My expectations wer raised very high. They came crashing down in a lousy awful stay.

Check In

We confirmed a check-in of 12 pm the day before through the SPG concierge. We got to the hotel at 12:20, and were told that we would have to wait until 3 pm to check in- no sooner. No apology offered. We then had to kill almost 3 hours- buying lunch and some other things in the boutique. We would have not arrived until 3 had we been told we couldn't check-in until then.

I was told we were "upgraded" to a deluxe room. I was hoping for a suite, given as the website advertises about 40 of them. But I know these things are hit and miss. I figured a deluxe room would have an ocean view, given that most rooms there allegedly have an ocean view. I asked about access to the Astor floor. I was told that they couldn't give it to us because it was not yet open. I now see that that was a lie.

Room

The room were were given was probably the WORST ROOM IN THE PROPERTY! I am not kidding. It was room 581. I was the first interior room in the south wing.

Not only did it have no semblance of an ocean view, it was also dark because it was in the interior elbow of the building.

Plus- it was right next to the main air conditioner for the building, which was so incredibly loud that you could hear it clearly in the room at times.

Plus- It was right next to the elevator lobby for the South wing, so we could hear everyone's converstaions while they waited for the elevator. Understand- Floor 5 is the lobby floor, and EVERYONE checking in and going to the south wing stops and chats there.

Plus- the room was- GET THIS- about 25 to 40 feet from the main restaraunbt balcony- not just that, but the balcony and window of the room faced this balcony, and YEP- EVERYONE ON THE BALCONY COULD SEE IN THE ROOM IF THE BLINDS WERE NOT CLOSED. This goes for all rooms ending in 81 or 79. AVOID THESE AT ALL COST. But 581 is most special, because not only can everyone see in from the restaraunt, but also, THERE IS AN OUTDOOR CORRIDOR, which is about 6 FEET FROM OUR BALCONY AND ROOM, which is used for the following purposes.

People walking their crying babies over there so as to not have their babies disturb other diners. But they disturnbed us.

People leaning over the edge of the balcony to talk and smoke.

Restaraunt employees running dishes back and forth to the dish cleaning area, whihc was right off of this outdoor corridor, which, as mentioned above was about 6 feet from our windows and balcony.

In so many words- THERE IS NO WAY TO OVERSTATE HOW MUCH THE LOCATION OF THE ROOM SUCKED! We could not use our balcony, which had no vioew anyway, and we had to have our blinds closed in our room at all times to avoid feeling like we were on Big Brother.

Service

The management's service is the worst I have ever experienced at any hotel ever.

At 3:30, I called SPG and spoke to Christy, and explained our situation. She was very nice and called the hotel and spoke to (I think) Henry, the Guest Services manager. She told me that he apoloigized and would see if they could put me in another room, and would call me in in the next five minutes. We waited 40 minutes, and no call came. We then called Christy again, and she sounded shocked that he hadn't called me back. I told her that we really wanted any other room in the hotel- didn't matter which one- and if they couldn't do it today, they could do it tomorrow. I told here that we were going to try to enjoy the day, and would be out of our room, but that he should leave me a message.

I come back at about 5:45. No message. I call Christy. She is stunned. She says she called him two other times, and left messages reminding him about my situation. No call back. So she tries him one more time, and gives up when he does not answer. She calls and asks to speak to the front desk manager, named Alberto, who tells her he'll be calling me in 5 minutes, and apologizes for Henry. I tell Christy I'll believe it when I see it. She tells me that she is leaving, in 15 minutes and gives me the name of another person in Salt Lake who she has briefed about the situation to call that evening if it is not resolved. We wait 45 minutes getting ready to go to dinner. No call.

