ZBigFam

Nope was just my wife and I. Was really strange given what I expected.

jdrtravel

One more tip: Once when we went to Carolina, we went to the bar at Carolina a little early before dinner. They offered to seat us but we said we'd like to have a cocktail at the bar first. The bar was empty, so we were able to talk to the bar tender a lot. We asked if we would teach us about tequila and he ended up doing a whole tasting, and it was great.

ZBigFam

Ok some tips for those of you interested. We have been here since Tuesday.

1. Mita Mary is very good, fresh seafood, great chips and salsa. Great lunch there.
2. Dinner at Sea Breezes was disappointing. Service was slow, food was mediocre. Ordered a prime ribeye that was greasy and gross.
3. The beach at the hotel is rocky. Get some rock shoes from Punta Mita expeditions so you don't cut up your feet. They let you borrow them for free.
4. Just got done with the Marine safari. If this was yelp I would give it a meh. The wife liked it as she got to see some rare birds but snorkelling pales in comparison to Hawaii. I wouldn't book a private experience as we had a boat for 12 and there was only 6 of us (including my wife and I). Service was good just for me, not huge value for the money.
5. Breakfast here is amazing and it goes to 12. The hot dishes rotate daily, probably one of the best breakfasts I have ever had.

More to come as we finish up our stay.

ZBigFam

Hi there, just finishing up my tips from above:

6. If you want a better swim in the ocean, go into the ocean right by Mita Mary Boat after borrowing rock shoes
7. DO NOT go for the 11 course dinner at Carolina's. It felt so contrived and while good was not at all a good value for the money IMO.

Will we be back..maybe, but I have read great things about the W and might try that next time.

brosenberg0

Hey Everyone -

2 questions as a SPG Plat(75):

1) Planning on traveling here early next year with the family (3 kids of which one is a baby and the other two under the age of 6). Has anyone run into issues with their room/suite when traveling with the family regarding the hotel causing issues occupancy wise?
2) When using the breakfast Plat benefit, has anyone used that benefit when there with their kids? If so, did they comp them or charge them? Ive been at several different SPG hotels with my kids and the places seem mixed in how they handle it so Im looking for some DPs.

Thanks!

jdrtravel

I can't speak to the kids breakfast question. Can you say more about what you are asking re: occupancy? I don't understand that question. Are you concerned that the hotel will be fill and not have your room ready for you? I have never run into issues like this. OR, is the issue that you booked one base level room but are really hoping that you will get a larger room because there are five of you? If that's the issue, I would check with SPG about upgrading with points. This hotel has a lot of suites but with 5 people I would think that you would want, at minimum, the deluxe suite, which is the first level that actually has two rooms (though the divider between the two is just wooden shutters). Anything smaller will be one room.

brosenberg0

Apologies for not being clear. I did mean the 5ppl in a single standard room concern. Looking at current occupancy for Feb looks pretty good and I could always use SNA's as well. Hoping to confirm something one way or another (via SNA, points or email confirming something before hand). Just dont a situation where they give me an issue for a given room and 5 ppl being in it.

jdrtravel

I would call them in advance (the hotel directly, not Starwood) and just discuss it and arrange something. They won't give you anything for free in advance. They may offer you a way to confirm with points or cash. If you are paying with points, you could also call SPG and ask what the points rate is to confirm up to a suite that will meet your needs. You will not be able to get a free upgrade (SNA or Platinum) confirmed in advance. In my experience, SNA's clear just 1-2 days in advance at this hotel, if they clear, and the most common upgrade is to the junior suite. The junior suite will have enough room, but as I said, I think you would be much happier in the next level up or higher.

The other thing to consider would be two standard adjoining rooms, if you are able to pay for two rooms. This would also give you two bathrooms which would be nice.

raunow

I’d also be interested in hearing if anybody has experience with standard room occupancy, bedding and platinum breakfast for more than two people. Anybody successfully stayed 3 ? Or 4 ?

mrfussion

The website allows you to have 3 adults in a room. It also notes the below:

FAMILY PLAN POLICY
Children who are 12 or younger sleep for free in the existing bedding of a room shared with a paying adult, maximum 2 children allowed. For larger families, please reserve 2 connecting rooms or a suite connected to an additional room.

