Full disclosure: This experience was sponsored in conjunction with the SPG Stars program I’m participating in, courtesy of the Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express. They gave me 70,000 Starpoints for this experience, which I redeemed for a stay at the St. Regis Mexico City.
The Amex Stars Holiday Trip
For the past several years I’ve been participating in the SPG Stars program, which has taken me to some pretty awesome places. I love the SPG Amex Credit Card, and it’s one of the cards I’ve had in my wallet for the longest amount of time. It was one of the very first cards I applied for when I was 18, and I’ve had it ever since.
This year, in conjunction with my participation in the SPG Amex Holiday Challenge, I received 70,000 Starpoints to redeem for a winter getaway at a SPG hotel or resort in North America. Now, when most people think “winter getaway” they’re probably thinking about snow, but personally I’m more of a fan of warm weather.
Over the years I’ve stayed at many of the best Starwood properties in North America using points, including the St. Regis Deer Valley, St. Regis Aspen, St. Regis New York, St. Regis Bal Harbour, and St. Regis San Francisco, just to name a few.
I wanted to visit a hotel I hadn’t previously visited, and one that is a great use of Starpoints, and I decided to book the St. Regis Mexico City:
- While I transit Mexico City Airport with some frequency, it has been over a decade since I’ve visited the city, and I’ve heard nothing but great things about it (in particular the food)
- I’ve heard good things about the St. Regis, and during my travel dates and the peak holiday season, it was a great use of Starpoints
Why I love Starpoints & the SPG Amex
My philosophy when it comes to points has long been to earn and burn. However, Starpoints are an exception, as it’s one of the points currencies I actively hoard. That’s because the points are so valuable and versatile, and I always try to redeem points that I think are ripe for devaluation first.
At a minimum, Starpoints can be converted into airline miles at a 1:1 ratio, with a 5,000 point bonus for every 20,000 points transferred. I value my favorite mileage currencies at ~1.8 cents each, so factoring in the 25% transfer bonus I need to get at least ~2.3 cents per Starpoint to feel good about my hotel redemptions. Fortunately there are still lots of situations where redeeming points for hotel stays represents a great value.
The SPG Amex comes with a suite of useful benefits, including:
- No foreign transaction fees
- Receive free premium in-room internet access at Marriott and Starwood hotels
- Receive an anniversary free night certificate every year that can be redeemed at a property that retails for up to 35,000 points per night
- Receive complimentary Silver status, and receive Gold status when you spend $30,000 on the card in a calendar year ($35,000 as of 2019)
- Starting in 2019, receive 15 elite qualifying nights towards status annually
Redeeming Starpoints at the St. Regis Mexico City
The St. Regis Mexico City is a Category 6 property, so a rewards night costs 20,000 Starpoints per night. Rates at this hotel vary wildly, though over our dates rates were over $500 per night including taxes and fees, so I consider that to be a good use of points. One of the best ways to maximize Starpoints is to redeem during peak travel periods, since typically the number of points required for a stay is fixed as long as a standard room is available, and doesn’t vary in the same way that room rates would.
St. Regis Mexico City Review
The St. Regis Mexico City is located in the ritzy Polanco area of Mexico City, which is beautiful, with all kinds of great restaurants and bars, modern high rises, and lots of culture.
St. Regis Mexico City exterior
We arrived into Mexico City on a redeye and beat rush hour, so the drive to the hotel took only about 40 minutes (Mexico City traffic can be awful). Upon arrival we were greeted by the bellman and escorted to the lobby. The hotel has a first floor lower level lobby, though the main lobby is located on the third floor. The entire hotel was decked out with Christmas decorations.
St. Regis Mexico City lower level lobby
St. Regis Mexico City elevators
On the third floor is the hotel’s cozy lobby. As you exit the elevator the restaurant and bar are to the right, while reception and the (separate) guest room elevators are to the left.