We go to dinner (at the Ritz- I was so unhappy that there was no way I was spending another dime at the hotel until they got back to me). We get back around 9. No message from Alberto. I call the other concierge Christy refers me to, and she tellls me that I have to call COrporate Services- that they NEED TO KNOW that two managersa have lied to SPG about calling me back, and about the check-in issue and about the crappy room. So I speak to corporate services, and get a call back from them telling me that a manager will call me imminently. Finally, 10 minutes later, I indeed get a call from a woman whose name I cannot recall. She apologizes about the room, and says that she is going to personally inspect a room to see if we can move into it. She says "just give me a half hour" and I promise I will call you back.

We watch a movie. No call back. At 11:30, am VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY UNHAPPY.

SO I go the front desk and ask if they have figured out if we can move into another room. The clerk checks behind my view and comes back and says "No, this is the room you will will be in the entire stay."

"That's it?" I ask. The cleck offers to let me speak to a manager. I tell her - what's the use, and turn to go back to my room. But then I turn around, and ask to speak to the manager. I really needed to vent.

THE RESOLUTION-

Eventually Sandra came out to "handle me". I tell in excruciating detail all of my complaints, and she shaked her head, say I'm sorry 20 times, and tells me after she sees how royally pissed I am, (I never raised my voice, nor spoke with inappropriate language), that they "got hammered". Too many guests, not enough rooms, etc. She offers to comp my stay and invite us back for another weekend when they are more prepared. She promises that she'll check tomorrow morning to see if other rooms are ready and if she can switch me.

I go to bed.

She actually does call me the next morning, and say thaey will move me. We evetually get moved to a "Royal Suite"- very nice, but no view- but a thousand times more private.

She tells me she'lle be sending me a letter. I am under the impression I will get the equivalent of the award nights back. and another weekend fo my choice at the hotel in the future. If this is what I get, I'm satisfied, and I'll give them another shot.

The service at this hotel is hideous because they are so understaffed. We waited on the terrace at the bar in the lobby from 6 pm to 7:05 on Saturday. NOT ONCE DID A SERVER COME TO US. This is even after at 6:45, I told the hostess that we had been sitting for 45 minutes without service. Nobody ever came and we left.

I called later to let them know, but the phone rang 100 plus times withouit anyone answering.

The valet area was a disaster. We didn't have a car, but our cab told us he had to wait 20 minutes to get into the hotel.

The concierge, while friendly, is inept. We wanted to eat at Chianti, adn called around noon on Saturday, only to find they were fully committed for the entore evening. So we called the concierge. I told him that my mife is a vegetarian- no meat, no fish, and asked if he hd any area recommendations.

It took him 105 minutes to get back to us, but he had made us a a reservation at the Salt Creek Grille. We get there, and lo and behold- there is not ONE thing my wife can eat on the entree list. She had to eat soup and salad.

Beach club not open. I had called before I bought plane tickets to ensure it would be. They did have some beach attendants, though.

Fire alarms. All sorts. Including one at 7 am on Saturday. Good Morning!

Not only no butler service with clothes pressing as advertised on the website, but NO IRONS IN EITHER ROOM. When we called Saturday night, we were told that they may or may not be able to get one to us, because they were "running low on irons". Ummm....
They eventually did get us one, but it was warm- I presume they called another guest room and asked them if they were done with their iron.

The rooms were nice though, with very nice bathrooms. The Royal suite was very, very, nice, but not overwhelming. I would say it was about 800 sq. feet. It had a small bedroom, and a large living area, with one bathroom which was the same as the other room had. It was on the outside "elbow of the south wing and had a view of a nice courtyard and some consturction. While it wasn't an ocean view, it was WAY better than the other room. Much more private.

All in all, I would stay the heck away from this place. I would not use free nioghts there for the next month, at least. Service needs big time help. And management needs a kick in the you-know-what to learn how to treat guests.

If I get what I was promised I'll be satisfied. I mean, we would have left if we hadn't flown there. It was a miserable experience. Not a resort. I'll give them another chance, but only because they are comping me. But I'll wait six months, and hopefully by then, they'll have hired about 200 more employees.

Also- the level of security there was disconcerting. There were at all times, probably 10 guards in the lobby by the art.

