended.

So again - total inconsistency at this property - which is a shame because it's a beautiful place. For the price, I would expect much better. From conversations I had with some of the more senior staff, it is very difficult to get knowledgeable hotel managers to come up and stay in Lhasa - this is understandable. It's also very apparent with the delivery of service here.

At the end of the day, I probably would have been just as happy staying at the Four Points.

We were at the St. Regis Lhasa in May 2012. It is a beautiful property and unquestionably the nicest property in Lhasa, but the service issues were glaring--so you just need to know that in advance. The language issues are a big part of the problem.

As we learned too often and all over China, not just there in Tibet, it is far more societally acceptable for the Chinese to do something wrong because they don't understand than it is for the Chinese to admit they didn't understand you in the first place. We experienced this throughout China--everywhere except at the Aman Summer Palace and the Peninsula Shanghai. Even at the Shangri-La Guilin and Xian and Banyan Tree Lijiang, we had issues.

Once you take that in and accept that, it's easier to stomach the service issues that result from language. They try very hard, but even the St. Regis training in such a remote locale isn't sufficient to bring the service level at the Lhasa property to the brand standard. For Tibet, though, it's a marvelous property.

If you're going to Chengdu, I'd love to hear all about the new St. Regis there, too. We didn't have time to stop there, and now that the St. Regis is opening, we wonder if we might hit that using the new UA SFO-CTU flight and visit the Panda preserve outside the city....perhaps as a base from which to explore Nepal/Bhutan or even India on a future trip.