St. Regis Mexico City lobby
We were promptly helped at reception, where a friendly front desk agent had us checked in within a few minutes. As an SPG Platinum Elite member I was informed they were fully booked for the night so didn’t have any suite upgrades available, though we had been upgraded to a Grand Deluxe room. Furthermore, I selected breakfast as my Platinum amenity in lieu of 500 Starpoints.
St. Regis Mexico City reception
The cutest part of the lobby was that they had an area decorated for the holidays with all kinds of candy and nutcrackers, and they had stairs leading up to it, so that kids could easily reach it. Adorable!
St. Regis Mexico City reception
The elevators to the guest rooms were just around the corner. This hotel has the types of elevators where you type in your floor number and scan your card, and then it tells you which elevator to use.
St. Regis Mexico City guest room elevators
Our room was located on the ninth floor, #920.
St. Regis Mexico City hallway
St. Regis Mexico City room exterior
As you can see based on the floorplan, the hotel is in a circular shape.
St. Regis Mexico City floorplan
The room featured a long entryway with the bathroom to the left.
St. Regis Mexico City Grand Deluxe Room
That led into the rest of the room, which was a very good size. I appreciate that. St. Regis properties pretty consistently have large rooms, and once you get into the Grand Deluxe category (which is a pretty common upgrade), the rooms almost feel like junior suites, given that they have a seating area.
The room featured a comfortable king size bed.
St. Regis Mexico City Grand Deluxe Room
St. Regis Mexico City Grand Deluxe Room
I love the quality of the St. Regis mattress and bedding.
St. Regis Mexico City Grand Deluxe Room bed
Next to the bed was a chair with a side table, which had a plate of fruit as a welcome amenity.
St. Regis Mexico City Grand Deluxe Room
Then across from that was a comfortable “L” shaped couch, where I spent quite a bit of time working. My awesome Starwood Ambassador left me a welcome amenity of water (still and sparkling) as well as nuts and snack mix.
St. Regis Mexico City Grand Deluxe Room living area
Next to the couch was the desk immediately below the wall-mounted TV.
St. Regis Mexico City Grand Deluxe Room TV & desk
St. Regis Mexico City Grand Deluxe Room TV & desk
This is also where the minibar and Nespresso machine were located.
St. Regis Mexico City Grand Deluxe Room minibar
St. Regis Mexico City Grand Deluxe Room Nespresso machine
The room had great views beyond Paseo de la Reforma, and I imagine the views get even better on higher floors.
St. Regis Mexico City Grand Deluxe Room view
The bathroom was back near the entrance, and featured double sinks (which is always an unexpected treat in a non-suite), a partitioned off toilet, and a separate area with the shower and bathtub.
St. Regis Mexico City Grand Deluxe Room bathroom
St. Regis Mexico City Grand Deluxe Room toilet
The shower had both a rainforest showerhead and a handheld one.
St. Regis Mexico City Grand Deluxe Room shower
Meanwhile I found the bathtub to be quite claustrophobic, as it was surrounded by walls on all sides in the area where you’d sit down.
St. Regis Mexico City Grand Deluxe Room bathtub
The room featured Remede toiletries, which can be found at many St. Regis properties, and which I’m a big fan of.
St. Regis Mexico City Grand Deluxe Room toiletries
Overall I thought the room was nice and spacious. I’ve seen St. Regis properties with more over the top decor and I imagine at some point this hotel will be refreshed. For the most part everything in the room was in working order, though I was a bit surprised that the curtains and weren’t automated, and that there wasn’t a high-tech bedside control for many of the room’s functions. This is of course a total first world problem, but just about every St. Regis property I’ve stayed at has automated blinds, etc., while this one doesn’t. Furthermore, the blinds were broken and dangling from the ceilings on both sides, so that the room didn’t get fully dark.
To the hotel’s credit, when we were brought to our room upon check-in the butler noticed this right away and asked if it was okay if they sent someone to fix it. We were tired and just wanted to sleep and said it was alright, though you’d think that’s something housekeeping would have picked up on.
