My husband and I just returned from a truly fantastic four nights at St. Regis Bahia Beach (this was my second trip there, his first). We've had the privilege of staying at some incredible hotels around the world and this one now ranks among our favorites.

Five-star staff: the staff is what really made the trip - they were so warm and genuine without being over the top. As an example: another guest at the resort was celebrating her birthday and had mentioned to a staff member that she wanted to try a pastry particular to Puerto Rico. In the evening, during the champagne ceremony, the employee surprised her with a bag of pastries and said they had someone drive into San Juan to buy them. The guest was so surprised and taken aback by the gesture! We also want to give a shout out to Shakiel, with whom we thoroughly enjoyed speaking at the beach and pool. Our conversations with him were the types of experiences that make travel so special. Also shout outs to Jesus, our waiter at Paros, the concierge (Georgina or Juliana, I forgot to write her name down), and Noel (I think) who was our waiter at lunch and has a shared love of animals. But truly, we experienced such wonderful service that we'd go back just for that.

Pools - the main pool is fantastic. Lots of chairs/umbrellas, shade, and the pool meanders so there are lots of areas to post up. If you have kids, there's a wading area as well as one or two one-foot deep sections. Great pool and beach service too. Our only negative pool experience is that one afternoon a group of guests was playing loud music on speakers or a phone - I am surprised St. Regis clientele would do this but we moved to a different area of the pool and could no longer hear it thankfully. (I assume playing your own music without headphones is not permitted but I don't know whether the hotel actually knew this was going on.) We also went over to the Beach Club pool for a little but didn't care much for it. Hotel guests are allowed to use this pool but I believe it's more geared towards the Bahia Beach residences.

Beach - what a peaceful beach. Again, plenty of chairs and umbrellas and excellent service. The warmest ocean water we've ever been in, and very clear too. One afternoon there were three manatees swimming off the shoreline which was so delightful for the guests to see. The hotel has toys for kids to play with.

Room - we got a complimentary upgrade through our travel agent. The room, and in particular the bathroom, was huge. We had a large balcony with a beautiful garden view and could even see a bit of the ocean. I do think the room decor is lacking in character - it's all gray/white/modern which doesn't fit with the lush gardens and tropical ocean surrounding the resort. My understanding is that the rooms had more character prior to the somewhat recent renovation.

Food and drink - the lunch and dinner food was very good, but nothing to write home about. Paros is insanely expensive, so be prepared for that. The other food was more reasonably priced. We had a FANTASTIC lunch at the Beach Club grill (the hotel can take you to/from there via golf cart). The resort's cocktails and beer were delicious. Highly recommend trying beer from the local brewery, Ocean Lab, especially the passion fruit wheat beer. The breakfast buffet was fantastic - one of the best hotel breakfasts we've had - and was complimentary through our booking with our travel agent.

Amenities/activities - we used the bikes from the Boat House area (which has blowup slides, paddle boards, kayaks, life vests, etc.) and rode through the bird sanctuary (it is a walking path but we were told the bicycles were permitted). It's not a very long ride. The trail runs through a beautiful tropical forest area and is almost entirely shaded. There is a dog/cat shelter and tree nursery on the Bahia Beach property, but you can see it only via a nature tour which unfortunately not able to get during our time there (the tours go through the Bahia Beach community rather than directly through the resort, although the resort will inquire about availability for you.) From what we were told, Bahia Beach takes wonderful care of its animals which speaks volumes to us. They capture, spay/neuter, vaccinate, and adopt out strays! I believe you can even "rent" a shelter dog for the afternoon so that they get play time/affection. We heard one couple fell in love with a pair of puppies on their honeymoon and the shelter helped them arrange for the necessary paperwork to adopt them and bring them back home to the U.S. mainland.

We have only three overall complaints, which absolutely do not affect how we felt about our great experience. (1) We think the hotel could do a better job making information about the complex's facilities and activities accessible. The maps are not detailed and we didn't realize how much was actually on the property until we spoke with the concierge (note that they have a better map than what you're given at check-in). For example, I don't think any of the materials we received via email beforehand mentioned the nature tours - I knew about this from my own research. (2) The private transfers are REALLY overpriced. We took an Uber from the airport upon arrival and it was $33. Ubers aren't really available out in the Bahia Beach area, so we did the private transfer back to the airport through the hotel and it was $168 for a 30-minute ride. We obviously know private transfers are going to be marked up significantly, but that price was just silly. (With that said, our driver was great and even arrived 15 minutes early.) 3. The plastic use. Oh my, so many one-use disposable plastic cups, water bottles, and utensils. This is not consistent with the resort's overall environmental messaging and mission. This is not a COVID thing because regular flatware and dinnerware is being used for sit-down meals. The tap water there is safe and tastes fine so the plastic water bottles seem especially wasteful. Note that there are dispensers with iced water placed around the pool. I hope the resort shifts towards less plastic waste in the near future.

St. Regis Bahia Beach, thank you for such a wonderful stay. I almost cried like a little kid when we had to leave. We can't wait to return.

I am a Lifetime Titanium Bonvoy member and booked 2 rooms for 5 nights on points for this vacation. My wife and I treated my parents (who are 85 but have the mobility of most 60 year olds) to this resort assuming they would be treated to an excellent time, given our first stay at your property in early 2020. I also wrote a review for that stay.

