St. Regis Bal Harbour Resort, Miami Beach, FL [Master Thread]
Jan 7, 2013, 3:15 pm
#91
Company Representative - Starwood
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Austin, Texas
Programs: Marriott Employee Level
Posts: 31,593
The junior suite...like I posted previously.
Best regards,
William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide
[email protected]
Best regards,
William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide
[email protected]
Jan 7, 2013, 3:31 pm
#92
Suspended
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: New York, NY
Programs: Delta - Gold; Starwood - Platinum; HHonors - Diamond & Avis Preferred
Posts: 10,869
Jan 8, 2013, 9:55 am
#94
Company Representative - Starwood
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Austin, Texas
Programs: Marriott Employee Level
Posts: 31,593
It is the junior suite.
Best regards,
William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide
[email protected]
Best regards,
William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide
[email protected]
Feb 9, 2013, 12:03 pm
#96
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Brooklyn
Programs: AMEX Plat, AAdvantage Gold, UA, SPG Gold, HHonors Gold
Posts: 963
There were hot items in the buffet- we got as many as we liked. Things like crab cake Benedict, bacon, sausages, eggs etc all available. Al a carte stuff wasn't.
Feb 21, 2013, 11:45 am
#97
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Miami
Posts: 17
Yes. There is a small fee, like $12, to upgrade to the full buffet. I'm not saying they were actively checking to see what you had taken. But, in the end its the same as asking for water and hiting the soda machine. Is it stealing, yes, but people still do it.
Feb 21, 2013, 4:28 pm
#98
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Brooklyn
Programs: AMEX Plat, AAdvantage Gold, UA, SPG Gold, HHonors Gold
Posts: 963
Cool - didn't know that. I was actually a Gold who got full buffet because my room wasn't ready at checkin. Thought that was just the same as Plat
Oct 17, 2013, 11:41 am
#99
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Los Angeles
Programs: Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott // WN, AA, BA, UA, AS // Avis
Posts: 1,314
Going through the pages of this thread, it seems like once the hotel re-opened as a St. Regis, reviews were decidedly mixed.... but can anyone comment on whether things have improved? Reviews on the typical internet sites seem be outstanding, although I trust FT reviews a whole lot more.
Going with the wife and infant (will be about 11 months when we stay next year in February)
Currently have 3 nights booked on a cash & points stay, and 1 night C&P at the Diplomat, although I'm considering doing a switcheroo ...
Going with the wife and infant (will be about 11 months when we stay next year in February)
Currently have 3 nights booked on a cash & points stay, and 1 night C&P at the Diplomat, although I'm considering doing a switcheroo ...
Oct 18, 2013, 4:55 am
#100
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Naples, Florida
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold, Hyatt Platinum,Marriott Silver,Hilton Honors Gold
Posts: 593
Going through the pages of this thread, it seems like once the hotel re-opened as a St. Regis, reviews were decidedly mixed.... but can anyone comment on whether things have improved? Reviews on the typical internet sites seem be outstanding, although I trust FT reviews a whole lot more.
Going with the wife and infant (will be about 11 months when we stay next year in February)
Currently have 3 nights booked on a cash & points stay, and 1 night C&P at the Diplomat, although I'm considering doing a switcheroo ...
Going with the wife and infant (will be about 11 months when we stay next year in February)
Currently have 3 nights booked on a cash & points stay, and 1 night C&P at the Diplomat, although I'm considering doing a switcheroo ...
Worldspan
Naples, Florida
Oct 24, 2013, 3:37 pm
#101
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Miami
Posts: 17
Going through the pages of this thread, it seems like once the hotel re-opened as a St. Regis, reviews were decidedly mixed.... but can anyone comment on whether things have improved? Reviews on the typical internet sites seem be outstanding, although I trust FT reviews a whole lot more.
Going with the wife and infant (will be about 11 months when we stay next year in February)
Currently have 3 nights booked on a cash & points stay, and 1 night C&P at the Diplomat, although I'm considering doing a switcheroo ...
Going with the wife and infant (will be about 11 months when we stay next year in February)
Currently have 3 nights booked on a cash & points stay, and 1 night C&P at the Diplomat, although I'm considering doing a switcheroo ...
Oct 24, 2013, 10:41 pm
#102
Join Date: Mar 2011
Programs: Marriott LT Platinum+Titanium Elite, Hyatt Globalist, AA EXP, Delta Plat, United Silver, AX Biz Cent
Posts: 705
I live about 5 minutes from this hotel.
I haven't stayed there, but I've used the spa a couple of times, and it is clearly the best spa in Miami if you are into Sauna/Steamroom, and would like a (great) massage. It's also very pricey, though.
