For that money, I certainly hope your next posts about the stay will get a lot better.

also I am surprised sabrage would have much of a purchase in that kind of an establishment... but what do I know, maybe the Miami clientele just be like that.

The next parts are coming soon, I don't want to ruin the suspense.
The ritual takes place at all St. Regis, so it seems to be gaining traction. It was also practiced on Anguilla in Belmond, but I didn't see it there.

That's surprising. Sabrage is something I've been doing on NYE parties in my early 20s, definitely not something I would expect at a luxury hotel, maybe on theme appropriate parties, definitely not as a "ritual" done nightly.

I think it should be pretty clear what I think of that. In fact, it seems to be quite popular, practically everywhere in my experience (OK, probably hardly in Saudi Arabia with champagne....).

I love your reports, and am anxiously awaiting further installments.

South Florida strikes me as an odd choice...I hope you made the best of it.

Nothing wrong with Miami... though personally I'd probably spend the one night and then drive down to the Keys or something. I'd spent there three days once and ran out of things to do (don't know how the fine dining scene is though)

edit: I remind myself Miami supposedly has some good modern art collections. (wasn't in place to visit them when I was there) Thinking back to how offerendums trip reports usually go, I would expect them also to show up.

Well, we arrived at 7pm and took off again at 10am. So de facto one would have had to stay in 3 hotels. In addition, I have never been in Miami before. And for a few days there is already something to see.

Let's get to the room. We had booked an Atlantic Ocean View Suite. From the layout, I probably would have liked the slightly smaller Imperial Suite even better, but it was not available.
The elevators at the St. Regis are quite modern, you request them with the key card. For us, elevator number 4 came regularly, which had a simple reason. To one side this elevator opens to the general hallway, on the other side to a small hallway with only 2 room doors. This was 2 Atlantic Suites, so one had a sort of private hallway.


The suite is stated with 133 sqm and it was indeed large.
Upon entering the suite, one stood directly in the living room, which had quite an unusual layout. The rather elongated room had a seating area in the front, a kitchenette in the middle with a nice but somewhat scratched dining table and another seating area with closet slightly separated in the back. The latter area probably serves to create a kind of second bedroom for children.








If the whole thing looks a little dark in the photos, it'll be fine. It was not particularly flooded with light. While I generally liked the design, it seemed a bit cool in nature. Maybe some pictures or flowers would have been good here.
The well-stocked fridge was completely chargeable.

In the back of the living room there was a small bathroom, which I always find very practical. Basically, the bathroom was full, in many hotels you would be happy about something like that.



One more thing should be mentioned at this point. In the living room was missing a kettle. We asked the maid and she immediately brought us a kettle very committed. When we asked for tea bags, she came back shortly after ashamed and explained that after consulting with her supervisor, these were chargeable. She was obviously embarrassed and put us 2 tea bags.

While one can only praise the maid, it is in my view an indictment of a hotel to charge $4000 per night for a suite (are peanuts, a normal person has to work for a very short time) and then also want to collect money for a few tea bags.
The bedroom was a bit smaller, but still of good size. I also liked the furnishings, especially the mirror mosaic behind the bed.


Now with the bathroom we have a little problem. When I took my photos on the night of arrival, I had stupidly deactivated the autofocus by mistake (it likes to adjust itself sometimes). So the photos are crap, after that I have not photographed the bathroom. Nevertheless, I show the photos, because I think they are better than nothing. First you went into a large closet space, which I found absolutely exemplary. Finally enough space for our things.


The bathroom was also large with 2 sinks, makeup area, separate toilet (no bidet) and very large shower with 2 shower heads.





The suite had 2 balconies, the view was of the Atlantic Ocean. I personally found the view quite nice, but nothing I would pay anything for.




The suite was without question of good size and also nice. However, I think with a little more accents like flowers and pictures, you could have done a little more here. But overall I was very satisfied.
Whether the suite is worth $4000 (OK, it was high season, at other times it is "cheaper" - $2500 or so), I think is easy to answer. The prices in Miami are just crazy and without any relation to reality. 2000 $ per night is in my view in any case not too little, even in high season!

OK, the room redeems itself, compared to the so far public areas.

So it's more like 2 days, 3 nights rather than 4 days, 3 nights, then. That makes more sense for Miami IMO. Though you do also have a stay at the back end of the trip.

But I mean, who am I to criticize. Main thing you enjoyed your trip (or at very least, planned as such)

Yes, another great report!

I lived in South Florida and try not to go back. I had to this past weekend for a meeting... I've been involved on the board of a non-profit (so no travel provided for board members but we sometimes get a room block for a discount, not necessarily somewhere convenient). Airfares, somewhat reasonable (I flew Spirit for $100 round trip and as an elite on them I get a free bag)... but hotels are out of control. The other side of the $4k/night St Regis is that even a mediocre-at-best really old Holiday Inn Express is near $250 a night that's 15 miles from the beach. I saw a Hampton Inn by the FLL airport for about $350 a night. Airports are just a disaster this time of year down there. I walk four terminals to the rental cars at FLL versus waiting up to 45 minutes for a shuttle. And MIA especially customs as our colleague here experienced is the entirety of why I first got Global Entry a decade ago. It saved me one three hour wait at MIA customs (back when CBP was saying not enough officers). On the plus side, you know it's all tourists/occasional travelers as when I left Sunday during the exodus, the security line was out onto the curb but precheck/Clear had zero wait (still a bottleneck as a rent-a-guard was forcing everybody of any airline to put a bag in a jetBlue sizer box).

It were 3 full days, but the first day was reserved for relaxation after the long flight. Overall we had 5 full days in Miami which would have been fine for us. With the relaxation day and a second day we also relaxed because we didn't feel very well, it was even a little tight.

Thanks for the TR. I find most US hotels that are meant to be high end jaded with old fixtures and fittings. From the elevators to the bathrooms they seem to be built in the 1980s. Also find they are way over priced.

Often I agree. The St. Regis is relatively new, it was built in 2012.

Indeed, prices are all over the market crazy.