St. Regis Mauritius Making A Comeback: This Is Unusual

When I stayed there in 2019 the hotel had recently suffered several management resignations but they had brought a team from the gulf to restore standards. I found it excellent, great service and St Regis touches but I had proactively reached out to understand why recent reviews were bad so possibly my experience was more curated.

It’s an incredible location and deserves to be a St Regis. I hope the service standards are up to scratch.

Spent part of my 2017 honeymoon here as a St Regis... glad to see the StR brand back here although I have no plans to go back anytime in the forseable future.

Was there in 2019 and had a massive upgrade. I thought the resort was quite nice. Bring water shoes as the water is a little rocky. But glad to see it as a Saint Regis again.

I stayed here last year (2024). We knew it was a deflagged St Regis, so we were a little bit nervous about what that would mean - but to our pleasant surprise, it was delightful. Very well appointed, friendly service, impeccable grounds. It was easily the nicest JW Marriott we'd ever stayed at, so I'm not surprised to see it revert back.

@benschlappig My guess would be that it’s a franchisee/or dispute that ended up with the deflagging and downgrade. When travel was down the franchisee probably didn’t have the cash to fight it, but as it has picked back up they probably restarted the fight and won, or had enough ammo to get Marriott to back down.

I stayed there in 2022 for three weeks. During that time they were undergoing significant refreshes to the rooms and spaces in a gradual phase. Most likely much of that is now complete.

It's a pleasant enough hotel. Nothing overwhelming though. For me it was the attraction of being able to kitesurf right outside my room which led me there. For that it is ideal and a world class spot. However, for those looking for more traditional and idyllic beach settings, The Maldives or Sri Lanka are far superior.

Brand name is something leased by a property owner and is meaningless. Brand standards are often not enforced. One must assess each property on its own and rely on reviews from *trusted* sources.

I stayed there in 2022. Pleasant hotel but no wow factor. I like the LXR next door much more.

There was a big oil spill (from a Japanese-owned oil tanker) there in 2020, which had a major impact on tourism (damaged the ecosystem for years, clean-up long since abandoned, a slow recovery is ongoing). The related drop in tourism probably has thrown plenty of places in tourism-dependent Mauritius into uncertainty and chaos. I had been planning a trip there to go SCUBA diving but cancelled when the spill occurred.

From wikipedia: "Reuters quoted unnamed scientists as saying that the spill was likely the worst environmental incident in the history of Mauritius, with effects possibly lingering for decades."

Ship's captain was drunk, and lookout/navigator-on-duty was AWOL, too busy trying to find a shore-based wifi signal they could poach to surf the internet. Got too close to shore, hit reef, oops.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Wakashio_oil_spill

By comparison, hotel "branding" is probably no more than a rounding error. Bigger fish to fry (in crude oil scooped up from the beaches).

"All of this is a mystery to me — what caused the rebranding in the first place, and what caused it to then return to St. Regis?"

Do you ever reach out to the hotel for comment?

I had heard the owners wanted to become a franchise and drop Marriott as the management company. The owner also owns the Le Méridien and The Westin Turtle Bay Resort. As a JW Marriott, the management was shared across the three hotels.

Maybe that didn't work out for them. If it's a St. Regis, it has to be Marriott-managed.

It is interesting they would switch back so soon. Another example that comes to mind is the Regent Hong Kong became an Intercontinental for a few decades, then back to Regent now

@DCTravels.
You are mostly correct about the management, however the key improvement was the gentleman brought in from Morocco via Seychelles via France.

I stayed there last year during my African islands hopping before the safari, it was okay but definitely not St. Regis luxury. One thing that really annoyed me was the office desk in the bathroom! There was no separation! The villas near the road was very noisy even at night so avoid that if you plan to stay there. The location of the mountain as the backdrop is picturesque but other than that, the beach wasn't that pretty (glad I stayed there before Seychelle, otherwise, I would be disappointed).

Except that (1) Regent was not an IHG brand when that hotel was reflagged as an Intercon in 2001, and (2) IHG announced the reversion to the original Regent brand after it acquired Regent in 2018 and reopened it in 2023 after a renovation.

In Mauritius, Marriott is just shuffling among brands within a very short period of time.

Also, the Regent of 2001 (then owned by Four Seasons, which bought out founder Robert Burns) has no connection to the later Regent, other than the name. Four Seasons ceased using the name on its hotels and sold the name to Carlson, which mostly used the name for cruises and later sold the name to FIH, from which IHG acquired it.

We stayed at the JW Marriott in Oct. 2024. To us it seemed every bit of what I expect from a St. Regis or Ritz Carlton and more. Attentive butlers taking care of everything, staff greating you by name everywhere on the property, and yes Champign sabering on the beach. Our suite was wonderful with direct beach access and a huge patio. The restaurants are very good, especially the Indian and also the Thai/Asian. We would be going back sooner if it wasn't so far away.

Wonder what brand the Ritz-Carlton Reserve Niseko should transition to so it better reflects its services.

@Dick Bupkiss, the MV Wakashio oil spill disaster occurred on the SE Coast, impacting the marine ecosystems there, oil spread to the East and North. The JW Marriott is on a West facing beach, fortunately unaffected. I visited in 2023, the condition of the beach was super for swimming, snorkeling, and kite surfing.

The property villas, location in Le Morne, dining options were superior. We had an issue with the number of children running amok during breakfast and through the restaurants every night. Had a constructive conversation with the general manager (apparently we were not the only guests who addressed the mayhem) however our commentary was only met with nods and smiles.

This whole scenario is very strange. We stayed there last November and had a fantastic time. However, other than the name it felt like an acted like a St Regis. The nightly Champagne Sabre event remained as does the excellent Butler service. In fact, we actually thought that the Butler service was as good as we had received anywhere in the world in the brand. It makes you wonder what is going on in the background and whilst it’s a beautiful resort, with the standing beach and fantastic rooms it would benefit from some elements of modernisation