This property has suites available discounted with the paradise is closer promotion. So if the above mentioned stay is in February, and you planned to redeem points for your stay, the best option would be to redeem for a deluxe suite.

jdrtravel

I think it's important to remember that this is a very high end luxury property. Attempting to fill a base level room with lots of people is not really appropriate. If it is not affordable to travel here with a large family, perhaps consider a different property.

raunow

I couldnt agree more, but with the official Family plan allowing up to 3 adults and 2 children in the room (if I read it correctly), I dont find asking for experiences with staying more than two in the room attempting to fill it with “lots of people”. Especially not with room sizes starting at 600 sq feet.

Personally I often find that booking an extra room when traveling with kids is sometimes inconvenient (no connecting rooms guarantee and no platinum benefits for second room) and sometimes unnecessary when you arrive to find enough space and bedding in the first room to fit everybody comfortably. And regardless of staying at expensive StR or a cheap 4 Points, I find it a waste to pay for a room I end up not using.

And yes - some of the information informing that choice could be determined in dialogue with SPG or the property, but this Ol’ Fool prefers boots-on-ground information and hints from fellow FT’ers to the by-the-book answers that I get from my SPG Ambassador.

Thus my question: Does anybody have experience with staying more than two people in a room at the StR Punta Mita ?

spgplat21

I've stayed here with a family of four (toddler and infant) in a deluxe suite and junior suite. IMO the junior suite and the standard room are big enough for two adults and two small children. The rooms are big, but about half that space is the bathroom, so the room itself is not as big as one might think looking at square footage. Not sure whether five is allowed, but I would think if you had a two queen room plus a crib, it would work fine but would feel more like a typical two queen room at a city hotel since so much of the space is the bathroom. Note that the bathroom is plenty big to fit an infant crib and that's what we've done each time with our infant.

With older kids i would do what I could to try to get a deluxe suite in advance because it's huge and then you'd have plenty of space and some separation from kids at bedtime. I've found the hotel is pretty reasonable with upgrade charges outside of peak season. Do NOT rely on SNAs here for anything. I've been several times and except for the most dead times of year, inventory always changes a ton a week or so prior to the stay and the SNAs never clear. Like every room type will have 9+ rooms available on spg.com and then a week or so out, one night of availability will disappear completely or all the ocean view suites will be full for a couple nights. That said, I've been upgraded almost every time I've visited, but i don't think ever with a SNA.

Finally, with respect to the platinum breakfast, kids under 5 have eaten free at the resort on all of our stays. This doesn't seemed to be advertised anywhere, but its been that way on our last three stays so I think it must be their policy and its been great. We also had two rooms booked on one stay and breakfast was provided for the two adults in the second room booked under my name. So I'm not sure how it works for kids over 5, but I've always felt like they are very generous with platinum benefits.

I would probably ask directly about 5 in one room since the service is pretty personal at the property and everyone would clearly know you have 5 people.

boolean64

This. I think you'd have to check that the hotel is willing to confirm a room with two queens and also provide a crib (which I agree would most ideally go in the bathroom).

bhrubin

For anyone interested, I just posted in the Luxury Hotels Forum my second Expert Review for the St Regis Punta Mita:

St Regis Punta Mita--amazing Luxury Villa stay and incredible whale encounter

Suffice to say, it was incredible...again. And the whale watching is insanely good. We had a close up experience with some humpbacks to rival even our gorilla trekking in Rwanda!

Also, we visited both the Four Seasons and the nearby W (where our friends were staying). The W is actually quite impressive in its own right, especially with the chic and cool public spaces, the impressive sandy beach, the wonderful dining (we enjoyed W's Spice Market much more than Aramara at the Four Seasons), and truly impressive service even for our short visit. It was about 18-20 min drive between the W and St Regis, so it's pretty easy to sample the other. (FWIW, we didn't like our friend's room at the W, though--an entry level award room that was quite spacious but very kitschy in its decor.)