Booking/Check-in

I booked the base “Superior Room” at appx 2 weeks before check-in and received a corporate rate of $275. When we arrived, the check-in agent was very polite and extremely enthusiastic and happy to see us–a great trait to have as an employee that has dozens of check-ins/check-outs per day. He confirmed that we were in a “Superior Room” and offered us the welcome amenity of either 500 Starwood points, a $19 voucher per person to be used towards breakfast or a bottle of house wine (we took the $19 voucher). When I asked about the possibility of an upgrade, I was told that all they had available was the “Superior Room” that we had booked and, while skeptical at first, we discovered that a huge wedding was taking place that weekend and it appeared that they were near 100% occupancy. Quick note: Parking is valet only and costs $32/night with unlimited in/out.

Lobby

Superior Room – (440 square feet) — BOOKED and RECEIVED
Deluxe Room –  (440 square feet) – w/ A small Juliette Balcony
Grand Deluxe Room – (440 square feet) – privacy of a furnished balcony
Metropolitan Suite – (680 square feet) – 8 total – complete with a large bedroom and an inviting sitting area furnished with a sofa and armchairs
Caroline Astor Suite – (680 square feet)
St. Regis Suite – (1,000 square feet) – 19 total
Empire Suite – (2,800 square feet) – 1 total

The Room

We made our way to the elevator, then up to the 9th floor. The St. Regis Hotel occupies the first few floors and the St. Regis Residences have claim to the preferred higher floors.

Not sure how you make a hallway sexy but you managed to do it, St. Regis

Upon entering the 440 sq ft room, you first come across the “entry” or foyer–because no luxury hotel in their right mind would forgo this formal greeting area.

To think of all of noses that have been powered here

Although stuck slumming it in the base/standard room, it is a St. Regis standard room after all. This equates to highly automated luxury everywhere.

Floor plan of a “Superior Room”

Finally making it to the bedroom, we found a very well decorated and homey feeling room. Everything was in terrific shape with a rather “sturdy” feel throughout.

Pardon me, Lady Grantham, I’ll be on the Chaise Lounge

The room is highly automated:  all of the lights are one-button touch control with a few different settings to set whatever mood you’re trying to set. The A/C and the lights were controllable bedside as well via the phone system.

View of Buckhead from the bedroom window

The Bathroom

I always hate it when a hotel is nicer than my own apartment; I hate it even more when it’s much nicer. This St. Regis Atlanta fits in this category. You’ll enter to the dual-sink marble vanity. And, it wouldn’t be a St. Regis without a TV built into the mirror–because who doesn’t want to watch TV while shaving? This might be the single-most item that has completely spoiled me and made adapting back to normal, 99%-er real life totally miserable. #FirstWorldProblems….

The oversized tub comes complete with bath salts (not the kind that, if inhaled, will turn you into a flesh eating zombie–for better or worse) and resort-style French Door panels that open up to the bedroom.

Resort-style panels that open up to the bedroom

All surfaces are elegantly tiled, including the shower and bathroom.

The Gym

The gym is above average and on par with St. Regis’ standards. Other than that, not much to say here– didn’t use it but looks like it would get the job done:

Gym windows overlooking the pool

Lobby/Bars/Restaurants/Room-service

As with all St. Regis’, they had the ceremonial champagne sabering (learn all you want to know and more about “saberage” here: Wiki article). The St. Regis participates because it somehow pays homage to the St. Regis family? I participate because I get free champagne.

Astor Court Review

As a Starwood Platinum member, we were offered an amenity at check-in and took the vouchers for “complimentary continental breakfast.” The St. Regis Atlanta handles this by basically giving you up to $19 to spend per guest (a max of 2 guests) at the Astor Court restaurant.

The tone was really set when we sat down and McCown was offered a “lint free napkin” whatever the hell that means…the waiter further insisted, “we can get you a black napkin, if necessary.” I suppose this was since she was wearing black pants? Either way, I’m all for #firstworldproblems but let’s take it down a notch, St. Regis. I think we’ll cope with the lint.

