UKTraveller4Fun

The op also makes points with regards to the lack of real restaurant the fact the op thought the car parking fee was excessive (information others here may find invaluable).

I am curious would you class the St. Regis Rome on a similar level to the St. Regis Florence?

bhrubin

I'm sorry, but a 50 euro parking charge is not particularly surprising for any major city for a luxury hotel. The OP easily could have known the parking charge in advance as with any hotel, as well. The StR Rome website clearly articulates a parking charge of 35-100 euros depending on the size of the car:

http://www.stregisrome.com/transportation

The StR Florence and Westin Florence websites indicate parking charges of 53 euros. The Westin Rome indicates charges starting at 40 euros. The Hotel Eden charges 60 euros. Sorry, but the OP's complaint therefore has no merit IMO.

ATLawyer

This is 100% my experience as well. The other SPG properties in Italy I've stayed at are phenomenal--above and beyond the basic "minimum required for compliance." This hotel simply doesn't live up to any of the rest. It's the worst St. Regis I've stayed at (limited sample size of 8). Aside from the pretty public spaces, it doesn't live up to the brand standard.

Flews

Me too. Tried the St. Regis once, found it to be nothing special. Dollar for dollar, location for location, plat for plat treatment, I much prefer the Westin Excelsior, where my expectations are regularly exceeded.

Cheers,

Keyser

i'm sorry but i don't think the common denominator is you at all....its your ambassador....you are lucky to have a great ambassador who probably goes above & beyond to make your stays the best they can be....not everyone has that....the majority don't have access to the ambassador service & the majority of the ones that do have mixed experiences about the service....so once again, its not because you are nice, friendly, etc....its because you have a great ambassador....

i stayed here a few years ago & i was upgraded to a junior suite....without using a sna....i liked the upgrade but having stayed at other rome luxury hotels i would probably rank this at the bottom of my list of properties i have stayed in during all my trips to rome....in fact, i had to come back to rome the month after i stayed here & decided to stay at the cavalieri instead....it was my second stay there (a couple of years prior my wife & i had stayed there over christmas time)....even though i only had gold status with hilton then, they still treated me better & i found the service quality to be much better than the st. regis....i prefered staying at the cavalieri as a gold with a meager upgrade as compared to staying at the st. regis as a platinum with ambassador service & an upgrade to a suite....

in fact, having stayed in many st. regis & other high end spg luxury properties, i would rank this property way down on my list, probably in the bottom 3....i really liked my room & the breakfast was nice, but the service & attitude of the staff was not up to my expectations....certainly not for a st. regis property....

you seem to dismiss anyone that has an opinion different from yours....you don't have to agree with it but you don't need to belittle others....

ATLawyer

Or her complaints about the room reaching 73 degrees (*gasp*) at the StR DC, turndown service missing one night (*inconceivable*), or a room service lunch being 15 minutes late (*utterly appalling*), and most shocking of all, SOUR CREAM MISSING FROM A LUNCH BUFFET (*HOW IS THIS EVEN POSSIBLE*). This, of course, meant the hotel staff was "incompetent."

It's hilarious to me that those complaints lead to a hotel being incompetent, but when anyone complains about a hotel she likes having service failures much more significant than those, it's because we "were upset over missing an upgrade."

Forstbetrieb

I am still thinking about his complain that noone has told him how the phone aside his bed works at the Excelsior Gallia Milan...

Btw as I have said many times even for free I would not stay at St. Regis Rome.

And I am not alone...

UKTraveller4Fun

Your certainly not alone! Afterall if it was free you don't earn any points .

More seriously though I fully agree why stay when there are much better options Spg and otherwise!

bhrubin

Thanks for weighing in..and with decorum!

It is true that I can't discount my Ambassador. However, even my Ambassador didn't save me from the various service issues and failures at the StR Bora Bora, the StR Washington, the Excelsior Gallia Milan, the Liberty Boston, Park Tower Knightsbridge London, etc.

I also believe my approach can make a big difference--both in how some hotels respond so positively to my complaint (as with the StR Bora Bora and Excelsior Gallia) and in why my Ambassador works so hard on my behalf. Obviously, it's tough to quantify those for everyone else. To each, their own.

Knowing your experience, I don't doubt you had disappointment at the StR Rome several years ago. However, experiences several years ago or those during a major renovation matter much less to me--as I stated previously. Just being consistent. I have seen plenty of other reviews here and on TripAdvisor where the StR Rome experience was more positive. (Just as there are plenty here and on TA who had far more positive experiences at the Liberty.) I therefore weigh the good and bad and consider the circumstances.