The restaurant there is also excellent.
I'm always amazed at how this hotel seems to be sold out every night, yet they charge considerably more than the other "5 star" properties in the area (eg: Aqualina in Sunny Isles, 5 minutes away, or Mandarin Oriental farther south).
Given how often this property sells out, I'd bet upgrades to be rare.
I have stayed at the Diplomat many times (years ago), and was upgraded every time to a corner suite as a platinum. No idea how the rooms are now, but 6+ years ago it was very nice.
The Spa at the Diplomat is actually at a different property (the country club), so kind of a hassle to get to, and while "good", it's certainly not the St Regis.
The beach at St Regis is beautiful, but at the Diplomat, erosion has taken it's effect, and the beach is often pretty short there.
Diplomat's steakhouse is excellent.
Diplomat has basically nothing around it in walking distance, so if you want to eat anywhere other than the hotel, you must drive. St Regis is across the street from the Bal Harbor Mall, where there are several excellent restaurants (And high end shopping).
Enjoy south florida!
I haven't stayed there, but I've used the spa a couple of times, and it is clearly the best spa in Miami if you are into Sauna/Steamroom, and would like a (great) massage. It's also very pricey, though.
The restaurant there is also excellent.
I'm always amazed at how this hotel seems to be sold out every night, yet they charge considerably more than the other "5 star" properties in the area (eg: Aqualina in Sunny Isles, 5 minutes away, or Mandarin Oriental farther south).
Given how often this property sells out, I'd bet upgrades to be rare.
I have stayed at the Diplomat many times (years ago), and was upgraded every time to a corner suite as a platinum. No idea how the rooms are now, but 6+ years ago it was very nice.
The Spa at the Diplomat is actually at a different property (the country club), so kind of a hassle to get to, and while "good", it's certainly not the St Regis.
The beach at St Regis is beautiful, but at the Diplomat, erosion has taken it's effect, and the beach is often pretty short there.
Diplomat's steakhouse is excellent.
Diplomat has basically nothing around it in walking distance, so if you want to eat anywhere other than the hotel, you must drive. St Regis is across the street from the Bal Harbor Mall, where there are several excellent restaurants (And high end shopping).
Enjoy south florida!
Oct 25, 2013, 12:07 am
#103
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: FLL -> Where The Boyars Are
Programs: AA EXP 1.7 M, Hilton Gold, Hertz 5*, AARP Sophomore, 14-time Croix de Candlestick
Posts: 18,669
Fisticuffs at the St.Regis, involving the son of the President of Paraguay:
http://miami.cbslocal.com/2013/10/24...g-party-guest/
http://miami.cbslocal.com/2013/10/24...g-party-guest/
Nov 26, 2013, 9:53 am
#104
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Tyrone,EU
Programs: Avios Hunter
Posts: 2,811
mini-review
Had a 5 night stay here on points, check-in was the 8th of November.
I'm gold SPG.
Booked this over 6 months ago, and at the time the only redemption available was an ADA room. A couple of weeks out, I emailed offering to move if a regular room came up. I got a reply saying it had been put on file.
Our driver on arrival, pulled up at the wrong door, the signage led him to the residence instead of the hotel, but the staff at the residence organised a bell boy to take our baggage and show us to the proper lobby.
On arrival, I was impressed that they had found a regular room for me, and not only that, I have effectively got an upgrade to one of the higher floor rooms (20th floor). So my 120K SPG points had got me something like $3.5K of value. Got a glass of champers each. Was also told that 250 SPG points would be applied to my account. Got a letter that stated 4pm was an optional late checkout. I only needed 1pm, which was granted the night before.
Room here was very impressive. For those that haven't stayed here, all the lights are softtouch dimmers, and lights,AC and drapes are controlled remotely from a 7" bedside touch screen. Mini-bar was a large fridge with loads of room for personal storage. Good high quality furnishings. nice big room.
Double doors open-up onto a large covered balcony with wonderful views of the coastline. 2 comfortable lounge beds and 2 seats+table are on the balcony.
Lifts (elevators) are quite clever, and fine as long as you are not part of a party that have rooms on separate floors. In the lobby, you present your key to a touchscreen and it tells you which lift is yours. You get in the lift, and it goes to your floor. On your floor, the only places you can go in the lift are the lobby and beach access floors. So you can't go to any other floors. Didn't matter to us as we were just a couple.
