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- Jan 7, 2005
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St. Regis Monarch Beach Review
Having stayed at this resort several times previously for one night at a time, my family spent three nights here over the Easter weekend.
Background/Hotel Description
I am a Los Angeles resident, so the St. Regis Monarch Beach used to be a great use of Starpointsthe currency of the Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) program--as a reward destination. Until former Disneyland President Matt Ouimets ascendancy to Starwood (theres no way Im buying it was a coincidence), the St. Regis was a relative bargain, requiring as few as 12,000 Starpoints for an off-season, no-view room (a pool, limited-ocean view was only 2,500 points more). However, earlier this year, Mr. Ouimet or one of his minions decided to increase the Starpoints needed for all St. Regis properties, so now a room there starts at 20,000 Starpoints, no longer a bargain.
The hotel itself is located in Dana Point, near the Ritz Carlton. There is a beach which is adjacent to a golf course which is, in turn, adjacent to the hotel. The beach is reached by a shuttle which makes frequent stops. The rooms are pretty spectacular; the smallest are over 500 square feet and come with a wonderful LG, LCD high definition television and huge soaking tub. This particular room (340) had a combination VCR/DVD player, though other rooms here have only DVD players. I have noticed that the St. Regis consistently has an excellent selection of in-room movies, always offering films that are either still in theaters or weeks or even months ahead of their video release; at $12.95, though, they are pricey. I recommend bringing a DVD rental with you, if possible, since it is a very pleasant experience to watch a movie in bed with the hotels large TV with excellent picture.
They have robes for children, which was a nice a touch, though they no longer distribute sand pails with the St. Regis logo at check-in like they used to (when I asked the front desk staff why they discontinued this nice practice, she told me, I have no idea. One day, they just said we wouldnt be giving them out anymore). Im not sure whether they do this for all families or only return guests, but they did give us a nice in-room amenity of four delicious cookies and a bottle of apple and orange juice. They also provided a small fridge and microwave, upon request, at no charge.
The resorts amenities are also family-friendly. They have one pool restricted to adults, but the whole weekend, there were kids in it, so I guess nobody minded. The non-restricted area has a hot tub (there is only one, so it is shared by adults and children), a large pool, and a shallow, baby/toddler pool.
The hotel is ideally located for day-trips to both Disneyland and other Orange County destinations (such as Santa Anas Discovery museum) and Northern San Diego destinations like Legoland and Wild Animal Park, though hardly cost-effective is that is your main purpose of staying there. There are two ways of getting to the hotel, one uses a toll road, which recently increased its charge from $3 to $4, and the other involves exiting off the 5. The directions that were provided previously only included the toll road, but the concierge always gave us directions for both routes. If you are not arriving or exiting during rush-hour, I strongly recommend using the 5, though the toll road can save considerable time if you are driving when the 5 is busy.
On Easter, the hotel had an elaborate, 2,000 egg hunt on its main lawns, to which the community was invited (and at just $5 for valet parking, it was a good value for locals). I had to smile while waiting for my car, watching some of the wealthy Orange County beautiful people, presumably coming for brunch; I still recall one woman, arriving in a convertible Mercedes, with a fur coat and elegant wicker basket of lilies. This kind of crowd, though, made DW in particular feel uncomfortable; while on vacation, you want to be able to let down your hair, so to speak, but being around so many wealthy people, this was at times difficult.
Can You Afford This Vacation?
During our previous, one-night-only stays, I was prepared to splurge, and splurge we did, at one time enjoying a couples massage and another time enjoying a multi-course room service meal from Motif, one of the hotels restaurants that at the time, used to specialize in smaller plates ideal for creating your own tasting menu of sorts.
This time around, I was shocked how expensive the meals were resort-wide. We ate at five of the propertys seven restaurants (if you include the golf courses snack bar) plus room service. Since DS2 fell asleep early the first night, we decided to try Motif. During our last visit, this restaurant had more of a family-friendly feel to it and was also less expensive. This time, we easily generated a $160 check without stuffing ourselves; in fact, I was still somewhat hungry even upon leaving (though the food, it must be said, was extremely tasty, especially the shellfish on ice, Parisian style, and the chocolate souffle, my favorite dessert). The next morning, we thought we could eat affordably at Crust, their casual, coffee-and-sandwich eatery. A $60 breakfast later, I was proven wrong again. I thought Disneyland was pushing the limits by charging $1.75 for a banana, but Crust proved me wrong by charging $2. A small container of mixed fruit cost an astounding $8. A chicken sandwich with chips and a side salad? At Crust, that will send you back $20. For dinner, we decided to go to the beach and eat at their ocean-side restaurant. This was perhaps my biggest folly. I was expecting a casual atmosphere, since it was on the ocean and the surf butler gets you food from here. Wrong again. I had a delicious entree, red snapper served Mediterranean style, which was $43. I understand that an elegant resort can command expensive prices, but it is a different thing altogether to feel taken advantage of at every turn.