If I'm going to be in Rome and want to use points for an award stay, my best luxury options are the StR, the Westin, and the WA Cavalieri. While I appreciate that many herein seem to prefer the Westin or WA, I do not--even knowing the issues that some are presenting here for the StR. Whether anyone wants to admit it or not, there are problems and issues also present both here on FT and TripAdvisor for both the Westin and WA. When I evaluate all 3 hotels, I still find the StR to be my best bet...but with my expectations properly adjusted. I also don't pay much heed to some of the complaints mentioned herein for the StR Rome, just as I don't pay much heed to some of the complaints mentioned for the Westin or WA in their respective threads and reviews.

With apologies, I often dismiss the opinion that "attitude of the staff was not up to my expectations" whenever I consider hotels. This is a perfect example of where I believe my approach and friendliness come into play for me having a better service experience than others in comparable circumstances. I've been told how stuffy or arrogant or otherwise unhelpful a hotel staff can be at many high end luxury hotels...where I found that to be not even remotely the case when I went. Not every time--but the overwhelming majority of times. That's why I dismiss this statement. I judge everything in context of my experience.

I absolutely dismiss some opinions, as I just described above. I do so based on my experiences being so different from those described and extensive experience with hearing such complaints that I eventually discover as based on other issues. I believe I have exposed some complaints as being circumstantial and not somehow conclusive about this and other hotels. Sorry, but anyone complaining about parking fees at the StR when those are easily known in advance and not any different from high parking fees at all of the other top hotels (except the WA!)--I easily dismiss!

You have disagreed with my opinions here, but I don't take it as belittling at all. Others have disagreed with my opinions here and elsewhere (my phone issues at the Excelsior Gallia and air con issues many places!), but I don't take it as belittling at all, either. People have challenged all of those, and dismissed all of those, and tried to belittle those, but I could care less. It's too bad that others can't handle my disagreement as easily as I do theirs.

bhrubin

FWIW, I'm male. Gay, but still male. At least the last time I checked! Sorry if my inner woman came out in aforementioned reviews.

Yeah, I know I was totally unreasonable. The air con going out twice in a day was obviously not a problem, despite it having been hot. We all should be fine with rooms at 73 F and continuing to get warmer. Or fine to assume a luxury hotel has working air con. Or that the hotel managers might suggest switching rooms to one with working air con. I am quite unreasonable.

Room service taking 45 min is obviously fine! The fact that it took so long and was the wrong order is not something worth complaint, either. Of course not.

That sour cream wasn't included was trivial. I was crazy to assume that sour cream would be included in caviar service. Fine, I'm a nut. That I then mentioned it and asked for it from the restaurant manager who then ignored the whole thing is not a big deal. I obviously assume too much when a manager can't rectify as trivial a miss as that.

I'm crazy like that, expecting those things to not happen. Obviously, the service experience for others was perfectly fine. But I didn't have any problem with the parking fees--since those were obvious. I didn't complain about not having SNAs clear...as they did. I knew there was a restaurant...and there was one, as advertised.

I'm obviously crazy.

slidergirl

Private dining delivery within 30 minutes is a St. Regis Brand Standard. And, I believe (I can't remember since my new hotel doesn't offer room service) it is also a standard for Forbes. So a delivery outside of the 30 minutes is indeed a service failure. To have the incorrect order is just a "bonus."

Try either hotel on an employee rate! Great deals, but, you must take the room you are given and no whining. My last room at the Westin has pieces of baseboard missing and the plaster ceiling above the tub/shower we peeling off... For $89, I sucked it up. As there was no availability for employee rate up the hill at the St. Regis, I stayed. Employee rates will teach you to stay humble. Now that I travel again as a Gold, I am happy that I may ask for another room if the room I am given should be offmarket ;-)


For the posters who said they would use Uber: remember, Uber is now banned in Italy.

Oxon Flyer

Folks, please pardon the interruption, but the mods have temporarily closed this thread while we review the last flurry of postings.

/mod

yosithezet

Folks,
I have spent time deleting posts, editing posts to remove redacted content and the like. Let's be perfectly clear that getting personal with one another is explicitly against the FT Rules. Please familiarize yourselves with http://www.flyertalk.com/help/rules.php#gettingpersonal

If a member is belittling others, addressing other members rather than the content, it is not acceptable to address those points in the thread. USe the red icon on the left of the post and Report Bad Post. The only thing that responding in-thread does is escalate the situation.

Thank you for your understanding.

yosithezet
Co-Moderator, SPG Forum

ATLawyer

I apologize for my incorrect assumption earlier. I probably could/should have figured that out by reading other reviews of yours.

(last OT post in this thread, I promise).

zedthedeadpoet

Not even close. St. Regis Florence is on a different level. Exponentially better hotel than St. Regis Rome. St. Regis Florence may be the finest hotel i've ever stayed in....