The St. Regis — Hotel in Mexico City

I booked my wife and I a long weekend stay at this hotel and I was very excited for our Valentine weekend after reading so many great reviews and description of the hotel. I reserved the Executive Suite. We've had many bad experiences before and didn't want to get there and get stuck with a room that we weren't happy with so I decided to call the hotel a few days earlier to make sure our stay would be a pleasant one. Imagine my surprise when the front desk tells me that they cannot guarantee what type of room I'll be staying in and the Executive Suite doesn't have the view the website states it does; "Twenty spacious Executive Suites occupy welcoming, triangle-shaped corner locations with breathtaking Paseo de la Reforma views". They got me in touch with Laura Villalobos, their Associate Director of Sales and she "offered" us their "best room" #1204 for our stay. She also said we would be getting complimentary breakfast for 2 at the Diana Restaurant which the reservation already came with and a VIP welcome amenity which is the free champagne all guests receive upon arrival. She asked us when our arrival time/date were. I sent her an e-mail to let her know I was not completely happy with the room she had given us and I requested a higher level. Being that I am notifying her days in advance I didn't think this would be an issue but we did not receive a response from her.

When we arrived to the hotel they gave us room #1204 meaning Ms. Villalobos completely ignored my request besides not answering my e-mail. The bell boy took us to our room and from the minute we entered, the room was VERY small. We walked through the hallway which passed the beautiful spacious bathroom to end at a fork where the living room area was at the left and the bedroom on the right. both extremely small. Let me just say, the view from the room was breathtaking in the sense that it angered me so much I couldn't breathe. Here I am trying to impress my wife and the only thing we see as we look out is the dirty roof of the building next door. I asked our butler to get Ms. Villalobos or someone that could help us and said we will not unpack until we get moved to a better room. As we waited we noticed the room was filthy. There were cobwebs underneath the night table next to the bed, the sheets had a hole in it and the comforter was dirty, there were stains on the pillows on the sofa and scuffs on the walls... not at all what I would expect from St. Regis. Our phone rings and it was our butler saying Ms. Villalobos was too busy but that they couldn't do anything since they were completely booked. I called my credit card company to demand a cancellation since we were obviously not being given what was promised on the false advertising of their website. They too said nothing could be done. I proceeded to go downstairs and tell the front desk to get us another room and the lady told me I would have to wait 3-4 hours to see if a room could become available if not the next day. I told her I was not moving from there until they got me a room... Since they did not want a scene, they immediately got us an uprade (which we mentioned to them that was not at all what we were requesting, a better view would've been sufficient for us). We didn't want to stare out at a dirty roof... They took me to see our new room in #1201 (same floor way better view and WAY better floor plan). I accepted the room and went to get my wife and our things.

I feel that waiting until I expressed my anger to get what the website promises is unacceptable. If you do not have the "breathtaking Paseo de La Reforma views" don't lie on your website about it. I was told by 3 different St. Regis employees that NO EXECUTIVE SUITES have that view. Why lie? To trick people into booking those rooms?

After we were moved to the upgraded room, everything else went somewhat smooth. Overall I wasn't impressed by their customer service downstairs or by management. Our butlers were amazing so they are the only reason I am giving three stars instead of 2.

Don't know if I would stay...

