Review: St. Regis Mexico City

We had a very quick one-night layover in Mexico City on the return journey from Nicaragua, where I decided to check out the St. Regis Mexico City for our brief spell in the capital.

St. Regis Mexico City – Booking

While a simple airport hotel would’ve been enough for us to rest our heads for the evening, I decided to splurge for the St. Regis anyway for a few different reasons. 

I’ve long been curious to check out some of Mexico City’s high-end hotels, and in particular its wide range of Marriott Bonvoy properties.

Besides the St. Regis, the W, JW Marriott, and Ritz-Carlton had also caught my attention when browsing through accommodation options in the city, so I figured I’d get a head start on this overnight visit with one of the best brands on offer. 

Next, I was also hoping that the hotel’s concierge service could help me snag a late booking at Pujol, an award-winning Mexico City restaurant that I’ve been wanting to try for a long time. Despite their best efforts, this didn’t pan out in the end, but I appreciated the concierge’s professionalism throughout our exchange. 

And lastly, since this was my partner Jessy’s first international trip of the pandemic, I did want to finish it off on a more luxurious note rather than, say, simply booking the Courtyard at the airport. 

The St. Regis Mexico City is a Category 7 hotel with Marriott Bonvoy, meaning that a free night redemption would’ve cost me 60,000 Bonvoy points at the standard rate.

That’s far in excess of the cheapest cash rate I found of US$240 for the base-level room, so I went ahead and paid cash, using a US$300 annual Marriott credit from one of our Amex US Bonvoy Brilliant cards to partially offset the charge. 

I also went ahead and burned a Suite Night Award on this stay, securing an upgrade to the Luxury Suite five days in advance. 

Even though we wouldn’t be fully “maximizing” our time in the suite given our early departure the next day, I had too many Suite Night Awards sitting in my account and thought I’d save myself the effort of “suite-talking” by locking in an upgrade in advance. 

St. Regis Mexico City – Location

The St. Regis Mexico City is located on the key thoroughfare of Paseo de la Reforma, a short distance away from the upscale Polanco neighbourhood and the sprawling Bosque de Chapultepec urban park. 

Mexico City’s gargantuan size means that other main attractions, like the Zócalo historic town centre or the Frida Kahlo Museum, will typically be at least a 15-minute car ride away.

From the airport, it’s anywhere between a 15-minute and one-hour Uber ride, depending on traffic. Expect the journey to take much longer if you’re travelling at peak times in the morning or evening. 

The hotel occupies the lower portion of its vase-shaped tower, with the St. Regis Residences perched above the hotel floors.

A small lobby on the ground floor, home to a cafe and the hotel’s concierge desk, provides access to the larger and more ostentatious main lobby on the third floor via a dedicated set of elevators.

St. Regis Mexico City – Check-In

We arrived at the hotel at around 4:30pm in the afternoon, well past the published check-in time of 3pm. Despite this, our suite wasn’t ready yet, and we were advised that it may be another hour or so before it would be ready.

I found that mildly disappointing, given that we wouldn’t have too much time to enjoy the suite in the first place.

Furthermore, since my upgrade had been confirmed well in advance thanks to my Suite Night Awards, the hotel would’ve had ample time to prepare for our arrival even if a previous guest had asked for a 4pm late checkout. 

I decided to ask the front desk agent if he’d be willing to offer us a few complimentary drinks at the bar while we waited. After he passed along my request to his team, the hotel’s guest experience manager was happy to extend us a few welcome drinks at the bar.

We enjoyed a few beverages with a view of the sunset over Mexico City while we waited for our suite. The restaurant even offered an appetizer on the house as well, which certainly went above and beyond my expectations.

Since the hotel was aware that we may have arranged for some dinner plans, they also offered us the use of another room to prepare for dinner while we waited for the suite. In the end, we didn’t manage to snag a dinner reservation, but I certainly appreciated the gesture.

It was finally at around 6pm that our suite was finally ready, and I dropped by the front desk to pick up our keys. Even though I was disappointed at check-in initially, the service recovery here at the St. Regis Mexico City certainly can’t be faulted. 

St. Regis Mexico City – Luxury Suite

Taking the elevator up to our suite on the 11th floor, I found the hallway decor to be pretty typical for a St. Regis, featuring shades of gold and violet along with back-lit room number signs. 

