Migrated - The St. Regis Bahia Beach Resort, Puerto Rico

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

1863 reviews

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  Great Getaway

  We enjoyed our recent 7 day stay here. The resort was probably half filled and was hosting a small company’s awards trip. In summary, we liked our room, the resort’s amenities, and the service, and we managed our way through the food options. Our room was one of the largest rooms we’ve stayed in without being in a suite. It was well appointed and reasonably well maintained (housekeeping was good. The turndown service was inconsistent on a few things, but nothing major was missed). In fact, a manager checked in on our housekeeping services on the third day. We enjoyed the pool, the beach (FYI, the beach had a red flag the entire week so you couldn’t really swim but you can go in up to your ankles) and the beach club (we highly recommend spending a day there to mix it up. It’s a 5-minute golf cart shuttle ride away. You can also walk there on the beach). At all three spots, we could easily get a drink or something to eat without leaving the chair. Jesus, Ineysha, and Eric made our time at the pool and on the beach very comfortable with their services and pro tips on food, rum, and other activities. We liked the serenity of the location. It was a quiet, bug free walk between buildings and from our room to the main building and spa. We visited both gyms. Both are large for a resort gym and reasonably well equipped (enough to do the basics) with both cardio and weights. They also had cold towels and water or tea when you were done. I was surprised that they didn’t have cleaning cloths to wipe down equipment between uses. We also used the bikes a few times and used the stand-up paddleboards at the Boat House. You can walk/run the resort paths for exercise, but the beach is your better option. The food is expensive. We elected to skip Paros completely. We also had breakfast at Rico Pan one morning and dinner at Don Pepe one night in Rio Grande for a change of pace and expense. That said, we really enjoyed our breakfast experience overlooking the resort grounds and ocean. Noel, Angela, and especially Karyn were top notch and incredibly helpful. We ate from the a la carte menu each day instead of the buffet and found it to be tasty and more than enough. Marcos and Jorge helped us navigate the small plate options in the St Regis bar (I’m still thinking about the pork belly). Finally, you can tell that the resort has worked hard with its training to drive a better customer experience. We really enjoyed the staff.

  Feb 09, 2025
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  Couples paradise

  I honestly don’t know what more people expected with the low reviews. Just returned from a three day stay and it was an amazing quick get away. Like everyone else mentioned it is pretty much secluded , but enjoyed the peace and quiet. The resort offered several amenities to satisfy me and my spouse. Food was very limited , but it also sufficed for the quick trip. The beach was private and peaceful. The service was above and beyond. Enjoyed the daily French press coffee in bed. If you are looking for a quick get away St Regis is it!

  Feb 03, 2025
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  A lovely coastal spot

  Pros -Gorgeous tropical rainforest setting -Large rooms (even the least expensive ones) -Two pools plus ocean beach -One adult only pool deck -Pool and beach side drink service -Great water pressure and temperature in the shower -Comfortable bed linens -Huge and absorbent beach and shower towels -Very private - no hustle or bustle here -Bikes are a fun easy way to get around -24 hour room service - food is good and not terribly slow. -The spa has showers for late check out and a jacuzzi, sauna, and cold plunge pool. All are included as a part of the daily resort fee -Breakfast is solid. The continental breakfast is $35 (free for Marriott elite platinum or higher) with a $9 upgrade to the hot buffet and omelet menu. The upgrade also includes a mimosa. If you have the free continental breakfast you only pay the $9 difference. Cons -Everything is resort prices - food and drinks are expensive. But that should surprise no one at all venue like this -Common spaces are just not as well cleaned as they could or should be. Bathroom trashes overflowing. Sinks needing wipe downs. Pool walls were green and slimy in lots of places. Lots of sand and bugs in the pool. So many discarded drinks and towels by the main pool. (This last issue is a guest created problem, to be clear, but staff aren’t picking up enough to keep up with it.) -Service was inconsistent. We requested turndown service between 7-8:30pm during our stay. They came after that, nonetheless, and then called the room (after we were in bed!) asking if we wanted turndown. The privacy sign was up. -The butler system is not as great as it sounds. You don’t have an assigned person, and you communicate by phone or chat (app) and never know who you’ll get. If you don’t book reservations before arrival it can be tricky to get what you’d like. They also don’t always reply quickly. (My guess is they are swamped!) -We had an error in our bill - only $27 and change but after being assured it would be handled by the front desk it hasn’t been. I’m sure I’ll eventually get it sorted but for a resort like this, that feels crazy. Worth knowing The pools don’t seem to be heated. They were brisk, which we liked but some may not. There is a depressing amount of trash on the beach, mostly small plastic. We picked it bin up each day on our beach walks. But it was disheartening. (There were also a lot of shells!) The ocean water is rough, or at least it was in January. We didn’t dare swim because of the rip warnings. We did walk with ankles in the water and it was clean and nice. Just very aggressive waves This is a rainforest. There are bugs and lizards and iguanas. The lizards are pretty large and everywhere. If that freaks you out, maybe this isn’t your kind of place. The vibe here is pretty corporate. It’s not a warm and fuzzy place - very formal in a lot of ways. The service was generally good but we have resorts we go to where it feels like family. This isn’t that. Our bikes were taken twice during our stay, despite being tagged with our room number. This is again a people issue, but unless you actually borrow a bike I’m not sure you would be given the rules about their use. The daily resort fee is $99 on top of the room rate and tax. Nor cheap. I don’t think we got $300 in value out of the resort amenities that the fee covered - but your mileage may vary.