The Wi-Fi in the room was fast, and is free for all SPG members. Starwood Preferred Guest elite members as well as those with the SPG Amex Credit Card receive complimentary premium intrnet access.
In terms of the hotel’s other features, the King Cole Bar had complimentary coffee & pastries every morning. I always appreciate when a hotel offers complimentary coffee in the morning, as I like to have a cup of coffee while waking up and working, before actually going to breakfast.
St. Regis Mexico City coffee & pastries
Then breakfast was served in Diana Restaurant from 6:30AM until 11AM. The restaurant feels grand and typical of St. Regis, and the service was excellent.
St. Regis Mexico City Diana Restaurant
In addition to a large buffet, there was also an a la carte menu. Thanks to my SPG Platinum Elite status we had access to the buffet, and could also each order one thing off the menu.
The menu read as follows:
The buffet itself was more than sufficient, with freshly squeezed juice, all kinds of bread, pastries, cold cuts, cheese, fresh fruit, cereal, and several hot options as well, including waffles, scrambled eggs, quiche, sausage, etc.
St. Regis Mexico City breakfast buffet
St. Regis Mexico City breakfast buffet
St. Regis Mexico City breakfast buffet
St. Regis Mexico City breakfast buffet
St. Regis Mexico City breakfast buffet
St. Regis Mexico City breakfast buffet
St. Regis Mexico City breakfast buffet
St. Regis Mexico City breakfast buffet
St. Regis Mexico City breakfast buffet
St. Regis Mexico City breakfast buffet
St. Regis Mexico City breakfast buffet
St. Regis Mexico City breakfast buffet
St. Regis Mexico City breakfast buffet
St. Regis Mexico City breakfast buffet
The highlight, however, were the Mexican specialties on the menu. I had the mole and plantain omelet both mornings, which was the best omelet I’ve ever had.
St. Regis Mexico City breakfast — mole and plantain omelet
Ford enjoyed the cazuela eggs the first morning, and had the mole and plantail omelet the second morning, per my recommendation.
St. Regis Mexico City breakfast — cazuela eggs
In terms of the hotel’s other features, the gym, pool, and spa were all located on the 15th floor. The pool was on the small side, though beautiful, with great views over the city. There were also a couple of hot tubs.
St. Regis Mexico City pool
St. Regis Mexico City pool
St. Regis Mexico City pool
The gym was right next to the pool, and consisted of two different areas — to the left was the cardio area , and to the right was the weights area.
St. Regis Mexico City gym
St. Regis Mexico City gym
Mexico City has incredible restaurants, so we spent most of our two days outside of the hotel, exploring and eating. The only other thing we did in the hotel was visit the King Cole Bar one night. Almost all St. Regis properties have King Cole bars. It’s an iconic bar, and the bloody mary was supposedly even invented at the King Cole Bar at the St. Regis New York.
St. Regis Mexico City King Cole Bar
While the inside of the bar had the typical classic King Cole Bar decor, the bar also had a beautiful patio outside which felt untraditional for St. Regis, but which I loved. It had a live DJ and the first night we couldn’t even get a table there, that’s how busy it was.
St. Regis Mexico City King Cole Bar
St. Regis Mexico City King Cole Bar
St. Regis Mexico City bottom line
The St. Regis Mexico City was a great base from which to explore Mexico City. The hotel has a great location, is nicely designed, has large guest rooms, and has an excellent breakfast and public facilities. Furthermore, over our dates it was a great use of Starpoints, given how expensive the rates were.
I’d definitely recommend this hotel, though I’d note that there are also several other great Starwood hotels in Mexico City. For example, earlier this year Tiffany reviewed Las Alcobas, which is in a similar area, and is a Category 6 property. It’s has just a couple of dozen rooms and a cool design, so it’s a great alternative for someone looking for a more intimate experience.
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