The St. Regis Le Morne Resort, Mauritius — Hotel in Le Morne

We stayed for 3 nights at the St Regis Mauritius hotel, having just come off of a solid stay at the Hilton Seychelles, and previously loving our stay at the St Regis Bali late last year. In Bali we were blown away by the caliber of service, and thought we'd enjoy the same service in Mauritius.

We had a mix of really wonderful moments at the St Regis Mauritius, and really disappointing moments, which nets out to us having enjoyed our stay, but not inclined to recommend this property to others, or to want to return ourselves.

The good: the resort is on an incredibly beautiful stretch of beach. We stayed in a Grand Villa, which afforded us spectacular views of the beach, rolling waves across the whole horizon, and gorgeous sunsets. The beach is huge and never too crowded. They have nice little waterfront chairs and umbrellas, with push-button towel/drink service.

The rooms are well-appointed in typical St Regis style. Our villa was spacious, had beautiful furnishings, tons of seating areas indoors and outdoors, and came with butler service which is always a treat (morning coffees, reservations, laundry services).

We had several really warm, friendly conversations with various staff members, including wait staff, the concierge, and our butlers. It’s clear that a good portion of the St Regis Mauritius staff are friendly and care about providing a positive experience to their guests.

The bad: we had a long list of negative experiences which left us with an overall poor impression.

Service in general was uneven. For every positive conversation we’d have with a waiter over dinner, we’d have a terrible experience with another waiter over breakfast.

Breakfast in general is a mess — too crowded, too hot in the serving area, and absolutely not a luxury experience. One morning they ran out of glasses, waters, juices. It’s not uncommon to see long lines forming at the food stations. We had 0 for 3 positive experiences at breakfast — needing to flag down waiters to follow up repeatedly on water, coffees, etc. The St Regis Mauritius is well-staffed — at times it felt like waiters outnumbered diners at the various restaurants. However, somehow this did not equate to good service.

At breakfast we would order coffee that would never come. At one lunch we asked for water 3 times from 3 different waiters, and it would never come. However, at that same lunch, 5 other staff members checked in on us at the end of the meal, “was everything okay?”, sometimes (comically) only 30 seconds apart from one another.

At the beach and at the pool, we were always trying to find clean towels, trying to find water, and trying to find service to order food and drinks. Despite dozens of staff members everywhere, we needed to repeatedly flag staff down for menus, or to follow up on orders. It got to the point that by the end of the trip, we were dreading dining on the property, due to the comically bad service. This could be easily solved by having one waiter dedicated to each table/section, rather than armies of roving waiters, none of whom are accountable for your service.

The housekeeping service was uneven as well. We’d have turndown service each evening, where they would fluff our pillows and get the bed ready, but would leave dirty dishes, uneaten food, and coffee mugs out in the villa. I had to report a clogged sink twice before it got fixed. This was a theme for our stay -- needing to ask multiple times to get things done. As an SPG Platinum, I asked for the local welcome gift upon checkin. We reminded the staff twice, including at checkout, and they weren't able to pull it together. We left without a Platinum gift. We just checked out, and had to call twice for a buggy to help us with our luggage and check us out, despite having one scheduled with the front desk.

At other St Regis properties (and at luxury hotels in general), staff typically adopt an attitude of “of course we can help you with that”. At this property, we were met several times with “we can’t do that” attitudes.

We wanted to borrow snorkel gear one morning, and they said we could only use the gear on the 3pm snorkel cruise. Disappointed, we came back at 3pm, and went on a short, disappointing cruise. The boat captain didn’t say a single word to us, nor were there simple things like towels or water. It would have been great to just borrow the equipment ourselves and snorkel for a few hours.

Another example is when we would call each morning for our complimentary coffee service. We would ask for an iced coffee drink, and each morning they would tell us it’s not possible. No further explanation. Each morning, we would then ask for a coffee, with some ice, and then they would begrudgingly say, “okay”. I even flagged this to the front office, they apologized profusely, yet I was met with the same response the next morning when I called to place my order.