Last time around, I used a Free Friday at the St. Regis L.A. I was incredibly impressed by both platinum recognition and the hotel and service.

No dice this time at the St. Regis Across the Highway From Monarch Beach. A disaster.

Here's my HOPEFULLY FINAL post-mortem.

Yesterday I called Corporate Services to add to my story items like the iron and the non-service at the restaraunt, and to ensure I got what was promised. They told me the hotel had told them that they would give me 1 free night at the property.

This compensation A) is not what I was promised, and B) is worthless to me- seeing as I live in Minnesota- I'm not flying to SoCal to spend 1 free night somewhere- particularly when I had such a thoroughly awful stay the last time. The hotel clearly did this thinking I would stay there more than one night, and provide additional revenue, or not bother coming back. The woman I spoke with at corporate services agreed.

Corporate services was wonderful- this is the first (and hopefully last) time I have resorted to contacting them, and I couldn't have been more impressed. The person who helped me was incredibly apologetic. The upshot is that I got a choice of 2 free nights at the property, or the equivalent number of points. Given the above experience- which do you think I chose?

Anyway, she also gave me 5000 points as a goodwill gesture. I told her it was completely unneccesary, but she insisted. I was serious, too. This 5000 came from Starwood, and not the hotel- and there is no way Starwood should pay anything for the hotel's hideous service. She was also incredibly apologetic about this weekend.

A few other things I got from corporate services.

I was not the only person to complain mightily about room 581. My guess is that they have probably only checked two people into that room, and both have been miserable. She was told that they are considering changing that from a guest room to an office. That's a good thing, because putting any guest, particularly a platinum member in that room is inexcusable.

She didn't actually get to speak to the GM who she called. She spoke to his "executive assistant" who relayed the communication to and from him.

What does it say about a hotel whose GM won't bother to get on the phone him or herself to talk with someone from corporate services?

She was told that the hotel had scores of other complaints this weekend about long waits for service, fire alarm tests, irons, and other things, and that they were going to have a meeting to discuss it. This is a good thing because the hotel and all its revenue-generating businesses were very busy this weekend. That last thing they should do is look at the books alone and think it was a success. it wasn't. First impressions are important, and they created a lot of bad ones.

A few other things about the property.

1) I found most of the "service employees" -ie. bellmen, wait service, etc., incredibly friendly and helpful- there just weren't nearly enough of them. Management is responsible for hiring enough people, and they did not do so. And dealing with management... well....

The rooms were very nice, with great bathrooms. But oher than that- and I'm being serious- a normal guestroom is not really any larger or nicely furnished than a nice Westin or W. The bathroom is much nicer, though.

I think that fewer than 50% of this hotel's rooms have ocean views, just by looking at the layout.

The beach is nice, but far away. We walked, and it's probably about 3/4 of a mile downhill through the golf course. There was a golf cart to shuttle people up and down. We took it up one time, and it took about 10 minutes. It's a long way. The resort is NOT on the beach. Make no mistake about it.

SPG and Starwood corporate made it right.Not the hotel. The hotel had numerous chances to make it right, and management blew each and every single one of them.

This does not bode well for the hotel.

I would not spend money, nor a Free Friday at this property until I hear better stories. I doubt you will for some time.

My prediction is that this property will not get its predicted 5 star rating. That is a joke. Nothing like what I went through this weekend would EVER happen at a Ritz Carlton- even with no status.

I also think that if they keep this up, they will lose a LOT of money. Starwood doesn't own this place, and it's doing a real disservice to SPG and the St. Regis brand. I can't imagine if they keep this up they will be allowed to keep the St. Regis name. It clearly cost a lot to build this place, but even if all things were operating perfectly, how can they expect to compete with the RC, given their major location disadvantage? The rooms are not so nice as to give them a major advantage, and the views from many of the rooms are non-existant, the tennis courts are across the street, and public areas are not nearly as grand as imagined.

The property capped it by not giving me what was promised. What I got was actually fine with me, because I wasn't exactly waiting with baited breath to go back.