Review: St. Regis Doha

Hi Lucky,

I'll be staying at The St. Regis Macao in a couple of months, and I believe it just opened for business in Dec 2014. Perhaps you are able to do a review of the property before then? 😀

Do you usually take a taxi to get to your hotel in Doha?

Great review. I like how you maximize benefits like F&B from overnight stays. However, and maybe it's just me, I don't travel to exotic places just to eat in the hotel ...

I've not stayed in any Doha hotels in the four years I've lived here but I can give lots of advice on their bars and restaurants! Think I've been to every one in the St Regis! If your ever staying there over a weekend you should try out the raggae night on the beach!

Can you stay at Al-Safwa overnight?

I just spent four nights there and stayed in the same suite, and your review was spot on. I had a wonderful stay, loved the property, AND visited my son who is on a job there! I really like your in depth trip reports, thanks!

Where was Ford ? no mention of him after the maldives ?

I don't like the suite, it looks very ordinary and vanilla, sort of like a cookie cutter hotel room.

The St. Regis in Abu Dhabi blows it out of the water.

did you take a look at the sea ? was it warm and could one swim ? like in the beaches in Dubai ?

@Sandy - I stayed at the St. Regis Macao last week. It was absolutely terrible and is not on par with other St. Regis properties. No SPG recognition, terrible service, non-existent/constantly tardy butler and staff that are trained to only handle a 20 room Aloft at best. You're better off spending your money at the Sheraton Macao down the block.

@wtl44: Thanks for the heads up. I was debating between Sheraton and St. Regis, and I thought the latter would've exceeded the expectations of many since it is a brand new property. I guess not....

I stayed in a Caroline Astor Suite at the St. Regis Doha and I'm surprised at some of the things you gloss over or don't mention in your fawning review.

You make a passing aside at the dodgy construction that really deserves more highlighting. In my suite, the manual blackout curtains all had terribly poor tracks - constantly jamming (indeed, one curtain rod came away in my hands) with some just completely unable to be fully closed (annoying if you are jet lagged and need to sleep whilst it's still daylight outside). The lamp lights flickered dully for a very long time after being switched off at night (to the point I had to unplug them, as I felt like I was trapped in a low rent disco). Drainage for water (especially given water leaked) in the bathroom was poor [On bathrooms, it's interesting that the Caroline Astor Suite has a better bath (decent freestanding) than your John Astor Suite] . Wireless phone in bedroom had problems.

The outrageous and ridiculous in-room minibar deserves special highlighting. First, it's locked and requires a guy to come to your room to unlock. Once unlocked, you'll find it's not been replenished between guests so you have to waste time waiting for the guy to run back and forth to replenish. In replenishing, don't be surprised if it's not restocked up to stock level required (meaning you might be sticker for consumption you didn't use, with surprise charges after you depart) - mine had one Whiskey short that was only caught when I had another attendant lock the damn thing back up again after seeing the minibar price list that wanted to charge 35QAR (almost 24 times the supermarket price, or more than the power of 8) for a 1.50QAR Sprite (it was more expensive even that ordering through room service, where 25QAR was the price). If I hadn't been adamant that I hadn't consumed that "forgotten" Johnnie Walker miniature (and as it had only been a short time after I had the mini bar opened up before asked that it be locked back up again once I saw what a massive rort it was) no doubt I would have been stung 80QAR for something I hadn't had - seemed like a scam to me (I can understand a standard mini-bar maybe not being restocked properly between guests, if turning over rooms quickly, but this minibar required a special employee to both unlock and lock it - with the contents treated like gold, priced as much anyway - so it smelled very bad that it had not been restocked before it had been previously locked up). I don't mind paying a convenience tax for mini-bar use, but not when it's grossly extortionate like that.

This appears not the only scam this hotel runs. Ask for a taxi (and specifically a taxi, with staff even saying "here is your taxi" as they seek to put you in their car) and hotel staff will try to put you in a grubby (it's saying something that the local taxis are way cleaner) hotel "limousine" (actually a cheap arse basic Toyota) pretending it's a taxi - without any mention of this false substitution or any mention of price. It's only if you question the driver (who will be rude, surly, and drive so dangerously that you fear for your life) as to why there is no taxi meter, that you'll be snarkily told "not a taxi, hotel limousine" and then told the price (it was 80QAR to the airport when the price was snarled at me as we were pulling out of the hotel front entrance - I suspect it's a much higher price if you get the airport without asking earlier - why'd anyone pay at least 30QAR more than the cleaner, nicer official taxis charge is beyond me, which I guess explains the outright deception).

Add that to hotel F&B charges are pretty overblown compared to international norms (and certainly local costs) and you feel like you are being exploited.

So, all in all, nothing particularly fantastic room wise and some downright dodgy practices (and construction/fit-out) and I certainly won't be returning nor recommending to anyone else (and I've very surprised you do - I'm sure you are aware of these issues).

Any reason why the W Doha is not in the hotel review list?

You can find it by googling W Doha Onemileatatime, but the google text says Initial thoughts on my amazing stay at the W Doha Hotel?