We had some other bad luck that I don’t blame the hotel for. Our villa had one air conditioner not fully working, which meant at night it was a humid 74ºF. Not the end of the world.. We came home one night to a giant cockroach in our bed. It was nestled under the covers, and scurried under the bed when I pulled back the sheet to get into bed. After several calls and a 20 minute wait, 3 staff members came and helped us tear the room apart trying to find it, to no avail, and they moved us to another room. The next morning, we returned to our room, still tore up, despite the 3 staff members from the night before knowing we’d be returning to the room. I don't fault the hotel for the cockroach (we're in a tropical climate), but I do fault them for forcing me to call repeatedly to get some help (bug spray, help lifting the heavy bed), and also not cleaning up after the mess. I can’t imagine how they could have decided to leave the room like that, knowing we’d be returning the next day.

We wanted to fall in love with this property, but in the end it was a death by a thousand cuts of poor service. For the price of our stay, I expected a more positive, proactive, friendly, “can do” attitude from all staff members, not just management. I have high expectations when staying at St Regis, especially at this price point, and this time around we were disappointed. The management would benefit by better training of staff to be friendlier, more proactive, more helpful, and to have clearer accountability for when...

We were here for a short visit to Mauritius and were excited - starting with the friendly staff at the Beach and in the Restaurants.

We had an early check-in and knew we would only get the rooms after 3 p.m. The more happy we were when we heard at the front desk, that our rooms were already there for us. Rooms are very clean and pretty, although we had a room in the back, we saw the sea and the wonderful gardens! The restaurants: Lunch at the Boathouse at a pretty table for 5 right at the beach ist awesome, so is the service there. Dinner at the Floating market with buffet was worth it - had so friendly servers: Raul and Sharma made our evening unforgettable. We especially liked the Tom Yam Gung, the Sushi and the freshly cooked Chicken and Noodles. And the dessert buffet: fluffy cakes, delicious fruit crèmes - a big wow! Breakfast at Le Manoir was exciting: The fresh Croissants and Pain au Chocolat, or the beautifully arranged Egg Benedict, the juice Bar or the Buffet with cheese or meat - everything was so delicious! The choice of honey and marmelade (to mention Ananas and Banana) is a plus. The tables have been cleaned very fast, and yes, staff was very friendly all the time. We also had dinner at Le Manoir and have been treated like royals. We had a Mauritian dinner - and we loved every byte. Naresh made our evening a very special one: Thank you so much for taking so good care of us! Glad to have seen Raul again - he seems to work everywhere! Thanks to the Volleyball Team for being there for a Beachvolleyball tournament, for the Glassbottom boat trip (all complimentary) for bringing us water to our beach house, organizing a Coconut-drink for us, just for everything! Apéro @ the pool in Le Manoir was another highlight. Thanks to Rahul and team - we enjoyed so much. Simply Indian was nice too, the food good, but the athmosphere is not as special as in the other Restaurants. I can not say if it is because of the darkness or missing flowers or if it is just as it is at the very end of the building - it has no charm, although Frakash tryed to make our evening a special one too! When he heard we had to leave the next morning too early, to get another breakfast buffet he marked our wishes for breakfast and on 5.15 next day we got served the most beautiful breakfast with fruit platter, croissants, juice and coffee. Thank you so much! We also took 2 afternoons of Massage - and felt very welcome at the Spa. One oriental Massage and one Ayurveda - both just so nice! At the evening before we left, we already closed our account so that there is nothing else to do in the morning. Wake-up call came at 5 am with a friendly voice and so we can say: From the start to the very end we felt so welcome and happy. Well the very end..... There is one or two issues to tell: I forgot to post our Postcards, I heard from the Hotelshop, we can post them at the Front desk. So I asked the Gentleman on our check-out day early, if he could sell me stamps for the 3 cards. As he did not know the price (he has told me twice that I would have to pay for this) he called someone and told me then, it would cost 300 Rupee. (Which is about 10 Dollar, for 3 stamps) What? So he incashed me these 300.- when I told him I've travelled a lot and never paid so much for a stamp, he just answered, that it is usual that someone would have to pay a surcharge at hotels. ??? I told him he'd better make sure the cards will arrive. After giving a lot of tip during all our stay, I would have appreciated to have a nice impression of the last minutes at the Hotel. Another issue with the Front desk or Reservation: 2 weeks before we arrived, I wrote an Email, that we would be 5 guests instead of 4. I asked, if it will still be all right with the Airport shuttle if we were 5 and if they could confirm. I got an answer that it would be all right with the shuttle and that I would have to confirm a 3rd guest. I confirmed a 5th guest and did call from Europe to Mauritius to make sure, they will add a 5th Person. well, the Solis company that was in charge for the shuttle did not know anything about a 5th person, so didn't the Front desk. On Check-in I needed to proove I got an Email from the St. Regis with a confirmation. So I had to send the Email I got from the Reservation department of the St. Regis to the Front Desk Agent of the St. Regis. I'd say: It's time for a communication workshop for Front desk and Reservation Agent. This is adressed to Nelly Hon Pin, Front Office Manager: We had a wonderful stay at the Hotel. All the issues we had was only with the Front Office. So, I hope, the Swiss Chocolate they got from us, have been a good gift for them. Next gift you should give them is the chance to get some...