Staff in this hotel are incredible. Totally professional, ask someone where the J&G is, and they take you there. I'm pretty certain at times there was something around 15+ staff servicing the pool area, often there were as many staff visible as residents. And I know its a side point, but in the 5 days there, I didn't see anything other than really good looking staff. My girlfriend noted that all the male staff were easy on the eye. I know it shouldn't be like that, but it was obvious to me that front of house staff have to pass some "pleasing on the eye" criteria. Order something from the pool/beach staff, and they come back with "here you are Mr Tangey", yes, they have to look up the room number, but each member of staff, without fail, made a point of mentioning my name on returning, nice touch.
Nice pool area, decent enough beach area. Out the rear of the property and turn left you have around a 1 mile beach walk/cycle. Instead turn right and you have 3-4 miles walk/cycle. Hotel will give you complimentary bikes for 2 hrs a day. Out the front of the property, walk 1 street to 95th street, go down and turn left onto harding avenue and you have a range of reasonably price shops and some basic eateries (including starbucks). Towards the end of that block is Flanigans, a decent sports bar that served decent enough food and also had UK soccer on a Sat/Sun Morning.
I knew this was an expensive hotel before I went, and frankly it would normally be well above my pay grade. 2 pina coladas at the beach worked out at $43 (includes gratuity). Dinner in J&G, which consisted of a pre-dinner drink, a main course a dessert (all x2) and a bottle of wine , came to $260. The wine was about the cheapest on the list @$63 (I think the most expensive I saw was $8000
)
But given the booking was on points, I was happy enough to splurge a little on a couple of cocktails a day. Flanigans did come in handy for eating mind you. We also bought some fresh cut fruit, yoghurt and OJ in one of those nearby stores, as that's all we generally have for breakfast. The fridge had good free storage for that. I'm sure that saved us $60 a day.
To sum up, this is a wonderful hotel, with great staff and a really nice pool area. Its certainly the most upscale hotel I've stayed in to date.
Quick question for those more travelled in the US than myself, in a place like that this that has an automatic 18% gratuity on items, are you still expected to tip ? I assume you tip the bellboy, and likely the guy that sorts out the towels on the beach/pool loungers. But do you tip again when he brings you the drinks you ordered that include the gratuity ? And as this is an upscale hotel, is there an implication that the tips have to be upscale too ?
I'm gold SPG.
Booked this over 6 months ago, and at the time the only redemption available was an ADA room. A couple of weeks out, I emailed offering to move if a regular room came up. I got a reply saying it had been put on file.
Our driver on arrival, pulled up at the wrong door, the signage led him to the residence instead of the hotel, but the staff at the residence organised a bell boy to take our baggage and show us to the proper lobby.
On arrival, I was impressed that they had found a regular room for me, and not only that, I have effectively got an upgrade to one of the higher floor rooms (20th floor). So my 120K SPG points had got me something like $3.5K of value. Got a glass of champers each. Was also told that 250 SPG points would be applied to my account. Got a letter that stated 4pm was an optional late checkout. I only needed 1pm, which was granted the night before.
Room here was very impressive. For those that haven't stayed here, all the lights are softtouch dimmers, and lights,AC and drapes are controlled remotely from a 7" bedside touch screen. Mini-bar was a large fridge with loads of room for personal storage. Good high quality furnishings. nice big room.
Double doors open-up onto a large covered balcony with wonderful views of the coastline. 2 comfortable lounge beds and 2 seats+table are on the balcony.
Lifts (elevators) are quite clever, and fine as long as you are not part of a party that have rooms on separate floors. In the lobby, you present your key to a touchscreen and it tells you which lift is yours. You get in the lift, and it goes to your floor. On your floor, the only places you can go in the lift are the lobby and beach access floors. So you can't go to any other floors. Didn't matter to us as we were just a couple.
Staff in this hotel are incredible. Totally professional, ask someone where the J&G is, and they take you there. I'm pretty certain at times there was something around 15+ staff servicing the pool area, often there were as many staff visible as residents. And I know its a side point, but in the 5 days there, I didn't see anything other than really good looking staff. My girlfriend noted that all the male staff were easy on the eye. I know it shouldn't be like that, but it was obvious to me that front of house staff have to pass some "pleasing on the eye" criteria. Order something from the pool/beach staff, and they come back with "here you are Mr Tangey", yes, they have to look up the room number, but each member of staff, without fail, made a point of mentioning my name on returning, nice touch.
Nice pool area, decent enough beach area. Out the rear of the property and turn left you have around a 1 mile beach walk/cycle. Instead turn right and you have 3-4 miles walk/cycle. Hotel will give you complimentary bikes for 2 hrs a day. Out the front of the property, walk 1 street to 95th street, go down and turn left onto harding avenue and you have a range of reasonably price shops and some basic eateries (including starbucks). Towards the end of that block is Flanigans, a decent sports bar that served decent enough food and also had UK soccer on a Sat/Sun Morning.