About a week before our trip, the butler team reached out to me asking for arrival details and if we'd like for a private transfer. Last time we did this and it was seamless so we arranged for it again. It did not disappoint. It was another seamless pickup, with a representative holding a sign with our family name on it as we exited baggage claim. The costs was $168 for the 4 of us (each way). For a high-end vacation at the St. Regis, it was well worth it, making the transfers as easy as possible for the four of us. I also asked the butler to have a six-pack of Dr Pepper (for my dad), champagne, and balloons in my parents room upon arrival as we were celebrating them both turning 85 years old over the past year and were finally able to celebrate.

Our rooms were ready when we arrived and they were able to get us two rooms on the third (top) floor with balconies and nice views of the gardens. As we were here treating my parents I asked for rooms close to each other so we could easily stay in contact. They were able to give us two rooms with a common entryway and foyer. This made it very easy for me to contact my parents when we were coming and going. This may not seem like much, but it was very much appreciated and made our stay very convenient. When my parents entered their room they were very surprised at the birthday celebration decorations and the soda. I wasn't sure how my request was going to manifest itself but they did an amazing job! I was very thankful for their efforts. They were not able to upgrade us to ocean-view rooms but that was not a big deal. Both rooms had great beds and furnishings, with a huge bathroom with nice garden views. As a consolation we could always hear the waves crashing while drinking our morning French press coffee on the balcony.

During our five nights, we enjoyed (and introduced my parents to) the nightly St. Regis Champagne Sabering ritual, dinner twice at the Mediterranean restaurant Paros, twice at the hotel bar, and once offsite. All dinners onsite were excellent, but in my opinion if I had to eat more that twice at each of the two restaurants during my stay, I'd probably be a little tired of the options. This is one of the repeated concerns with this resort, so I avoid it by only staying 5 nights and eating once off-site. Of course if you don't have a car, than going offsite can get expensive. We went to the Hyatt one night for dinner and the cost was $60 each way for the four of us.
Breakfast daily was still excellent, however it has been slimmed down from what was offered pre-pandemic. The quality of the food was still excellent, just fewer choices.

Minor issues
- The garden path between the eastern buildings and the pool area was not kept very neat. Leaves, weeds and some overgrowth we're present... again nothing horrible, just not up to the high St. Regis standard. I suspect that they are still feeling the affects of the reduced pandemic labor pool.
- After our first night of the stay, room cleaning missed fresh towels, forgot to clean the commode or restock water bottles. After we called they came within 15 min and rectified the situation.
- Breakfast the first morning had issues. The omelet we ordered took 40 min and the rest of service was off (water refills and dish removals were greatly delayed) and not up to the St. Regis standards that I have become accustomed to. I spoke with the front deck and they quickly rectified these issues to my satisfaction. Breakfast the next morning was back to the exceptional standards.
- On day four, we return to our room at 4:45 and our room was not made up. I let the butlers know and they sent someone within 30 minutes.

Spa Treatments
We all booked massages and raved about the service, putting it on the highest level we have ever had. This included my dad who loves to complain and even said "I don't want a massage because they are going to bruise my skin". He came out of the session with a whole different tune ... "It was fantastic! The best ever!". Special thanks to his therapist, Christy, as she is a saint!. Also thanks to Ruben, Alejandra, and Freddy for the great massage sessions they provided to the rest in our party. I'd like to also give a shout out to the male spa attendants, Justin and Edwin both were very professional and always happy to serve.

More Team Member Shout-outs
- Bartenders Orlando and Krystal were amazing and both remembered us from our last stay.
- For the 2 days we lounges at the beach, Yolanda was very attentive and provided fast efficient and pleasant service!
- One night at the bar for cocktails before dinner, our server Mari acknowledged my lifetime titanium status and comped our first round of drinks! Absolutely above and beyond!
- The Head butler Isaac did a great job every night doing the champagne sabering.
- In general, the staff everywhere was very pleasant and always happy to serve.

Pool Cabanas
On Sunday, we rented a couple's cabana. We had the end unit which allowed us to procure 2 extra lounge chairs so the 4 of us could relax. It worked out great. If you have kids you will want to book the family cabanas that are double the size and provide more chairs and are conveniently located right at the pool's edge for your kids to just walk in. If you don't want to be near kids then either book a couple's cabana, like we did, or go to the beach. There is no adult pool area (another issue often written about), but the beach was amazing and always very quiet. Service during our stay in the cabana was very attentive.

Remote Location
This resort is 30-40 minutes east of the airport, and far away from the city. The location is remote, beautiful and quiet. If you want to go to the city a few times, then you should either rent a car or stay at a hotel closer or in the city. We did a food walking tour in Old San Juan one day. The hotel arranged for our transportation. The cost was $180 roundtrip which again was very easy, well organized and therefore worth it. If we were going to plan more than one trip to the city, I would have arranged for a rental car.

Summary
The staff really made for another amazing stay at this resort. A few minor hiccups (which I'm chalking up to the pandemic resulting in staff shortages/turnover) is why I gave it 4/5 stars for this stay. We will certainly be back again!

I have seen a number of negative reviews below related to the St. Regis, and all I can say is our stay was AMAZING. My wife and I arrived to celebrate our 10 year anniversary and were welcomed with a wonderful drink upon arrival. As a Platinum Elite member we were upgraded to a Astor suite with sprawling ocean views, and elected the breakfast as our welcome gift.

The pool and beach are top notch along with all of the staff. The golf course is pristine condition with amazing views. We also were able to explore the resort by walking on many of the nature trails and guided kayak tour.

While there are three restaurants on property, there is also the Beach Club a short walk or golf cart ride away. The food at all locations is very good as are the cocktails.

All in all I would recommend the St. Regis and look forward to returning soon.