jdrtravel

Probably. However, the drivers that work for the company that the SR contracts with are really great, the cars are nice, and the service is super reliable. They coordinate directly with the hotel, and are totally safe and reliable. Is it a bit of a racket? Probably. But in the scheme of things at the SR, the money spent on the car is not that much. Also, I liked starting my five star resort vacation with five star car service.

boolean64

This! Also allows for a trip to sayulita (sp?) And it is not very expensive at all.

jja34-1

Cabanas at the beach club are $100-150 per day. I don't know about the cost of pool cabanas.

We are beach club members and always book a cabana because it guarantees you a sweet spot on the beach and avoids the need to show up at an early hour during high season when chairs are at a premium.

spgplat21

I think this problem is limited to the beach club, which is noticeably busier than the rest of the hotel's beach.

I was just there over New Years and we did not have any issues finding chairs at the pools or on the beach (other than the area where they allow beach club members, which is much busier). We generally avoid that area now that the beach club has grown so much, other than for lunch or dinner.

jdrtravel

I was not aware that there was such as a thing as a Beach Club at the Punta Mita. In any case, we were there during Thanksgiving and would often not go to the beach until late in the morning and we never had a problem finding a chair. We always went to the adult beach. If there were not enough, the staff would magically make more appear within minutes. This is the type of hotel where this kind of thing is just a non-issue.

jja34-1

I agree the hotel and beach staff are amazing and will do whatever they can to make a stay/day on the beach amazing. But they cannot move the surf, the palm trees or create a space where chairs are already located. Perhaps we are particular about the location of our beach chairs but a cabana is an inexpensive way to ensure a seat in a pre-selected spot, knowing that you will have a fair amount of personal space. It's also great in terms of having more shade than an umbrella can provide!

spgplat21

Again, I think the beach club conversation is separate from the resort discussion. $100-150/day is still a decent amount of money, and I wouldn't want someone to book a non-cancellable cabana based on misinformation

The beach club is a part of the resort, but it's only a small part. The beach club is on the far end of the hotel in front of the Sea Breeze restaurant. I'm not 100% positive, but I believe the beach club members are only permitted to use the pool on that end of the resort and that section of the beach near Mita Mary Bistro Boat. I think that's the case, because it's always much more crowded on that end of the beach and I would assume the beach club members would spread out more if they were allowed to.

For hotel guests, there is the main pool and an adult pool, as well as a stretch of beach that's probably 10 times longer than the portion near the beach club. As many (if not all) resort guests have noted, chairs and space are just not an issue. So there are reasons for hotel guests to book a cabana, but lack of chairs or space are not among them.

jdrtravel

Exactly. You could spend those hundreds of dollars on one of many interesting excursions.

jja34-1

I don't think this is misinformation at all. This is based on my personal experience with the full range of the resort's amenities over several years. Certainly the original poster deserves to be able to take into account many different viewpoints, although reasonable people can certainly disagree. Cabana reservations are also flexible and can be adjusted until a few hours before the booking time; it is somewhat at the discretion of the hotel staff,

We spend a lot of time at Punta Mita and based on my observations at the beach, as well as discussions with other guests and hotel employees, many hotel guests also enjoy the beach club area because of the close proximity to Sea Breeze and Mita Mary. IMHO, having walked the beach a number of times, it is also the preferred strip of beach at the resort. So that is what my advice is based on. Your observations may be based on a different experience.

jdrtravel

Yeah, I'm gonna say that spgplat has a fair point. I really think that most people would find paying for a cabana to be a complete waste of money at this hotel. As an example, and to illustrate my point: We wanted total shade every day and we liked a certain spot on the beach. After the first day, and tipping well, the beach attendant then had two chairs and two umbrellas reserved for us for the rest of our stay, at no charge. When the sun moved, he would come and adjust them for us. I tipped him well in pesos, but much less than $150 a day. We did not ask for this, he just took care of us. That's the kind of hotel this is and people should know that before paying for something that they can basically get for free.

Also, if you don't have kids, I for sure think that most would not prefer that stretch of beach near Sea Breeze. The adult beach is much more peaceful, and they will bring you any food and drink that you want (so there is really not much value in being close to the restaurants unless you enjoy the sound of screaming children).

JAGMAP

Any recent experiences at SRPM?

Read on TA that the Navigators are starting to show their age so I booked an alternative SUV airport transfer.

I've stayed twice but don't remember the restaurants. Worth trying (besides for breakfast)?

spgplat21

The tasting menu at Carolina or even a regular meal at Carolina is definitely worth a visit. We also found the restaurant to be quite affordable for a St. Regis resort. The other restaurants are fine, but if you like other restaurants in the area I wouldn't go out of my way to eat at the others.

jdrtravel

Some more than others. However, the upside to using their contracted service is that they are in direct communication with the hotel, they know exactly where the property is, they know the security guards at the gates, etc. The drivers are also VERY nice IME. Personally I would stick with that service.

jdrtravel

Has anyone been here in August? Thinking of a last minute trip but not sure about weather. How much rain can we expect?

Bravado2112

We went last August (mid to late). Despite forecasts of rain the weather was totally fine. Primarily sun all day, every day. Some rains (occasionally heavy for a short time) here and there in the evenings/overnight - but nothing that impacted the trip at all. Maybe once or twice we needed to take an umbrella to dinner. That was it. Very humid though.

Only issue was that the humidity and rains combined with all the vegetation resulted in A LOT of bugs. Much moreso than in other times a year from what we were told. We were also told that last year was unusually bad, but it was definitely pretty bad (both in the room and constant bites outside). Feel free to PM me if you want more specifics. Obviously this wasn't unique to the resort itself.

To his credit, the GM (now departed) acknowledged that it was way worse than ever before (he said he had many more complaints last year than ever before) and unacceptable.