I knew this was an expensive hotel before I went, and frankly it would normally be well above my pay grade. 2 pina coladas at the beach worked out at $43 (includes gratuity). Dinner in J&G, which consisted of a pre-dinner drink, a main course a dessert (all x2) and a bottle of wine , came to $260. The wine was about the cheapest on the list @$63 (I think the most expensive I saw was $8000
)But given the booking was on points, I was happy enough to splurge a little on a couple of cocktails a day. Flanigans did come in handy for eating mind you. We also bought some fresh cut fruit, yoghurt and OJ in one of those nearby stores, as that's all we generally have for breakfast. The fridge had good free storage for that. I'm sure that saved us $60 a day.
To sum up, this is a wonderful hotel, with great staff and a really nice pool area. Its certainly the most upscale hotel I've stayed in to date.
Quick question for those more travelled in the US than myself, in a place like that this that has an automatic 18% gratuity on items, are you still expected to tip ? I assume you tip the bellboy, and likely the guy that sorts out the towels on the beach/pool loungers. But do you tip again when he brings you the drinks you ordered that include the gratuity ? And as this is an upscale hotel, is there an implication that the tips have to be upscale too ?
Last edited by tangey; Nov 26, 2013 at 10:01 am
Nov 26, 2013, 10:20 am
#105
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: DCA
Posts: 292
Had a 5 night stay here on points, check-in was the 8th of November.
I'm gold SPG.
Booked this over 6 months ago, and at the time the only redemption available was an ADA room. A couple of weeks out, I emailed offering to move if a regular room came up. I got a reply saying it had been put on file.
Our driver on arrival, pulled up at the wrong door, the signage led him to the residence instead of the hotel, but the staff at the residence organised a bell boy to take our baggage and show us to the proper lobby.
On arrival, I was impressed that they had found a regular room for me, and not only that, I have effectively got an upgrade to one of the higher floor rooms (20th floor). So my 120K SPG points had got me something like $3.5K of value. Got a glass of champers each. Was also told that 250 SPG points would be applied to my account. Got a letter that stated 4pm was an optional late checkout. I only needed 1pm, which was granted the night before.
Room here was very impressive. For those that haven't stayed here, all the lights are softtouch dimmers, and lights,AC and drapes are controlled remotely from a 7" bedside touch screen. Mini-bar was a large fridge with loads of room for personal storage. Good high quality furnishings. nice big room.
Double doors open-up onto a large covered balcony with wonderful views of the coastline. 2 comfortable lounge beds and 2 seats+table are on the balcony.
Lifts (elevators) are quite clever, and fine as long as you are not part of a party that have rooms on separate floors. In the lobby, you present your key to a touchscreen and it tells you which lift is yours. You get in the lift, and it goes to your floor. On your floor, the only places you can go in the lift are the lobby and beach access floors. So you can't go to any other floors. Didn't matter to us as we were just a couple.
Staff in this hotel are incredible. Totally professional, ask someone where the J&G is, and they take you there. I'm pretty certain at times there was something around 15+ staff servicing the pool area, often there were as many staff visible as residents. And I know its a side point, but in the 5 days there, I didn't see anything other than really good looking staff. My girlfriend noted that all the male staff were easy on the eye. I know it shouldn't be like that, but it was obvious to me that front of house staff have to pass some "pleasing on the eye" criteria. Order something from the pool/beach staff, and they come back with "here you are Mr Tangey", yes, they have to look up the room number, but each member of staff, without fail, made a point of mentioning my name on returning, nice touch.
Nice pool area, decent enough beach area. Out the rear of the property and turn left you have around a 1 mile beach walk/cycle. Instead turn right and you have 3-4 miles walk/cycle. Hotel will give you complimentary bikes for 2 hrs a day. Out the front of the property, walk 1 street to 95th street, go down and turn left onto harding avenue and you have a range of reasonably price shops and some basic eateries (including starbucks). Towards the end of that block is Flanigans, a decent sports bar that served decent enough food and also had UK soccer on a Sat/Sun Morning.
I knew this was an expensive hotel before I went, and frankly it would normally be well above my pay grade. 2 pina coladas at the beach worked out at $43 (includes gratuity). Dinner in J&G, which consisted of a pre-dinner drink, a main course a dessert (all x2) and a bottle of wine , came to $260. The wine was about the cheapest on the list @$63 (I think the most expensive I saw was $8000 )
But given the booking was on points, I was happy enough to splurge a little on a couple of cocktails a day. Flanigans did come in handy for eating mind you. We also bought some fresh cut fruit, yoghurt and OJ in one of those nearby stores, as that's all we generally have for breakfast. The fridge had good free storage for that. I'm sure that saved us $60 a day.