What are your options if you want to save money? On Sunday morning, we walked to a Starbucks near the Ritz Carlton; its an approximate 10 minute walk. Starbucks isnt my favorite breakfast spot, but it was considerably cheaper than Crust. There are also other restaurants within driving distance in nearby Laguna Niguel.
Customer Service/Quality Control
My experience with customer service was that it was extremely spotty. I dont need to detail all of the ways in which we were disappointed beyond the sticker shock of our dining bills, but perhaps a few stories merit a mention. On the first day, we noticed fecal matter in the baby pool. Because no one was stationed at the family pool area, there was some delay before a staff member arrived. When I pointed it out to her, she attributed it to a duck, and eventually someone did come to clean out the pool.
As silly as the following complaint may seem to some, in a world where top resorts like the St. Regis have actual pillow concierges (or whatever impressive names they give to staff whose job it is to provide you with a comfortable pillow), the St. Regis must have some of the most uncomfortable pillows I have ever slept on. While I was initially given, I think, foam pillows due to DDs asthma, even when I asked housekeeping for their customary down pillows, they were extremely stiff.
There were other issues that do not merit detailing. I will say that by the end of the weekend, I was pushed to the edge of my tolerance, so I contacted the manager who very generously resolved the situation to my satisfaction by giving me a credit for half my room charges (again, since I was staying on points, this amount did not include the cost of the room).
Summary/Conclusions
The St. Regis Monarch Beach is an elegant hotel that attracts a wealthy clientele; one of their recent ads proclaims, The St. Regis Resort is a welcome sanctuary where the cares of the world simply do not exist. Unless you are a millionaire, that is wishful thinking and was certainly not my experience. In fact, one night I actually couldnt sleep for several hours out of worrying about how much the three days were going to cost. Starwood recently almost doubled the Starpoints required to stay here, making it equivalent to two nights at the Westin South Coast Plaza or the Westin Rancho Mirage. If you are going for a multi-night stay and dont plan to leave the resorts grounds, make sure you budget extremely generously for food. If you are looking for a jumping-off point for Orange County and/or North San Diego attractions, this is probably one of the least economical options. As a splurge, though, there is no denying the draw of this very luxurious resort.
Having stayed at this resort several times previously for one night at a time, my family spent three nights here over the Easter weekend.
Background/Hotel Description
I am a Los Angeles resident, so the St. Regis Monarch Beach used to be a great use of Starpointsthe currency of the Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) program--as a reward destination. Until former Disneyland President Matt Ouimets ascendancy to Starwood (theres no way Im buying it was a coincidence), the St. Regis was a relative bargain, requiring as few as 12,000 Starpoints for an off-season, no-view room (a pool, limited-ocean view was only 2,500 points more). However, earlier this year, Mr. Ouimet or one of his minions decided to increase the Starpoints needed for all St. Regis properties, so now a room there starts at 20,000 Starpoints, no longer a bargain.
The hotel itself is located in Dana Point, near the Ritz Carlton. There is a beach which is adjacent to a golf course which is, in turn, adjacent to the hotel. The beach is reached by a shuttle which makes frequent stops. The rooms are pretty spectacular; the smallest are over 500 square feet and come with a wonderful LG, LCD high definition television and huge soaking tub. This particular room (340) had a combination VCR/DVD player, though other rooms here have only DVD players. I have noticed that the St. Regis consistently has an excellent selection of in-room movies, always offering films that are either still in theaters or weeks or even months ahead of their video release; at $12.95, though, they are pricey. I recommend bringing a DVD rental with you, if possible, since it is a very pleasant experience to watch a movie in bed with the hotels large TV with excellent picture.
They have robes for children, which was a nice a touch, though they no longer distribute sand pails with the St. Regis logo at check-in like they used to (when I asked the front desk staff why they discontinued this nice practice, she told me, I have no idea. One day, they just said we wouldnt be giving them out anymore). Im not sure whether they do this for all families or only return guests, but they did give us a nice in-room amenity of four delicious cookies and a bottle of apple and orange juice. They also provided a small fridge and microwave, upon request, at no charge.
The resorts amenities are also family-friendly. They have one pool restricted to adults, but the whole weekend, there were kids in it, so I guess nobody minded. The non-restricted area has a hot tub (there is only one, so it is shared by adults and children), a large pool, and a shallow, baby/toddler pool.