The Luxury Suite is arranged in a standard two-room layout, consisting of a living room with a desk, television, dining room, and pantry, adjacent to the master bedroom.

The living room offered ample space for work and play, whether it was relaxing on the couch, settling into the comfortable desk to wrap up some emails, or polishing off the glass of welcome champagne or a late-night tea delivery via St. Regis’s signature butler service.

While we could’ve made use of butler service for our morning coffee as well, we preferred to make a quick Nespresso at the pantry, given our early-morning departure. 

There’s also a half-bathroom connected to the foyer with a simple sink and toilet.

The master bedroom was spacious and airy compared to an already large king-sized bed, which heightened the sense of luxury for our short but sweet stay. 

The bedroom also featured an armchair with a matching ottoman, a wall-mounted television, and two closets surrounding the walkway to the bathroom. 

The bathroom follows a similar symmetrical design, with a central marble bathtub adorned by individual sinks on opposite sides of each other and two glass-doored chambers for the toilet and shower, respectively.

Like the rest of the suite, the finishes in the bathroom were starting to show their age a little bit. Having opened in 2009, the Mexico City location certainly isn’t the newest St. Regis in the world, and I think a soft refurbishment would do the hotel wonders sometime in the 2020s. 

The shower chamber had an interesting sauna feature, which let us unwind a little extra at the tail end of our trip.

Our suite faced out to the Torre BBVA rising high above the tree-lined Paseo de la Reforma below.

I always feel so inspired by the energetic street scenes on the couple of occasions that I’ve passed through North America’s largest city, and our views from the St. Regis were no different. Sometime soon, I’ll be sure to spend longer than a layover here. 

St. Regis Mexico City – Breakfast

Unfortunately, our 9am departure from Mexico City International Airport left us very little time to catch breakfast at the St. Regis, which only starts at 7am.

(I also asked the hotel if they were willing to offer an express breakfast, but I was told that would be billed extra as in-room dining rather than part of the elite breakfast benefit.)

I did stop by to check out the Diana Restaurant, though. Due to the pandemic, only an à la carte breakfast selection is available at the time of my visit in November 2021. 

The breakfast menu read as follows:

If I were taking breakfast, I certainly would’ve liked to give the chilaquiles a try, along with some of the eggs dishes. Thankfully, we ended up having these for breakfast in the Centurion Lounge at the airport instead.

St. Regis Mexico City – Other Facilities

Adjacent to Diana Restaurant, you’ll find the St. Regis brand’s signature King Cole Bar, which is also where we had enjoyed our complimentary drinks and appetizers upon arrival. 

The bar has a nice terrace with sweeping views of the boulevard outside.

In addition to being one of the hotel’s most visually attractive spaces, the lobby was also adorned with a few extra welcoming touches, like a kids’ snack cart and a tea selection.

Finally, there’s a comprehensive range of spa and fitness facilities on the 15th floor.

The fitness centre is more well-equipped than most other hotel gyms. In addition to the standard exercise equipment, treadmills, and free weights, there are also wall-mounted cables, a bench press, a punching bag, and an individual exercise bike room. 

You’ll also find a small indoor pool adjacent to the gym, with views facing out to Paseo de la Reforma. If it weren’t for the in-suite sauna upstairs, we would’ve considered popping down for a quick evening swim and a dip in the hot tub. 

There’s also a kids’ play room to round out the 15th-floor amenities. 

Conclusion

My stay at the St. Regis Mexico City was shorter than I would’ve liked, which somewhat limited my ability to form a full impression about it.

Still, I mostly enjoyed my time on the property. The few lowlights I experienced, such as my pre-arranged suite not being available until well after 6pm, were redeemed by meaningful acts of service recovery like complimentary drinks and appetizers at the bar. 

The hotel is just beginning to show its age at its 12-year anniversary, and I do wonder whether I’d find more modern living quarters at Mexico City’s wealth of other Marriott hotels.

I intend to give those properties a try on my next trip to this magnetic metropolis – but I’ve also seen enough from the St. Regis to want to return in the future, especially if the hotel were to add a few touch-ups to its interiors at some point in the future.