The St. Regis Aspen Resort

The hotel is beautiful and very conveniently located in the center of Aspen. Our room was nice and comfortable. The concierge was very helpful and reserved for us two excellent restaurants for the dinner. Also, this was our 56th wedding anniversary and the hotel manager sent two stem glasses, a bottle of wine and a tray of chocolates. Also included was a very nice card congratulating us

For the cost of this hotel per night, Marriott should be ashamed. I'm not sure the service at this hotel could get any worse. Tried to get chairs at the pool both days that I was there but it was virtually impossible because the hotel only had 22 chairs out. No one attending the pool, towels and trash were thrown everywhere. It took 56 minutes to order and have them bring us drinks once we finally cleaned off the pool deck ourselves. Everyone I encountered in the F&B team looked like it was their first day. Zero training.

Impossible to reach this place by phone. It’s got an endless automated phone tree that often drops you without warning. Having stayed at this hotel before, I was aware of the nice guest rooms, good location, very nice spa & gym, yet inconsistent service - mostly due to language barriers and untrained staff. For my recent stay, the concierge forgot to cancel a restaurant reservation which cost me a $450 penalty fee. It was a huge hassle to get a refund for the hotel’s mistake. The concierge desk never answers the phone and are rarely available in-person. All unanswered calls are forwarded to the often confused Front Desk Clerks. At check out, I requested the Front Desk Clerk to ship back a few small items to my office in Boston. Much to my surprise, they used a massive box for a Xerox machine which cost me $636. If they had used a small box, it would have cost $100. I did ask for a quote in advance, but they forgot. Everyone knows FedEx charges by cubic weight. It was a struggle to get even a partial reimbursed for their mistake. Managers are slow to respond. Checking out of the hotel, I had over $1,000 in over charges (eventually reimbursed). Other issues: the smell of weed in the hallways, chaos in the bar and lounge with heavy drinkers (some appeared underage) and shady characters wandering around the hotel…. Security was not good. I did not feel safe. . I’d never stay at St. Regis Aspen again and would never recommend it either, especially for families with kids. Better choices are The Little Nell or Hotel Jerome.

Y'all...do better! We were here for a business conference. I was taken aback by the low quality of the food. Most of it was Bland and some of it bordered on flavorless. Also if you were vegetarian, you could have a...salad. ( I'm not, but we were traveling with someone who is.) On our departure day, we ordered room service for a window between 6:30 and 6:45, as we were leaving at 7:30. At 6:50 I called to ask on the status and was told it would "be a little bit." That turned out to mean 15 to 20 minutes, which I took to mean "we weren't going to get our food in time before we left." I canceled the order.

Such a beautiful property! What a disappointing experience. At USD 300 per night, this would have been quite delightful. At USD 3000 per night, paid using the Centurion? What an embarrassment to the lovely St. Regis brand which has historically been one of my favourite, especially in the US. To be fair, this property had some great front line people: Parveen, Nilam to name a few. It is just so unfortunate that there were so many many more poorly trained representatives who have no idea what it means to be a St. Regis. So let's start with the final touch which inspired this review: this is absolutely the first time I have experienced at a St. Regis, or anyone five star property, where I was turned down by a bell person when I asked for assistance with my luggage when departing the property. Really? Bell people who don't help guests with luggage? Sorry what exactly are they employed for? Very confusing... Before I run down the list of disappointments, I hope this review makes it to the hotel owner as I think this property can be so much more than a "Courtyard Marriott" experience and it is one of the most beautiful alpine properties I have had the pleasure to visit. The hardware, with a few refinements can become a top destination in Aspen. The breakfast and private dining were also solid. We were also grateful for getting a 5th floor suite with a lovely mountain view. If I were the owners here, well, the management would be replaced and seriously retrained on what St. Regis stands for, or what the original owners of 315 East Dean Street envisioned when they first made this hotel possible. So what could have gone better? 1/ Suite: Tastefully appointed. However, the guest powder room door could not close properly. For a supposedly high end property, they used the most horrible low end toilet bowl for the master bath. There were no hooks or places for hanging towels or clothes just outside the master bath shower unit. And I'm sorry, for a high end alpine resort, the master bath floor is not heated? Are we sure we are in the USA? 2/ Service: Everyone was polite, but again not trained to deliver to what St. Regis customers are generally offered. To be fair, in recent years, I have gravitated more towards The Peninsula properties at locations where I may have chosen St. Regis in the past. Maybe St. Regis is no longer trying to serve customers at this level? Firstly, I was generally irritated that my family and I were generally disturbed by turn down services which we were not in the mood for, say at 8pm, after my wife was already in bed? Then the maintenance acted like we were not really staying in the suite whilst trying to fix the guest powder room door, which was not fixed after 4 days during our stay. Then I get some attitude from the Velvet Buck breakfast restaurant manager, who not only acted as if he saw me for the first time, on my fourth morning having breakfast there, but decided to tell me off, then turn his back on me in conversation? Wow. To be fair to the restaurant manager, he apologized afterwards and treated us to some nice mimosas. However, for the rest of the team? What was the label on the phone with Butler Service? I certainly did not get any of that during my stay here. 3/ Ski: Pretty much no service here. There is a Christy Sports across the street which is affiliated and probably pretty good. But for a ski resort, there were no complimentary shuttles to Buttermilk or Snowmass, or not much on offer for amateur ski tourists like me and my family. Our last two Colorado ski resort experiences were at the Sonnenalp and Four Seasons in Vail, and this St. Regis ski experience is just a couple levels lower, albeit at a slightly higher room rate. Aspen Colorado powder is great of course and still some of the best I have ever been on. In conclusion, I really hope this property can live up to its potential, or consider a name change to better reflect the level of customers that can be happier here. Could have been such a beautiful memory.