This hotel is in Juárez. We asked for early check in days in advance and we understand this can’t be accommodated all the time but it was literally only an hour earlier. The front declined our payment on an unlimited Amex several times before she was told it was her card reader but only after she embarrassed us. It seemed like she had a bunch of new reservations that day and our suite had been bumped around. We went to the suite, it was decent. The staff was nice they tried to keep us entertained before as we waited. The butler “Armando” whose name is not Armando but his tag says so, spoke to us with his hand on the door and in the hallway with a 40 second introduction and all I remember is that I could give him two pieces a clothing a day. He seemed to be in a hurry and had somewhere to go. Later we asked for items like a roll away bed and to help fix the tv that didn’t work in the bedroom. Hours passed. So many hours that my son slept in the main bed at that point and we called them to cancel the TV because it was past 10:30 pm. This kept happening so we asked them if we are supposed to give the butler services 4 hours per job? We never really saw “Armando” again except for restaurant recommendations but that also took a few hours. We met many other butlers, they were great. The following day we went to the spa to have our hair done and management wanted to comp this because of all the issues and that was nice. It was the first time I even realized there was a spa and gym and that we had full access to that. Would have been nice to nice prior to a blow out, but ok. Later that day we visited the restaurant Animal located in the St Regis. At first we kept being ignored, we would ask for things and as we were speaking they kept walking away. They did this so much we had to ask the manager to assign an actual waiter. We spend around $1000 in this restaurant and the next day my son and I had food poisoning. Eventually we called the Dr and got meds and the biggest concern the hotel had was the costs of services. Kept drilling the price of meds and the extra charge for the Dr. The Dr was amazing and helped so much. I asked to extend my room because obviously we couldn’t move. They said no, we had to downgrade our room and our level. Keep in mind, this is not a quiet hotel. They have excessive traffic and on the 10th floor you can hear it all and people honk their horns for hours. Oh, our room had a lovely view of the construction and the construction workers each day. I already knew I had a bad room but I was staying positive. I begged to not move rooms because we were just so sick and had now spent everyday in the hotel sick and missed every single business meeting. They said they had no rooms. But then gave options on the downgraded one and not just a downgrade a lower level room for even more outside noise. I kept wondering what did I do wrong? I booked through St Regis, I paid with Amex Platinum, the only advice I would give here is to book through Amex travel so that you could leave reviews and demand the perks. Here’s what happened! They had a bunch of new people come in and they could raise their pricing. They didn’t care about the people who had pre booked prior.They were more concerned for new guest and not the ones they had. I called a manager his name was ALEJANDRO and I went piece by piece of my experience and I told him, why do you keep treating us like second class? I am here to invest in Mexico City, I own factories around the world, perhaps you haven’t had many women in this position but take the moment to look up who we are. He said I was important but then when on for 70% of the conversation on how important this family was that was coming and they needed the room. When I stopped him from talking about it and refocus on me he said they would have a meeting and he would call me back. He didn’t. When I called him he suddenly had a suite for double the price and in a better location but only one day. We asked for butler to come up to be tipped, “Armando” finally appears...

My experience of this stay was absolutely amazing, particularly because of the generosity and thoughtfulness from the staff at the St Regis! As soon as we arrived, everyone we came across was professional, yet warm and willing to extend their welcome with a little conversation, making you feel that they're happy to have you.||Upon learning that we're celebrating a birthday the night before via email from the guest service, the hotel did not hesitate to make sure we are really celebrating. It was a truly pleasant surprise when we saw the gifts they left in our room. There was a nice cake and a written message, but I have never had balloons! Not to mention a bottle of sparkling wine to go with the delicious chocolate cake. Our butler soon arrived with another pour of Cava, and a gift for a complimentary spa service at the upper floor of the hotel. We could not be happier with this level of service, and they did make us feel very special!||The location of the hotel is great, right on Paseo de la Reforma, the big treelined avenue, friendly for pedestrians, looks like half street half park. We walked a lot on it, often seeing people taking a break on the bench, or checking out street vendors that set up temporary shops there. For transportation, there is the 7 bus across the street from the hotel, taking you directly to Centro. Or walk 6-8 minutes to the Metro. You can use the same metro card for both, and one metro card can be shared with multiple people, very convenient. ||If you're there on a Sunday, don't miss out biking on Paseo de la Reforma right in front of the hotel. They close the entire avenue for people every Sunday. It's impressive to see the organization of this even for the mass amount of people having such a great time. Bring your passport to rent a free bike, where you can find rental booths along the avenue. There was one 2 minutes from the hotel. Go early or prepare for the long wait as you would have to wait for others to return the bikes so they become available to you. The condition of the bikes weren't great but good on the organization to provide it for free for everyone to enjoy. There is also HSBC docked bikes all around the city available for you to rent. But they stopped taking foreign credit card for payment on the phone app that you have to download and register. We could not use it.||Our reservation was upgraded to a Grand King room. This hotel was build a while ago and the interior design feels mature and traditional. The beddings are comfortable, plenty of seating, everything you need is available. I think best to just let my photos show you.||The spa is on the 15th floor. I was greeted with yet another very friendly staff, helping me choose a service. Then another staff took care of me and showed me around the waiting room and the changing room, and brought me a drink of my choice. The spa is clean and looks relaxing, with a steam room, changing rooms and showers. They provide lockers with a robe, slippers and a bag of personal amenities. The facial I chose was great. The entire experience was so relaxing. The price wasn't bad for a spa at a luxury hotel. I would say it's 30-40% less than at a luxury hotel in Las Vegas.||When it was time to check out, the front desk kindly ask how my stay was, I just burst out complimenting on the amazing service and the surprised we received. We arrived happy and left even happier. It was a...