We recently stayed at the JW Marriott and the hotel but most importantly the staff made it exceptional. The level of service was beyond what anyone could expect. We felt we didn’t need to think of anything because they thought of it for us. I can see how hard the resort has worked to build a team energy and atmosphere devoted to customer service. The staff quite clearly enjoy working within the hotel and this shows in their efforts to go above and beyond. The senior staff put a lot of energy into creating special events and catering for their guests but will also undertake the smallest of offerings to ensure their guests are comfortable. The restaurant, beach and front of house team put their names to their work and have a visible pride in their roles. The resort was impeccably maintained, the capacity was at 70% and the standards were still very high across all levels. Adjustments and tailoring to our needs were given, even when the request wasn’t straight forward. The resort went to a special effort to organise a meet and greet for the management team to meet the guests which made us feel even more welcome and settled. The kitchen team made the most delicious and special offering’s in the buffet and a la carte menu. From local home cooked food made into fine dining specialities and the more traditional buffet foods which were made with extra care. The speciality main courses and dessert choices were delivered to a high standard and the talent did not go unnoticed. Everyone wore a huge smile and they were very friendly, I remarked to my partner it felt like a family. I laughed with all of the staff and I enjoyed all of my interactions with them. In the morning we were greeted by the wonderful Bria, Lucinda and Manisha who were more than happy to seat us and look after us with a smile and cheerful approach. Shani was our evening waitress and made our evenings an absolutely pleasure. Ardarsh went the extra mile to ensure we had everything we needed and were comfortable, we were in very good hands with Ardarsh’s extensive hotelier education. Bala was always present to look after us. These members of the restaurant team worked very hard for us. On the beach Dylan was on hand to take care of the smallest detail, a keen photographer he offered to take some special photo’s which I will cherish forever in our home. He planned this meticulously with the sun and was very creative. He organised a very special coconut for me to have a picture with which is exactly what I wanted. He tended to our beach beds and we enjoyed all of our interactions with him. Brandon & Kervin were also part of the service on the beach and were very helpful. Tina in the spa was a joy to organise our appointments with and gave us fantastic service with a smile and care. Tina made sure my partner was comfortable during my massage appointment and that meant we both got to enjoy my appointment. I had a massage with Pravesh and it was life changing, he did a very unique Ayurvedic massage which was deep tissue and opened me up. The pressure was ideal to get into all the tension and stress my body was holding. I was able to fully switch off and afterwards I felt amazing. My partner who doesn’t usually enjoy a massage, Pravesh kindly gave him a 15 minute sample and it opened up the stress and tension in his shoulders and neck. To our butler Fabian, thank you so so much for being on hand whenever we needed you and ensuring our stay was exceptional. We didn’t need to think of anything as you were always one step ahead and organised things outside of the usual remit to make sure we were perfectly looked after. Your graceful and happy personality was an added bonus. We look forward to having you look after us on our next visit. The location of the hotel is on the most beautiful spot on the island, sheltered from the wind and long stretches of coral sands and turquoise waters. The rooms are very nicely decorated and they are large and roomy, huge bed and beautiful bed linen with a bath big enough for 2. The decor throughout the hotel...