To sum up, this is a wonderful hotel, with great staff and a really nice pool area. Its certainly the most upscale hotel I've stayed in to date.
Quick question for those more travelled in the US than myself, in a place like that this that has an automatic 18% gratuity on items, are you still expected to tip ? I assume you tip the bellboy, and likely the guy that sorts out the towels on the beach/pool loungers. But do you tip again when he brings you the drinks you ordered that include the gratuity ? And as this is an upscale hotel, is there an implication that the tips have to be upscale too ?
I'm gold SPG.
Booked this over 6 months ago, and at the time the only redemption available was an ADA room. A couple of weeks out, I emailed offering to move if a regular room came up. I got a reply saying it had been put on file.
Our driver on arrival, pulled up at the wrong door, the signage led him to the residence instead of the hotel, but the staff at the residence organised a bell boy to take our baggage and show us to the proper lobby.
On arrival, I was impressed that they had found a regular room for me, and not only that, I have effectively got an upgrade to one of the higher floor rooms (20th floor). So my 120K SPG points had got me something like $3.5K of value. Got a glass of champers each. Was also told that 250 SPG points would be applied to my account. Got a letter that stated 4pm was an optional late checkout. I only needed 1pm, which was granted the night before.
Room here was very impressive. For those that haven't stayed here, all the lights are softtouch dimmers, and lights,AC and drapes are controlled remotely from a 7" bedside touch screen. Mini-bar was a large fridge with loads of room for personal storage. Good high quality furnishings. nice big room.
Double doors open-up onto a large covered balcony with wonderful views of the coastline. 2 comfortable lounge beds and 2 seats+table are on the balcony.
Lifts (elevators) are quite clever, and fine as long as you are not part of a party that have rooms on separate floors. In the lobby, you present your key to a touchscreen and it tells you which lift is yours. You get in the lift, and it goes to your floor. On your floor, the only places you can go in the lift are the lobby and beach access floors. So you can't go to any other floors. Didn't matter to us as we were just a couple.
Staff in this hotel are incredible. Totally professional, ask someone where the J&G is, and they take you there. I'm pretty certain at times there was something around 15+ staff servicing the pool area, often there were as many staff visible as residents. And I know its a side point, but in the 5 days there, I didn't see anything other than really good looking staff. My girlfriend noted that all the male staff were easy on the eye. I know it shouldn't be like that, but it was obvious to me that front of house staff have to pass some "pleasing on the eye" criteria. Order something from the pool/beach staff, and they come back with "here you are Mr Tangey", yes, they have to look up the room number, but each member of staff, without fail, made a point of mentioning my name on returning, nice touch.
Nice pool area, decent enough beach area. Out the rear of the property and turn left you have around a 1 mile beach walk/cycle. Instead turn right and you have 3-4 miles walk/cycle. Hotel will give you complimentary bikes for 2 hrs a day. Out the front of the property, walk 1 street to 95th street, go down and turn left onto harding avenue and you have a range of reasonably price shops and some basic eateries (including starbucks). Towards the end of that block is Flanigans, a decent sports bar that served decent enough food and also had UK soccer on a Sat/Sun Morning.
I knew this was an expensive hotel before I went, and frankly it would normally be well above my pay grade. 2 pina coladas at the beach worked out at $43 (includes gratuity). Dinner in J&G, which consisted of a pre-dinner drink, a main course a dessert (all x2) and a bottle of wine , came to $260. The wine was about the cheapest on the list @$63 (I think the most expensive I saw was $8000
)But given the booking was on points, I was happy enough to splurge a little on a couple of cocktails a day. Flanigans did come in handy for eating mind you. We also bought some fresh cut fruit, yoghurt and OJ in one of those nearby stores, as that's all we generally have for breakfast. The fridge had good free storage for that. I'm sure that saved us $60 a day.
To sum up, this is a wonderful hotel, with great staff and a really nice pool area. Its certainly the most upscale hotel I've stayed in to date.
Quick question for those more travelled in the US than myself, in a place like that this that has an automatic 18% gratuity on items, are you still expected to tip ? I assume you tip the bellboy, and likely the guy that sorts out the towels on the beach/pool loungers. But do you tip again when he brings you the drinks you ordered that include the gratuity ? And as this is an upscale hotel, is there an implication that the tips have to be upscale too ?