We visited San Francisco with special plans to celebrate our wedding anniversary with high expectations from a luxury hotel. I have never stayed a St. Regis before but was well aware of its status and recognition for exceptional service. I used my Marriott Bonvoy points to book a room online knowing that with my Gold Elite would provide its almost guaranteed room upgrade.
What I didn't count on was for the Seattle Mariners to be staying at the hotel during the same weekend (which I realized later)...so upon checkin, when I asked the Front Desk for a King bed, to my surprise, there was none available. Disappointed, I asked that I be notified of the first availability, then broke the news to the wife.
The room was still an upgrade from Superior to a Deluxe. Very spacious with all the amenities including a large shower, bath, flat screen, cabinetry, business desk, and a bottle of champagne chilled on ice to help start our celebratory weekend. The beds were ultra plush, white linens crisp, and pillows engulfing and inviting, unfortunately it was a bit uncomfortable for 2 adults being just a Double. For a split second I debated whether to have His and Her own bed, but figured it probably wasn't a good idea.
The next day I decided to pay the front desk a visit after my workout (and grabbing Starbucks 2 blocks away :). The gym on the 5th floor has a great selection of cardio equipment for treadmills, ellipticals, bikes, to assisted and free weights, although I found the free weight area to be a bit tight. I spoke to Karen who told me the good news about a King being available one floor below ours. I had not gotten a good night sleep since the street noise could be heard from the 7th floor. We decided to take a look at the room, and I quickly turned it down since it was adjacent to another hotel's rooftop that looked like was under construction and had windows peering into the room. Disappointed once again, I had almost made up my mind about staying at another St. Regis in the future, when Karen told me she was going to talk to her manager to see what other options were available.
Less than a hour later, Karen was able to secure a room on the 14th floor with a King bed and a nice view. She even provided a personalized note apologizing for the inconvenience accompanied with some cookies and a box of chocolates. Thanks Karen!
The rest of the stay we were able to experience what differentiated the St. Regis from every other hotel. This included the exceptional butler service that attended to every little detail including turning down your room every night, getting your slippers and glass of water ready by your bedside, laying towels on the bathroom floor, dimming your lights, refilling your ice bucket, providing next days forecast, etc.
This also included the luxury car service (Tesla SUV, BMW) and professional drivers that was available upon request to any destination within 2 miles of the hotel which we used to get to our dinner reservations on time.
Would I stay here again? Yes. Would I recommend the St. Regis? Absolutely. Thanks for taking the extra effort to ensure that our special weekend getaway stayed extra special.