Review: St. Regis Bal Harbour

Although it looks like a great hotel , its hard to take this review unbaised since it was paid by amex thru their program.

All I can say is WOW indeed!

The fact that this property is on the "eligible list" for Cat 7 Cash+Pts stays may mean that it's time to plan a trip to Miami!

Lucky,

Just out of curiosity: did the hotel know that you were going to be doing a write up of them ahead of time?

I'd rather they had just conducted a good facelift of the Sheraton Bal Harbour. That pool area was great. The Miami Beach area is missing a hotel at the Sheraton's old price point where you could just go and unwind. Now for the price the St. Regis charges I'd rather just stay down at the Delano, Setai or Ritz.

Lovely photos and I enjoyed reading your review. It looks like a lovely property with fine amenities.

This was the dealbreaker for my wife and my recent visit to Miami Beach:

"The St. Regis Bal Harbour Resort, Miami Beach is located on the edge of the Atlantic just 15 minutes north of South Beach." It is way too far north...

Lucky - why did you have to negotiate the room upgrade / worry about paying for breakfast (Continental or Full)? Didn't they comp you everything for your stay?

Thanks for your clear disclosure... Even taking potential bias in to account, the property itself looks impressive.

Thanks for the review, Ben. Is this your best SPG upgrade/stay?

Also, do you think it's worth 30K SPG pts? That is a lot...like their best AMEX CC offer, or 35K AA miles.

My gf likes the Bal Harbour shops, but still...

Is that a hot pockets that they served you for lunch, looks like it came from a vending machine!

Lucky, if you had to pay your way for this stay, either points, cash, or a combination of both, would you stay here again?

Lucky Lucky. Very nice, indeed. Great report and pics. I agree with the others about the location--certainly not prime for anything "fun" (South Beach) or interesting. Many of the overseas guests probably don't realize that, however.

I like to self park my car and do not like hotels that have no self park option. I do not like parking valets to drive my car in a reckless manner (too fast, etc).

I would rather park on a nearby street and save the excess valet fee. It may not be feasible to park on the street nearby at this hotel.

How much was your room and how many points does it take for your room? Without that context, your review has no context for us schmoes without your contacts

@Lucky let me guess red lobster?

Let's all give Lucky a break, regardless the AMEX SPG card connection, the hotel review s great, I have to point out one thing so, is there any further protection on the balcony? I'm afraid of heights, and it's given me dizziness just looking at that balcony shot.

Ben, Nice review bu i think you were given extra treatment that is not the norm at the property. I've been there twice already and was never addressed by name or given champagne at check in. And as a platinum I was told twice that no suites available, even though it was fairly obvious that they were

As a recovering alcoholic, I find it rather amusing that the "free" booze on display seems to invite excessive consumption. Or maybe I'm just jealous I can't drink for free.

"my favorite chain seafood restaurant (anyone want to guess)"

Red Lobster. Where are the Miss Florida pictures 😉

Why is that remote control in Spanish?

was the mini-bar free?

Why is there a large glass deer in the check-in area?

@ storm - reminds me of that white deer from Harry Potter...

Pricing: If you have to ask, it's too expensive... 🙂 (December stay, high season: least expensive $809 / night. Oceanfront Suite $2K / night. Royal Ocenfront Suite $2,600 / night, but it is almost 2,000 sf...)

Or, 30,000 points for the least expensive room. (cash + points: 15,000 points + $275)

@David That was my thought too. The only suite upgrade I ever got as a SPG Plat is at St. Regis Princeville to a Junior suite. It seems quite often they just give one level basic upgrade and be done with it even if there are better rooms available. As a Hyatt Diamond, I was offered a suite upgrade at a Hyatt Regency if I am willing to use my upgrade certificate but will only put me on a club floor on a complimentary basis. The upgrade policies are very much a miss with a rate hit in my case. I believe travel bloggers get the upgrades more often than regular public relatively.

I mean rare hit.

Nice review !

Is it only me or the built-in tv in the bathroom is really in a weird location (you can't watch it from the tube, and its not in front of the double sinks so while shaving you gotta turn your head to the right )? Makes it pretty useless if so ..

@BR That's Portuguese, not Spanish. The third option says "Languages," so I assume lucky was switching the languages around or the previous guest was one of the many wealthy Brazilians who vacation in the area.

Great report, Lucky. This property used to be the Sheraton Ball harbour, which was demolished to accomodate the new complex. Although the location seems to be rather un- attractive to your readers, it is worth noting that for latin americans, especially Brazilians, anything near the Bal Harbour shops is great. Brazilians -and also russians, are perhaps the turists with higher expenditures in Florida.

@ TheBeerHunter -- Ultimately I have no way of knowing (keep in mind it wasn't SPG comping the stay, but rather the Starwood American Express), so I'm not sure. On one hand I'd think they would, but on the other hand I didn't feel like there was anything "out of the ordinary" to indicate that they did.

@ Lark -- Nope, only the room was covered. I had to pay for everything else.

@ David -- It's definitely up there! The thing about the hotel is that revenue rates are often reasonable (~$350-400 with FHR benefits) in the off season, so I think that's usually a better value. If you're staying five nights the value gets a bit better on points, since the fifth night is free.

@ ORD-TGU -- Hah, it was actually surprisingly good.

@ Truthiness -- If I got a good rate in the off season I'd definitely stay again. Otherwise if I had a special occasion and wanted to stay five nights on points (with the fifth night free) I'd also consider it. This hotel is usually out of my budget, though.

@ Michael -- The room I was booked into was roughly 30K SPG points or $400, and then I got an upgrade from there.

@ Usairelire -- You got it!

@ KevinZ -- Thanks! Nope, that was the extent of the railing. I hate heights as well, though I think the railing is higher than it looks.

@ David -- I can't comment on the other points, though every single person I saw checked in was offered champagne.

@ BR -- Hah, I think I pushed the wrong button by mistake.

@ danray -- No, it wasn't.

@ Storm -- "Art?"

@ vincentb89 -- It could definitely be better located near the bathtub or between the sinks. Totally agree.

Lucky--I may have missed it, but it may be helpful for some readers (me!) in the future if you clearly state where the hotel is. I had no idea where the hell Bal Harbor was until I read some of the comments, where I deduced it's somewhere in the Miami area. Thanks!

Did a staycation over the past weekend. Was not upgraded as a Platinum. Was told they only upgrade to Junior Suites and that if I wanted to upgrade, I could pay for it. The room order of $175 was incorrect and it was the first time I spend $175 on room service where I was actually hungry after eating. A few days later I received an updated folio with an extra $13.64 honor bar charge. We did not use the honor bar. I brought my own bar with me. Overall...not very impressed.