Want to take advantage of Marriott STARS benefits, including a space available room upgrade, complimentary breakfast, a hotel credit, and more? Contact Ford ([email protected]) for more details. He may even be able to help if you already have a stay booked. This is valid for paid stays at BVLGARI, EDITION, Ritz-Carlton, Ritz-Carlton Reserve, and St. Regis.
I always like to keep up with the latest luxury hotel openings, especially for points hotel brands that I love. Along those lines, St. Regis’ newest property has just opened in Riyadh. While I doubt the miles & points crowd will be flocking here as if it’s the St. Regis Maldives, this is a significant opening in what’s no doubt an increasingly relevant market, especially with the launch of Riyadh Air.
In this post:
Basics of the 83-room St. Regis Riyadh
The St. Regis Riyadh has just opened, as of November 2023. Interestingly this property also happens to be Marriott International’s 500th luxury property globally. The St. Regis Riyadh is the first property in the newly opened VIA Riyadh development, which I’ll talk a bit more about below.
The hotel is described as embodying Salmani architecture, and exuding modernity while celebrating local design. Marriott claims that this is the first boutique style luxury hotel in Saudi Arabia’s capital, and it features just 83 rooms, 21 of which are suites (which sounds great in terms of elite upgrades). All rooms at the property receive St. Regis’ signature butler service.
As far as the hotel’s facilities go, the hotel has the following:
- The Drawing Room is the lobby lounge serving coffee and pastries throughout the day, as well as afternoon tea
- Jackie is a Greek restaurant, and it’s spread out over two floors
- Stella Sky is situated around the outdoor pool, and offers mocktails during the day, and sheesha and sushi in the evenings
- The St. Regis Bar is found at every St. Regis properties; at this property, the signature Bloody Mary is the “Regal Mary” mocktail, infused with dates, turmeric, and sumac
- The St. Regis Spa is 1,240 square meters, and has four treatment rooms, as well as a relaxation area
- There’s also a rooftop pool, as well as a fully equipped gym
Below you can find some pictures of the property. I’ve gotta say, it looks very nice, and I like how it’s smaller than your typical St. Regis.
Riyadh is of course a major global business hub, though despite that, the city has a fairly limited number of luxury hotels, and not many of them are bookable with points. There’s the Ritz-Carlton Riyadh, but given the history, um, I probably wouldn’t want to stay there. Meanwhile the other best regarded property in the city is the Four Seasons.
So I definitely think the St. Regis would be the new go-to best modern, luxury points hotel in the city.
VIA Riyadh looks like quite the destination
As mentioned above, the St. Regis is the first hotel at the new VIA Riyadh development, featuring designer boutiques, high-end restaurants, and more. I’ve never been to Riyadh (or Saudi Arabia, aside from transit), so I was curious about the development.
As it turns out, Sofia Vergara did an ad campaign for the VIA Riyadh project. I found this quite fascinating, given the, um, lack of modesty displayed here? I think this ad is the perfect example of how Saudi Arabia is increasingly at least trying to market itself as a destination like Dubai.
St. Regis Riyadh rates & points requirements
Rates at the St. Regis Riyadh are really steep. I’m not too familiar with the Riyadh hotel market, but rates seem to start at $700-1,800 per night, give or take, depending on the week or season. I’m curious if those rates stick, or if this is just optimistic pricing at launch.
By comparison, redeeming points is a really good value. I value Marriott Bonvoy points at 0.7 cents each, so you can definitely get outsized value here. For example, there are some nights where rates start at over $1,800, yet the hotel is bookable for 70,000 Bonvoy points (which I value at $490).
If you are going to book a cash stay at the St. Regis Riyadh, I’d highly recommend doing so through the Marriott STARS program. This will score you perks like complimentary breakfast, a $100 food & beverage credit, a room upgrade subject to availability, and more. Ford is more than happy to help with Marriott STARS reservations, and can be reached at [email protected].