  Jan 29, 2025
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  Not a five star resort

  We just came back from a five day stay at the St Regis Bahia Beach over the New Years, and this was one of the most disappointing holiday trips ever. What is a difference between a three star resort and a five star resort? Consistency! Here, be prepared for the full spectrum, because you’ll never know what you’re going to get. First, the good - rooms were amazing, well appointed, functional and comfortable. Housekeeping staff was quick and attentive - thank you! New Year’s party was fun. That’s about it. Now the bad. Pool. Despite being gorgeously designed and cascading, it is NOT heated and therefore, not usable for anyone but Olympic long distance swimmers, who, by the way, would not be able to do laps due to the cascading nature of the said pool. With outside temperature in the 80s, the water was just too damn cold! It also does not have kids or adults only areas, which means the sweet little munchkins are spread around the entirety of the pool area, and given the cold water temperatures, this does not contribute to a relaxing atmosphere for everyone else. The pool service staff was great and attentive, but there isn’t much they can do to compensate for the design deficiencies. There’s exactly ONE hot tub, but see my point above about children and the unheated pool and you can imagine what going there was like. Cabanas take up prime real estate and despite a near full occupancy of the hotel were 90% unoccupied. What a literal waste of space, but at $450/ day, I can’t see any good reasons to use them. Just like at any five star resort, you have to get up at an ungodly hour to “reserve” pool chairs, otherwise you’d be stuck staring at a bathroom wall. Don’t get me started. Beach. if you’ve ever been at a bustling middle eastern bazaar or better yet a bus station, this is what the St Regis beach felt like. Despite gorgeous location and literally NO neighbors on either side, all of the beach chairs (that have seen better days) were cramped in one area, one on top of the other, centered around the beach bar that had so much traffic from service staff that made it feel like you’re trying to enjoy the ocean views while laying in a middle of a restaurant. It also had a lot of garbage and debris from the ocean and looked like it hasn’t been raked / cleaned in a while. Maybe OK for a hole in a wall surfers beach in an up and coming area, but for a five star resort, it does not cut it. Full stop. Food and restaurants. This deserves a separate review, but I’ll include it here. Breakfast. I’ve had better breakfast buffets at three star airport attached Marriotts. This a tropical island for crying out loud, yet the food looked like what you’d expect in February in the midwest. Melons and honeydews were unripened, so were the watermelons. Dragon fruit and berries were a nice touch, but where are bananas, mangoes, papayas, passion fruit? Where are the local dishes? Surely there are things that grow in Puerto Rico that don’t require to be flown in? Omelets were tasteless, deserts and sweets underwhelming, and I can buy better bread at Costco any day. I get that you have to offer buffets, but this is a disaster. Literally everything, the restaurants layout, the food choices, etc. Staff was trying to be helpful, and the coffee was delicious, so I’ll give them credit for that. Lunch. We had lunch at the pool restaurant, and while nothing special, it was good. Staff was always helpful and attentive. I would expect a lot more of seafood choices, catches of the day, etc., but I guess they just can’t make it work. They had a pizza oven that was OK, and the burgers looked good. Deserts there were good. Dinner. As was written by many reviewers before, this whole part of the experience is a disaster. The main restaurant - Paros, is an example of how to charge the most amount of money for the least tasty food and the most inconsistent service. Half the staff there looked lost. The dishes were bland and uninteresting, although I do have to call out Brussels sprouts side dish which was good. This was by far the most uncoordinated dining experience we’ve ever had at a place that charges Michelin-star prices. Case in point, we ordered an extra appetizer (nothing special, just what they had on the menu). It took 30 minutes to get, by which time we were done with our meal, and our plates and silverware were taken away. Then the appetizer came, we have no plates or silverware, the waitress slapped in on the table in front of us and barked “there’s nothing to laugh about” when we tried to lighten up the situation. Lastly, their dinner reservation system is just puzzling. We played by the rules, made reservations, and always showed up at our designated time. Two out of five times, the hostess could not find our reservation, was clearly stressing out, rechecked our room number and last name multiple times and had to call in to check with someone. We were eventually seated, many times without a choice of the table (“sorry you cannot have those tables, they were specifically reserved”) - how do I “specifically” reserve a table? Bottom line, this may be an OK weekend getaway place if you keep your expectations low. There were not short staffed - there were plenty of employees, but overall it was an out of tune orchestra. If it was a performance, we’d leave half way. Definitely not coming back.

  Jan 04, 2025
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  st regis puerto rico. run

  do not go here. It’s so overpriced. I didn’t even say anything about the Wagyu beef that was literally from Costco for $48. Or my iced tea that was $12. My room I could not get in my key four times and it’s a hike of way and the service is ridiculous. Stay away.

  Dec 12, 2024