The hotel is ideally located for day-trips to both Disneyland and other Orange County destinations (such as Santa Anas Discovery museum) and Northern San Diego destinations like Legoland and Wild Animal Park, though hardly cost-effective is that is your main purpose of staying there. There are two ways of getting to the hotel, one uses a toll road, which recently increased its charge from $3 to $4, and the other involves exiting off the 5. The directions that were provided previously only included the toll road, but the concierge always gave us directions for both routes. If you are not arriving or exiting during rush-hour, I strongly recommend using the 5, though the toll road can save considerable time if you are driving when the 5 is busy.
On Easter, the hotel had an elaborate, 2,000 egg hunt on its main lawns, to which the community was invited (and at just $5 for valet parking, it was a good value for locals). I had to smile while waiting for my car, watching some of the wealthy Orange County beautiful people, presumably coming for brunch; I still recall one woman, arriving in a convertible Mercedes, with a fur coat and elegant wicker basket of lilies. This kind of crowd, though, made DW in particular feel uncomfortable; while on vacation, you want to be able to let down your hair, so to speak, but being around so many wealthy people, this was at times difficult.
Can You Afford This Vacation?
During our previous, one-night-only stays, I was prepared to splurge, and splurge we did, at one time enjoying a couples massage and another time enjoying a multi-course room service meal from Motif, one of the hotels restaurants that at the time, used to specialize in smaller plates ideal for creating your own tasting menu of sorts.
This time around, I was shocked how expensive the meals were resort-wide. We ate at five of the propertys seven restaurants (if you include the golf courses snack bar) plus room service. Since DS2 fell asleep early the first night, we decided to try Motif. During our last visit, this restaurant had more of a family-friendly feel to it and was also less expensive. This time, we easily generated a $160 check without stuffing ourselves; in fact, I was still somewhat hungry even upon leaving (though the food, it must be said, was extremely tasty, especially the shellfish on ice, Parisian style, and the chocolate souffle, my favorite dessert). The next morning, we thought we could eat affordably at Crust, their casual, coffee-and-sandwich eatery. A $60 breakfast later, I was proven wrong again. I thought Disneyland was pushing the limits by charging $1.75 for a banana, but Crust proved me wrong by charging $2. A small container of mixed fruit cost an astounding $8. A chicken sandwich with chips and a side salad? At Crust, that will send you back $20. For dinner, we decided to go to the beach and eat at their ocean-side restaurant. This was perhaps my biggest folly. I was expecting a casual atmosphere, since it was on the ocean and the surf butler gets you food from here. Wrong again. I had a delicious entree, red snapper served Mediterranean style, which was $43. I understand that an elegant resort can command expensive prices, but it is a different thing altogether to feel taken advantage of at every turn.
What are your options if you want to save money? On Sunday morning, we walked to a Starbucks near the Ritz Carlton; its an approximate 10 minute walk. Starbucks isnt my favorite breakfast spot, but it was considerably cheaper than Crust. There are also other restaurants within driving distance in nearby Laguna Niguel.
Customer Service/Quality Control
My experience with customer service was that it was extremely spotty. I dont need to detail all of the ways in which we were disappointed beyond the sticker shock of our dining bills, but perhaps a few stories merit a mention. On the first day, we noticed fecal matter in the baby pool. Because no one was stationed at the family pool area, there was some delay before a staff member arrived. When I pointed it out to her, she attributed it to a duck, and eventually someone did come to clean out the pool.
As silly as the following complaint may seem to some, in a world where top resorts like the St. Regis have actual pillow concierges (or whatever impressive names they give to staff whose job it is to provide you with a comfortable pillow), the St. Regis must have some of the most uncomfortable pillows I have ever slept on. While I was initially given, I think, foam pillows due to DDs asthma, even when I asked housekeeping for their customary down pillows, they were extremely stiff.
There were other issues that do not merit detailing. I will say that by the end of the weekend, I was pushed to the edge of my tolerance, so I contacted the manager who very generously resolved the situation to my satisfaction by giving me a credit for half my room charges (again, since I was staying on points, this amount did not include the cost of the room).
Summary/Conclusions
The St. Regis Monarch Beach is an elegant hotel that attracts a wealthy clientele; one of their recent ads proclaims, The St. Regis Resort is a welcome sanctuary where the cares of the world simply do not exist. Unless you are a millionaire, that is wishful thinking and was certainly not my experience. In fact, one night I actually couldnt sleep for several hours out of worrying about how much the three days were going to cost. Starwood recently almost doubled the Starpoints required to stay here, making it equivalent to two nights at the Westin South Coast Plaza or the Westin Rancho Mirage. If you are going for a multi-night stay and dont plan to leave the resorts grounds, make sure you budget extremely generously for food. If you are looking for a jumping-off point for Orange County and/or North San Diego attractions, this is probably one of the least economical options. As a splurge, though, there is no denying the draw of this very luxurious resort.