Most of the choices on the menu are in the $14-18 range, with a few near $26 so, by the time you add coffee, tax and tip, you’ve quickly blown through your $19 voucher which really begs the question:  how do they think that $19 covers breakfast?

I ordered the FINEST LOBSTER FRITTATA ($26) because, well, why not? Apart from lobster and egg, it comes with fingerling potatoes, asparagus and herbs topped with a “Bloody Mary” salad and fresh horseradish. Again, why not? At first, I found there to be too much Bloody Mary salad celery on top but not enough tomato/spice taste. The lobster was somewhat chewy, but that figures. In fact, the whole thing was a little chewy/spongy, but it actually started to grow on me. It was packed with lots of potatoes, asparagus and some cheese. The lobster meat was hard to find but, when I found it, was great.

FINEST LOBSTER FRITTATA ($26)

McCown went for the SUMPTUOUS ST. REGIS OMELET ($18): fall mushrooms, herbs, white truffle oil, creme fraiche and an artisan cheese. It was great; such a juicy, moist and very well-cooked omelette. Basically, truffle oil galore with excellent mushrooms. And, anything with truffle oil is perfect.

SUMPTUOUS ST. REGIS OMELET ($18)

The Astor Court restaurant was enjoyable, no doubt. It made sense to eat with our $38 worth of vouchers. I doubt I would go out of my way to come here as a local, but wouldn’t have a problem returning as a hotel guest.

Service

As with just about any St. Regis, the service was outstanding. The check-in agent really seemed to go out of his way to be polite and enthusiastic and all other interactions with service staff were great, although none memorable, for better or worse.

When we came back to our room after the turn-down service, there was a shoe shine bag on the bed with a note announcing a complimentary shoe shine–uh, yes please. Similar to my teeth and the dentist, the only time these suckers get a deep clean is when someone else does it:

Sure enough, when we got back from breakfast, some freshly shined shoes were waiting for me:

BOTTOM LINE: Give me the St. Regis Atlanta any day. An upgrade would have been awesome, but I’ll never complain about their lowest-tier room. Never.

The post The St. Regis Buckhead – Atlanta, Georgia first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

Booking

I had an opportunity to stay at the St. Regis Washington DC for just a night after a flight cancellation kept me in DC an extra night (“weather related” cancellation so no hotel voucher for me–thanks for nothing, Delta!) I jumped online and saw that there was last minute availability at the Fed/Gov’t rate (interestingly, it was the only Starwood property with the rate available but has the highest normal rates). I jumped back on The Metro from #DCA, got off at Farragut West and then had a short 2-block walk to the hotel.

Check-in

The check-in desk seemed somewhat small for a hotel of this size — maybe the average stay here is longer than at a Westin or Sheraton, thus having to handle fewer check-ins/outs? I had the choice between “Deluxe King” and “Superior King” and, because they were the same price, I booked the Superior room, figuring that a Superior is superior to a Deluxe–I maintain that my logic is sound although it turned out to be wrong in this case. Here are the St. Regis rooms listed in order (sample pricing based on a 2-night, midweek stay July 30-Aug 1, 2013).

– $395 Superior Room **BOOKED**
– $425 Deluxe Room
– $455 Premier Deluxe Room
– $475 Grand Luxe Room
– $595 Metropolitan Suite

(All below have seperate living room)
– $695 Caroline Astor Suite **UPGRADED TO**
– $1,195 St. Regis Suite
– $3,395 Empire Suite
– $???? Presidential Suite

When I checked in, the agent thanked me for being a Platinum Starwood member and said that I would be upgraded to the “Caroline Astor Suite.”

Floor plans of all rooms available online: here

I explained that all I had were the clothes on my back and he told me a toiletry kit would be “sent right up.” I was in room 310, a corner room in the southwest corner of the building facing 16th street & towards I street  (665-700 ft sq).

