Feb 6

Feb 6 So, about that - St Regis New York

The St Regis New York is one of New York’s oldest famous hotels, having been in operation since 1904. With that comes a long history, showcased in it’s own Wikipedia article, or the fact that it’s owners are now the Qatar Investment Authority. As the Flagship of one of Marriott International’s Flagship brand, I had high hopes going into the hotel: unfortunately, those expectations were to the least note met. While the hotel is good, it must be compared to other high end chain flagship properties, such as the Waldorf Astoria New York, Park Hyatt New York, and this is where it falls flat.

Location

The location is perfect, given that a lot of New York city has developed around it.

It’s midtown location make it a few blocks away from New York’s major attractions, whether its Central Park to the north, Grand Central to the South and great shopping on Fifth avenue right by your doorstep. There also is a Luxury House Car that can drop you off within 10 blocks, although one should reserve it early. And given New York, there is a Halal cart right outside!

Note that there are renovations going on in the hotel right now, as well as on the street outside, although we didn’t hear any noise from our 11th floor room.

The entrance however, is extremely grand, exuding exclusivity and wealth. Below is it from other angles. Note there is another entrance for the King Cole Bar, where the original Bloody Mary was supposed to have been invented. The St Regis New York version is called the Red Snapper, and each St Regis worldwide has it’s own take on the drink.

Check In

This being New York, the hotel lobby itself was much smaller than I expected, but still impressive: I’m told this is called the “Beaux-Arts” style of architecture.

The St Regis New York definitely infuses it’s logo into the building, and you can see it for example on the luggage carts.

Check in was a funny mixture between classic, golden tables and Dell monitors. It was done quickly and efficiently, and the front desk kindly upgraded us (due to Titanium status) to a Guest room, 1 King to a Grand Luxe, 2 Double. Note the main difference between the room room is that the former is 430 sqft, and the other is 490 sqft.

Because we were staying on a corporate rate, no destination fee was charged. However, if one is staying for leisure, there is a $50 per day destination fee: this includes $50 in dining, $75 in dry cleaning, $50 in hair salon (you can use it for hair products).

I personally liked this style (at least, for an occasional, temporary hotel stay), but my friend personally prefers a more subtle one. Note that the elevators a bit small, but again this is New York City.

The hallway was well light, and quite gorgeous.

Room

We were upgraded from a Guest room, 1 King to a Grand Luxe, 2 Double, and given these sleek room cards…which opened a hefty room 1128 door.

The room itself was 490 sq ft, which was comparable to some of the more classic luxury properties like the Ritz Carlton New York. Upon entering, one is greeted by a massive washroom.

I do find it funny at the amenities they provided were the same ones at the Ritz Carlton Bal Habour.

The washroom was definitely in the 21st century, with a remote, modern amenities, scale. The rest of the room was, purposefully decorated in a more early 20th century vibe.

I do appreciate the massive St Regis air duct!

What I don’t appreciate is the non-existent welcome gift. This may be because of the corporate rate, but it can’t hurt for a hotel room that retails for $1,100 a night ($700 on the Corp rate) to at least pretend to make it personable.

Besides the two beds, the room was taken up by a ornamental table (which we tried to make PPTs on), a nightstand and a rather small, sad TV.

The St Regis has gone into the modern age with QR codes: https://qrcodes.pro/7RVr7I. This might be the time to mention that whilst the selection of vast, from personal items to food delivery, it all comes at St Regis prices plus a 20% administrative fee (22% and $8 for in room dining) PLUS tips if you’re feeling willing. With New York at your doorstep, it might be better just to go outside and eat.

The other half of the room was the two queen beds, which looked and felt like it belonged in a 5 star hotel.

The best part of the room was the chandelier, although I always get scared that the thing might fall.

And, that’s it! To be honest, while this is a great room, for the price it’s not worth it, especially given how little time you should be spending in it.

Amenities

This is where the St. Regis New York lacks. It lacks, for starters, a spa and a pool. Other luxury hotels, such as the Park Hyatt New York, do! The hotel does have a gym on the 20th floor, which again for such a luxurious hotel was pretty bad. The gym at the Marriott Marquis, where I had visited earlier, better.

It was a bit eerie to see no one using it, but you shouldn’t come to the St Regis for a workout!

There hotel also had a hair salon in the basement, as well as a few meeting rooms.

There were items in the display, but they were at St Regis prices. One other thing of note is the staircases at the St Regis were quite grand, and reminded me of an earlier, gilded age.

This is very much a city hotel, and so don’t expect that many amenities.

Breakfast

Unfortunately, both of us left early, and didn’t get breakfast. Note the St Regis New York has transitioned to a continental breakfast, which means a selection of ~10 pastries, drinks and fruit. Click the reviews to see how people feel about this change.

Service

Honestly, the service was actually the disappointment. We appreciated the upgrade to check in, but in the lobby it seems like quite a few people were just…standing around? In addition, when we realized there were not slippers in the room, we had to call twice for them to be delivered. At the Ritz Carlton Bal Harbor, that same action took 5 minutes. In addition, the “Butler” for our room never introduced themselves, and no one proactively chose to interact with us. As one reviewer said “St Regis is overlooking the small things that made me feel special” - service felt more like a Marriott or Sheraton.

Overall

There’s no denying the St Regis New York has a storied history, and with that comes a hotel that looks as good as the Gilded Age in which it was created in. The decor, feeling, vibes, all excluded a sense of grandeur. That was cheapened by A. The pretty terrible breakfast / food options and B. A lack of good service. At $1,100 a night, you would be expecting more, especially since there are a few other nearby Marriott properties at $400-500 a night that I am sure provide nice beds too. People have reported slightly better stays when informing the hotel of a special event, so perhaps that might help. Until then, I would tempter my expectations for this Grande Dame of New York.