Bottom line
The St. Regis Riyadh has just opened, and is Saudi Arabia’s newest luxury property. We’re seeing a ton of development in Saudi Arabia at the moment, and it’s nice to see more luxury points hotels in Riyadh. In terms of design, I think this is also a pretty nice-looking St. Regis. For those traveling through Riyadh, this property looks like it’s worth considering, especially if you have Bonvoy points to redeem.
What do you make of the St. Regis Riyadh?
Why would you being gay promote anything related to a country that hates and punishes gay people ?
Perhaps because being gay is not the theme of his website? But hey, I'm just spitballing crazy ideas here. You feel free to center your entire existence around your ideologies.
Being gay is an ideology?
Honestly, I wonder the same thing, as a gay (and married) traveler who wouldn't go to Saudi (with or without my husband) in a million years. Then again, Lucky has happily pushed Emirates and Qatar for years, in spite of questionable human rights practices in both countries, and not just toward LGBT.
Here we go, the people whining about "questionable human rights" in business, while typing on a product with chips made by quasi-slave labor, for which they happily paid several dozen times its cost of production. Give it a rest.
Looks like a nice Merry Christmas Whatsapp Status
Lol prob helps if I want to go to Riyadh or not? I thought it was useful.
Slave country. No thanks.
Calling Riyadh a "major global business hub" is just a biiiit of a stretch...
I stayed at the Hyatt Regency when I was in Riyadh. Great elite recognition and an all around nice property. I'm sure this hotel will be even better. The problem; however, is that it's still located in Riyadh. Despite what the Saudi government may want... it's just not that exciting of a place, and a lot of strict rules still remain.
I'm sure the butler coffee service will be great, though.
What is the relevance of this comment?
To achieve the following:
1. Point out that Riyadh is a good hotel market
2. Point out that Riyadh is boring
3. Upset you in the comment section.
If you are Mormon you will love it! Full disclosure I have Mormon relatives.
Will make a nice prison for the next royal shake-down
Good! Nice Place for a Brief stop over by reasonably Priced Saudia Airlines.
Are women allowed to use the spa?
No - they are NOT PERMITTED !!!!
And how do you know that? Have you been there already or found something on their website?
Big news, this
Opening of a
New property in Saudi Arabia is one
Every Marriott guest should be looking forward to.
Some people will criticize it but
A truly objective view
Will show just how much this means in the long term.
Very moving poetry
I hope it brought you some piece.
Frankly, it made me want to defecate. Ghastly!
Yes, dismembering people is pretty ghastly.
Looks like a nice and comfortable stay. From the inside, it also looks like you could be in Chicago, London, Beijing, or anywhere else, and that to me is why it's a let down. I way prefer somewhere with a sense of place, otherwise what's the point of being there?
Perhaps a public guillotine in the lobby achieve that here
Why even bother to have a bar at every location with this one serving stuff I can give to my 5 year old child!
Can’t wait to see this St Regis’ version of the Bloody Mary…should be thrilling!
Why would I want to go to a place like this?
@ Icarus -- No one is telling you to travel there? I'm writing about a luxury points hotel opening, and different places appeal to different people. From Portland to Riyadh, I try to cover as much as I can!
Barf
They paid you like they do everyone else. If they didn’t , say it
Otherwise I’m not sure why this hotel vs the 1000s of other new hotels annually is worthy of a blog post?
Come
Clean
These comments usually comes from the deep red lol. Get out and see the world man, the US is far behind in so many aspects.
Yup Saudi is miles ahead of the USA in human rights!!!
Unironically yes lol everyone in Saudi Arabia get free healthcare, free education, subsidized housing, unemployment benefit and stable job market, when in the sweet home USA the system shall bankrupt everyone to death to even get those things apart for a few, not including the illusion of "democracy"
@Antifa Well, of course they get all of that in Saudi Arabia. Oil will fix everything. Especially when you only have 35 million people. And half are women who have no rights.
and you forgot... no income tax.