SFO_FT

Anyone know about this new property, which shows on the Marriott website as opening March 2021?

PDXbased1K

My uneducated guess is that they are making the Griffin Club wing a separately branded hotel as opposed to a hotel within a hotel.

Edited to add; the rooms describe having a kitchenette-which the Griffin Club rooms and Suites do not so.....hmm interesting. I don’t recall seeing any construction when I was there (other than the RC which recently opened).

MSPeconomist

This sounds a bit like the Pine Cliffs resort complex in Portugal, with several Marriott (legacy SPG for at least some of them) properties colocated and having different branding and features, with many recreational facilities being shared. There can be differences in elite benefits, but otherwise it's mostly a matter of what room features (including service) you value.

samosa

Just checking in. I have stayed at the Griffin Club before, which I understand is now a new hotel called Casa Maat. Booking a stay there for later this year. Anyone have any experience? I was informed by staff that it is "better" but no one could describe how.

RASEWR

Any stays yet? I’m thinking of booking a short trip here on points and the pice difference is 25k a night. Debating if it’s worth the additional charge.

samosa

just got back 2 weeks ago (second time). What do you want to know?

pros — not crowded and much more personalized service

cons- if you aren’t staying at the hotel much, might not be worth it— or if you want to hang out with lots of other guests.

I think if you are doing buy 4 nights get 5th free, so only extra 100k it is worth it. Anything more than that— no.

RASEWR

this helps. It’s a trip with my wife, and we are generally minimally social with strangers when on holiday. This sounds like it’s right up our alley. Thank you!

stephem

We stayed at the JW side last February and had an opportunity to try the Casa Maat on this trip due to my friends/family explore rate. We got a room at the “regular” JW for our teenagers and the Casa Maat room for my wife and I.

It’s quiet and there appear to be very few guests over on this side. It was nice to have a couple glasses of wine and some chips/guac and not have to sign a bill, but honestly not sure it does much for us beyond having physical separation from our teenagers (who I think like this too!). We haven’t tried the “premium open bar, light, theme, dinner and deserts” yet but may tonight. We generally go out to the restaurants in San Jose, so again YMMV but not much for us.

The JW is running a bit more crowded than last year, there is a decent size wedding party there. But I’m guessing occupancy over on this side is maybe 20 guests right now?

The physical property is it not overly impressive, I’ve stayed at a lot of Saint Regis, Ritz, Carlton, and four seasons hotels, and I rank this pretty much in the middle of the pack. It’s definitely a tough climate on physical structures and they are out doing lots of renovations right now (as I recall, they were doing last spring as well).

scubadu

Thanks for sharing your perspective on this property. In fairness, though some consider JW Marriott's (and in this case Casa Maat) a "step up" I'm not sure I'd put them in the same category as St Regis/Ritz Carlton/Four Seasons. Those are a very different class of property.

Regards

stephem

Except there are plenty of RC’s like the RC Marina del Rey and RC Nile Cairo and FS properties like the ones in Cairo. It’s not clear to me RC at least is really a very different class of property.

FenwayTim

We have had dinner at that JW and saw the Casa Maat last fall when we were at Zadun..It’s part of JW but segregated as the others have noted… With Solaz opening back up (we stayed there twice before it closed for a year or so), i would say stay at Solaz instead….. pricing is usually a littler higher but worth it in my opinion..its also part of luxury collection classification (like JW and the Casa Maat off-shoot) but way more quiet, more scenic and much much less concrete jungle like….. JW and Casa are too much concrete for our liking…
If you really want to step up, our favorite in the area is the Ritz reserve Zadun.. Definitely on par with the four seasons that is further down the coast…
Regardless of where you stay in that area, its a great part of the peninsula.. Enjoy your time.

scubadu

You are of course welcome to your opinion and I respect that. And certainly one can always find "exceptions to the rule" in any brand's portfolio (i.e. properties on the "lower" end of the scale). But generally, folks that are consistently staying at FS/St Regis/RCs do not consider JW Marriotts as comparative properties (in most any category, nightly rate, etc.). That is why St Regis/FS/RC properties are often discussed in the "Luxury Hotels" forum here on FT, but JW Marriotts are not discussed in that forum (and attempts to start at thread about a JW Marriott in that forum quickly get moved to this forum).

Enjoy your travels.

Regards

stephem

yeah, i guess I’m just an inexperienced traveller who doesn’t know what he is talking about..

So let me put it this way, like a number of Ritz Carltons a couple of Four Seasons, and even a couple of St Regis properties, Casa Maat is not impressive and I’d struggle to say it’s worth anything near the going rate. The physical property itself is not really distinguishable from the JW, the rooms, like those over at the JW, are somewhat dark. And while I hesitate to go so far as saying “dated,” the wall to wall travertine in the rooms is not the current color palette I’d expect to see in a property with these rates. Your money is better spent many other places.

scubadu

That is a leap you are choosing to make. I did not say that. In fact, I said (multiple times) I appreciated you sharing and respected your opinion, though mine differs.

It's actually possible for people to disagree, respectfully. The fact that I see something different than you do neither implies that I think you are "an inexperienced traveler" nor that I am evil.

Now, moving on. For those who may come along to read this in the future and are considering a stay here, I looked at a four night stay at Casa Maat, at the Los Cabos Four Seasons, and Zadun (which is a Ritz Carlton flagged property, but a higher end one) all of which are in the "Cabo" area.

Avg nightly room rates for the dates I looked at in March were:
Casa Maat - ~$871
Zadun - ~$1563 (I've actually seen it much higher than this at other times, often also in the ~$1800 range)
Four Seasons - ~$1971 (unless you find a 4th night free deal which pulls it down somewhat)

The broader point I was trying to make (perhaps unsuccessfully) is that if you show up at Casa Maat expecting a stay similar to the Four Seasons or Zadun you are likely to be very disappointed. They are completely different classes of hotels, clearly reflected in the room rates they command. The price or experience compared to a Ritz Carlton in St Louis or a Four Seasons in Cairo, Eygpt, in my opinion, is completely irrelevant as those are completely different markets, with different avg nightly rates, currencies, competition, etc. If I'm going to Cabo, then my comparison point is properties that are in that region.

Regards

P.S. I wholeheartedly agree with poster FenwayTim that Zadun is absolutely exquisite and certainly worthy of a stay. But as the rates above clearly show, you will pay a pretty penny more to stay there if your comparison point is JW Marriott Casa Maat, but I believe you will also demonstrably experience the very stark difference.

stephem

But there is this thing called Branding... BTW, my main point is that while there are some great JW properties around the world (some that despite your comments that it's irrelevant) kick the pants off many hotels of supposedly higher brands. The way that Casa Maat is marketed (and it's rates) suggests that Marriott think it is more than it really is.

So for those coming back here to learn about the property, as I suppose that is the purpose here, here is my 2 cents. It's only benefit over the JW "next door" is less occupancy. There is nothing about the food or drink you get in the lounge or the butler service that really elevates this place about the JW next door. Hotel within a Hotel, maybe... better hotel within a hotel no way. I'd think hard before spending the rack rate that Casa Maat is seeking, especially if you go there during a slow week such as last week and they have construction crews all over the property.