The room

Compared to the Park Hyatt Washington (PH), the property has a much smaller footprint but still allows for spacious rooms. Felt a lot more luxurious than the PH. More of a classic luxury than the PH, which seemed more modern.

Entering the room, you first saw a hallway with 2 classic paintings of old French manors and a closet. This opened up to the living room, with sofa, chairs, table and a TV. Again, everything feels rather stately and regal. A few pieces of fresh fruit (still chilled and wet from being washed) were waiting on the table–maybe the butler rushed it in while I was checking in? They saved the corner for the bedroom, which allowed tons of natural light to pour in. All of the cabinets were built-ins, the TV hidden from view. The decor was pretty stately as well, with lots of gold and blue.

First world problem gripe: My one complaint about some of these nicer, luxury hotels is the lack of an in-room coffee maker. Sometimes you just want to make a quick cup. Sure, in the case of St. Regis, if you happen to be staying in a suite, you can request coffee, tea or juices 24×7 to be delivered as part of the butler service. And the Park Hyatt Washington provides coffee to all guests in the lobby all morning–which is a hassle in practice. The best execution providing guests with the option of coffee but also keeping it “upscale” (because those single serve coffee makers get rather nasty) is the Park Hyatt Vendome that had an Nespresso Maker in every room with numerous pods to use–all complimentary.

The bathroom

Extremely well done bathroom, tiled walls–elegant, classic and homely. Shower had an enoroumous amount of pressure and the toilet was in a seperate room. It was just a tad on the cramped side. Coolest part? There’s a fricken TV inside the mirror. That’s right, you an stare at yourself all while staring at the TV!

The St. Regis Butler service

Only if you’re in a suite do they provide their “St. Regis Butler Service.” Because I was upgraded to a suite, this service was included:

– Offering packing/unpacking services (didn’t use although I could get used to a personal valet to handle my luggage)
– Complimentary garment pressing (2 pieces per stay–didn’t use)
– Fresh fruit in room upon arrival (delicious and ate every last bite)
– Juice/tea service in the mornings (requested coffee in morning)

So really, the only run-ins I had with my “butler” was right after arrival when I requested toiletries upon check-in and for the morning coffee service. But, when I look back on it, maybe the bellman brought me my toiletries–who knows…there’s a fine line. So I guess my one official run in with the butler was when I called to order coffee and and requested a hair comb in the morning. Within 10 minutes the butler had arrived with a French press pot of coffee on a silver tray and a newspaper. She set the coffee down, introduced herself and explained, while reaching for a business card, that she’d be my butler for the day. Listen, St. Regis, I’m far from being either in the butler business or a frequent recipient of butler-type services, but the business card was a little much. It’s almost as if they go out of their way to market this “famed” butler service, but, at the end of the day, it’s just a room service-server dressed in a suit. That being said, she was extremely polite and I found the service to pretty good–although a little…sterile.

The Gym

The gym was quite small and in the basement so no exterior windows. Only a few cardio machines and no free weights — hardly enough space to accommodate guests for this size of a hotel. So, ample but nothing impressive. The hotel is one step ahead of you, though, and offers passes to a nearby gym with a better facility–check out that St. Regis service.

Lobby/bar/restaurant

The lobby was quite cozy feeling:  lots of sofas, chairs and chandeliers. The lobby transitioned into a large bar that is part of the restaurant–Decanter. Adour, the Alain Ducasse restaurant that used to occupy the space, closed in May and now Decanter has taken its spot. Not sure why the change because Adour was apparently a fan-favorite. Maybe St. Regis grew tired of the royalties paid to Ducasse? Either way, what little reviews there are of Decanter are all glowing and the same chef from the old restaurant is sticking around.

BOTTOM LINE: Really enjoyed my stay at the St. Regis Washington DC and look forward to returning. The room was awesome, the service great and all in a central location.

The post St. Regis Washington, D.C. Review first appeared on Weekend Blitz.